[TenTec] Ten-Tec market visibility

[Douglas]

I just got back from the New England ARRL convention at Boxboro, Mass.

Ten-Tec was conspicuously absent. With no dealers selling their products, minimal QST advertising and little attendance at larger Hamfests, how does Ten-Tec expect to continue to be a factor in the Amateur Equipment marketplace?

Their QST ads have shrunk from being a full page ad near the beginning of the magazine to a quarter page ad (at best) buried near the end of the magazine.

Meanwhile, Elecraft and Flex Radio were conducting forums and had large displays. An Elecraft KX3 and a Flexradio 1500 were among the prizes given away. Of course, the factory displays from YaeComWood were large and conspicuous.

The DX dinner and the DXpedition presentation increased a lot of talk about the Elecraft K3's used in the expedition. If their was talk at all about Ten-Tec and its products it was in the past tense with words like "Elecraft is eating them for lunch".

Even if Ten-Tec is hurting financially (I don't know that as a fact but wonder why they have cut back their advertising), they had better up their marketing and visibility or they won't be long for the Amateur Radio marketplace.

By the way, this convention had its best year in over a decade with an attendance that exceeded 2,000. With the number of ham license holders near an all time high of over 700,000, the rumors of the death of our hobby are greatly exaggerated.

73,

Doug/WA1TUT