Radios unavialable due to chip shortages?

[wrci350]

4 hours ago, WRQC527 said:

Yep and now that it's discontinued, we can all rush out to buy the next Yaesu product, the FTM-500, which is even more expensive. The big 3 gave up the entry-level ham radio market. 

Just curious ... what would you consider entry-level?

I did a quick check and the FTM-6000R is on sale for $270 right now and there are a couple other options between $300 and $350 or so.

If you are content to just have 2 meters, then there are at least four options for $200 or less.

If someone is looking to spend less than that, you are correct, they aren't going to find a new "big 3" radio at that price point and your options are Anytone/TYT/Radioddity/Retevis/etc.

[WQWX838]

OMG guys! Yes..... I did not know until about one minute ago what "CCR" even meant! This discussion started big time in the early 2000's. I knew several people at Universal Radio in Ohio, and they were fairly disgusted with the direction things were heading. To quote directly, "Most all the radios coming out now look like they were made in the Fisher Price toy factory". 9-11-2001 happened, and about 30 or 60 days after that? George Bush signed China into the World Trade Organization. Yes, it was a game changer on many levels. Goods, jobs, and many things. The newest hammy box I own is from the late 90's. Nothing on the new market adds enough increased performance value to make it worth buying for casual use, not one... DSP still has sampling rate issues and A/D artifacts that are an issue, unless you spend mega $$. While clunky at times, some older boxes are excellent performers if you are willing to put some work in. Here is a clip I took recently with my cell phone. Use good speakers or headphones to listen to these guys talking. This equipment is from 1973. Yes I have owned it a long time and done a lot to it but still, it's so deep into the "good enough" category that nothing new would help in actual casual use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vawMCWYUKBo

 

[Lscott]

40 minutes ago, WQWX838 said:

OMG guys! Yes..... I did not know until about one minute ago what "CCR" even meant!

Well you learned it doesn't stand for the old rock band " Creedence Clearwater Revival"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedence_Clearwater_Revival

[WRQC527]

18 hours ago, wrci350 said:

Just curious ... what would you consider entry-level?

Under $200. The only mobile radios Yaesu has under $200 are analog two-meter radios. Yaesu could easily produce a solid sub-$200 bare-bones dual band analog mobile. Same with HF. New hams are confronted with either cheap HF gear that will disappoint in the long term, or $700 + big-3 gear. So they may never venture beyond vhf/uhf. That's not good for the hobby.

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, WRQC527 said:

Yaesu could easily produce a solid sub-$200 bare-bones dual band analog mobile.

Likely they could, and it would be manufactured in China anyway to keep the cost down.

[WQWX838]

24 minutes ago, Lscott said:

Well you learned it doesn't stand for the old rock band " Creedence Clearwater Revival"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creedence_Clearwater_Revival

Well... Yes. That one would never have occurred to me as rock bands are not on my radar at all. There are a few other codes used on this site I have no idea what they mean, and when I see them again I will ask. I had seen the CCR code enough that I used a google query with "radio" and "hobby radio" and that is how I found it.

[gortex2]

On 3/7/2023 at 12:18 PM, Sshannon said:

I have a friend with a 400 who’s disappointed because it has had some problems. I don’t know exactly what they are. 
If a person doesn’t need C4FM, the ftm6000 looks like a decent radio. 

My reason for the 400 was APRS. We use it for SAR and to see the display on the 300 is horrible. I don't use fushion for anything but the FTM is the only APRS mobile in the market since Kenwood dropped the 710G. I really need to replace my 700 in my JK but was at HRO yesterday and they want $649 for the 400. I get its the last batch but I can't justify that for APRS only. 

[WRPQ991]

I have an older ICOM IC-731 that I still like, goes from 0.100.0 to 29.999.9 and everything in between.  My BAUFENG will get me into the 2M and up, just no FM or SSB. About the only thing I can't get to is the 60M 50MHz band...Maybe not the newest whizbang equipment, but it works

[SteveShannon]

50 minutes ago, WRPQ991 said:

My BAUFENG will get me into the 2M and up, just no FM or SSB.

What does it demodulate then?

[WQWX838]

1 hour ago, WRPQ991 said:

I have an older ICOM IC-731 that I still like, goes from 0.100.0 to 29.999.9 and everything in between.  My BAUFENG will get me into the 2M and up, just no FM or SSB. About the only thing I can't get to is the 60M 50MHz band...Maybe not the newest whizbang equipment, but it works

Hi. I looked that radio up as I did not know what it was and was surprised to see it looks the same as my IC-735. Did you buy that locally while living in Japan by chance? In any case, that is a damn good radio!  I use mine for SWL 99.5% of the time.