[RRDXA] Fwd: [bcc] Fw: News from Alpha Radio Products

Wed Sep 16 07:28:25 EDT 2009

FYI:

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Datum: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:49:48 +0200
Von: "Mitch Wolfson  DJØQN" <mitchwo at gmx.net>
An: "BCC Reflector" <bcc at bavarian-contest-club.de>
Betreff: [bcc] Fw: News from Alpha Radio Products

        FYI

 From: Molly Hardman [mailto:molly at alpharadioproducts.ccsend.com] On Behalf
 Of Molly Hardman
 Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 5:46 PM
 To: n6mef at mefox.org
 Subject: News from Alpha Radio Products

  Alpha Radio Products

 Press Release

 Alpha Radio Products Announces

 Boulder, Colorado: September 15, 2009

 Dear Alpha Customer:

 I have some exciting news about some big changes at Alpha Radio Products. 
A
 newly formed company, RF Concepts, LLC, has acquired all the assets of 
Alpha
 Radio Products. RF Concepts will manufacture the world-class amplifiers 
and
 other products that, for more than 40 years, our community has come to
 appreciate. The 3CX1500A7 triode-based Alpha 9500 Amplifier, dual 4CX1000
 tetrode-based Alpha 8410 Amplifier, legal-limit Model 2100 Dummy
 Load/Wattmeter combo, and line of 4500 Wattmeters will continue to be
 handmade in our Boulder Colorado factory.

 Here's the story about my involvement with Alpha Radio Products and the 
new
 company, RF Concepts, LLC:

 I'm Michael Seedman, AA6DY. I was originally licensed in 1969 as WN6FUE,
 about the time that ETO released their first linear amplifier, the ALPHA
 SEVENTY. I remember reading QST, CQ, and Ham Radio Magazine cover to 
cover.
 Do you remember the Alpha ad where they put a brick on the straight key to
 signify "Full power, no limits"? I sure do - and ever since then I've 
wanted
 to own an Alpha amplifier. During the last 40 years, my specific interests
 in Ham Radio have varied. Sometimes I spent my time building receivers,
 sometimes building transmitters, sometimes stringing antennas in the 
trees,
 and sometimes building QRP rigs. I've even built a homebrew 4-1000A based
 Linear Amplifier. Recently I've spent my spare time working DX. As my 
friend
 Jack Hudson, W9MU, says, "Life is too short for QRP when you're collecting
 countries." So I set out to build a QRO HF station. I ordered an HF rig,
 strung a couple of dipoles in the trees, and went looking for an 
amplifier.
 Of course, not just any amplifier, it had to be an Alpha. A few visits to
 eBay later I had a used Alpha 87A in my shack.

 What a difference a few watts make. It didn't take long to rack up a 
couple
 hundred countries with my Alpha 87A loafing along at 1500 watts output. 
Soon
 the dipoles came down and the two-element Steppir went up. There's nothing
 more exciting than a callback when you're trying to bust a pileup. I was 
so
 impressed with my Alpha 87A that I called Alpha to purchase a new 9500. I
 was disappointed to learn that I would not receive it for months.

 Molly Hardman, W0MOM, the president of Alpha Radio Products, explained 
that
 each amp is handmade. Although she said she'd love to put Alpha amplifiers
 on the shelf, she has had a difficult time financing the inventory 
necessary
 to do just that. Hers was a just-in-time manufacturing environment, and 
she
 held enough inventory to work on just a few orders. She shared some of her
 numbers with me. Together we created a way to capitalize the company in
 order to put amplifiers in inventory for immediate availability. Customers
 will no longer have to wait weeks or months to add an Alpha product to 
their
 station.

 At the beginning of September 2009, the new company RF Concepts, LLC
 purchased all Alpha Radio Products assets and hired the seasoned team
 necessary to build these exceptional products. And, we've already put some
 changes in effect to make sure we serve our customers even better than
 before. There's still a lot of work to do, but we're very excited about 
the
 prospects.

 Here's the lineup at the new RF Concepts, LLC:

 * Molly Hardman (W0MOM) will head up our sales effort as the new Vice
 President of Sales.
 * Brad Focken (K0HM), and Glenn Pladsen (AE0Q) will continue their
 awesome work on the front lines of engineering, service, and support.
 * Gordon Hardman (W0RUN), the designer who, along with Brad Focken
 (K0HM), engineered the award-winning Alpha 9500 and Alpha 8410, has joined
 the company as Vice President of engineering to develop new Alpha-branded
 products. He's got some great product ideas and is turning those ideas 
into
 reality.
 * Steve Farkas (WA2NFR), a seasoned executive and very creative
 engineer, has joined the company as president, responsible for overseeing
 and operating RF Concepts, LLC.

 And here's what it means for our customers:

 Effective September 1, 2009, we've lowered pricing on all Alpha products:

 * The Alpha 9500 Amplifier will be reduced from $10,150 to $7,950.
 * The Alpha 8410 Amplifier will be reduced from $5,895 to $4,995.
 * The Alpha 2100 Dummy load with its integrated wattmeter will be
 reduced from $1,950 to $1,495.
 * The Alpha 4520 Wattmeter will be reduced from $1,195 to $995, the
 Alpha 4510 Wattmeter will be reduced from $1,095 to $945; its
 front-panel-less computer-connected cousins, the Alpha 4505 and 4515, will
 be reduced to $545 and $595 respectively.

 . All customers who have orders pending with Alpha Radio Products will
 receive their new Alpha amplifiers from RF Concepts at the new, lower 
price.
 Any deposits made at Alpha Radio Products will be applied as discounts to
 your RF Concepts invoice. For instance, if you ordered an Alpha 9500 at
 $10,150 and sent Alpha Radio Products a $5,000 deposit, RF Concepts will
 deliver your Alpha 9500 for $7,950 - $5,000 = $2,950, plus any applicable
 shipping and taxes.

 . If you're the original owner who received an Alpha amplifier from the
 factory during the period between March 1, 2009 and August 31, 2009, RF
 Concepts will give you a credit equal to the difference between your
 original purchase price and our new price. This effectively retroactively
 reduces the price you paid for the amp you've already received to match 
our
 new, lower price. This non-transferrable credit can be applied toward any 
RF
 Concepts product (including any Alpha-branded product), through August 31,
 2010. Use it today to buy anything in our product line, or save it and use
 it later on one of our upcoming products. Please understand that the 
credit
 can be redeemed only at RF Concepts and has no cash value. It's our way of
 saying thanks for being an Alpha Radio Products customer.

 We will focus on shipping our backlog of Alpha amplifiers and building
 sufficient product to ship from stock. No more waiting for delivery while
 your amp is being built. When you're ready to place an Alpha amp at your
 operating position, give us a call.

 We will continue to operate from the existing Boulder, Colorado factory, 
use
 the same phone number and retain the www.alpharadioproducts.com URL along
 with the new www.rfconcepts.com URL. We will honor our existing customer
 commitments, including warranties, customer and technical support, and
 repairs, and keep our extensive parts inventories to support the more than
 10,000 Alpha amplifiers in the market.

 Please visit us online, drop us a note, call us, or stop by our booth at 
one
 of the many Amateur Radio conventions and Hamfests we'll be attending this
 year.

 We are grateful that you have chosen Alpha Radio Products, and look 
forward
 to serving you in the future.

 73's
 Michael Seedman, AA6DY
 Chairman
 RF Concepts, LLC 

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