[TowerTalk] AES SK

[Chris Hoelzle]

Ham radio stores going out of business or changing their model is not
something new.
My Father K6PMC owned Kitron Radio in Pomona, CA. Starting in 1957 he was a
proud retailer for Hammarlund and Hallicrafters radios. He was hard working
and kind to all the hams that would come in. 
He would spend three or four hours with a ham comparing and contrasting the
features of each radio. None of these radios were cheap. He sold a few of
them, but unfortunately, most of the hams would reward his help by driving
40 miles to a competitor where they could buy the radio for $20 or $30
cheaper.
In the later years, my dad would lament about the fact that so many hams
were just cheap. What a shame.

Moral of the story - If you get good customer service from a brick and
mortar shop - Please - reward them with a sale instead of using the internet
and trying to make finding the cheapest price into a blood sport.

I miss my local Radio Shack - I am sure there are a lot of hams that liked
AES.

It is up to us to reward retailers for their commitment to us.

NN6CH
Chris Hoelzle 
choelzle at cox.net 
Laguna Niguel, CA