Steve wrote:
wrote:
P50 wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...

mike0219116 wrote:
According to Dave:

http://www.ticon.net/~n9ewo/

Not surprising. High-end shortwave radios were a niche market to begin
with. With the implosion of the hobby it stands to reason even fewer
people will buy the NRD.


Maybe they should consider dropping the RRP price a little.

It isn't a problem of manufacturers supplying radios at a given price
but at is a problem of consumer demand for radios at all prices. There
are very few companies supplying portables at entry level prices (under
$200.00) and even fewer companies supplying advanced portables and
tabletops at higher prices because not many consumers want to listen to
radio programs shortwave frequencies these days.

I could be wrong, but I wonder whether the the real target market for
the NRD-545 and other, comparable tabletop receivers isn't the
community of utility listeners and/or DXers.

I'm sure that utility or dxers are the ones that bought the NRD and
it's competitors. I was using listening in a broad sense.


Most of the folks I know
who've purchased expensive receivers like this purchased them primarily
because they wanted to hear utilities or because they wanted to chase
DX. If this is true more generally, then the shrinking audience for the
big broadcasters isn't so much of a factor here (though it'd be a huge
factor where lower end receivers are concerned).

A separate and interesting question is whether the audience of utility
listeners is shrinking. I have no idea.

No matter their specific listening interest the group of buyers for
high-end radios including the NRD is shrinking. It is shrinking to the
point that it doesn't make financial sense for a business like Japan
Radio to tool up a production line for radios that may not have buyers.

My sense is that utility listening has always been a relatively small
subset of the SWL group. And it was indeed a lot of fun to chase
those signals when there was a lot to decode.