Hi Ron, Correct , in the case of Icom, marine gears and commercial radios are far more profitable. From the reading of the annual report 2009 of Icom posted in www.Icom.jp.co , ham gears only contributed 10% of their business.
Like other export manufacturers in japan , they were hard hit by strong JPY. While I was in Osaka last month, I did voice my concern about profitability and survival in front of them. Johnny VR2Xmc Sent from my iPhone 4 "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[email protected]> 於 2010年12月2日 上午7:22 寫道： > I suspect Icom's focus and main income is marine and aircraft gear - > especially the huge GMDSS marine market. The operational requirements for > GMDSS gear is similar to Ham needs - SSB across the HF bands and FM in VHF - > so I suspect they'll continue to build "ham gear" as long as there's a > profit there. But there's nothing like the HUGE market for virtually > identical (and so easy to manufacture and support) GMDSS rigs. > > That might also suggest why ICOM has not been real fast to address CW keying > issues when they do occur - they relate only to the Amateur market. > > E.F Johnson went the same way, moving out of the Ham market an into the > (then very lucrative) land mobile market in the 70's and 80's. When land > mobile went to VHF trunking systems - something with no direct application > to the Ham market - Johnson simply stopped making Ham gear. > > Ron AC7AC > > P.S. In this world of tag lines let me offer, ""Once you've stood a busy > watch or two the code is yours for keeps. After that it's simply a language > that you know, that you can't forget if you tried. By Jingo, you'll think in > dots and dashes for the rest of your life." Raddall, 'The Nymph and the > Lamp' > > > -----Original Message----- > > Even with the release of the TS-590, Kenwood's > interest in the serious high-end of HF gear has been in some doubt for a > long time. That leaves only Icom who appears serious enough to be > around a decade hence as a full line manufacturer. > > > 73, de Nate >> > > -- > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
