Ham microwave gear won't reach the manufacturing volume of wireless LAN equipment, but the parts used are inexpensve and can be designed into ham gear. The level of integration is higher than is acheived in HF equipment so complete microwave transceivers could be produced at a lower cost than amateur HF transceivers if there was a satellite to create a market.
73,
John KD6OZH
----- Original Message ----- From: "Nate Duehr" nate@natetech.com To: "AMSAT BB" amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 22:02 UTC Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: HEO naivete
On Feb 8, 2009, at 12:52 AM, John B. Stephensen wrote:
Look at cell phones and wireless LANs to see what microwave equipment can cost.
73,
John KD6OZH
Wireless LAN gear is mass produced by the hundreds of thousands.
Cell phones are also mass produced, but are subsidized (in the U.S.) by the carriers out of subscription fees. For real prices, look at Europe. Or just look at the 3.1 million dollars that Motorola's cellular handset division lost in 2008, according to their annual report.
So keep in mind the price tags you're using as examples, aren't the full price, other than WiFi gear, which is produced in such quantity that economies of scale are involved.
Nate WY0X _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb