409Shop

So apparently the 409Shop exists in meatspace as well as the cyberworld. LA3ZA has a visit.

"Their address is on their web site, and the word "showroom" really made me expect something larger than what I found. It turns out to be just one small store among hundreds of others in this street."

Mysterious Ring in China

China is building a mysterious ring in Fushun. I know what it is.

Fakes, Knock-offs, Seconds, Early Models

Kight radio warns of a knock-off Yaesu FTM-350AR being sold as the Luiton FTM-350AR. They've warned of Wouxun fakes before, too. Hans also had concerns about early versions of radios being dumped.

I still stand by what I said then about going cheap as like most things, these decisions are compromises. But occasionally  you get burned - more on that soon.

Crossover 27Q

The Chinese continue to crank out the inexpensive electronics. In this case, it is not a radio, but a monitor - the Crossover 27Q. It is said to use the same LCD panel as the Apple Thunderbolt Display. Yet another opportunity to save a lot of money if you are willing to take a risk.

Sustaining

Knoxville did not do a great job of transitioning after the World's Fair, but these images of the Beijing Olympic locations are almost scary.

"See, unlike China’s empty malls or centrally-planned ghost towns, these Olympics venues weren’t always hollow shells. They were once massive and meticulously orchestrated affairs, exploding with life. Now they’re as cold and lifeless as the system of government that runs that country."

Better Than Nothing

I'm, obviously, a big fan of inexpensive things like the Chinese radios. I'm willing to take a risk when it comes to quality and performance if the price is low enough. But there are limits... if you are chasing the absolute lowest price, you may end up with something that isn't even worth the small amount you paid. (And don't get me started about the transaction costs of scouring the whole internet to save $0.05 on a $50.00 purchase.)

Not Better Than Nothing
Hans (PD0AC) has a post up about Waccom where he wonders if they aren't buying up the early versions of various radios - early versions that have problems that were fixed in subsequent releases. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that some of these companies are actually related - that they've created tiers/brands for the various levels of quality. If a radio is good, sell it under the primary brand. If you have a bad batch, sell them under a secondary brand, so you don't dilute the stronger reputation of the primary.

These Waccoms seem to be the exception to the "better than nothing" rule in that, for essentially the same money, you could have a much better product. That's why I call this a "not better than nothing" option - you have wasted a scare resource in a race to the bottom.

Better Than Nothing
When it comes to self-defense, I'm less inclined to find the cheapest gun available, but there are some interesting options out there. (Everyday of the week and twice on Sunday, I would pick an inexpensive gun over no gun - even if it was one of these.)

Today, I saw this article about Cheaper Than Dirt's best selling gun - the Interstate Arms Hawk Model 982. The 982 is a clone of the popular Remington 870 and is less than $200. The article says it is so successful because "it does a great job of doing exactly what the manufacturer intended it to do, which is to be a rugged home defense gun." Then came this article about a polymer AR lower for only $50. There must be something in the water, because Tam also had this post about cheap fakes of the already inexpensive Magpul sights.

Not everyone can afford a Bio Force Gun 9000, so these less expensive options have their place. I would tend to think of them as "trunk guns" unless I couldn't afford something else. In that case, they would be my pride and joy. Much like I think of the Baofengs as cheap insurance. It may not be the best performer, but the low price allows me to keep one at the office, one in each car, etc. Since I don't have a complete armory at my house, maybe a 982 and a polymer lower is in my future.


Cheaper Than Dirt article via Gun Nuts Media

Chinese Radios - The Center Part II

A commenter on yesterday's post about which Chinese manufacturer is really making all these radios pointed me to this link at Kightradio. (He is the one offering the TYT TH-UV3 for sale.) There are multiple updates on the page:

03/19/12 "The TYT TH-UV3 Dual Band HT is on the way to me now. I will update everyone as soon as I receive them."

So he could have the TYT TH-UV3 any day now. We do live in interesting times.

02/20/2012 "Baofeng UVD-5R Dual Band 4 watt HT was just released for sale in China. This is a nice little Dual Band rig but as of now, the menuis only in Chinese. This is howthe first UV-3R started out and then they made the english menu later. I would like to note that this radio looks exactly like the TYT F8 Radios. In talking with TYT I found out this is a COPY and not a radio made by TYT and sold to Baofeng. TYT has a patent on the case so we will see what TYT does about this later. So if you buy one of these on the internet, BEWARE, its menu is ONLY IN CHINESE and hard to figure out. I have one to test and I am having the menu translated and I will update you later on this.

Dual Band mobiles are not anywhere close to being released. I would not look for them at Dayton this year. Maybe if we are lucky, a few months after Dayton but this is just my personal guess with info I hear in talking with the MFG's every few days."

We know that are now versions of the UV-5R that do Chinese only, Chinese & English, and English only. And he has been told that Baofeng is ripping off TYT's case. More interesting is his claim that the dual band mobiles (KG-UV920R anyone?) won't be available for a few more months.

No Date "We attended the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and the Canton Export Fair Oct 15,2011

We will be updating the site in a few days with all the New Goodies we found at the show. Lots of exciting things in the works so be sure to check back with us and get updated.

We are in China now so if you have any special radios you would like us to purchase for you, contact us and we will be glad to purchase for you.

Call 405-227-9980 (Our time is opposite the USA time so when its 11 am in the US, its 11 pm in China) Please call late evening your time to reach us.

We can get you the latest versions of Wouxun,TYT, Baofeng and others at Hong Kong Prices."

Pretty cool that he offers to ferry radios back from China. Shipping and wire transfers can make a good deal go bad very quickly.

11/11/2011 "Wouxun is going to raise the price effective now of the KG-UVD1p & UVD3 about $22.00 This is because of dealer requests to add 2.5 steps to those models. Its seems more like a move on Wouxun's part to increase the retail price like they have been wanting to do for sometime. They also increased the min wholesale order to 500 units. This is going to put the Wouxun HT's in a higher price class and TYT and others will have the advantage. Hong Kong will have a much lower price and attract more customers. As far as the Dual Band mobile, I would not look for it anytime soon and when it does come out, I am anxious to see the price. Wouxun is not aware of other companies working on Dual Band Radios because they pay little attention to their competition."

Build your brand and demand higher prices. It is the American way!

Chinese Radios - The Center?

The Baofeng UV-3R is a re-branded Vero Telecom UV-3R.

The Vero Telecom VR-2200 is a re-branded TYT TH-9000.

The Baofeng UV-5R (which I cannot find on the Baofeng site) is similar to the TYT TH-F8.

When the UV-3R came out, I thought VeroTelecom was going to be the actual manufacturer - if not the design house, too. The UV-3R was availible as a Baofeng UV-3R, Magiksun UV-3R, Comtex UV-3R, and a Zastone ZT-UV3R. Vero Telecom was going to be the source.

Now it appears that the VR-2200 is actually a TYT TH-9000. And the UV-5R looks like it has it origins in the TYT TH-F8.

Is TYT going to be the center of the ham radio world for China manufacturers?

Does ICOM buy Yaesu radios and re-brand them? Is Elecraft reselling Ten-Tec rigs? The game is different in China. Maybe they just like to keep us on our toes. I am going to need a map.

Baofeng Lake

I really like this picture.  Baofeng Lake, near to Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, China. 

Now I Am Confused

A TYT TH-UV3R... if they could have just thrown a little Wouxun in there, we would have had a trifecta.

Bunnie On Counterfeit Chips in US Military Hardware

An interesting read from Bunnie on counterfeit chips in US military hardware. (I like Bunnie's stuff. He rarely posts, but when he does his electronics, manufacturing, and China experiences make for good reading.)

The problem:

"In the case of the US Military, they have a unique problem where they are one of the biggest and wealthiest buyers of really old parts. Military designs have shelf lives of decades, but parts have production cycles of only years."

A solution:

"A final option could be to establish a strategic reserve of parts. A production run of military planes is limited to perhaps hundreds of units, and so I imagine the lifetime demand of a part including replacements is limited to tens of thousands of units. I can fit ten thousand chips in the volume of a large shoebox"

Social Media Equivalents in China

A infograph with China's answer to social media as we know it.

As Effective as a No Guns Sign

Workers at an iPad factory in China are signing a no-suicide agreement. Because paper and signs stop people from committing violence to themselves or others.

Via Slashdot

China Won't Rule the World

I stumbled across this article on Esquire about China. It lists 5 reasons, China will fail to dominate the world.

No. 1: Demographics, or the Birth of a Nation of Selfish "Little Emperors" - individual egos demand more
No. 2: Accelerated Decrepitude, or Rapid Economic Development at the Cost of Environmental and Societal Breakdown - short-sighted obsession with instant gratification
No. 3: Resource Dependencies, or Creating the Most Vulnerable Economy in the World - growth changes demands which are unsupportable without foreign countries
No. 4: A Growing Defensiveness, or When Soft Power Isn't Enough - significant dependence on unstable countries with little willingness to secure their interests militarily
No. 5: A Bottom-Up Democratization, or What Constitutes Political Authority When the Party's Over - victims of their own success as the power of the middle class increases and poses threats to the single party status quo

I've been to China a few times. My company has a plant there. I've been struck by what seems to be either trust or, maybe, a complete disinterest in the government. I also believe that globalization and the Internet will continue to be factors in the evolution of China.

China is scary.

I heard or read that China is pushing for more Chinese language web pages. They are also preparing to move against VoIP providers.

It is scary how much control the government has. It is even scarier how accepting the Chinese people are of the government as patriarch. I've been to China several times and the people I work with don't know that there is any other way. Perhaps the pace of progress has kept everyone happy. They've come so far they don't know that they are missing anything including the freedom of choice. The Great Firewall of China remains important to limiting the exposure of the average person to the world - otherwise the it could all change.