AmateurRadio.com

Steadily, the Chinese are entering the amateur radio market. In addition to the “back shed” HF radios, there are now several neat looking VHF/UHF dual band radios and a quad band mobile (Anytone AT5888UV) for 10, 6, 2m and 70cm. See http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/11197  for reviews of the quad bander.

See also the Wouxun KG-UV8D 5W dual band handheld with a  large screen available from UK dealers for under £100.  This is even cheaper on eBay.

Anytone also offer a couple of 28MHz radios at bargain basement prices. They are around £199 or less.

The Chinese are coming. Watch out Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu! Your easy ride is nearly over.

I give the Chinese less than a year to come up with a good FT817 replacement at a decent price. Yaesu seem totally uninterested, so I bet the Chinese will be. The market for a good FT817 replacement is certainly measured in hundreds of thousands of transceiver units.  Enough to wake anyone up, apart, it seems, from Yaesu.

IF Yaesu is working on a replacement for the FT817 it had better be quick about it as the “window of opportunity” is rapidly closing. Band conditions are slipping, the KX3 is selling widely (but expensive over here in the UK as is the Argonaut VI) and the Chinese are coming up fast on the outside.