Cushcraft and Hygain Manufacturing Bought by ITU Corporation

What is the difference? Maybe MFJ realized he couldn't sell the whole package. I am just glad this was sold to an American who is also a ham I also like the fact he owns a store which is a throwback to Radio Shack.

 

I hope they bring back the R7 or the R8 antenna I had one for many years and now I need to replace it

 

I'd be happy with an R-5.

Kraus/KC4ZGP

 

Actually, I never knew that Panasonic made ham gear, especially a transceiver private labeled for Hy-Gain.
Learn something new every single day!

Thanks.

 

This is good.

 

Martin is a legend in Mississippi—far beyond his ham radio businesses which seemed to almost single handedly support QST! May his successors continue his good works to the benefit of all!

 

The Hy-Gain 3750 transceiver was manufactured in Japan by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (now known as Panasonic and was sold under the Hy-Gain brand in the U.S. during 1976 and 1977. It is a rebranded version of the National RJX-1011D.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (National/Panasonic).

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. officially changed its name to Panasonic Corporation on October 1, 2008. This move unified the company's corporate name with its globally recognized brand to align with its international identity, and it was later renamed Panasonic Holdings Corporation in April 2022.

 

"Panasonic" ham gear was almost entirely JDM (japan domestic market) and sold under the National brand (not panasonic brand), a subsidiary of the former Matsushita Denki Corp (now called Panasonic Corp). There were a few non-National branded products, such as the HyGain radio noted above that used national as the OEM and slapped their own name on the finished product. A search of Ebay Japan will uncover some treasures including HF and some unique VHF / 6 meter gear and even a few 2M synthesized radios from the early -mid 1970s. Like many products made / sold in Japan, they were never intended for export market so any gear over here was usually gray market imported, or bought by a ham while living in JA and brought back to home country (US/EU/RU etc).

 

I wonder if this has anything to do with why the business was located there: Mississippi has one of the lowest costs of living in the U.S., with expenses 13% to nearly 17% lower than the national average.

Indiana offers a somewhat low cost of living, with expenses only at 8% to 9% less than the national average. Not as "good" as Mississippi so labor/load/raw inventory might cost a bit more and maybe reflected in sell price.

 

MFJ was in operations for many, many years—at least since the early 70’s. Martin hired many college students locally—literally financing their higher education and giving them practical experience. He was active in the Rotary and a pillar in his community of Starkville, MS. And he hosted local events for area hams.

Quite the “unsung” hero of our hobby, IMHO.

 

..

 

This is the only thread about that I see here.

 

Well, there is this 6 page thread that was started on Monday. https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?th...nufacturing-bought-by-itu-corporation.987899/

 

This is great news. Glad to see a couple of familiar names in business again.

John K5MO

 

It's so cool that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) did this.

Of course they may want to move all operations to Geneva, but we'll deal with that.