My interests was aroused to do a little research on why shortwave HF
radio
receivers are steadily going off the market. The only new receivers
coming
on the market these days with upmarket features are the computer based
SDR's (Software Defined Radio). Many of us don't like computer SDR
receivers, but prefer the traditional radio with lots of knobs and
buttons.

OTOH ham transceivers continue to sell like hot cross buns at Easter
with
new and advanced models coming out all the time. Mainly the ham
transceivers
also represent good value for money, even for listeners only. So
listeners
wanting the latest technology are moving forward in two directions;
some are
migrating to the new computer SDR receivers and some,like me, have
migrated
to using the latest ham transceivers.

To get a feeling for this I referred to the popular eHam website
reviews,
that has hundreds of reviews of both receivers and transceivers.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/
When looking at the number of reviews I quote below, consider that
they are
a reflection of what sales are like for the various radio's. When I
was at
marketing/advertising school years ago, I was taught that for everyone
who
wrote in, some many more didn't. If I remember rightly the figure was
about
25:1, so for everyone who wrote a review there are about another 25
who
didn't, and that is why I believe the figures for the number of
reviews
gives some indication of the sales volumes and popularity for each
radio.

Number of reviews = R (receivers vs. transceivers)
Drake R8/A/B - R33 versus Icom 746PRO series - R241
Icom R75 - R62 vs. Icom 718 - R301
AOR7030 - R17 vs. Kenwood TS-2000 - R370
Yaesu FRG100 - R14 vs. compact transceivers - R643
JR NRD545 - R10 vs. Icom 756PRO series - R449
Ten Tec RX340 - R12 of which there is no such expensive transceiver,
but it
may interest you that the coming Icom 7700 has attracted over 40,000
views
on the You Tube website, an enormous response and interest! This top
end
transceiver will sell at $6300.

Other popular transceivers in the $2000/3000 category that reviewed
well:
Yaesu FT-1000 - R440
Yaesu FT-2000 - R136
Elecraft K2/3 series - R229

So the conclusion to be drawn is that ham transceivers are hugely
popular
and attractive for manufacturers who can turn them out in good
volumes,
whereas even the most popular receivers have very limited popularity
and
there manufacture cannot be very profitable or economical. I wonder
therefore if Mr. Thorpe will be allowed to make another high end
replacement
receiver for the AOR7030, or if AOR UK will find the prospect
unattractive
commercially?

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

On Feb 23, 2:10*pm, wrote:
My interests was aroused to do a little research on why shortwave HF
radio
receivers are steadily going off the market. The only new receivers
coming
on the market these days with upmarket features are the computer based
SDR's (Software Defined Radio). Many of us don't like computer SDR
receivers, but prefer the traditional radio with lots of knobs and
buttons.

OTOH ham transceivers continue to sell like hot cross buns at Easter
with
new and advanced models coming out all the time. Mainly the ham
transceivers
also represent good value for money, even for listeners only. So
listeners
wanting the latest technology are moving forward in two directions;
some are
migrating to the new computer SDR receivers and some,like me, have
migrated
to using the latest ham transceivers.

To get a feeling for this I referred to the popular eHam website
reviews,
that has hundreds of reviews of both receivers and transceivers.http://www..eham.net/reviews/
When looking at the number of reviews I quote below, consider that
they are
a reflection of what sales are like for the various radio's. When I
was at
marketing/advertising school years ago, I was taught that for everyone
who
wrote in, some many more didn't. If I remember rightly the figure was
about
25:1, so for everyone who wrote a review there are about another 25
who
didn't, and that is why I believe the figures for the number of
reviews
gives some indication of the sales volumes and popularity for each
radio.

Number of reviews = R (receivers vs. transceivers)
Drake R8/A/B - R33 versus Icom 746PRO series - R241
Icom R75 - R62 vs. Icom 718 - R301
AOR7030 - R17 vs. Kenwood TS-2000 - R370
Yaesu FRG100 - R14 vs. compact transceivers - R643
JR NRD545 - R10 vs. Icom 756PRO series - R449
Ten Tec RX340 - R12 of which there is no such expensive transceiver,
but it
may interest you that the coming Icom 7700 has attracted over 40,000
views
on the You Tube website, an enormous response and interest! This top
end
transceiver will sell at $6300.

Other popular transceivers in the $2000/3000 category that reviewed
well:
Yaesu FT-1000 - R440
Yaesu FT-2000 - R136
Elecraft K2/3 series - R229

So the conclusion to be drawn is that ham transceivers are hugely
popular
and attractive for manufacturers who can turn them out in good
volumes,
whereas even the most popular receivers have very limited popularity
and
there manufacture cannot be very profitable or economical. I wonder
therefore if Mr. Thorpe will be allowed to make another high end
replacement
receiver for the AOR7030, or if AOR UK will find the prospect
unattractive
commercially?

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whiphttp://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

I think that the reason for the rapid decline in the number of new
receivers for sale is tied to demand. There just are not enough
people interested in shortwave listening that are willing to spend
money on a new receiver. And low demand means radio companies won't
spend the money to set up a production line.

The reasons for declining demand are many and pretty well documented
so there is no real need to go into them.

I think that there are still quite a few SWL's out there, but as a
group they are making do with perfectly good used equipment and
purchasing the dual purpose gear you mentioned. A good transceiver
will handle the needs of both ham and swl very well. And a few swl's
with deeper pockets are helping to keep the market for high-end
receivers alive.