It sure feels like you're right about the demographics judging by the guys I
talk to on the air and see at the local swap meets. They are not spring
chickens. The ARRL paints a rosier picture. Highest numbers ever in 2012 they
point out. Are these mostly inactive licensees who got a license on a whim
but don't really get on the air?
"In the past 40 years, the number of Amateur Radio operators in the US has
grown at a remarkable rate:
December 1971: 285,000
December 1981: 433,000
December 1991: 494,000
December 2001: 683,000
December 2012: 709,500"
http://www.arrl.org/news/2012-marks-all-time-high-for-amateur-radio-licenses
Jon
On May 12, 2014, at 8:04 PM, Jack Emerson wrote:
> Like everybody else, I have had some time to digest today’s news. While it is
> no surprise, I wish Ten Tec and Alpha and whoever they may merge with next
> nothing but the best of luck, and I’ll do my part to buy from the combined
> company, partly from brand loyalty, partly from the fact that both companies
> make great products.
> I haven’t yet had the pleasure of owning an Alpha amp, but plan to make a
> purchase soon. I have bought tubes from RF Concepts to feed my Titan 3, and
> the tubes were a bargain and continue to work to this day.
>
> My Orion 2 remains the best radio I have ever owned, and if and when the new
> company comes out with a new radio (with dual receivers), I’ll buy it.
> I will most likely soon replace my Ten Tec Titan and Titan 3 amps with newer
> tech RF Concept/Alpha amps.
> It’s a natural fit.
> And here’s more random thoughts, and let this sink in: The problem is not Ten
> Tec, and it’s not RF Concepts/Alpha. Both companies make excellent products.
> The problem is demographics. We went through this a few years’ ago when the
> WW2 generation started dying off. Fortunately, they were replaced for the
> most-part by the guys who had grown up with radio in the 40’s and 50’s. Well,
> those guys are getting older now and dying off. Unfortunately, the radio
> generation that came next was the CW McCAll (Convoy) group, of which I am a
> part. Our numbers are weak compared to the WW2 and cold-war 1950’s generation
> of hams. I’ve been an active ham since first firing up my Heathkit as a 13
> year old Novice in May 1977, and there are many more like me, but not enough
> to offset what is being lost everyday as older hams die off. And the radio
> generation is even weaker in numbers, so you probably see what’s going on.
>
> We have great amateur radio companies here in the U.S., and Ten Tec is as
> good as Elecraft, and Elecraft is as good as Alpha as is as good as Palstar.
> All are great companies with at least one exceptional amateur radio product,
> and all share similar business models, but they are all suffering from a
> dwindling customer base. I also own a Palstar tuner, which has been a
> mainstay on my desktop for many years, and I recently bought an Elecraft
> KX-3, which is a technological work of art.
>
> Maybe in another 10 years, when I am ready to retire, it will all be 1
> company, Palpheletec. But whatever this morphs into, as long as they continue
> to make the best, and keep skilled folks employed producing and marketing it,
> I will continue to buy it.
>
> As stated in the topic, I wish all these companies nothing but the best, and
> will continue to give them my dollars for the top rate products they produce.
>
> Notice no mention of MFJ/HY-GAIN: Check an existing thread for my experience
> with that.
>
> 73 de Jack W4TJE
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