[TenTec] 7800 purchases (was Orion in contests)

[Rob Atkinson, K5UJ]

<<<I was at the Fort Wayne, IN Hamfest last wk end. Talked to Icom, the 7800
will be more like $10,000?

AND the first run is spoken for. Go Figure...
Lee>>>

I also doubted there would be very many 7800s sold at that price but--
Quick story to give some insight into this:  I was at a vendor last summer 
and the talk turned to the 7800.  Now, this is someone who has been in the 
business side of ham radio for many years and knows a few things about the 
market I'd never realize.  He asked me to guess how many 7800s Icom would 
sell to hams:

Me:  World wide?
Vendor:  Yeah.
Me:  (thinking) Umm, oh, at $10K, probably 300.
Vendor:  Ha, try more like three thousand.

He went on to explain that there are a lot of guys with lots of money for 
this hobby--many more than I would have guessed.

Also, a couple of other points:  Firstly, you all don't really think Icom is 
making the 7800 just for hams do you?  I have been told when their last 
super rig, the one with the CRT (781?) came out, they sold around a thousand 
to NATO.  Those are old rigs now; the 7800 (or it's mil spec cousin) is 
supposedly being built to be sold to government users as a replacement.  
This is heresay--I do not have any facts to support this, however it seems 
in some way plausable since the cost of designing, building and selling a 
really high end product can't be borne by the ham market alone.  Collins 
owners laugh when people act as if the S Line was built for hams.  Secondly, 
the civilian ham product price will probably drop after a few thousand are 
sold around the world to goverments.

Rob Atkinson
K5UJ

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