[amsat-bb] Re: 220 MHz Radios and Region 2 Hams

[Trevor]

--- James Duffey <JamesDuffey at comcast.net> wrote:
> The rise of Japanese  
> radio manufacturers was a contributing cause of the demise of ham  
> radio manufacturing in this country. Some of us would like them to  
> realize that they have most of the ham radio market here and that  
> providing a rig that provides 220 MHz capabilities for an area in  
> which they dominate the market is not too much to ask. They could  
> probably make a buck or two on the deal in the meantime. - Duffey

It seeems to me the Japanese manufacturers are primarily geared towards the
Japanese Amateur market. This is still the worlds largest market although it's
shrunk considerably since the days when Japan has 1.3 million Radio Hams. They
acheived that phenominal number through the introduction of a code free HF
Amateur licence way back in the 1950's.

In global terms Japanese Amateur rig manufacturers aren't really that big, they
are small companies. 

When Motorola took over Yaesu (Standard-Vertex) it wasn't the Amateur Radio
part they were interested in. The ham side was just a small niche division that
happened to come with the rest of the business. 

Over 40 DXCC countries have an Amateur band at 70 MHz but that suffers from the
same lack of commercial rigs as 220 in the states. 

I feel that unless an Amateur band is available globally it's just not going to
be worth any manufacturer producing rigs for it. So it'll be up to Amateurs to
design and build their own rigs for their "local" bands. 

73 Trevor M5AKA



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