Showing posts with label ft808. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ft808. Show all posts

21 Jan 2013

Is this Chinese HF radio a wind up one?

As the person who started the FT818 hare running a year or so back (my thoughts and ideas for an FT817 replacement - thanks to a little Photoshop editing!) , I'm wondering if the attached is real or also a spoof?

It purports to be a new Chinese HF radio retailing for £299. It looks very much like an IC718 with some stickers on. It was brought to my attention by Steve G1KQH who found it at
http://s3.zetaboards.com/copythat/topic/7467118/1/ but the date on this is 2011. Surely if true the radio would be on sale now? Somehow I am of the opinion this is (also) a bit of wishful thinking, but I would be delighted to be proved wrong.


A real Chinese HF radio at this sort of price is not totally out of the question: labour costs are low and there are already some very nice Chinese VHF/UHF handhelds on the market that under-cut Yaesu and Icom by around 100%. It is surely just a matter of time before an FT817 or an IC718 look-alike radio is available from one of the Chinese makers.

UPDATE 1755z: maybe this IS real. See http://www.tradekey.com/product-view/1538868-518398/Hf-Transceiver-ft-808-.html