[TowerTalk] AES SK

[Jim Brown]

On Thu,7/7/2016 8:43 AM, ScottW3TX wrote:
> The bigger picture is what will happen to amateur radio sales companies?
> The trend is that the smaller, niche companies are either closing down or
> selling to the two dominant buyers.

To me, the only value added by retail ham stores is the opportunity they 
provide to actually use a radio on the air, and that is only available 
to hams who live close enough to visit them. The Sunnyvale HRO store, 
the only ham store I've visited in the last 30 years, has a such a 
station, and there are often hams hanging out there chewing the rag.

I strongly prefer the direct sale policy adopted by Elecraft, Ten Tec, 
Flex, DX Engineering, and a handful of smaller vendors. Elecraft has a 
reputation for great support, so did Ten Tec until it went through 
several sales and appears to be returning to that good reputation with 
their new owner. I've had good service from DX Engineering on the few of 
their products I own. I don't know anything about Flex in that regard.

When hams are looking for service on radios sold by the box stores, the 
recommendation is always to an individual ham or small service shop. 
I've yet to see a recommendation for sending the rig to the box store 
for repair.

73, Jim K9YC