[TowerTalk] 2006 Top Ten Chutzpah Awards - the top two

[Pete Smith]

Jim, I'm sorry - because they can get this grotesque price doesn't mean that ARRL should implicitly endorse their doing so.  As a citizen, I have other channels to rail against my government's absurd procurement practices, but as a ham I hate to see the gullible get .... gulled.  

73, Pete

At 04:36 PM 8/22/2006, Jim Lux wrote:
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>>p. 32 "Broadband Manpack Antenna and Mast from B&W" -- claiming less than 2:1 SWR 1.6-60 MHz.  Picture looks like two christmas tree light reels, a lot of hookup wire, two three foot pieces of tubing and a humongous balun/dummy load.  Rated for 20 watts.  $545 for the antenna alone, or $1190 (!) for the antenna and mast kit.
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>Well manpack, in this case, doesn't mean it operates while attached to a manpack, but, rather, that it can be carried by a man in a pack.
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>This antenna is the same old terminated folded dipole that has been B&W's mainstay for aeons.  The new fiberglass poles and the canvas bag are new.
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>Sure enough, it's got a 2:1 match over the band. It's somewhat(!) inefficient, but, heck, it *does* radiate, and from a system design standpoint, maybe the appeal of no moving/controllable parts against the cost of whatever increase in Tx power (if any) is needed to close the link is attractive.  It's aimed not at hams, but at folks with a bit more cash, who aren't interested in homebrew, and who are running a $5K+ ALE radio into it.
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>Cost-wise it seems expensive, but compare it against something designed to compete squarely against it in the same basic market: the long SGC whip and the companion autotuner.  In procurement costs, the ability to get all the stuff packaged together in one box/bag that fits is probably worth a good part of the purchase price, as opposed to procuring the antenna from one place, the mast from another, the attachment fixture from a third, and a suitable bag from a fourth, not to mention that the intended buyers aren't interested in fabrication.  This is a turnkey product that fills a particular need.
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>That is also the "manufacturers list price".. I suspect that the actual price to your local buyer is somewhat less. When I worked for a manufacturer of theatrical equipment in this price range, the factory price was always higher than the dealer price, because we wanted to protect our dealers. What we changed the dealer was substantially lower, because they have to cover their costs and profit, plus have room to negotiate on a package deal.
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>  In this case, the buyer would probably be going to some retailer of emergency comm gear for some package, including radio (from Harris, Racal, Vertex, etc.), antenna(s), carrying cases, support, training, etc.  B&W might be getting all of $500 for their part of the deal.  I'd venture that you'd have a tough time duplicating the product for the same price, especially if you buy new materials and pay reasonable wages, and deal with all the paperwork, not to mention probably waiting 90 days to get paid.  We used to figure that the "retail sell price" would be 5-10 times the purchase cost of the components... using that rule of thumb, could you duplicate the B&W product for <$120 in brand new parts?
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>(after having read through countless posts on a new portableantennatesting yahoo group)
>Jim, W6RMK
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