wrote:

I doubt that 97 percent of regular business travelers listen to
shortwave. However, I do think that shortwave is primed to experience a
resurgence. Let me explain...

When we're all moaning about the discontinuation of various receivers,
we tend to focus on the high-end receivers, which are indeed being
'thinned out'. However, thanks to the Chinese, the world is being
flooded with inexpensive shortwave radios. I believe that this latter
fact will eventually work to the advantage of the high-end market.
People will get cheap shortwave radios, enjoy them and then come down
with a nagging and persistent curiosity about how much more they could
hear with a *better* receiver. So, I expect the large number of sales
of low-end receivers will eventually translate into demand for better
receivers.

I could be wrong, but isn't this the way it usually works? I ended up
with an R8B only after going through a string of less expensive radios
and always developing a yearning for more. I think this is fairly
common.

Degen 1108. Degen is already thinking about the high end market, since
with all the bells and whistles they want to put on the 1108 I doubt it
will be affordable to the average Chinese. I think that the Chinese will
eventually build high end receivers, either Degen and Tecsun will build
them or new companies will spring up that will specialize in high end
stuff. I'm sure that this will make Li apoplectic, but for the rest of
humanity it will be a positive development since the Western (US,
Europe, Japan) high end stuff has suffered from quality control problems
and lack of design originality for quite some time. But Tecsun managed
to work out all the QC problems with the Sat 800 (Ham 2000) and have
gradually improved it. I'm sure that Degen will eventually work out
whatever bugs are in its radios and produce quality radios. The Chinese
seem to have the Chrysler and Microsoft approach to product
development-put something, anything out in the market and fix bugs as
they come up. Sure beats having to quality check your own stuff with in
house staff. The downside is that you don't want to buy something that
has been out for less than a couple years.


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