[geeks] Moved to geeks: Cheap Ham radios (was Dayton Hamfest)

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Sun, May 18, 2008 at 10:37:42AM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> Geoffery, have you forgotten about economy of scale? A 20 meter rig
> would have a much small, and more geographically-diverse market than an
> entry-level 11 meter AM rig would.

That's why I had suggested Ten-Tec do it. They have the facilites in place
for design, fabrication, testing, marketing and delivery. 


> Assuming similar technology, would a 20 meter rig with one mode of
> operation (AM, CW, or SSB), offerred 5-12 watts PEP input power, and the
> cruddy selectivity, sensitivity, and modulation of a $35 11 meter rig
> sell? I would consider it the OLPC of the amateur radio market myself,
> and it would be crushed by a market of vastly superior radios for
> 50-100% more ($300-400).

What market? AFAIK there are none in that price range. 

The ICOM 703 is about $700, the Yaesu 817 is $600 and Alinco's offerings
are $700 and $800. Granted they are much better radios with full HF
and in some cases 6m, 2m, 70cm coverage, but the cheapest one is 3
times the price.

As the dollar sinks into the sunset and all of those rigs are made
in the orient, I expect the prices to go up, not down. 

Check out www.rffun.com (Universal Radio), www.aesham.com (Amateur
Electronic Supply) or HRO (Ham radio outlet). The prices I quoted
are from Universal, AES and HRO are cheaper, but not as well thought
of.


As for selectivity, a 2.4kHz ceramic IF filter would do fine for SSB,
and according to many people on the Ten-Tec list (NOT including ME),
fine for CW too. Better filters could be add on extra cost options,
which is what I intended. Keep it cheap, pare it down and sell up
as the customer's needs change.

Since my opinions of the OLPC are well known on this list I would
consider that comment as an insult if I cared. :-) I don't. If anything
I am trying to make it a minimal rig, which can easily be expanded 
instead of the OLPC, which is a maximal rig loaded with costly extras
the intended audience does not need or want.

One of the things I kept saying on the Ten-Tec list is that it should
NOT be capable of CW operation without an add-on even if the cost
for it is minimal. I don't want hams who never use CW feeling they
had to pay for an option they did not need. I also believe that
hams learning how to copy Morse code are going to be happy with a 
2.4kHz bandwidth on HF as it will let through many signals on a 
normal U.S. band.


> Granted, such a rig *could* spark market interest in a low-cost HF
> radio, but it would get crushed in the process.

How so? 

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM