Huh?
Did I read this right?
Is the point of this email that because:
(a) Doug Smith has found other employment
and
(b) Ten-Tec at the moment has no new transceiver ready to roll onto the
assembly line
therefore
(c) Ten-Tec is a goner?
At the very, very least, there is insufficient data to logically lead to
such a conclusion!
C'mon, I'm sad that Doug is going too, but that's hardly reason to write the
whole company off, at least as fas as the amateur market is concerned!
73, ron wn3vaw
"I'd give real money if he'd just shut up!"
Dr. Leonard McCoy, "Start Trek VI: The Hills Are Alive with the Sounds of
Klingons"
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rippey" <w3uls@3n.net>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 11:16 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Will Orion be Ten-Tec's Last?
When a company loses its brainiest employee (Doug Smith), it's time for
black crepe, it seems to me, rather than sentiments such as he won't be
missed because his work was done. One thing Smith's departure shows is how
difficult it is to recruit and retain top-notch talent in locations such as
East Tennessee. Virginia Tech, located not far from Sevierville in
Blacksburg, Virginia, has the same recruiting/retention problems for its
engineering faculty. Appalachia is not Austin, Texas, or northern Virginia,
if you get my drift.
As I recall, Scott Robbins said on this reflector some time ago that
Ten-Tec had no plans for a Jupiter + (or Orion -). That leaves the Argonaut
V, which is the world's best 20-watt transceiver, the Jupiter, and the new
Orion. Given that product line-up, seemingly set in concrete, and no brainy
innovators on board (don't forget Allan Kaplan is gone, too), and no new
rigs in the pipeline, it is somewhat of a gamble IMHO that sales of these
three transceivers will be sufficient to keep T-T's ham business afloat
indefinitely. Of course, T-T has other businesses and is not dependent on
just the ham business.
In the meantime, as has been noted, ICOM is marketing a new transceiver to
hams for about ten grand, but this rig is designed primarily for the
government/commercial market and will stand or fall on its reception there,
where sales run into the tens of thousands over many years. Ham sales will
be gravy. The next new ham rig from ICOM likely will be a successor to the
756PRO II using some of the circuitry from the ten grand rig.
73,
John, W3ULS
Owner of OMNI VI, Argonaut V, IC-746PRO & FT-920
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