[Elecraft] RE: Can Elecraft take over the global HF hamradiobusiness ?

[EricJ]

I seem to be a hybrid ham. I like to tinker, build and experiment, but I
don't like building kits. I recently built a K1 (SN1976) to see if I'd like
to build a K2. I discovered I didn't like kit building. But I love the K1
and decided to buy a K2 already built that I am VERY happy with. But MOST of
my hamming free time is used designing and building. I'm working my way
through "Experimental Methods in RF Design" and breadboarding K1 circuits to
play with) and learning PIC programming. To me, kit building is kind of
boring (sorry, all).

Your last paragraph is right on the mark. I think Elecraft success came from
beginning with kits. It generated the "buzz" you spoke of. If it had been
just another off-the-shelf radio, it would have found itself competing
toe-to-toe with much better funded and better known products. As a kit, it
could play on the "resurrection of Heathkit" theme, and the novelty of a kit
that ended up outperforming $3,000 radios. The kit niche only goes so
far...the radios have to perform. And they do.

Either you said it in a paragraph I snipped or a previous posted said, at
some point they are going to have to start offering factory assembled
radios. And it remains to be seen whether a K2 in its present form can
successfully compete as a factory assembled radio. Ten Tec has struggled
along for many years; I wonder if they would have survived without their
non-amateur income.

If anyone on here is a sailor, you know what a character boat is. Ten Tec
and Elecraft are character boats in a sea of MacGregors, Columbias and
Catalinas. Character boats are beloved by the masses, but the masses don't
buy them. They buy MacGregors, and Columbias and Catalinas. The character
boat builders depend on developing a profitable, but smaller niche among
knowledgeable sailors. And some of them are highly successful if you measure
success in terms of a high quality product, enthusiastic customers and
respectable profit for its owners. 

Personally, I think Elecraft management knows all this and is on the right
course.

Eric
KE6US



-----Original Message-----
YOU may be one who likes to tinker with everything you build or buy, but
that's far from a majority opinion.

If I might project MY opinions onto a majority of hams (most of whom aren't
on this list, by the way) then I would say the universal definition of a ham
is closer to "one who wants more radio than he or she can afford".
Everything I've "tinkered" with is because I was too cheap/poor to buy
something that was good out of the box or that wasn't used and in need of
repair. 

If I've learned anything in business it's that the best products don't
always win. The best *marketed* products win. This means things like
"brand", "price", "good looks", "consumer buzz" and "advertising budget" are
perhaps more important than "receiver sensitivity", "filter bandwidth" and
other measures of quality.

Craig
NZ0R
K1 #1966

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