"What's that price you say...?"
I ran across this ad on eBay this morning (pre-coffee or Diet Coke) as snipped/clipped/and pinned below -
I put the 'ol reading glasses on to make sure I wasn't seeing double, but no, here is someone in Japan trying to sell a Yaesu FT-818ND for $12,900.00 USD. It was too bad to pass up and not post it, so I made a quick Blog post about it.
Obviously the price is outrageous, so I either it's a mistake, or he/she/they don't really want to sell it, because to a U.S. buyer, it's not even worth $500. The Japanese ham radios have limited frequencies, use different firmware, and can only get warranty work done in Japan.
"Remember: If the price seems too good to be true, there's a good reason why it is..."
Recently I've seen several posts on various Facebook groups where someone is either wondering why he shouldn't buy a radio for hundreds of dollars less than here in North America, like HRO, DX Engineering and other retailers, or even worse - they've bought one from Japan and it's arrived, but they can't get all of the frequencies and power output that they should be getting.
There's no diode clipping that will give you all of the frequencies used in North America, and if you download the US firmware, most likely you'll brick the radio. Remember: If the price seems too good to be true, there's a good reason why it is.
This ad makes no sense at all. Not only is it a Japanese market model, but the price is a wallet gouging eye opener. The most frequent radios where I see: "Hey I just bought a XXXX model radio from Japan, and saved a few hundred dollars, but I can't get all of the frequencies - HELP" are the ICOM IC-705, FT-710, Yaesu FT-991A, and soon to come, the new Yaesu FTX-1 Optima. This next ad for an IC-705 isn't the best example of saving money, but it is about $300 less than what you'd pay for a new one here in the states.
It's entirely possible that the outer box has gone back to the typical box you see in the ad above, but when I bought my IC-705 it came in a very colorful box like the one below. So your first clue that something is different should be the box. Then start asking questions about what frequencies it will or won't cover.
So that's all I had to say about this today. It is something to be aware of, so keep your eyes open, and ask the seller questions if the price or something else in the ad seems dubious. 'Nuff Said for now...
73
