Yes... but do you see any NEW Heaths or 2 cycle car engines for sale
new? No. Why not? Regardless of Zenith, LOOK at the late SB-series
Heaths. Not competitive. LOOK at the 2 cycle engine. Not competive.
Whether the actual products were OK or not, they were not perceived as
being as good as the competition, and that, ultimately, was that. As
stated previously, a 324 x 240 monochrome screen in simply not
competitive.
I checked, and there IS dual-receive. Spec-wise, the Orion looks every
bit (you'll hopefully pardon the expression) as terrific as its boosters
suggest. But for serious sales, a 320 x 240 display isn't ('serious'
that is.)
As for those persons concerned that Ham Radio has become so innane that
something like a display is a central issue, I would point out that the
performance advantages are NOT (you don't have to pardon THIS one) so
BLACK & WHITE between top of the line $3000-and up-transceivers. Yes
they exist... probably for no more than 1 in 100 QSOs... but they do
exist. Yet... when almost 100% of your operating time is spent staring
at the operating screen, surely the $100 or so more a higher-rez color
screen would have cost in small OEM quantities would have been more than
offset in user 'satisfaction'. And yes, THOSE studies do exist-they have
been around for years. I really hope that all the same people excusing
this screen aren't the same crowd that was trying to tell everyone (so
many years ago now) that color was unnecessary for PCs-since it didn't
convey any information, it was, therefore, irrelevent. Same deal here.
People LIKE color more. Doesn't have much to do with being better. And
"LIKE" translates directly to sales-or the lack thereof-when
side-by-side comparisons can be made.
P.S. There are portions of my anatomy (not that anybody would, mind you)
I'd gladly trade for an RX-340 'monochrome' display (but, interestingly,
NOT B&W) and all. IT, would be that 'order of magnitude better in
performance' I talked about.
73 Ed Tanton N4XY <n4xy@earthlink.net>
Ed Tanton N4XY
189 Pioneer Trail
Marietta, GA 30068-3466
website: http://www.n4xy.com
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