[TenTec] Kachina discontinued

[Mark Erbaugh]

Just my 2 cents worth.

It is a shame to see any manufacturer, particularly a US one, pull out of
the ham radio market, but it's got to be a tough market.  Because it is
'amateur' radio, it has to be treated like a consumer market. For the most
part, by law, you can't use ham equipment for business. But as a consumer
base, hams are very small in number. How many HT's (probably one of the most
popular ham items) are sold versus the number of VCRs? With higher priced HF
transceivers, the disparity has got to be even worse. Throw in a major
paradigm shift, such as going to a radio with just a computer interface - no
front panel, and the market's got to be even trickier.

I have a Pegasus, and the more that I use it, the more I like it. I will say
that the receiver is not up to par with high end transceivers. I only had a
chance to play briefly with a Kachina and I never had the Kachina and the
Pegasus side-by-side, but my impression is that the Kachina has a superior
receiver.  That said, though, I'm convinced that while the Pegasus' receiver
is not so good as others, it is GOOD ENOUGH to have a very enjoyable time
operating, which is really my main goal (and probably most other hams as
well).

With a ham transeiver, just as in almost any product, you have to trade off
price and performance. If your performance is too low, no one will buy your
radio, no matter how inexpensive. If the price is too high, you'll still get
sales from the folks who have to have the 'best', but your market may be too
small to cover your costs. I think TenTec did very well in how the
positioned the Pegasus. It looks like Kachina wasn't so lucky.

Bottom line for me. I have several HF transceivers (probably too many). If I
were forced to liquidate (which I hope never happens) and live with just one
transceiver that has the most bang for the buck for me, it would proabably
be the Pegasus.

73,
Mark

----- Original Message -----
From: <K2ZF@aol.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 7:22 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Kachina discontinued


>
> In a message dated 5/17/01 3:09:10 AM !!!First Boot!!!, duffyb01@fuse.net
> writes:
>
> <<
>  Folks,
>
>  It is called competition.  If they make a product hams want, hams will
buy
>  it.  Ten Tec produced a good product that competed directly with the
Kachina
>  product.  The difference was that is was substantially less expensive.
One
>  can argue that the Kachina was better (I don't know just for the sake of
>  argument), but the Ten Tec product is very good and people seem to like
it -
>  and it is a lot less money.
>   >>
>
> What about the people that want a radio that is superior to the middle or
low
> end models that are being produced ? There is a gap here that will be
failed
> to be addressed, competition can be a double edged sword.
> 73 de Jim  K2ZF
>
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>


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