Hi Arlan,
last week I was in Japan for the first time and enjoyed a free
Thursday morning in the Akihabara area.
One ham shop is relatively easy to find, just have a look upwards and
you will see their antennas up in the air (don't recall the name).
The other one is called ROCKET, when you leave the subway station
just
follow the rails of the railway line that goes overhead the street,
the shop is on the left hand side.
Compared to shops here in Europe and the U.S. I was really amazed
about the large variety of details and accessories that are being
offered (for example all x-tals for my Mizuhos, that I still use from
time to time for QRP operation, are available on stock).
Don't recall all prices at the moment, but I bought the 20m and 15m
Maldol as well as the temperature compensated TCXO for the FT-817.
You
can bargain a little bit, they offered the TCXO for around 95.000 Yen
(if I recall right) but when I made a very concerned face and thought
about that price (in reality just trying to convert it to German Mark
...), the friendly sales guy reduced it right away to 80.000 Yen and
asked "ok, Sir?".
Anyhow, shopping ham gear in Japan is fun (the way the gear and
accessories are displayed reminds me of American supermarkets, they
even have music in the background ...). Don't miss the
"Museum-Section" in the second floor of ROCKET: a small section of
the
shop depicts a ham radio shop of the seventies and eighties with a
lot
of old gear tham makes you smile, and a large selection of almost
every VHF handheld that was ever available on the market
(unfortunately all marked with "Not for Sale") ... memories come back
...
Have fun, vy 73
Geri, DK8KW (W1KW)
--- In FT817@y..., howlingwolf@r... wrote:
Well, I just couldn't resist when HRO dropped the price of the
FT-817
to $639 at Dayton...I'm the proud owner of one the beasties now.
Very
nice little rig.
All the vendors at Dayton were out of the accessories (CAT-62, CW
Filters, et cetera) on Sunday...
I'll be visiting Japan soon on business and will have 3-4 days to
myself. Checking out the ham shops in Akihabara is on my "must do"
list as of now.
Does anyone know if ham accessories are any cheaper there? How
about
stuff like the Maldol antenna? I've been told that rigs are about
the
same or a little more expensive.
73 ES GUD DX
Arlan W8OW
