To: | cq-contest@contesting.com |
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Subject: | Re: [CQ-Contest] Lost leading 'dit' - summary |
From: | VR2BrettGraham <vr2bg@harts.org.hk> |
Date: | Fri, 05 Mar 2004 01:45:28 +0000 |
List-post: | <mailto:cq-contest@contesting.com> |
W4ZV replied to N2MG on the subject of quality, processes, etc:The contrast of Elecraft and Ten-Tec versus Yaesu is very striking, and quite surprising given Japan's almost religious fervor about quality. Sometimes our perception of Japan & quality is, well, a bit off. At AMPEX, we looked bad compared to SONY because their b'cast kit worked straight out of the box. A few thousand hours later, however, loose one head on the scanner & with SONY that is the whole upper drum, instead of one video head on a professional VTR where parts are priced accordingly. Here in HK, it wasn't too long ago that an old 2-inch AMPEX cart machine was still putting ads to air - show me a SONY anything that has lasted that long. Look at cars - again, great when new, but how many of the Japanese products really last? Some can, but the body won't last long enough - for most, there is always some shortcoming. In the Japan, there is essentially nothing like a four-year-or-older car as they get rid of them as the gov't taxes them off the road for fear they're unsafe (they go so nuts in repairing crashed cars that crashed cars never get repaired). Same products get sold to export markets - maybe with stronger bumpers, more emission controls, but the platform is the same & is meant to be thrown away. Feel those knobs & switches on the typical Japanese rig. Pleasing colors, modern appearance. What sells is the equivalent of wing mirrors that drive themselves back into position when they get whacked in tight maneuvering or retract at the push of a button when parking in a narrow alley somewhere in Roppongi. There isn't much substance to it, but it sure seems slick. Imagine all the MPs in the greater Tokyo area - spewing forth with phase noise & clicks, with receivers wilting even without the noise blanker engaged. How can that level of quality be accepted as Bill asks? Running around there once whilst chasing microwave QRM, I was impressed when a lady gave a GM-land colleague a right bollocking for lighting up a cigarette on an outside platform at a train station. It was outside, but a non-smoking platform. It wasn't peak time or anything like that. I was very impressed how she broke out of the homogenous, conformist mold & put him in his place. On that trip, I was dealing with guys pointing satellite dishes being paid far more than me & they couldn't work an adjustable spanner or use a spectrum analyzer if their lives depended on it. The amount of obliviousness on basic stuff was just amazing as I dealt with companies that are domestic leaders in their fields. Mix all that random rubbish together & why our Japanese radios work the way they do makes a bit of sense to me & is unlikely to change. A big part of the problem is feedback, the lack of it, or any interest in doing something based on it - all of which the likes of Ten-Tec & Elecraft aren't suffering from. 73, VR2BrettGraham --------------------------------------------------------------- The world's top contesters battle it out in Finland! THE OFFICIAL FILM of WRTC 2002 now on professional DVD and VHS! http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~jamesb/ --------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ CQ-Contest mailing list CQ-Contest@contesting.com http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/cq-contest |
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