TYT TH-9800: Rumors of its death...

Rumors, perpetuated by me nonetheless, of the death of the TYT TH-9800 may have been greatly exaggerated.

Chris pointed out the Andrews Communications site has the TYT TH-9800 as coming available in March for   $399AUD ($416 USD).

Ed from Import Communications provided some more specifics along with the timeline as he sees it:

"My samples for the TH-9800 will ship early April and mass production will begin in May.  I'm not sure if they will be ready for sale by Dayton, but I will at least have one on display... I had one on display last year.

And the coverage for the TH-9800 are as follows 

HF:    RX/26-33MHz;TX/26-33MHz

VHF: RX/47-54MHz;TX/47-54MHz (Optional)

VHF: RX/66-88MHz;TX/66-88MHz (Optional)

VHF: RX/108-135MHz

VHF: RX/136-180MHz;TX/136-176MHz

UHF: RX/320-399.995MHz;TX/350MHz-390MHz

UHF: RX/400-512MHz;TX/400MHz-470MHz or 440MHz-512MHz

UHF: RX/750-950MHz

I have not verified the "optional" VHF ranges but I'm guessing there will be different versions for different countries."

Nate's Open Letter to TYT

My post about the TYT TH-9800 got Nate thinking and the result is the following open letter from him to TYT.

If TYT will take an advice from me (Nate)... 

It is no secret that Chinese radio manufacturers like following the lead of other successful brands for a good reason, they sell.

The problem is that instead of bringing new ideas (or even good old proven ideas) they start playing with different packages and name labels which just add to the consumer's confusion, and doesn't generate more sales (writing "Hot 2013" in-front of last year's product doesn't really do anything).

I think TYT/Baofeng/others should "re-create" a very successful radio series Kenwood had in the 1990's, the Kenwood TM-642 / TM-742 / TM-842 / TM-942.

Today's technology should be able to cut down costs, and since TYT don't currently have any Dual band mobile radios, it wouldn't compete with other products they are already deeply invested in (which is probably why Kenwood stopped making them).

Creating a radio as a platform has many advantages, such as quick design phase, simple to manufacture, test, repair, and certify which saves the manufacturer money and lets the buyer get what they need (think how successful was the IBM compatible PC and how it shaped forever the computers we use today).

Radio as a platform means that the manufacturer will spend the time designing the radio itself, as a unit with a CPU, display, buttons, memory banks, software, speakers, RF, data and microphone jacks and expansion slots for modules , and than produce simple modules that will answer the demand from ham radio operators, and commercial entities world wide.

Modules: Each module should contain the specific RF parts for the band it is designed for such as Frequency generators, Mixers, Filters, and Power amplifiers.

There are at-least 9 Amateur bands that should be made: 10m, 6m, 4m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, 33cm 23cm and 13cm.

Some of these bands can be used for commercial needs as well, if the software allows locking the radio to specific memory channels, and of-course if there is a need for a different band, all they need to do is create the appropriate module.

I'm going to concentrate in the question: Why can Chinese manufacturers count on revenue from selling modular/platform radios to ham radio operators world-wide?

1. Both in the Americas (1.25m and 33cm) and Europe (4m) these old/new bands are gaining a lot of popularity, while there is very little equipment for these bands being sold today, whoever is going to fill up the gap is going to win this game.

2. A lot of hams around the world can enjoy the universal bands of 23cm and 13cm, that the only reason why these aren't popular is that there is virtually no radios for it in a decent price.

3. There are no new triple band radios being made today, and if you look in eBay for any of these old Kenwood triple band radios, you'll see they still bring a very pretty penny (a lot of money) even after 20 years!!!

4. It will be very hard for hams to resist buying one radio to get into one more band, if they have their traditional 2m/70cm in it too, for example 2m/1.25m/70cm in the US and 4m/2m/70cm in Europe, and new hams looking for their first radio would want to get one too.

5. Buying more than one: I think that if there will be such a wide availability of all these bands, some hams will buy a second or even a third radio. Some hams will buy them for redundancy, some because they are collectors (these hams will probably buy all the module options), also a lot of hams put these mobiles in their cars, and since these will have the ability to have unique bands (bands they can't access on the their base station) , they will want to get at-least one more for the home too, and let's not forget these repeater owners that will get them just to extend the capability of their multi-band repeaters. 

6. Increasing sales and Accessories: these radios will require tri-band antennas for different band options, duplexers, and triplexers, this will add the manufacturers more revenue.

7. Innovation sells: look how much time and effort consumers put down talking about crappy poorly designed radios, in blogs, and in forums, even non shows, if there was an option to buy a triple band radios, people would most definitely buy them.

Baofeng Tribute

And Jim has officially lost it:

Bao Feng...you make my heart sing...
You make everything
Groovy
I said Bao Feng...

Bao Feng, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
Come on, hold you tight
I love you

Bao Feng...you make my heart sing...
You make everything
Groovy
I said Bao Feng...

Bao Feng, I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
So come on, hold you right
You move me

Shi Ying: SR-31

If I said I was excited about the Shi Ying SR-31, it would be a huge understatement. It is a Chinese dual-band (2M/440), dual-display, dual-standby handheld transceiver. Don't understand my excitement yet?

What if I told you Shi Ying was Chinese for Griffin? As in Ed Griffin of Import Communications. Ed's about to release a new radio and he's putting his name (in Chinese) behind it. I like it.

He gave me a little information about what's going on and some of the features of the SR-31:

"I'm having a Chinese company make a dual band ht for me to my specifications. Features will include 2/5 tone and the ability to add/remove a channel from the scan lineup via the keypad. Unlike many other Chinese radios, when scanning, this radio will skip over channels that don't contain matching CTCSS tones. Many others will stop on a carrier even if the tone is not present. The brand name is Shi Ying, which is a Griffin in Chinese."

Check out a picture of the radio and the cool company logo below. I like the tag line "Chinese made, American inspired." More information about dates and price when I have it.

"The DaVinci Code" Free Download Right Now

Pogue Better yet: “The DaVinci Code” is a free download right now for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Google, AND iBooks! j.mp/YpORbC Wed, Mar 20 22:14:31 from Tweetbot for Mac

Oleg on Being Rich

Preach it, brother!

"Ah, to be rich! If only I had 30 hour days…"

Don't get me wrong -  if I won the lottery, I'd love to have the money. But the real benefit would be all the time it would give me.

Google Keep

So Google has an alternative to Evernote and they are calling it Google Keep. I'd be kinda excited about that, but given the coming demise of Google Reader, I'm afraid of making a commitment.

Anytone AT-5888UV: Resources

As we discussed before, there is a tightly controlled Yahoo Group for the Anytone AT-5888UV.

Because of that tight control, a second Yahoo Group for the Anytone AT-5888UV was started.

I also noticed (via Ed's listing for the radio) that there is a Wiki page for the AT-5888UV.

TYT TH-9800: Quad Band Mobile No Show

I wrote a lot about the TYT TH-9800 in this post last May. In July, Ed was being told that it would be available in October. Dale had thought October as well, but then pushed his date to November.

I saw this posted on the TYT-USA Yahoo Group:

"Apparently the 9800 was shown at Dayton, but it hasn't been put into production yet and probably won't be. At least that's the latest word from a dealer that is a TYT distributor."

So more vaporware or just delayed like some other Chinese radios?

Power

Looks like the ReVolt is no longer available, but they are working on a replacement that may show up in June. (Kudo's to Bill of ReVolt for noticing my original post dropping by to comment.)

While we are waiting on the ReVolt, I've been looking for something smaller to meet my portable, emergency power needs for my phone and other devices. The WireCutter did a round up recently and recommends the Satechi Energy Station 10000.

• Instant dual power - recharge your tablet and smart phone or other mobile devices simultaneously.
• 10000 mAh Lithium Polymer Battery - Rapid charging - faster than charging from a traditional outlet
• Battery life indicator & auto OFF feature that detects when fully charged.
• Lightweight and compact - easily carry it on long flights in your laptop or tablet bag
• Safety Features: Overload protection - Short circuit protection - Overcharge protection - Overdischarge protection

FYI - If you buy through those links, Amazon will be backing up dump trucks full of money at my front door - at no extra cost to you.