I know how that can be...................parts for older units are hard to
get ahold of. I remember years ago, I called Rockwell for a quote on the
main tuning knob for a 651S-1. The price for tooling, etc was 5000
dollars!
That receiver is no longer supported, and the only way to get ahold of
parts
for that unit is from the surplus market.
Same thing goes for the KWM380/HF380.

They can not make any money if they do not sell ney radios. Most companies
make and support items for a short period of time. After that they have the
next modle ready to go. By pricing the repairs at a very high price many
will buy the new stuff. It is difficult to keep up with all the parts of
equipment that is years old.

I forgot the price but in the news paper about 10 years ago it cost the
military about $ 20 K just to get a diode that should have cost a couple of
dollars. The military was out of them and the manufacture had to make a run
of a few thousand . You just can not make one simiconductor.