[TenTec] Bring back the corsair 2

Thu Nov 24 11:01:51 EST 2016

This is actually not a bad idea... But... 

Consider that the Corsair sold for circa $1000 back in the day.  I believe
the Corsair II was in the same price range, give or take a few bucks (I was
no longer working in Amateur Radio retail when the Corsair II was out).
Allowing for inflation, that would probably put it in the $2000 price class
today.

If the numbers work out that way (hold that thought), I strongly suspect
that you could get a minimum of 100 hams who would buy one.

The problem is, though, in the details.

Which parts are no longer available?  
How much redesign would be recquired to accommodate those parts?
Do the design specs for the circuit boards still exist?  Even if they do,
would putting in different components require a complete redesign?
Would the costs of this redesign work exceed the point where building the
rig for sale circa $2K is profitable?

How much do you 'tinker' with the basic rig?  And I don't mean putting in
'factory mods' or fixes that came along during the initial production runs.
Do you keep it at 100 W out?  Or would 'beefing it up' to 200 W or so make
it more marketable?
Do you keep the PTO mechanical VFO, or do you go to a DDS type digital VFO?
And if so, how does that affect the 'noise floor' of the rig?
Do you throw in 6 meters?  60 meters?
Do you retain the external VFO, or the capability for one?  (I would make
the argument that slightly higher costs from a dual digital VFO is offset by
no need for an external VFO)
Do you put on a serial port (that includes USB port(s)) for feeding a
computer logging program?
If you go that far, do you give a computer some control over the VFO, and
possibly some other functions?

None of these questions, or many others like them, are deal breakers or
insolvable in and of themselves.  With that in mind, my educated guess is
that if someone could produce a limited run of a Corsair II or modern
equivalent for a sale price between $2000 and about $2500, and not lose
money on them, you might be able to get at least 100 hams to buy it.
Whether or not you could get 200, though, well, that remains to be seen.  

If the price goes higher, the number of nostalgic hams goes down.  And maybe
I'm underestimating the number of hams who would actually pay hard money (or
at least use a good credit card!) for such a rig, as economies of scale
would help bring the net per-radio cost down a little.  

But even if this COULD be done... Considering the challenges that Dishtronix
and Ten Tec are facing right now to get back into the market, an start
producing rigs again... Is this really something we want them spending their
time, energy, money, and effort on?  Or do we want them to put all that
design work into the next generation of rigs to come?

I know.  That's why the original suggestion was to have the 'resurrected'
Corsair II built in China.  Even if Mike was interested in this, and I don't
know but I suspect he isn't, at best it would have to be done 'under
license'.  And there would still be a ton of issues to address.

So I just don't see it happening.  Pity.

73, ron w3wn

-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Reed Krenn
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2016 7:16 PM
To: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Bring back the corsair 2

Here's a thought: How about making the production run a special limited
edition? There is precedent, when TT had the limited edition Vibroplex keys.
Maybe call it the 'Phoenix' series, representing Ten Tec's rise from the
ashes. Perhaps there could be some unique new feature that would
differentiate it from earlier production runs, and that would heighten its
'cache'.

Thoughts?

Reed / WW3A

On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 7:05 PM, Steve Ellington <steven4lq at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I tried an Eagle at the factory and didn't like it. Too small, noisy 
> TR QSK relay, menus etc.
> For some reason everyone including TT stopped using those quiet little 
> reed relays and now use those noisy metal encased relays. I really 
> can't understand why unless it's something in the manufacturing 
> process. So there's no reason for me to want one.
>
> On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 6:59 PM, Barry N1EU <barry.n1eu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Actually, I think several of us answered Mike's question saying that
> $1699
> > sounded too high.
> >
> > 73, Barry N1EU
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 11:51 PM, Steve Berg <wa9jml at frontier.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Well so far none of us has answered Mike's question about buying 
> > > his
> > first
> > > lot of 100 Eagles.  I am willing to commit to purchasing one, but 
> > > that
> > is a
> > > grand total of 1% of what he needs to sell to make the production 
> > > run viable.
> > >
> > > I ran an Eagle at the factory station some years back, and was 
> > > very impressed.  It was like someone took my Argonaut II and 
> > > greatly
> improved
> > > its performance.
> > >
> > > Dreaming about Chinese built Corsair II's is very nice, and
> pontificating
> > > on how Ten Tec really should produce a software defined super rig 
> > > is
> > fine,
> > > but Mike needs to have some cash flow to stay viable.
> > >
> > > My $0.02 worth...
> > >
> > > Steve WA9JML
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > TenTec at contesting.com
> > > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > TenTec at contesting.com
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> >
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