Amateur Radio is a Small Market

Another item on my 2026 list has been checked off: a new solid state, broadband amplifier.

It will take some time for me to become familiarized with the amp and properly integrate with the rest of the station. At the moment it is sitting on top of the Acom 1500, which is convenient for initial testing and there are no air vents on the underside to be blocked. The 4O3A PGXL is deeper (back to front) than most other equipment but not wider or higher, and it is lighter than typical tube amps.

This is an expensive product. There are cheaper amps but, overall, despite the price and some aspects of it that I dislike it is on balance the right amp for me. The choice was determined by my operating preferences and is not an endorsement. I won't be telling you whether it is the right or wrong choice for you. 

While I proceed with getting the amp set up I want to use the opportunity of this purchase to talk about a broader topic: the amateur radio equipment market. Although there are many of us around the world we are a small market, and very small when it comes to high-end specialized equipment. This includes transceivers and amplifiers, but especially products for narrow interests such as sophisticated switching systems for SO2R and multi-op contests, BPF, big HF yagis and receive antenna arrays, contest software and more. 

I find that many hams are surprised by how few employees and revenue the major brand names have in their ham radio product teams. They're well known brand names to us but are mostly small to medium size businesses. When the founder/operator of a small brand retires the company more than often than not is wound down, not sold. For large companies, like Kenwood, ham radio is just one division among many. That is helpful with respect to marketing and technology but small divisions don't impress much at the CEO level.

There aren't many of us to sustain commercial companies -- manufacturers, dealers and service centres -- on the basis of numbers alone. Manufacturers have a challenge amortizing upfront and ongoing development costs and the service infrastructure for products with production runs in the low thousands or even hundreds. For some it is a labour of love and may be borne out of necessity when an entrepreneur sees a need for themselves and decides to turn their unique builds into products. 

We are fortunate that there are as many products as there are, and that we have the option not to build our own. For the most sophisticated modern equipment, building your own is almost never possible.

I'll use this amplifier purchase as an example of manufacture and distribution of a high-end amateur radio product with few sales. It was an interesting journey. Please take note: although a few of the points are politics adjacent this is not a political article. If you take offense easily you should stop reading now to keep your blood pressure stable.

1) Buy local preferred

Few of the major product categories found in our hobby are made in Canada. There have been more in the past but companies come and go. About the only product in my station that falls into the high-end category are the BPF (band pass filters) from Pavel VA6AM. His products are widely lauded yet it is a one-man shop. BPF for contesters is a small market that he likely can't live on alone. He has a day job.

Kilowatt class HF amplifiers are built in Japan, US, EU and a few other places. For example, Icom, Yaesu, 4O3A, Omron, Acom, RF Power, Elecraft, SPE, Flex and Mercury. Each has features that appeal to some and not others. None sell many of them. Quite a few hams get by with previously enjoyed tube equipment from decades past. I have one of those: the Drake L7. 

No amplifier in this class is currently made in Canada despite being no more difficult to do it here than elsewhere. Since the Canadian amateur radio market is too small to build a business and offer competitive prices any prospective entrepreneur would have to market globally.

2) Domestic dealers

I have to buy an amp made elsewhere but I'd like to buy it from a dealer in Canada to ease the purchase and any future service. However, finding a dealer or service in Canada for any of these products is challenging. They naturally gravitate to the nearby far larger US market. That can still be convenient but not always, and less so at this time in history.

There was one dealer for the PGXL in Canada that came as part of the partnership between Flex and 4O3A. While I know none of the details there appear to be a few fractures. One consequence is that PGXL is no longer sold by that dealer. I spoke to them to ask why. I think it came down to poor sales prospects for a high-end product. You can only negotiate a lower price with the manufacturer when you commit to higher sales volume and buy in bulk, not one by one.

The bottom line is that they'd love to keep selling the PGXL but without Flex in the deal it is not possible to negotiate a price that allows them to be competitive. I can certainly understand that. But it meant that I'd have to look elsewhere, and that elsewhere is outside the country.

3) Foreign dealers

There is one 4O3A dealer in North America: DX Engineering. They're a great company to deal with in most cases and they make it easy for Canadian hams to purchase products from them. There is never a need to cross the border, whether to buy, return or get warranty service (not all products). 

They have two things working against them in this instance: cross-border politics (hopefully short term only) and a 10% tariff for products entering the US from Europe. The tariff is not rebated for sales outside of the US. 

Although not anyone's fault, cross-border high priced items trigger credit card fraud algorithms. While I appreciate the intent is time consuming to get purchases of this nature approved. Many calls are needed, and these days involve getting past the AI "front desk".

Other amplifier companies may locate their NA distribution in the US, or have none at all. They don't often come here. Few of the US-based dealers and manufacturers go out of their way to sell beyond the continental US, whether it's to other countries or offshore US states and territories. They find the process and associated costs too bothersome. The continental US is enough of a market for them. It's an understandable business strategy even if some money is left on the table.

There are many companies that will provide a US shipping address right across the border where we can pick up shipments or they will transfer across to our side of the border for a fee. That makes it easy to buy, but there's a greater cost and I don't want the expense and inconvenience of conveying products across the border myself whether for the initial purchase or possible future repairs. It is not surprising, because of how the amateur radio market is structured, that I know many Canadian hams that go this route. It is also done when buying used equipment from American hams. A friend of mine bought a PGXL by meeting the selling ham across the border.

Unhappy with these options I set about exploring other PGXL dealers. I focussed on Europe since that is really the only good alternative for us outside NA. I have no experience buying this class of products from Europe so I made a few inquiries and looked online.

In summary, the prices are not lower. It was a surprise considering that the manufacturer is in Europe and these are European dealers. However, Montenegro is not in the EU and that probably affects prices. Even accounting for that, the cost of doing business in Europe is typically higher than here. Subtracting the VAT, which is not charged for international sales, didn't bring the prices down low enough to be attractive.

A friend of mine with contacts made an inquiry for me and found that, yes, I could order direct from the company. I looked at shipping and insurance and considered the higher commercial risk, and that manufacturers are loath to undercut their dealers' prices. That ended my search for a better deal from a foreign dealer. 

I went ahead and bought the amplifier from DX Engineering. With the included 10% Europe-to-US tariff it was still a favourable price and service prospects are better. It arrived quickly but with an unwelcome substitution. To their credit they shipped the correct power cord very quickly without a fuss. Less than 2 weeks after placing my order the amp was powered up and making contacts.

4) Post-sales service

Local service is almost never an option. I remember in my youth (early 1970s) taking a busted ham band tube receiver to a TV repair shop owned by a friend of my father. My electronics knowledge was still nascent and I didn't own any test equipment, which I couldn't afford. Their techs looked at it from time to time for the two weeks they held on to it but wisely chose not to delve deeper. It was beyond their knowledge base. 

Amateur radio equipment has only become more complex and techs that can service these products are specifically trained for it. To everyone else in the electronics repair business it's not servicable. That limits service to a handful of independent small businesses (often just one man shops), occasionally the dealers (though most contract out service work) or the manufacturer's facilities in NA or their own factories overseas. 

Not all of us can repair our own equipment, but sometimes it is possible to dive in and fix an amplifier, as I did with the Acom 1500. I saved a lot of money doing this. All the manufacturer offered in response to my query about the problem was to try a new lamp (tube). The lesson is not to rely on the manufacturer to be helpful, especially years later. Companies change and small companies can change very quickly. There are no certified or competent Acom tube amp service centres in Canada.

DX Engineering recently partnered with a reputable service tech to take on their warranty repairs for Canadian customers (tube amps excluded). I don't know how well that will work in practice since the PGXL is a little out of the ordinary. I didn't inquire and I hope not to find out. All of my personal acquaintances that own this amplifier haven't needed service. If it is needed it would indeed be a benefit to have it done in-country.

Shipping and insuring a fragile, heavy and expensive product for service is to be avoided when possible. For modern transceivers and amplifiers it may be unavoidable. Shipping within Canada is not as economical as it once was and shipping to the US cost more, and involves customs paperwork to waive fees each time the product crosses the border. It is only really practical to hand carry it across the border for shipping to a US-based service centre, and pick it later in the same manner. Time, travel and government bureaucracy take their toll.

I shouldn't complain considering what hams living in many countries must deal with. They have no sales or service in their country and perhaps not even on the same continent. The low demand doesn't justify it. Not only is it very expensive and risky to import ship these products, you pay dearly for shipping both ways for service. Some have noted that it can be more economical to buy another rather than repair! Yes, that's extreme, but it really happens.

Next steps

My plans for CQ WW SSB are proceeding poorly. Operators have had to cancel due to life events and most within easy driving distance are busy that weekend or strongly prefer CW over SSB contests. The latter I understand since I feel the same, but a phone contest can be a lot of fun in a group. 

It may be that the PGXL won't get its intended workout in CQ WW SSB. We'll see. In the meantime I still need to properly configure it for my equipment and choose its final position on or under the operating desk. For the next while it'll be on top where I can easily access the connections on the rear panel.

A complete review of the amp will wait until I have more experience with it. So far, so good. In the meantime I need to get back to antenna work, if the birds let me! The work must get done whether I operate the contest or not.