wrote:

The more I think about it, the more concerned I am about the reference
to the "limited availability" of the R8B on Drake's website. I really
hope this isn't the beginning of the end of Drake receivers. That would
really be depressing.

Drake hasn't brought out a new model in quite some time. I doubt that
things are going well for the company. In fact, sales of all tabletops
have been going down while sales of cheap Chinese portables have been
going up. Passport said in their 2005 edition that the Sat 800 (which is
based on the Drake SW8 but made by Tecsun) will be discontinued shortly.
AOR no longer sells tabletops in the US or indeed anywhere else except
the UK. Maybe the end of tabletop makers in the west (including Japan)
will lead to Chinese makers filling the void-Degen for one is seriously
talking about a high end receiver, which would probably be too expensive
for its traditional domestic market. But it's possible that the DXer
market is at its saturation point and that demand for tabletops can be
satisfied by all the used models already out there. I don't think it's
the beginning of the end for shortwave radio in general-like I said
Degen and Tecsun seem to be doing well-but it may be the end of the
traditional DXer portion of SW.


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