Probably the same as RHR. That has certainly been vetted by attorney. We have the same attorney. No issues there. 73 Chip W1YW
1.) It is NOT a joke! 2.) My attention span is too short to listen to your show. I read about 5x the speed you talk........
Well, maybe. Many of the well known "amateur radio manufacturers" are actually small divisions of much larger companies. Economy of scale and all that. Not many companies (Elecraft is an exception) are amateur-radio-centric. Perhaps the best example of this was Collins Radio. The only reason Collins made ham gear was because Art Collins was a ham. They made their money on government contracts and commercial stuff, not ham gear. Things like the famous Collins PTO were developed for other services and then adapted for amateur use.
They're snatched up because they're a bargain! (What do you consider "a small fortune"?) IIRC, when the SB-220 was introduced in 1969 it was priced at $349.95. Which seems like a bargain until you adjust for inflation, and discover that's well over $2000 in today's money!
What got me wondering was when I walked in to a store and bought a 30 meter mobile antenna for $14.95. If someone had asked me, I would have told them that there wasn't enough of a market for a mobile antenna that can only be used for CW or digital. But I bought one, and apparently there were enough other potential buyers to make the product worthwhile. But I still suspect that they lost money on that particular product.
