China's car market falls

In China, the sale of cars, especially petrol cars, has fallen dramatically. Cars in China are far lower in price than in the West.

Made in China

It would seem everything (or nearly everything!) is made in China. 

In the USA and Europe we are addicted to low prices. If the same things were made here or in the USA, or in continental Europe, it is very likely they would be far more expensive.

I do not know the answer. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer with the gap ever wider. Many young people the world over believe democracy has failed them. 

In the end something will change in the next 20 years.

The USA or China?

If I was a 3rd world country looking at the USA or China, which would I lean towards?  

The USA is in grave danger of failing on the world stage and it would not surprise me if the US dollar was overtaken as the world's reserve currency.

There is a lot wrong with China, but at the moment few would look to the USA as a beacon of freedom and democracy sadly. The USA is no longer able to hold the moral ground. I find this sad as every American I have known has been kind and generous. Individually every person from the USA I have known has been really nice.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_currency .

Made in China

It seems that most things I buy are "made in China". Often there is an importer, but the words "made in China" are marked on the goods.  I guess we are addicted to low prices and making in the UK prices would be far higher. 

It seems that prices of most goods in the USA imported from China will go up in price and that the price of products from other countries (like Japan) will go up in price there because of tariffs imposed by President Trump. I cannot see goods made in the USA will be as inexpensive with higher labour costs.

Best SDR transeivers

This is a Chinese video (I think) promoting Chinese SDR transceivers. Many (including me) are still a bit concerned about Chinese quality and reliability in amateur radio products.

They have definitely "got there" in many consumer products with most goods bought these days having a "Made in China" label. We are addicted to low costs with labour costs in China (at the moment) much lower than in Europe or the USA.

When it comes to SDR transceivers, the Chinese offerings are much lower cost than the Japanese offerings. In the future this is the competition. 

As labour costs in China go up, I can see people scanning the world to see where labour costs are lower, or adopting more automation to compete.

World order - NOT amateur radio

It would appear a new world order is emerging.  For over a century the USA was seen as the dominant world power. We are now seeing this change as China comes to the fore.

At one time the USA was seen as a beacon of democracy and one that could be aspired to. 

Recently, I cannot see many in the world wishing to follow the USA.

No political system is perfect.

Made in China - NOT amateur radio

We are all guilty.  

My daughter-in-law kindly bought me a bobble hat. A look inside at the label said, "made in China". It seems most things now are made in China!  

In the USA, if they slap a tariff on Chinese imports it is inevitable costs for USA consumers will go up i.e. inflation will increase. 

If we make goods in the USA or Europe it is inevitable inflation will go up.

I have no idea what the answer is.

The West and China - NOT amateur radio

China is in the ascendancy in the 21st century.  

For a long time the USA has been acknowledged as the strongest power in the world, but it looks as if this is changing.  

No doubt the USA will try to hang on to their supremacy, but I suspect long after I am pushing up daisies things will be very different. China is communist and the USA a western democracy. Both systems have merits and demerits.

Bargains from China?

Banggood is selling some very low cost transceivers and receivers. These are far below the prices we are used to. In many cases, these are with free shipping from China. In some cases I am unsure if there is VAT and duty to pay. I am also concerned about quality control.

In the end, Chinese products really will be competitive against the Japanese. They are not there yet, quite. I give it 5 years, possibly less.

Q900 all band, all mode ,transceiver

This version 3 Q900 transceiver from China looks like the FT817 replacement we never had. It is also much less expensive and is SDR based.  It is also much smaller than it looks.

Yaesu, you have had your chances, but never took them in the run up to solar peak 24 and now 25. Instead, Yaesu messes around with a 100W SDR radio that looks like the one they only recently introduced!! 

Yaesu, have you really lost the plot? 

We could all be forgiven for thinking this.  I used to like Yaesu radios. In recent years, I am really not so impressed.

Like all things from China my feeling is the quality control and support are still not proven. They will get there soon and this may be it.

Lower cost amateur radio products are coming and the big Japanese manufacturers are in for a large shock. The writing is on the wall. I give it a few years only. Certainly when we are in cycle 26 things will look very different indeed. Some of the companies we have known for decades will be gone and there will be new names.

China - NOT amateur radio

Recently, I attended a University of the Third Age lecture on China. There is little doubt that China will once again become a major world power in the 21st century. 

There is always a tendency to judge China by western standards. In many ways we question their records on human rights. At the same time it was the UK that started the opium wars, and gun crime and treatment of ex-slaves in the USA is hardly great! 

We have to be very careful not to judge by our western standards: we have been, and still are, far from perfect. Culturally, China differs from us in many ways. The Chinese are far from perfect, but so are we in the west.

It would be good if we could all strive for a better world, but not preaching as if we are perfect, when we in the west are not.

USDR - HF SSB transceiver for £115 anyone?

Steve G1KQH has just sent me an eBay link to yet another multi-band HF SSB SDR transceiver from China. This retails for about £115! How do they do it and make money?

Chinese electric commuter car - NOT amateur radio

The Chinese have launched a very low cost electric car aimed at commuters. It is a joint venture with General Motors. It is outselling Tesla cars by about 2:1. The standards in China are much lower than in Europe and the USA. At the moment it is only on sale in China.

It seems to me they have got their marketing spot on. In the west we have not got our electric car marketing correct. Our cars have (generally) got insufficient range for long distances and yet are far too expensive.

In what appears to be a stupid move, the UK government has today reduced the grant on electric cars under £35k and withdrawn it totally for cars over £35k. So much for encouraging us to go green!

In my view, the UK should launch a no frills electric car that fits the commuter range and can be charged at home. The government could actively encourage sales of these by strongly subsidising low cost electric cars made in the UK designed for commuters and local shopping trips.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56178802 .

Chinese transceivers

Steve G1KQH has reminded me about a new Chinese amateur radio HF transceiver. 

Many of the things we buy are made in China. It is now hard to find things not made in China. All this is because we demand lower and lower prices. We exported our UK manufacturing base to China. When China gets too expensive, we will look elsewhere. Like King Canute, we cannot stop the tides, but in the end we have to question this on many levels: we are exporting our pollution for example.

Sadly, we live in a consumer driven economy that cannot last for ever. Things are designed not to last too long so we are encouraged to replace items and so fuel our "throw away" mentality. We are all guilty.

Not sure why, but I still have issues with Chinese quality control. In the end the Chinese will get better and their quality control will be as good as the Japanese. The real question is will the Chinese be attracted by the (relatively small) amateur radio market? There are a few players, but no-one has seriously taken on the Kenwoods, Yaesus and ICOMs of this world yet. If they do, I could see some leaving the amateur radio market.

Moon journey - NOT amateur radio

There is a video about the Chinese satellite orbiting the moon. Some people dislike the Chinese, but they will be even more of a super-power this century.

3 year old falls from high-rise and survives

This is the sort of horror story you watch and hope. Apparently the 3 year old was caught in a blanket and escaped without injury.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-china-49175524/china-toddler-three-year-old-falls-six-storeys-and-survives

China Moon probes - NOT amateur radio

Apparently a couple of probes on the far side of the Moon have taken photos of each other. Being on the Moon's far side, all images have to be relayed by lunar orbiting satellites.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46836047

FCC gets tough

Not sure if this is all part of President Trump getting tough on China, but Southgate News reports that the FCC in the USA is getting tougher on cheap Chinese transceivers entering the USA. I also heard this from Steve G1KQH.

At this stage I am not sure what effect this will have on rigs like the uBITX,  Baofengs,  Pixies and the like.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2018/september/fcc-enforcement-advisory-on-two-way-vhf-uhf-radios.htm#.W6tCqfZFzIU

How do they do it?

Today, in the post, I received this package from China containing all these capacitive "pens" for tablets. 

The price? £1.10 total including airmail delivery!! This price is unbelievable and they make a profit!

UPDATE 1326z: I have tried these on a couple of tablets and they work well. I have yet to try these with my Inrico network radio. This has a small touch screen, so they should prove very useful.

Terracotta Warriors - NOT amateur radio

There is a major exhibition on in Liverpool at the moment of the Chinese Terracotta Warriors. These were immense statues created over 2000 years ago. We went to a similar exhibition in London in 2007. It was very good.