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Author Topic: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers  (Read 367467 times)

N9FB

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #30 on: August 08, 2015, 07:34:49 PM »

Do not hold you breath.

that does not sound good, but maybe there is still hope...  have you ever been wrong about anything?
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W8JX

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #31 on: August 09, 2015, 04:21:24 AM »

Do not hold you breath.

that does not sound good, but maybe there is still hope...  have you ever been wrong about anything?

I do not walk on water but TenTec has the strong smell of death on it. The year before merger TenTec had a big spread at Hamvention and lots of products but this year they had very little space and product on display. Alpha had the rest of their space for display. I honestly think that they used TenTec assets sales to prop up Alpha which is seeing increased competition for its over priced amps and it days may be numbered too.
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N9FB

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #32 on: August 09, 2015, 10:39:48 AM »

your opinion is noted -- i am hoping this signals they are moving their lineup in order to make way for a new, and perhaps leaner, one.  might be hard to sell the older rigs for profit if new ones are already out.  If so, I am glad they are not in a hurry.  If the new rigs are solid, Ten-Tec fans will buy 'em.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2015, 10:42:59 AM by W9KEY »
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N9AOP

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #33 on: August 09, 2015, 01:32:41 PM »

I really do not like to speculate because sometimes it is a crapshoot.  A while back TT discontinued the sale of Titan III amps stating that the tubes were increasingly difficult to obtain.  (4CX800A).  But now ACOM says that they have a mega warehouse full of them and we should be good for the next 20 years.  I do hope that TT stays in business so that there are a couple of US manufacturers.  As far as ALPHA goes, it looks like ACOM and OM power are giving them a good run on the world market.
Art
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W8JX

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #34 on: August 10, 2015, 06:01:58 AM »

I really do not like to speculate because sometimes it is a crapshoot.  A while back TT discontinued the sale of Titan III amps stating that the tubes were increasingly difficult to obtain.  (4CX800A).  But now ACOM says that they have a mega warehouse full of them and we should be good for the next 20 years.  I do hope that TT stays in business so that there are a couple of US manufacturers.  As far as ALPHA goes, it looks like ACOM and OM power are giving them a good run on the world market.
Art

Alpha has its own problems in being able to sell over priced amps in face of serious competition and not a asset to TenTec merger as Alpha were hemorrhaging. Alpha will survive until they bleed TenTec of all assets to stay afloat or they start producing more reasonably priced amps that sell better. There is only so much market for their over priced product and it is drying up. 
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SWL2002

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #35 on: August 10, 2015, 07:36:53 AM »

John Henry of TEN TEC responded to the rumors of TEN TEC going under shortly after the acquisition was announced.  He basically poo pooed the rumor that TEN TEC was going down.  A few months after that statement, John Henry leaves TEN TEC for another job.  Seems he changed his mind.  Another bad sign...
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W9FIB

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #36 on: August 10, 2015, 07:51:37 AM »

John Henry of TEN TEC responded to the rumors of TEN TEC going under shortly after the acquisition was announced.  He basically poo pooed the rumor that TEN TEC was going down.  A few months after that statement, John Henry leaves TEN TEC for another job.  Seems he changed his mind.  Another bad sign...

People change jobs all the time. CEOs come and go all the time. Not a real good indicator of anything other then someone moved on to a different company. Unless of course they specifically make public any particular reason for leaving.
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73, Stan
Travelling the world one signal at a time.

W5JON

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #37 on: August 10, 2015, 09:15:51 AM »

John Henry of TEN TEC responded to the rumors of TEN TEC going under shortly after the acquisition was announced.  He basically poo pooed the rumor that TEN TEC was going down.  A few months after that statement, John Henry leaves TEN TEC for another job.  Seems he changed his mind.  Another bad sign...

People change jobs all the time. CEOs come and go all the time. Not a real good indicator of anything other then someone moved on to a different company. Unless of course they specifically make public any particular reason for leaving.

Hi,

The three biggest lies:
1. The check is in the mail.
2. I will respect you in the morning.
3. There will be no changes after the acquisition.

Just wait for the new owner to say, "soon my son will have your job".  

In my 20+ years with a $12B company, after many of our "acquisitions" I saw it happen often.  No matter small, large, or giant size companies, acquisitions are the same, as human nature is the same. The new smart management always wants to have people they know and trust watching their backs.

 73,

John W5JON
« Last Edit: August 10, 2015, 09:34:38 AM by W5JON »
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W8JX

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #38 on: August 10, 2015, 11:02:45 AM »

John Henry of TEN TEC responded to the rumors of TEN TEC going under shortly after the acquisition was announced.  He basically poo pooed the rumor that TEN TEC was going down.  A few months after that statement, John Henry leaves TEN TEC for another job.  Seems he changed his mind.  Another bad sign...

Last thing he would do is to admit it was going belly up then as it would of greatly reduced value of remaining assets. Many companies never say they are closing until they close the doors.
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Ham since 1969....  Old School 20wpm REAL Extra Class..

SWL2002

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #39 on: August 12, 2015, 06:08:53 AM »

John Henry of TEN TEC responded to the rumors of TEN TEC going under shortly after the acquisition was announced.  He basically poo pooed the rumor that TEN TEC was going down.  A few months after that statement, John Henry leaves TEN TEC for another job.  Seems he changed his mind.  Another bad sign...

People change jobs all the time. CEOs come and go all the time. Not a real good indicator of anything other then someone moved on to a different company. Unless of course they specifically make public any particular reason for leaving.

TEN TEC is a small company.  Many of its key people have left since the acquisition.  It cannot be good when your key people are jumping off like rats on a sinking ship.
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N9FB

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #40 on: August 12, 2015, 12:39:24 PM »

true, however as this whole thread is filled with wild speculations, it doesn't seem that extraordinary to think RKR might wish to put their own people in place to man/woman the new company and possibly might even move it to the same campus as Alpha (or move both to some central location).  They might even change the name from 'Ten-Tec' since the name signifies a home base in Tennessee... 

If that is the case, and they plan to call it something new Like Alpha-Tec or CO-Tech or simply RKR as well as release a whole new innovative line-up -- and given that they are a small company -- it might take them a couple of years to get the ball rolling.  Maybe they are condfient they can give Elecraft and others a run for their money.  That would be good for the ham community -- would it not?

am i being too hopeful?   :)
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W9FIB

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #41 on: August 12, 2015, 02:39:07 PM »

true, however as this whole thread is filled with wild speculations, it doesn't seem that extraordinary to think RKR might wish to put their own people in place to man/woman the new company and possibly might even move it to the same campus as Alpha (or move both to some central location).  They might even change the name from 'Ten-Tec' since the name signifies a home base in Tennessee... 

If that is the case, and they plan to call it something new Like Alpha-Tec or CO-Tech or simply RKR as well as release a whole new innovative line-up -- and given that they are a small company -- it might take them a couple of years to get the ball rolling.  Maybe they are condfient they can give Elecraft and others a run for their money.  That would be good for the ham community -- would it not?

am i being too hopeful?   :)

I don't think so. Consolidation usually brings leaner operating into play. Especially when they were already interrelated in a business sense. And obviously redundant people will be gone. Reducing costs a goal. And ultimately a great small company. In some ways, I think this consolidation was a smart move. But time will tell.
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73, Stan
Travelling the world one signal at a time.

W8JX

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #42 on: August 12, 2015, 06:28:41 PM »

it doesn't seem that extraordinary to think RKR might wish to put their own people in place to man/woman the new company and possibly might even move it to the same campus as Alpha (or move both to some central location). 

Both very bad moves. You cannot replace talent that easy moving it to same place as alpha is not good because Alpha is on life support of its own. RKR likely got it for fire sale prices. I think both will be history soon. Sad part is TenTec had more potential and diversity than Alpha and they are liquidating TenTec assets to keep Alpha a float.
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K9MHZ

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #43 on: August 13, 2015, 09:42:50 AM »

I really hate writing this, because I really admire Ten-Tec.  At Dayton, they had a 238C antenna tuner on display.  Great product, OK I'm sold.  NONE to sell there, just taking orders.  They said "June or July", which I understand, given the small biz nature of their production runs.  August comes, and I send email inquiries.  Nothing for a reply, just crickets.  Left a voice message, and just more crickets.  Finally got a person the other day, and he reports "November or December at the earliest."  Canceled the order.  What the heck?

Anecdotal for sure, but that wasn't a sign of a healthy, well-run organization.  Hope I'm wrong.

 
« Last Edit: August 13, 2015, 09:54:42 AM by K9MHZ »
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SWL2002

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RE: RKR Designs LLC / Ten-Tec / Alpha Amplifiers
« Reply #44 on: August 13, 2015, 10:10:47 AM »

You can't just run an ad in the local paper and find hardware or software engineers that have extensive experience designing and producing Ham radio transcievers.  Especially since the majority of TEN TEC's transcievers are DSP IF based.  It takes a multidisciplinary guy to do this kind of work for a small company.  They simply can not afford to hire four engineers with no Ham radio product manufacturing experience to replace a guy that has been with the company for years and knows the ins and outs of the products they produce.

You are delusional if you think that RKR is "cleaning house" or wishing to put their own people (what people???) in place.  That is just nonsense.  Henry would not have left if he thought there was any future in the company... ditto for others who have moved on.
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