That's nonsense. While I don't know their comparative sales figures with 
respect to Japanese and U.S. numbers, the U.S. is the largest ham market in 
the world, so to say that the Japanese companies don't care about this 
market is the height of foolishness.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anthony Vece" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 4:18 PM
Subject: Re: This might present blind hams with an opportunity


I get the feeling that these companies like ICOM KENWOOD and YAESU in the
USA.
  really have no say about the products that they receive from Japan.

I spoke with a person from ICOM once who suggested that they were trying to
get beeps with different pitches so that you could interpret power levels
and whatnot.  However, when the person told me this, he kind of suggested it
as a novelty.