In article ,
wrote:
I guess Sony could start reproducing the Sony 2010's again if they
wanted to,,,, assuming parts are still available,and I believe they
are.Sony could dress them up in a new plastic dress though and perhaps
add one or two other features.The Sony 2020's perhaps?

Not likely. The 2010 was an odd design. Sony had dropped the ICF-2001
design in favor of the smaller ICF-2002. When they finaly realized that
the 100's of AM-Stereo receivers they were selling a year would never
use up their supply of decoder chips, they looked for an alternate
solution.

What they came up with was the ICF-2010. It was a much improved ICF-2001,
with the AM stereo decoder chip used as a sync detector. A brilliant idea,
they ICF-2010 sold like hot cakes when it first came out (around 1986-87)
and was still sold well into this decade.

However they eventualy ran out of chips. To make a replacement would require
the development of a new sync detector chip. This would push the price of
a 2020 as you called it well over $500 a unit.

Actualy at that price it would be a bargain, I paid close to $400 for a
2010, air freighted from Japan before they were available in the U.S. Of
that over $350 was for the receiver in 1987 dollars. In 2005 dollars, it
would be a lot more.

How many people would buy a radio at that price? Certainly enough to
make it the talk of this newsgroup. But would it be enough to pay
of the development costs?

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (077)-424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
You should have boycotted Google while you could, now Google supported
BPL is in action. Time is running out on worldwide radio communication.

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

However they eventualy ran out of chips. To make a replacement would require
the development of a new sync detector chip. This would push the price of
a 2020 as you called it well over $500 a unit.



I don't buy that story. They could run another lot of the chips if the
process was still available, or use a newer chip like the one in the 7600GR.

There are other components that may not have been available. But Sony
has a suitable sync detector chip still in production.

craigm

Building chips in mass quantitys doesn't cost much money per each
chip.Look at the chips in your computer.It isn't as if they would need
to design a completly new chip,in my opinion.All they would need to do
is start another run of chips.
cuhulin

In article ,
wrote:
Building chips in mass quantitys doesn't cost much money per each
chip.Look at the chips in your computer.It isn't as if they would need
to design a completly new chip,in my opinion.All they would need to do
is start another run of chips.

Not possible. Chip design and manufacturing has changed greatly since the
early '80s. You would have to redesign the chips with modern materials
and manufacuring methods. The cost of doing this would be too high for
chips made in small quantities.

For example, wires were soldered to the chips. It is now illegal to
sell chips in most places with lead, e.g. solder, in them. New technqiues
have been developed, but that changes the capacitance and conductivity of
them which changes it's RF characteristics.

If you don't think so, ask on sci.electronics.repair about the availabilty
of old chips and the possibility of getting new ones made.

For example, if it were a simple chip and it cost $500,000 to make a real
working chip, as opposed to a first run "test chip", how many would you
have to sell in order to make money?

It would be cheaper to re-do it in a DSP chip.

However you did it, you still would have to spend several hundred thousand
dollars designing and programing the radio. By the time you are done
and have a working design ready for the street, with documentation,
etc, you will have spent close to $1m.

Assuming the actual unit costs $250 to manufacture, add $100 for development,
another $50 for packaging, advertisment and tech support and you have a
cost of $400 which translates to a street price of $800.

This is assuming 10,000 units made in the first production run before the
costs would be made back. With the current state of shortwave listening,
I'm not sure you could sell 10,000 units.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (077)-424-1667 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838
You should have boycotted Google while you could, now Google supported
BPL is in action. Time is running out on worldwide radio communication.