[TenTec] "The End of Ten-Tec" (Yeah, Right)

[Jim Younce]

I doubt that Ten-Tec is about to close the doors.  It is a fact that the 
amateur market is only a small percentage of the company's business. Their 
biggest volume is the manufacture of tools & dies and metal boxes for 
electronic OEM manufactures.  The amateur business was a labor of love for 
Al Cohn and Jack Birtchfield.  When Al sold Electro-Voice and bought Ten-Tec 
a tool and die manufacture they decided to build a ham transceiver. Al has 
since become a silent key and I am sure Jack is ready for retirement or 
already has retired.  Both were great gentlemen to do business with and to 
talk to on the air.

However, I am old enough to remember when National Radio, Hallicrafters, 
Drake, Regency, Multi-Elmac, Gonset, Central Electronics, Swan Electronics, 
Atlas Radio, Harvey Wells, Morrow Radio,  Clegg Laboratories,  Webster 
Bandspanner,  Walter Ashe,  Technical Material Corp.,  Barker and 
Williamson,  Peterson Radio,  James Millen,  Hammurland, EF Johnson, 
Heathkit, World Radio Labs, Knight, Lafayette, Eico, Ameco, Hornet Antennas, 
RME Receivers, Master Mobile Antennas, Collins, and several other American 
ham radio manufactures were major players in the manufacture and sales of 
ham radio gear.  Now we are down to two, Ten-Tec and MFJ.  Some of the 
exodus was caused but the failure of engineering departments to keep up with 
single sideband  technology but a great deal of them fell from the Asian 
manufacture competetion.

73

Jim Yoiunce K4ZM