dxAce wrote:

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out! ;-)


You prefer them unbruised, don't you, Ace?





mike

m II wrote:

dxAce wrote:

Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out! ;-)

You prefer them unbruised, don't you, Ace?

Well, I'm fairly certain that yours has been worked over pretty well.

Tenderized perhaps?

LMAO at the 'tard boy in CanaDuh!

dxAce
Michigan
USA

If this is the reason-let's wait a little and may be they will
introduce an R-8C or something else. A software defined radio...Perhaps.

In article ,
dxAce wrote:

WHY DISCONTINUE DRAKE R8B

Say it isn't so! The Drake R8B general coverage communications
receiver is discontinued. Tom Walsh K1TW of Boston Area DXers called
the R.L.Drake Company; "A very sympathetic Drake sales person
explained the decision was based on economics. As I understand it,
the decision to discontinue is based on several factors. (1) The
supply of parts used in the current design has dwindled to where Drake
can no longer sustain new production. (2) Therefore, in order to
maintain the R8 in their line, they would have had to redesign a
significant part of the radio because of a shortage of parts for the
older design. The engineering costs are too high to do that. (3) The
demand for HF shortwave receivers has fallen. I felt the person I
talked with at Drake was as sad as I that this day had arrived. He
understood this is still one of the finest receivers in the market at
this price." (via Bruce Conti, NRC IDXD March 25 via DXLD)

This was going to happen eventually. The receiver at some point will
have to be re-engineered to use new components even if the design
remains the same.

Generally the march of component improvement is a move to smaller and
more highly integrated parts so radios can be smaller and consume less
power for the same or better performance.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

In article ,
dxAce wrote:

WHY DISCONTINUE DRAKE R8B

Say it isn't so! The Drake R8B general coverage communications
receiver is discontinued. Tom Walsh K1TW of Boston Area DXers called
the R.L.Drake Company; "A very sympathetic Drake sales person
explained the decision was based on economics. As I understand it,
the decision to discontinue is based on several factors. (1) The
supply of parts used in the current design has dwindled to where Drake
can no longer sustain new production. (2) Therefore, in order to
maintain the R8 in their line, they would have had to redesign a
significant part of the radio because of a shortage of parts for the
older design. The engineering costs are too high to do that. (3) The
demand for HF shortwave receivers has fallen. I felt the person I
talked with at Drake was as sad as I that this day had arrived. He
understood this is still one of the finest receivers in the market at
this price." (via Bruce Conti, NRC IDXD March 25 via DXLD)

Summary:
There is not enough of a market for them to recover their engineering
costs, which must occur due to a parts shortage for the current design.

If the market improves then they may jump back in with a new design.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Arthur Pozner wrote:
If this is the reason-let's wait a little and may be they will
introduce an R-8C or something else. A software defined radio...Perhaps.


The R8 was introduced several years after the R7 went out of production.

My guess is if they bring out another radio they'll wait for demand to
build so the new radio starts out with strong sales.

It probably won't be called an R8c.

And if it happens, odds are it'll be a great radio.

Telamon ) writes:

Summary:
There is not enough of a market for them to recover their engineering
costs, which must occur due to a parts shortage for the current design.

If the market improves then they may jump back in with a new design.

And of course, this has happened before. Drake was out of the receiver
business from about the mid-eighties (when they dropped the R7 and
any ham equipment) to when they introduced the R8 in the early nineties.

Drake is actually a faily old company at this point. They were around
with accessories before the introduced the 1 in the late fifties, had
a couple of decades of selling shortwave receivers and amateur transmitting
gear, and then dropped it continuing on with satellite receiver equipment.
Their website now talks about a lot of commercial grade equipment, so
the company doesn't seem to be going anywhere, even if it is dropping
shortwave receivers. If they were only making shortwave receivers,
one could imagine they'd not have lasted so long. Most of the old
time receiver manufacturers that went out of business in the late sixties
or early seventies suffered elsewhere, which meant they couldn't afford
to keep the shortwave business going.

Michael

Let's face it. Despite the fact that the R-8 series of receivers were
excellent as far as receiving goes, they were big, hot running,
inefficient, amp-eating behemoths compared to some of the more recent
receiver designs. I can understand Drake's decision and I'd be willing
to bet a year's pay you'll see no more SW receivers from Drake.

Frank
K3YAZ

In article .com,
wrote:

Let's face it. Despite the fact that the R-8 series of receivers were
excellent as far as receiving goes, they were big, hot running,
inefficient, amp-eating behemoths compared to some of the more recent
receiver designs. I can understand Drake's decision and I'd be willing
to bet a year's pay you'll see no more SW receivers from Drake.

How long is that bet good for?

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

I believe Drake can design a new Radio to compete.
cuhulin