Alan Dye wrote:
Hello All,

First Yaesu discontinued the FRG-100
Then Icom discontinued the IC-r75
Then Drake discontinued the R-8B

All within the last two years.

Two questions:

If a person wanted a decent tabletop in the $500-900 range and didn't
want the Grundig boom-box model what would he get?

Well, given the limited number of new radios being offered I would look
for a good used receiver from Kenwood, Yaesu or Icom.


Secondly, why are they all being discontinued?

Manufacturers of shortwave radios are dropping out of the market for
one reason: Far fewer people are buying shortwave radios than were 15
or more years ago. Casual listeners and hobbyists are dropping out of
the hobby because there are many other ways to get information about
the world that are far more stable: Cable TV, satellite TV, internet
news, CNN, internet radio "broadcasts", etc. International
broadcasters are moving from the shortwave spectrum to internet and
satellite broadcasts because they can reach a wider audience and reduce
costs.