You probably have heard recently that all Honda models will soon be manufactured in the US. Honda Motor announced, "it is too expensive to build cars in Japan and to ship to the US." Toyota, Nissan, and other Japanese automobile makers will hike their prices by as much as 20% to compensate for the rising Japanese yen. During the last two decades, the yen's value has steadily increased more than three-fold, fueled by the swift economic growth in Japan. On the other hand, the US economy slowed down during the same period. This particularly applies to the American automobile makers.
Like the Japanese automobile makers, the Japanese ham radio makers will soon raise their prices to offset the high value of the yen, as they have done so in the past decades. Today, we have four choices of Japanese HF transceivers manufactures. The three famous ones are Kenwood, Yaesu, and ICOM. The fourth is JRC, a relative unknown in the US but highly respected by Japanese ham radio operators. I've heard a rumor that the US Defense Department is buying equipment from JRC.
I have always observed that these HF rig prices in yen remain unchanged, while the prices in US dollars keep going up. Now, you see why so many JA operators always own the latest top of the line rigs. To them, new rigs aren't so expensive, since their incomes go up while the price of the new rigs remain unchanged, and old rigs aren't worth keeping. A good analogy is personal computers (PCs). The power and speed of new PCs are always increasing while costing about the same as the older models. So, what happens to those used PCs? Their obsolescence rendered them cheap. Well, so are the prices of the used HF rigs in Japan. However, used HF rigs in the US are still expensive compared to those in Japan. It's too bad that it's too expensive to go to Japan to pick up some used rigs.
Like Honda, it may be possible that Japanese ham radio makers may assemble ham radio gear in the US. My guess is that this won't happen. Unlike automobile makers, the Japanese ham radio makers already dominate the US market. Also, HF transceivers cost much less than cars, and shipping costs are not prohibitive. Unless one Japanese ham radio maker tries to beat the others and starts to build in the US, none of the Japanese ham radio makers will come to the US. So, we are stuck with the high priced HF rigs, unfortunately.
Wait a minute, there is good news for American ham radio operators. A few days ago, I saw an advertisement of a new HF rig - a brand new Atlas! I remember companies like Atlas and Drake manufacturing HF rigs in the 1970s. Now, Ten-Tec is the only American company in the business of making HF transceivers comparable to those made by the four Japanese makers. The new Atlas HF transceiver has all WARC bands and is similar in appearance to the last Atlas model made in the 1970s. However, the guts are different and upgraded. It has a direct digital synthesis and a tunable IF passband, just like the standard features of all Japanese rigs. The price is under $800, slightly less than comparable lower priced Japanese rigs. A major difference from the usual Japanese made HF transceiver is that the Atlas rig does not have an SWL option. Unless you like to SWL besides QSOs, this option wouldn't be needed anyway.
As the Japanese rigs become more expensive, more American-made rigs like Atlas may become available, which is real welcome news. The next possible company in line could be the America's most favorite ham radio accessory maker, MFJ. Will my MFJ antenna tuner then become a match for the HF rig at last? I would like to see Drake make a TR8. . . . . I believe the last series of the Drake line was TR7. Also, I'd like to see a new rig from Rockwell/Collins. These companies still exist, but are currently out of the ham radio equipment business. Perhaps someday, Raytheon, or other defense electronics industries may manufacture HF transceivers with the MIL Spec. Presently, Raytheon is supplying HF equipment to the Defense Department. So, this should be one project to convert from military to civilian applications. The rigs would be water tight and durable, and would be suitable for installing on boats or Jeeps, or used at any wild places for Field Day sites or Dxpeditions. In addition, the rigs may have advanced options such as spread-spectrum communication mode and digital signal processing in the IF stage. These options would make them certainly ahead of others, i.e., the new generation of HF transceivers will stand up to tough QRM in the ever crowded bands.
My HF station consists of a very old Kenwood transceiver, and doesn't have either 160 meter or the new WARC bands. It doesn't even have the popular SWL option. For a long time, I've been drooling over new rigs like the Kenwood TS850S or the JRC JST-135, but their prices are going up faster than my annual raise. A couple of the fine American rigs made by Ten-Tec used to be in an untouchable price class, but today, many Japanese rigs have reached or exceeded that price class. Well, I'll reconsider Ten-Tec rigs, but, I'd rather wait a while to see more American companies start making HF rigs. The day may come especially for those defense companies in Massachusetts making super advanced HF transceivers. Imagine on a QSO with JA station: "MY RIG IS RAYTHEON. BAD QRM AT MY END. CAN YOU GO TO SPREAD-SPECTRUM MODE? BREAK." "NO, MY $6,000 ICOM IC-780 DOESN'T HAVE THAT OPTION, SORRY." Am I daydreaming or beaming to a long-path at the wrong time? Or, is perhaps my mind drifting out of the band like the VFO of my antiquated rig?
Copyright 1993 by N. Fujita, WB1Y. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.