[Towertalk] The Ham Radio Business

[Jim White]

Are we sure this isn't all planned obsolesence?

Very few can afford to routinely buy a new HF rig with a four digit price
tag...

So, we do it say once or twice a cycle, mebbe...

SO, if a compnay has good success and peaks - would that not be a good time
to essentially shut down most of its relatyed operations....then rebirth
those operations when an anticipated sales peak is anticipated....i.e.
Wlecome to the 00's

As far as Ten Tec - I went from using an Omnvi VI+ to an FT1000D and I
personally like it better....however like some guys are Ford nuts and other
love Checy's or Fords it depends on your taste to some extent.....

ANY company that invests all of its effort in the Ham market is destined to
demise...face it we are small market and we are cheap.  I know I am...I will
dicker over anything in the flea market, period.

Ham Radio was doing fairly well in the sixties I suspect due to the cold war
indirectly subdizing the communications industry - surely you guys don't
think the S-Line was developed for Amateur radio!!!!

I applaud manufacturers like Ten Tec for sticking with it and continuing to
offer new items to the Ham Radio market...it is too bad we are not big
enough to have a bunch of companies able to do that and via competition we
benefit from a "battle"....currently, in my opinion, Yaesu is at the
forefront as far as supplying what the ACTIVE HF operator wants, and also
they have their VHU/UHF handheld business to help carry this I am
sure...perhaps Kenwood will have a resurgence in the Amateur Market - I was
a devoted user of Kenwood products for a cycle...Ten Tec another and
currently I am a Yaesu lover.

As far as what we should expect next, the new Ten Tec rig and other PC based
radios are clearly what is happening now...look for manufacturers to use the
power plant the PC has to offer, and we all have grown accustomed to owning,
and via peripherals attached to USB ports or comm ports or plug in cards the
computers will also become our tranceivers....

"I am running an old Pentium 1.2 Gig machine with an Alpha 2010 plug in"

The economy in my opinion has very little to do with the current lack of ham
purchasing power....the lack of enthusiasm for HF is the culprit.  The hard
core among us - be it DXers/Contesters whatever demand state of the art
developments to stay on the cutting edge...but there ain't that many of us
to support an industry so without something like a military need pushing the
communications industry we probably won't see anything of the kind.

Realist not pessimist....of course if you want to see an increase in demand
for HF gear why not encourage HF activity with fun operating events...I know
just the thing:

The Florida QSO Party - a mere 26 days away!

73,

Jim, K4OJ








----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Reid" <jimr.reid@verizon.net>
To: "Robert Shohet" <kq2m@mags.net>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Towertalk] The Ham Radio Business


> Robert, KQ2M,  wrote,  in part:
>
> >  [To] grow a business or be profitable.... you make your
> > customers and clients happy.  This means:
> >
> > 1) cheerfully supporting what you sold them, and
> > 2) continuing to consistently innovate and create new, high
> > quality products that people are pleased to spend new money on.
>
> > some.... manufacturers have failed miserably on both counts.
>
> There is an American company succeeding on both counts,  and
> about to introduce,  later this year with a peek at Dayton, an
> outstanding new Amateur product.  Their service to customers
> is nearly "miraculous"  both in quality and speed...and often FREE!
>
> Have a look at the coming "Orion rig" by Ten Tec of Tennessee:
>
> 1.  Ten Tec's Orion site:
>
> http://www.tentec.com/TT565.htm
>
> 2.  A site to which ideas are being supplied  to Ten Tec as the
> design is evolving (though much is already established and
> was demonstrated at the Charlotte hamfest a few weeks ago),
> see:  http://www.qsl.net/w6hk/orion.htm
>
> BTW,  Scott Robins,  Ten Tec product manager for the Orion,
> is one of the top contest operators going today;  check out
> the standings of W4PA!
>
> I am really looking forward to this coming innovative product for us!
>
> 73,  Jim  KH7M
>
>
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