This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted the
message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the R-75 is
discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and noticed that
the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its having been removed
at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve

wrote:
This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted the
message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the R-75 is
discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and noticed that
the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its having been removed
at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



That's a good question. And one that bears investigating.

In the last few years, a number of the major manufacturers of
desktops have exited, or threatened to exit, the market. At least in
North America. AOR withdrew 7030 and its variants from the US
market. Icom announced the discontinuation of R-75. Drake appears to
have left the building. Yeasu had announced that it had gigged the
Frog.

And yet, FRG-100B appears to be alive and well. AOR returned
7030+ to North America, and R-75's demise appears to be on hold.


It may be that with declining competition, some manufacturers are
rethinking their product life cycles. In the case of Icom, they're
still in production with a wide range of radio gear, some popular HF
ham gear included. With the appropriate economies of scale,
production of R-75 in a competition reduced market could remain
profitable.


Has anyone contacted Bellevue for a definitive position on R-75?

In article
,
D Peter Maus wrote:

wrote:
This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted
the message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the
R-75 is discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and
noticed that the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its
having been removed at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



That's a good question. And one that bears investigating.

In the last few years, a number of the major manufacturers of
desktops have exited, or threatened to exit, the market. At least in
North America. AOR withdrew 7030 and its variants from the US market.
Icom announced the discontinuation of R-75. Drake appears to have
left the building. Yeasu had announced that it had gigged the Frog.

And yet, FRG-100B appears to be alive and well. AOR returned
7030+ to North America, and R-75's demise appears to be on hold.


It may be that with declining competition, some manufacturers are
rethinking their product life cycles. In the case of Icom, they're
still in production with a wide range of radio gear, some popular HF
ham gear included. With the appropriate economies of scale,
production of R-75 in a competition reduced market could remain
profitable.


Has anyone contacted Bellevue for a definitive position on R-75?

Maybe they did one last production run.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Telamon wrote:
In article
,
D Peter Maus wrote:


wrote:

This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted
the message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the
R-75 is discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and
noticed that the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its
having been removed at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



That's a good question. And one that bears investigating.

In the last few years, a number of the major manufacturers of
desktops have exited, or threatened to exit, the market. At least in
North America. AOR withdrew 7030 and its variants from the US market.
Icom announced the discontinuation of R-75. Drake appears to have
left the building. Yeasu had announced that it had gigged the Frog.

And yet, FRG-100B appears to be alive and well. AOR returned
7030+ to North America, and R-75's demise appears to be on hold.


It may be that with declining competition, some manufacturers are
rethinking their product life cycles. In the case of Icom, they're
still in production with a wide range of radio gear, some popular HF
ham gear included. With the appropriate economies of scale,
production of R-75 in a competition reduced market could remain
profitable.


Has anyone contacted Bellevue for a definitive position on R-75?


Maybe they did one last production run.




That's a good thought. And it's possible that Japan hasn't really
been clear with Retail. If you'll recall when R-75 was released, I
mentioned here a conversation with an ICOM rep I'd had at a ham show
in which the rep said that complaints as echoed here about R-75's
sync detector had been heard loud and clear in the hallowed halls.
And that there were, indeed, revisions coming. And that the case
clearly contained space for future hardware developments. Additional
conversations with other ICOM reps repeated these details.

But no such revisions have been forthcoming, to date.

Conversations I've had with Bellevue, over the years, have
indicated that they really don't know what the hell Japan is doing.

So, your thought is as good as any.

In article
,
D Peter Maus wrote:

Telamon wrote:
In article
,
D Peter Maus wrote:


wrote:

This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted
the message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the
R-75 is discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and
noticed that the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its
having been removed at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



That's a good question. And one that bears investigating.

In the last few years, a number of the major manufacturers of
desktops have exited, or threatened to exit, the market. At least
in North America. AOR withdrew 7030 and its variants from the US
market. Icom announced the discontinuation of R-75. Drake appears
to have left the building. Yeasu had announced that it had gigged
the Frog.

And yet, FRG-100B appears to be alive and well. AOR returned
7030+ to North America, and R-75's demise appears to be on hold.


It may be that with declining competition, some manufacturers
are
rethinking their product life cycles. In the case of Icom, they're
still in production with a wide range of radio gear, some popular
HF ham gear included. With the appropriate economies of scale,
production of R-75 in a competition reduced market could remain
profitable.


Has anyone contacted Bellevue for a definitive position on R-75?


Maybe they did one last production run.




That's a good thought. And it's possible that Japan hasn't really
been clear with Retail. If you'll recall when R-75 was released, I
mentioned here a conversation with an ICOM rep I'd had at a ham show
in which the rep said that complaints as echoed here about R-75's
sync detector had been heard loud and clear in the hallowed halls.
And that there were, indeed, revisions coming. And that the case
clearly contained space for future hardware developments. Additional
conversations with other ICOM reps repeated these details.

But no such revisions have been forthcoming, to date.

Conversations I've had with Bellevue, over the years, have
indicated that they really don't know what the hell Japan is doing.

So, your thought is as good as any.

Oh! So they might actually fix it. That is good news. If it get fixed
right I might buy one. It would have to be offered with some filter
options good SWBC listening for me to consider it.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Telamon wrote:
In article
,
D Peter Maus wrote:


Telamon wrote:

In article
,
D Peter Maus wrote:



wrote:


This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted
the message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the
R-75 is discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and
noticed that the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its
having been removed at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



That's a good question. And one that bears investigating.

In the last few years, a number of the major manufacturers of
desktops have exited, or threatened to exit, the market. At least
in North America. AOR withdrew 7030 and its variants from the US
market. Icom announced the discontinuation of R-75. Drake appears
to have left the building. Yeasu had announced that it had gigged
the Frog.

And yet, FRG-100B appears to be alive and well. AOR returned
7030+ to North America, and R-75's demise appears to be on hold.


It may be that with declining competition, some manufacturers
are
rethinking their product life cycles. In the case of Icom, they're
still in production with a wide range of radio gear, some popular
HF ham gear included. With the appropriate economies of scale,
production of R-75 in a competition reduced market could remain
profitable.


Has anyone contacted Bellevue for a definitive position on R-75?


Maybe they did one last production run.




That's a good thought. And it's possible that Japan hasn't really
been clear with Retail. If you'll recall when R-75 was released, I
mentioned here a conversation with an ICOM rep I'd had at a ham show
in which the rep said that complaints as echoed here about R-75's
sync detector had been heard loud and clear in the hallowed halls.
And that there were, indeed, revisions coming. And that the case
clearly contained space for future hardware developments. Additional
conversations with other ICOM reps repeated these details.

But no such revisions have been forthcoming, to date.

Conversations I've had with Bellevue, over the years, have
indicated that they really don't know what the hell Japan is doing.

So, your thought is as good as any.


Oh! So they might actually fix it. That is good news. If it get fixed
right I might buy one. It would have to be offered with some filter
options good SWBC listening for me to consider it.


Don't hold your breath. The conversation referred took place
several years ago.


You know, I've played with R-75 on and off since it's release.
It's not a bad radio. Not a 'best in class', except that it's pretty
much the only one left in that class. For the money it wasn't
exactly a bad value.

As has been pointed out here, though, a number of times, it's a
start out of the box, but requires finishing. If you have to drop
coin to modify it to get the radio it should have been all along,
then there are probably better alternatives.

Absent any competition in class, ICOM wouldn't be too highly
motivated to put forth the effort.

I've owned and still own a number of ICOM radios. Still use R-10
and R-7000 every day. And I owned R-71a for years. Wouldn't mind
having that one back. But some of the corners cut by ICOM to save a
few sheckels is baffling on radios of their otherwise significant
quality. The result is a lot of promise, but, too often, short
delivery.

DPM,

wrote:
This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted the
message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the R-75 is
discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and noticed that
the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its having been removed
at one point.

Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



I was in ham radio outlet in Sunnyvale, CA yesterday and asked about
this particular issue as there are not many SWL receivers now in the
~$500 range. I was told that they had talked to Icom about it (They
move a LOT of Icom out of this HRO location, very friendly with them.)
and that Icom had to discontinue it because one of the key component
suppliers went out of business and there weren't alternatives for that
component. They said they had spoken to Icom and that they were working
on redesigning the R75 into a new radio without the component. If this
is in fact true, they'll likely release it as a new radio. (Anyone for
an IC-R85?)

Icom, if you're reading this, please fix the SSB on the new one, and
keep all the stuff about the R75 we all love. Oh, and it would be
really nice if you continue to include the DSP option, in fact, just put
it in as standard at the factory. Widen out the AM just a tad to
improve program listening for those of us who don't always want to chase
utility, improve the speaker just a bit too. Oh, and try to keep the
~$500 price point, I think that is the sweet spot for tabletop units.
Should produce enough sales volume for you to own this segment of the
tabletop market. I'd even pay ~$600 for all the improvements.

p.s. a nice option would be a daughter board like the JRC-545 for a few
hundred dollars that allows me to expand it into a wide-coverage
receiver. That way you won't have to put out a replacement for the 8500...

People can purchase a whole computer, including monitor and keyboard
for less than darn glorified radio...

.... obliviously, this is not working like it used to...

Buy a cheap degen, put up a good antenna and you are in business...
$500+ dollars more just for a bit of signal improvement is obviously
not worth it, only the brain dead still pursue that route...

John

"Alan Dye" wrote in message
news
wrote:
This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted
the
message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the R-75
is
discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and noticed
that
the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its having been
removed
at one point. Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



I was in ham radio outlet in Sunnyvale, CA yesterday and asked about
this particular issue as there are not many SWL receivers now in the
~$500 range. I was told that they had talked to Icom about it (They
move a LOT of Icom out of this HRO location, very friendly with
them.) and that Icom had to discontinue it because one of the key
component suppliers went out of business and there weren't
alternatives for that component. They said they had spoken to Icom
and that they were working on redesigning the R75 into a new radio
without the component. If this is in fact true, they'll likely
release it as a new radio. (Anyone for an IC-R85?)

Icom, if you're reading this, please fix the SSB on the new one, and
keep all the stuff about the R75 we all love. Oh, and it would be
really nice if you continue to include the DSP option, in fact, just
put it in as standard at the factory. Widen out the AM just a tad
to improve program listening for those of us who don't always want
to chase utility, improve the speaker just a bit too. Oh, and try to
keep the ~$500 price point, I think that is the sweet spot for
tabletop units. Should produce enough sales volume for you to own
this segment of the tabletop market. I'd even pay ~$600 for all the
improvements.

p.s. a nice option would be a daughter board like the JRC-545 for a
few hundred dollars that allows me to expand it into a wide-coverage
receiver. That way you won't have to put out a replacement for the
8500...

"John Smith" wrote in message
...
People can purchase a whole computer, including monitor and keyboard for
less than darn glorified radio...

... obliviously, this is not working like it used to...

Buy a cheap degen, put up a good antenna and you are in business...
$500+ dollars more just for a bit of signal improvement is obviously not
worth it, only the brain dead still pursue that route...

John

"Alan Dye" wrote in message
news
wrote:
This is probably nothing, but I noticed that Universal has deleted the
message that once used to be on its R-75 ad, stating that the R-75 is
discontinued. I then went to the Icom America website, and noticed that
the R-75 is there, even though I seem to recall its having been removed
at one point. Is there more to this than I think?

Steve



I was in ham radio outlet in Sunnyvale, CA yesterday and asked about this
particular issue as there are not many SWL receivers now in the ~$500
range. I was told that they had talked to Icom about it (They move a LOT
of Icom out of this HRO location, very friendly with them.) and that Icom
had to discontinue it because one of the key component suppliers went out
of business and there weren't alternatives for that component. They said
they had spoken to Icom and that they were working on redesigning the R75
into a new radio without the component. If this is in fact true, they'll
likely release it as a new radio. (Anyone for an IC-R85?)

Icom, if you're reading this, please fix the SSB on the new one, and keep
all the stuff about the R75 we all love. Oh, and it would be really nice
if you continue to include the DSP option, in fact, just put it in as
standard at the factory. Widen out the AM just a tad to improve program
listening for those of us who don't always want to chase utility, improve
the speaker just a bit too. Oh, and try to keep the ~$500 price point, I
think that is the sweet spot for tabletop units. Should produce enough
sales volume for you to own this segment of the tabletop market. I'd
even pay ~$600 for all the improvements.

p.s. a nice option would be a daughter board like the JRC-545 for a few
hundred dollars that allows me to expand it into a wide-coverage
receiver. That way you won't have to put out a replacement for the
8500...



I don't think that is fair or nice statement.
While I like my DE 1103 a lot, I sure as hell can't DX on it like I can on
my R75.
And I'm insulted you group people in this hobby as "brain dead" cause they
want a better quality receiver.

You cannot compare the Degen to the Icom R75 with even the best of antennas.
Yes you'll pick up many of the signals but that's it. Not very enjoyable
listening for SSB but for outdoor use it suffices.

Lucky