AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN STUMBLE ACROSS ON THE WEB
Well, I missed the Fall Belton Hamfest last weekend for a variety of reasons that should not have been reasons in the first place (but they were). My regret was further amplified when the "Friz" emailed me to say that it was the largest turn out he had seen in many years (😰). My plan now is to get there next Spring.
On another note, and the main reason I started this entry, I was perusing archival stories of the Wall Street Journal when I ran across an article from August 31, 1977 and the title read: "Texas Instruments Delays CB Radio Sales for several months".
Yes, this was all to do about their upcoming 40 channel SSB radios. "Citing production-cost concerns and a flooded market they (TI) will delay for several months its prevously announced entry into the citizens-band radio business".
Concerned about the 23 channel glut along with the switch to 40 channel radios they were now postponing their planned releases until 1978. Previously their Hi-Tech transceivers were supposed to hit in the Fall of '77. Not only were they wavering on the release date, Texas Instruments hadn't even filed for FCC approval!
A TI spokesman said that they were also planning to redesign their units so that they would better fit the market demand as well as pricing. When asked if the base/mobile radio pricing would change due to redesigns he said "We don't have any anticipation that we will change the prices UP or Down".
Clearly, they had mock ups and perhaps even pre-production models about around when they announced these transceivers, but after reading this article it seems to me that it never got any further than that due to apprehension of a tightening marketplace. (pictures from advertisements of these radios are in my previous posts about them)
Knowing what we know now about the CB manufacturer "Blood Bath" of 1977/8 TI was smart in making that decision however, I sure wish that they went thru with it so we could have one or both in our collection.
Unless some old TI guy contacts me to say that he has a pre-production model, this pretty much ends my posts about it.
73
Woody
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