Unfortunately, most small companies and more than a few big ones don't have
the fiscal luxury of designing, prototyping, testing and bringing into
production new products in a total vacuum. Development is terribly
expensive and doesn't begin to pay off until they start collecting the
checks. They need to start generating revenue as quickly as possible, even
when that means announcing and even taking orders (and money) in advance of
the product's release.
Jim Esser, WD9FRF
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike O'Brien <k0myw@worldnet.att.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 16:45
Subject: re: [TenTec] New TT QRP Rig
Well, when it comes to teasing and priming the ham market with a
not-yet-ready-to-release rig, one of the all-time best was National with
its NC-300 "dream receiver" back in the late 1950s. As I remember,
full-page ads appeared in QST (and probably other magazines as well) for
months in advance of the actual availability the rig. Many of the ads
featured a picture of a mysterious boxy shape with a drape covering it.
And as for the reference to the Hallicrafters FPM-200, it really was
ahead of its time with mostly-solid-state circuitry that made it
impractical for mass production in the late '50s. Hallicrafters showed
photos of one prototype, then ran a pilot run of about 50 rigs with
obvious substantial changes, before pulling the plug on the project and,
a few years later, introducing the less innovative FPM-300.
Today, I'm glad Ten-Tec is giving us a good-faith heads-up about their
plans, and taking the necessary time to develop a solid rig before
selling it to us.
73,
Mike, KØMYW
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