Kenwood: Kenwood getting out of Amateur Radio(rumor)

[El_Kabong]

Having done a fair amount of electronics repair, I've been fairly impressed with Kenwood.
I have a friend who used to buy JVC stuff. Stereo gear, TVs. I swear I fixed them all, one more than once. Oddly enough his TS-440S is still going strong and didn't suffer from the dot problem. I have a Kenwood TR-7950 that still works great, only a memory battery replacement. Can't say the same for most of my Yaesu gear...

Kenwood refines their products very well. Always impressed me about that quality.

 

[krokus]

The audio division is mainly aftermarket products (car stereo's as JVCKENWOOD is not an OEM like some of their competitors currently)

If JVCKenwood is not making their own car audio, then who is the OEM? Are they just getting production from China, in placenod their own in-house?

 

[GlobalNorth]

Bob Carver has been out of the Audio business for years. Carver Corporation [I owned a number of his products] lasted about a decade, then Sunfire in the 1990s, Bob Carver LLC for a couple of years and terminating with its' sale to Jade Design. Bob left the company within 2 years of the acquisition and has stayed out for the past decade.

Great stuff, talented physicist, but he sold stuff for the technical innovation - not for the mass market.

 

[AK9R]

If JVCKenwood is not making their own car audio, then who is the OEM?

I think what was meant is that JVCKenwood does not make OEM car audio systems for any of the car manufacturers.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I think what was meant is that JVCKenwood does not make OEM car audio systems for any of the car manufacturers.

This

 

[borjam]

Yes, but Kenwood hasn't innovated with any new revolutionary product in 20 years. The TS-2000 and TS-2000X were the last gasps of real innovation the way that Icom and Yaesu have been picking up the slack cranking out truly NEW innovative amateur products.

Although they have been slow to jump onto the SDR bandwagon, I wouldn't say they are not innovative. Sadly this has hurt them badly because SDR can offer a dramatic price/performance improvement eliminating delicate and expensive components.

But take, for example, the TH-D74. The product concept is briliant, including the possibility of using the built in TNC from a computer using Bluetooth. Other manufacturers either ignore APRS or patch it without bothering to see whether it works or not (Yaesu, I am pointing at the FT3DE).

Comparing the TH-D74 to other offerings looks like two different worlds.

Kenwood: Ok, we want these features, let's make the most of them!

Yaesu: Just throw that onto it.

Right now I wouldn´t call Yaesu innovative. Their FT-818 is the same old design despite the fact that Collins stopped manufacturing mechanical filters. Don't get me wrong, I own a FT-817nd and I love it, but come on!

I really hope Kenwood don´t abandon the ham radio market. Although my HF rig is an IC-7200, I love the way Kenwood polish their product conceptions. Maybe Icom is more risk taking and innovative right now, but Kenwood really polishes them.

 

[n5ims]

And typically, with Kenwood you have access to the built-in TNC and can use it for Winlink or other functions instead of just a simplified APRS feature that is simply there to check the box, not make it useful beyond the very basic functionality.

 

[pinballwiz86]

Kenwood's APRS capability in their VHF equipment is the main selling feature for me. I hope they keep it in their future amateur radio equipment!

 

[KB9ZB]

Kenwood like many other manufacturers have had to make some strategic decisions with product lines. While they have not made any indication they will get out of the amateur market, they have placed more emphasis on there commercial lines of equipment. The DMR and other commercial markets are hot and they want to take advantage of those opportunities.
They know they have a very loyal crowd in the amateur market place, they also know it is a specialty market. with that in mind it becomes a numbers game, with limited parts availability and supply chain issues it came down to who has the bigger marketplace.
I believe they will have equipment back on the shelves soon and will also have more radio lines in the future. I anticipate they will come out of this with some new offering in the near future. While i do not have any concrete proof of this, but based upon there past, they have always come out with something new and better after a down market.