> As for the radio being in a kit form, that is actually a HUGE selling > point, regardless of the time and effort required to build it since > all hams that I have met so far would really love to be able to build > their radios instead of buying a ready made appliance, provided that > the result does not lack in any significant RF design respect vs the > commercially available units. And I am not talking about a million > gadgets that you rarely ever use in a rig, but basic ant time proven > options as the above mentioned.
> This is almost a universal definition of a Ham: "he who likes to > tinker" > ...and by gaining widespread acceptance worldwide, profits can be > improved even with a smaller profit margin per unit. I think you're taking your preconceived ideas and projecting them onto everyone else. YOU may enjoy building kits, but I don't think that's a majority opinion. YOU may be one who likes to tinker with everything you build or buy, but that's far from a majority opinion. If being a kit is a HUGE selling point then we wouldn't be having this discussion about what Elecraft could do to improve its market share. This has to be the best kit radio out there, so by your definition it should be in the market share lead. I frankly don't know if it is or isn't but am assuming from the topic of discussion that it's not. So it can't be the case that simply being a good kit is enough. If I might project MY opinions onto a majority of hams (most of whom aren't on this list, by the way) then I would say the universal definition of a ham is closer to "one who wants more radio than he or she can afford". Everything I've "tinkered" with is because I was too cheap/poor to buy something that was good out of the box or that wasn't used and in need of repair. If I've learned anything in business it's that the best products don't always win. The best *marketed* products win. This means things like "brand", "price", "good looks", "consumer buzz" and "advertising budget" are perhaps more important than "receiver sensitivity", "filter bandwidth" and other measures of quality. Craig NZ0R K1 #1966 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
