As Matt says, I shouldn’t engage, but that rarely stops me. ?This is one of those uncommon arguments where everybody has at least one good point.? ?? The original TimePod 5330A was introduced in 2011 at a price of US $3999, with the explicit goal of expanding the market for PN and stability measurement beyond the national labs and larger institutions that it was traditionally limited to.? At the time, the lowest-priced competition was about six times higher, and the market was relatively small.? I’ve never heard any solid figures (and couldn’t say anything too specific if I had), but I think Symmetricom was probably selling 50 to 100 of the TSC 5120As per year.

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Fast-forward a dozen years, and the 53100A is now priced at a level similar to the original competitors for the 5330A.? So in that sense, my goal of expanding the market to small R&D firms and serious hobbyists has not been entirely successful.? I’m actually pretty psyched to see gadgets like Erik’s tinyPFA finally come out after all this time.? They are scratching an itch that I ultimately couldn’t reach.? Ditto for some of the more advanced open-source efforts like Andrew Holme’s, which I’ve pointed quite a few people towards.

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In the 53100A’s defense, each one passes through many hands between the factory’s stockroom and the end user’s workbench.? Each pair of hands adds some value and captures some as well.? Then there’s marketing, which everybody loves to diss until they find out what happens when you don’t do it.? These were key reasons why the original TSC boxes were so expensive -- reasons I didn’t fully appreciate when I was the Young Turk complaining about how somebody needed to Disrupt The Market?.? The market is still a relatively small one regardless of price, which means that those HP-like margins that none of us like to pay are unfortunately required to make the business worthwhile at all.? At least that’s what I hear from the folks in the suits.

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Anyway, thanks for the very kind words of support from those who have chimed in.? The rest of you aren’t wrong, any more than I was when I had the exact same attitude towards the existing players.? So, quit complaining, fire up your favorite CAD program, and start hacking. ?

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-- john, KE5FX

Miles Design LLC

3120A/5330A/53100A dev

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