Interesting,

Notice that the announcement from Kenwood did not seem to be promising 
any new hf gear.

I suppose they can stay in the land mobile market and offer firmware for 
amateur transceivers without too much expense.

However, their current hf offerings are rather hopeless compared to the 
competition and one wonders whether they will have any loyal customers 
left.

I got fed up of waiting for a viable replacement to my 950sdx so got myself 
an ic7800.

I think they will have a hard job winning back those who got the pro 3 and 
various ft1000/2000 series.



On 22 Jun 2007 at 11:11, John Miller wrote:

> That rumor's been around for the last 7 or 8 years, I stopped believing it 5 
> years ago.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Butch Bussen" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 10:58 AM
> Subject: Kenwood and ham radio
> 
> 
> > THis was on the tmv-71a list I'm on.  This rumor has been around for the
> > last couple years.  Hope this isn't too long.  Kenwood's response.
> > I-07-01AR June 21, 2007
> > Recent Post on a Ham Radio Related Web Page
> > Dear Fellow Hams,
> > I would like to take a moment of your time with this open letter and help
> > dispel rumors, and falsehoods that have been stated
> > as fact.
> > I have been assured from Top Management in Japan and the U.S. and I can
> > assure you that the Kenwood Communications
> > Sector has no intention of exiting the Amateur Radio Marketplace. It is a
> > viable market. The Amateur Division has been
> > running in the black since our restructuring several years ago. In fact,
> > even with the loss of models over the last four years
> > the Amateur Division has grown in Market, speaking highly of Kenwood
> > quality and the loyalty of our customers.
> > At Dayton this year we introduced the new TM-V71A many were sold at the
> > show. The preproduction prototype of the Dual
> > Band TM-D710A was under Plexiglas, it too was received very well by the
> > crowd; it will serve as the TM-D700A replacement
> > in late August. We also gave away many thousands of Kenwood Branded items,
> > such as brochure bags, hat pins and
> > laminated prefix maps.
> > It is true the core business of Kenwood Communications is Land Mobile. The
> > Land Mobile Radio Division is the second
> > largest communications company in the world based on sales, second only to
> > Motorola. It takes a full year for Amateur sales
> > to equal Land Mobile sales of just one month. What we are doing is just
> > good business sense with the product line and will
> > keep us in the Amateur Market for many years to come.
> > As a fellow Ham, I want new radios as much as you. The business model of
> > Kenwood is one platform for all markets with the
> > only difference being firmware. It's exceedingly expensive to retool the
> > factory for each market.
> > In addition, Europe and to be followed by the rest of the world has deemed
> > that products be RoHS compliant. The Restriction
> > of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) is the reason we are introducing
> > new products to replace current popular models
> > that are noncompliant. These new models include TM-V71A, TM-D710A and
> > others after the D710 reaches market.
> > Unfortunately, this must be accomplished before we start work on any new
> > HF radios.
> > Most people believe that this is just a lead-free mandate, but it also
> > includes the use six substances: Mercury, Cadmium,
> > Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated biphenyls and Polybrominated biphenyl
> > ether. The maximum concentrations are
> > 1000ppm. For cadmium the limit is 100 ppm by weight of homogeneous
> > material. The limits do not apply to the weight of the
> > finished product, or even to a component, but to any single part that
> > could be separated mechanically. (From Wikipedia)
> > Everything that can be identified as a homogeneous material must meet the
> > limit. So if it turns out that the case was made of
> > plastic with 2,300 ppm PBB used as a flame retardant, then the entire
> > radio would fail the requirements of the directive.
> > Please standby for more quality Kenwood products, they will come!
> > 73, from the Helm!
> > Phil Parton  N4DRO
> > National Sales Manager  Amateur Products
> > Kenwood USA Corporation
> > Communications Sector
> > [log in to unmask]
> 
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