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]