[Yaesu] FTdx 9000

[waltah at earthlink.net]

>>> I probably don't know what I'm talking about but $10,000 to 
>>> $14,000 radios obviously aren't aimed at hams.

Ronald, KA4INM adds:
> Prestige might be one reason to develop such a rig, but all
> of that research will fill every radio made after this design.

Profit is the only reason to develop such a rig -- at least for a 
company that is going to survive.  Prestige can lead to profit -- if it 
leads to stronger sales of other rigs -- but the history books are full 
of companies that had prestige without profit, the most famous 
example here being Collins Radio Co.   Collins' unarguable prestige 
lead to frequent cost-plus (i.e. no significant profit) military 
development contracts with the follow on mass production (and 
profit) going to the lowest bidder -- Motorola, EAC, and others.   
Ham equipment was too small volume to be profitable, even at top-
of-the-market prices.   

Equally interesting with the prospect of trickle-down technology is 
a 'little brother' form of the -9000, a year to a few out.   When all the 
immediate sales of the -9000 have happened (at say $12,000) then 
it could be a sound marketing strategy could be to introduce an 'FT-
9000E' at a lower price, somewhere between the upper end of the 
rest of the product line and the -9000 itself.   While the '9000E' 
would lack the most impressive features of the big guy, it would 
likely have the same basic performance and by adding options to a 
total price of $13,500 you might get the same or nearly the big 
radio.

You'd still, of course, have a radio that said plainly (on the front 
panel) "This guy did not buy the high end radio."   Silver "FT-
9000E" replacing a missing meter instead of a gold "FT-9000" in 
the upper right corner, or something like that.

The key issue for a 9000E would be whether it could lead to new 
high-profit sales of its own (possibly replacing sales of less 
profitable products, further down the price line) rather than 
canibalizing sales of the high end set.   

Since this is an easy radio to design it'll be on a shelf at Yasesu in 
a year.   Timing for introduction?   If I were Icom I'd be working on 
something to introduce next year at around $9500 and a concurrent 
Yaesu announcement of an $8900 9000E could make sense -- 
although if the 9000 is selling well, concurrent *rumors* of a 9000E 
could be even better.   

Perhaps the most important issue for the -9000 is quality control.   
Someone paying an absolutely top price for a flagship set isn't 
going to have much tolerance for boxing it up and shipping it to a 
service center for a few weeks at a time.   Look for this radio to 
trickle out at first.

Yaseu could have swept the U.S. marketplace five years before the 
FT-101 seriously took hold had they solved the QC problem on the 
earlier products.  The FR-100B/FL-100B twins (Yaesu's answer to 
the S-line) are excellent performers for the mid-1960's -- but with so 
many cold solder joints and other quality problems that my 
examples were almost unused.

All pure speculation -- there are many ways for that scenario to fail. 
It will be interesting to see how the play actually develops.   One 
thing that this radio does tell us is that the ham marketplace is 
alive and well.

Walt Hutchens
KJ4KV