Hi, Bob, and everyone else,
--- Bwana Bob <wb2vuf@qsl.net> wrote:
> it was great fun viewing Caity's Mizuho collection
> on her web site.
Thanks for the kind words. As some people on list
(especially those who sold me bits and pieces) know I
am trying to add a complete vintage Argonaut station
to my collection of interesting QRP rigs and I am
doing it on a limited budget. Ten Tec has also made
some very fine, simple, maintainable QRP gear over the
years.
> There seems to be nothing like these rigs on the
> market today.
Correct. Tsugo Takada, JA1AMH, the designer of those
rigs, has retired. What is left of Mizuho is his shop
in his basement where he still does repairs. He also
makes a simple receiver kit for elementary school
students in Japan and offers parts for homebrewers.
Other than that Mizuho is now history after 35 years.
BTW, the reason the Pico transceivers (2W Mizuho
monoband HTs) were discontinued in 2002 was parts
availability. Some parts had been obsoleted (it was a
20 year old design, after all) and many suitable
replacements required minimum orders far in excess of
likely sales. Production had been outsourced to
Santec in the late 1990s. Santec could no longer
produce the radios in a cost effective way and make a
profit on them. The Tokyo Hy-Power HT-750 suffered
the same fate for the same reasons.
> This is
> strange, because the technology exists to make HF
> handhelds or slightly larger multiband portables.
The fact remains that every such attempt in the U.S.
market has failed miserably. Four companies (Ace
Communications, AEA, jCom, and Ramsey Electronics)
tried importing Mizuho HTs into the U.S. Ace even
offered them as kits. Sales were pitiful. Most
American hams didn't want no frills, monoband HTs at
$300 a piece built or $200+ in kit form. The more
sophisticated triband Tokyo Hy-Power HT-750 with it's
digital display and significantly stronger feature set
had dismal sales in 1992-93 when it was in the U.S.
market at $549.
>
> I propose that Ten Tec acquire the design rights
> from Mizuho, update the
> designs to take advantage of modern IC's and replace
> whatever parts are obsolete, and offer these
> transceivers in kit form.
How much money do you want Ten Tec to lose?
>
> HF CW/SSB kits cound do well in the marketplace.
Tell that to Small Wonder Labs. They recently
surveyed the QRP community to see if there was
adequate demand for an updated White Mountain 20m rig
at $249. The answer, from what I understand, was no.
> Look at what's currently available:
>
> Most QRP kits are CW only.
Such kits are cheap to produce and appeal to cheap
hams looking for simple kits.
> K2 is sophisticated but costly.
You think an updated MX-14S wouldn't be costly? How
many hams today would pay roughly $250 for a no frills
monoband HT? I suspect very few would. I suspect
that is the least you could sell them for and still
make money.
> FT-817, costly and sophisticated.
Very INEXPENSIVE for what it does. Truly an
engineering marvel. 160-70cm all mode and you balk at
a $600 street price as costly???? See what I mean
about cheap hams? Thankfully for QRPers as a whole
the rig has been a best seller for Yaesu.
> Now something like the Tokyo High Power
> Labs 3 band HT would be really great.
It was available new until the middle of last year.
Did you buy one?
THP are developing an 80-6m SSB/CW handheld
transceiver. Here is the catch: it will likely be
*more* expensive that your "costly" FT-817.
Bob, with all due respect, you are dreaming. I don't
think you understand the economics/costs involved. I
think you, yourself will find the result "costly". I
think sales for such radios will be what they always
were: dismal. These are niche products. In Japan
and Europe they were somewhat popular. In the U.S.
gee-whiz bells-and-whistles market they were not. We
also have less than one third of the licensed for HF
ham population of Japan. Probably less as many who
get licensed never operate. Technician class
operators don't have HF privileges so they don't
count.
Also, Japan's entry-level no code license has been
around for 25 or more years and limits operation to
10W on a handful of bands. The HTs for those bands
(6, 15, and 40 meters) were the ones that were popular
in Japan. The other bands were discontinued earlier
for lack of demand.
BTW, there is a fundamental problem with creating
demand for such a product, either here in the U.S. or
in Japan. Japan's ham population has dropped from 2.1
million to 1.2 million in recent years. In the U.S.
our 10 year license means we have a long lag before we
know actual population trends.
Let's put it this way. When I first when to a ham
club meeting in 1984 I was one of the youngest people
there. There were quite a few women, though,
including the President of the club. Today, 21 years
later, I am STILL one of the youngest people there and
the membership of most ham clubs is down 50% or more.
Oh, and I am usually the only woman there, or at best
one of two.
QRP as a percentage of the hobby has really grown.
I'd say QRP has bucked the trend and grown period.
It's perhaps the last growth area left in ham radio.
Despite that unless you reinvigorate this hobby and
get more young people not only licensed but interested
and operating you are never going to have successful
niche products being introduced. Changing licensing
requirements won't help. It never has in the past and
it won't now.
Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see such products
from Ten Tec. I think it would be suicidal for Ten
Tec to produce them, though. This is no different
from the monthly calls on the VHF lists for a 222MHz
all mode. Every manufacturer remembers just how
poorly the Icom IC-375A sold.
72/73,
Caity
K7VO/8
Caitlyn M. Martin - K7VO
http://www.mizuhoradio.com/personal/k7vo
Blog: http://k7vo.blogspot.com
ARRL QRP-ARCI #11018 ARS #445 G-QRP #11577 AK QRP #637
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