Monday, January 6, 2014

Impact and Perception

I posted about the Wouxun problem.
Hans posted about the Wouxun problem.
Matt posted about the Wouxun problem.
David posted about the Wouxun problem.
It is making the rounds on the Yahoo Group.
It is making the rounds on the forums like eHam.net, QRZ, and AR-15, CalGuns.net.
[ EDIT TO ADD: ] The QRPer posted about the Wouxun problem.


That's in less than 24 hours. I know we don't represent a huge part of the total internet, but for the Chinese radios, we are what I like to call a non-trivial number. Wouxun had a huge lead on the other manufacturers. The KG-UV920R was a disappointment. Losing the guy that bought these radios to the US market is another step back. Culture issue? Poor management? Inability to manufacture? With alternatives like BaofengAnyTone, and a multitude of others, more problems or perceived problems* will make them go the way of AOL.

* Especially considering the price increases as they became more popular. My first Wouxun was less than $110.

4 comments:

  1. Wooo wee, Wouxun has ticked my local company, Total Radio Service, riiiight off. I won a KG-UV920P at a hamfest, but have issues with FM receive, and programming from the PC port. The response I got from TRS wasn't very satisfactory, but basically, "you're on your own kid, we're getting out of the Wouxun business because they ticked us off." My only real hope is for me to find the schematics, and kludge together a programmer/fix the radio.

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    1. If you drop me an e-mail. I'll send you a copy. E-mail address can be found on my blog.

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    2. Thanks Hans! It turns out, that I won't have this radio long enough to need the schematic after all. I'll keep it in mind if a friend comes to me with issues with the same radio. :)

      It's a shame Wouxun didn't live to their full potential. I had no idea about the UVD1 bug, but it makes sense. I wonder if it was NAND/NVRAM... But hey, there's always going to be a competitor/challenger in any industry.

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  2. I posted about this yesterday on my blog also, though mine isn't as big as the ones you listed.
    I don't know that I would compare the Baofeng radios to Wouxun though. You can buy 3, maybe 4, of the Baofengs for the price that Wouxun is getting now. I do think the Wouxun quality is better overall, but if they have failed to satisfy so many of their customers, their days might be numbered.
    I ordered the Anytone AT3318 yesterday so I will be doing some testing on this radio soon.
    KC5HWB

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