Yes, Yaesu ranks at least third after Kenwood and Icom and I'm not sure just 
where TenTec might come in, but there's no question they're not a major 
player in the market. They never really were, but they've slipped 
considerably over the past fifteen years or so.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: This might present blind hams with an opportunity


any little bit helps...but i think standard/vertex is a lost cause...since
their amateur radio devision is going down hill fast anyway.
Maybe that's why they hired Mr. Motschenbacher  to help get their amateur
sales and market share up enough to support its continued existence.
They are big into camercial radio and that is what keeps the company afloat.
Their amateur radio sales are probably something like third as far as market
share goes.

I still maintain hope though since they did have a couple radios that were
relatively accessible.
With some new blood in the corporation, maybe they'll reimplement some of
those features more commonly found now on kenwood and icom rigs.
They have to do something anyway....pretty much every fellow ham I know
doesn't like yaesu, with the exception of the older rigs and the FT897/857
and perhaps the ft1000.
73
Colin, V A6BKX