Tom wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

All,

I know this sounds like a troll, but it is not, I assure you. I am at
a point where I may be forced to consider a career change. My wife
wants to teach at a reservation for the next several years, and as I do
not see very many days left in my 20 odd-year career as a software
designer, I am very much tempted to take her up on this.

Since I have a had an abiding interest in building amateur gear from
parts, and since I hear a lot of complaints on this group about certain
retail chains not being responsive to amateurs, I thought I should do a
little bit of "market research" and ask my potential customers what
they might want to see from my store if I should start one.


I was reading the responses to your post when a thought prompted me to add
another comment. The electronics market for the amateur in Japan is
exceedingly more developed that what it is here in the US. Every now and
then I hear of interesting amateur equipment, electronics devices and parts
that, for some reason, are not available in the US---I sure would like to
have one of those Sony automobile receivers with short-wave. Heaven knows
what they have for the computer hobbyist. Possibly, an import operation of
sort can fill the void---an interesting niche.

For the life of me I can't remember what part of Tokyo the famous
electronics district is in.

Akihabara


Maybe I shouldn't have posted this---the idea sounds good to me too.

Tom,

The district in question is the Ahikhabara (sp?). From what I have
heard and read it is the largest elex flea-market in the world.

There is also the possibility that we could import discretes and other
parts directly from small shops in India and China.

The only problem is that it seems that US Customs import duties for
electronics coming in from Japan are rather punitive to small-time
operators. Maybe I am wrong.

Maybe you and I should go into this one together :)

The civilised Japanese, technologically and socially, are much in
advance of the so-called western democracies, excepting perhaps the
Scandinavians. The Chinese and Indians are very rapidly catching up.

In the meantime, the well-armed Americans are slowly descending into
civil war.

There is also the possibility that we could import discretes and other
parts directly from small shops in India and China.

The only problem is that it seems that US Customs import duties for
electronics coming in from Japan are rather punitive to small-time
operators. Maybe I am wrong.

Maybe you and I should go into this one together :)
====================================
In Britain there are few 1 man or family companies selling components.
Have a look at
www.modecomponents.co.uk
www.jabdog.co.uk
www.sycomcomp.co.uk

In western european countries there are a number of traders selling surplus
components incl RF parts ,who move from fleamarket to fleamarket ,from
country to country. A number buy surplus army kit from eastern europe and
sell these as components...........................they have done that for
many years ,hence must have a reasonable income from these activities .
I have seen a web site related to the sale (auction) of US Government
equipment (located in Virginia) with some mouthwatering electronic
(test)equipment . There should be a market for this equipment ,even as
components.

The marketing question remains : Is there a substantial ham homebrew market
in the USA . How many of the approx 700000 licenced Hams in the USA purchase
electronic components on a more or less regular basis ?

Surplus people in the USA like 'Surplus of Nebraska ' and 'Peter Dahl' seem
rather expensive.

Frank GMØCSZ / KN6WH.

Let's stick to topic, we can organize the offshored labor union
later...

I want to know what hams really want when they go out to buy stuff, as
an initial guess I am willing to listen to what they say they want.



The Eternal Squire

Yes, but others like ALL Electronics and MECI are quite inexpensive...
except that they aren't configured to sell to hams exclusively.

I think part of the answer might be to look at the offshoring problem
in reverse... Our manufacturing has been offshored for 20 years or
more, backoffice has been offshored for 10 years or more, and software
has been offshored for about 5 years....

So, other countries are creating discretes and subassemblies to place
into entertainment, consumer, gaming, and white goods... with only a
nod give to RF. Fortunately, many discretes being sold for above
purposes could be used for ham purposes with some ingenuity, we do it
all the time!

What I think we need to do is buy cheap components from offshore and
sell at slight markup, that implies finding sources direct from India,
China, Korea, etc. Japan is more a consumer than a manufacturer.

Maybe instead of a store we need to start a buying club?

The Eternal Squire

wrote in message
oups.com...
Tom,

The district in question is the Ahikhabara (sp?). From what I have
heard and read it is the largest elex flea-market in the world.

There is also the possibility that we could import discretes and other
parts directly from small shops in India and China.

The only problem is that it seems that US Customs import duties for
electronics coming in from Japan are rather punitive to small-time
operators. Maybe I am wrong.

Maybe you and I should go into this one together :)

Yes... thanks to craigm as well, it is Akihabara. Here are some web pages:

Akihabara News:
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/

Akihabara homepage:
http://www.akiba.or.jp/index_e.html
http://www.akiba.or.jp/english/

Two issues:

A) I think in order to deal with the Akihabara we are going to need at
least 2 more things: 1) a Japanese ham willing to buy for us, and 2) a
US Customs broker or equivalent.

B) We still don't know our target market. Would it be consumer
equipment, ham equipment, rf subassemblies, or discretes? Remember,
the lower the integration, the less up-front investment in inventory
would be required.

C) If this was such a desireable thing to do, why hasn't it been done
before?

The Eternal Squire

xpyttl wrote:
There are a lot more homebrew possibilities out there than there are kits,
but that is a pretty low margin market. Still, I wonder if something simple
like providing parts kits for FAR Circuits boards might not be a
possibility. Provide a needed service and keep your costs down by
leveraging someone else's board mill.

When I saw the original post this is PRECISELY what came to mind.

--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com

Highland Ham wrote:
The marketing question remains : Is there a substantial ham homebrew market
in the USA . How many of the approx 700000 licenced Hams in the USA purchase
electronic components on a more or less regular basis ?

I would not rule out the possibility of being able to grow a market that
doesn't currently exist.

I think a significant number of hams don't homebrew not because they
don't want to -- but because it's difficult to find parts.

Make part shopping easy, and you could make customers of people who
aren't buying from *anyone* right now.

Then again, you could also lose your shirtgrin.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com