KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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A Sad Day?

Posted: 11 Mar 2017 11:35 AM PST
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Lately, theres been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over the demise
of Radio Shack and the recent announcement of the closing of International
Crystal Manufacturing. Radio Shacks troubles have been well-documented, but
ICMs closing might be worth taking a look at.

On our amateur radio clubs mailing list, one guy wrote:

Sorry to say that ICM, the best manufacturer of crystals, isÂ*going out of
business.Â*Read the notice he https://www.icmfg.com/
If you have any crystal rigs that you really want to keep,Â*now would be the
time to add new frequencies. I imagineÂ*that the price of such rigs will
plummet by Dayton.
Sigh. This is bad for all the great older repeater systemsÂ*out there.

While it may be true that ICM made the best crystals, Im not so sure how
bad it is for all the great older repeater systems out there. First of all,
I dont think that repeaters change frequencies all that often, and its not
like crystals wont be available from other suppliers.
There are fewer and fewer of those great, older repeaters out there, and
thats probably how it should be. Rather than clinging to those old
repeaters, we should be thinking about how to improve our repeater
technology and the communications that they provide.
Second, this is a resultÂ*of the way things are going in electronics. The
U.S. accounts for an ever-shrinking percentage of electronics
manufacturing, and presumably non-U.S. crystal manufacturers can supply the
needs of those manufacturers better than ICM. American consumers want
cheap, and in general, U.S. suppliers arent good at being cheap.
If the business is a good investment, then someone will purchase the ICM
assets and continue to produce crystals. My guess, however, is that the
business has shrunk, however, as digital techniques reduced the need for
crystals in both transmitting and receiving applications.
Its OK to feel sad for the company and its employees, but lets not dwell on
that. Presumably, Royden Freeland will now be able to enjoy his retirement.
Lets thank him and the Freeland family for 65 years of service to amateur
radio and then move on.

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