I have posted about this several times. The big three transmitter makers are one man companies in a home business and it's a side venture. They don't do this for themselves and if no sales not worth it.
Gerry who I am friends with and resides 35 to 40 minutes away from me in Bolton Ontario Canada has informed me that he has decided that due to the fact that sales are next to nothing and hasn't sold one Procaster FM that has been on the market since the spring and the Procaster AM only sells a couple a year and he will be 72 next year, will not be restocking any more units or parts. When the current stock is gone, it's gone!
I suggest to all that anyone thinking of purchasing a Procaster(AM or FM) or would like to have a back up unit do it in the forseable future while it's available. I don't know how many he has left but when they are gone, they are gone.
I will be getting an extra circuit board for the Procaster AM and the extra circuit board for the studio interface for back up. The studio interface supplies the audio and power to the Procaster. And I have to be careful to not have any more accidents like when it fell off the wall.
The Procaster is the only AM certified for use in Canada and any of the others can't be legally used or purchased here.
FM we have as Decade's are readily available and even if Decade closes up shop there will be still lots on the market.
Disappointing news, but understandable, sales are what drives production, and part15AM has been in a slump for years, which is probably why the newly designed Parking Lot Radio transmitter a few years ago decided not to follow through (after a lot of hype) in obtaining their certification.
Am I correct that you have no option to build your own in Canada? That makes it even more unfortunate.. So that leaves absolutely no option at all for low power unlicensed AM in Canada? So by Procaster discontinuing production it effectively ends all part15AM in Canada until another manufacturer arises to fill the void? The entire existence of the hobby rest on a single manufacture in the entire country.. wow. That's crazy.
I wonder how many are left in stock? Not that I could buy one right now but I had always intended to pick up one at some point when cash flow was right.
Are certifications transferable there? Maybe you could buy him out and keep the low power AM alive in Canada.
It kind of leads to the question, because I don't know of any, what were the RSS-210 certified transmitters of the past?
What had preceded the Procasters in Canada? What was there before?
@richpowers The Talking Sign preceded the Procaster. The Procaster was a new and improved Talking Sign.
No, no option to build your own in Canada. The others like the Sean Cuthbert, Spitfire, Hurricane(from Britain), Talking House, Rangemaster, are not good here as not certified and registered with ISED. Yes this will end AM in Canada. He spent all this time and money for certification with the new FM which you can see on the website and not one sale other than me in 5 months.
Like I said, anyone that wants one or has one and wants back up units, even just the boards in case due to accident or other mishap it needs replacing get it now or in the forseable future.
As for me buying him out? Even if I had lots more money than I do and could afford it I am not an electronics designer....no way I could do stuff like this. I don't think Artisan could do this anymore than I could.
This is why I am going to get some back up for myself.
@mark Right... For some reason I keep thinking the Talking Sign was FM.. not sure why that notion got imbedded in my head, I've heard you and Artisan talk about it as AM numerous times.
Anyway.. here's a thought, maybe Bill Baker could buy him out and continue production just like he did with for Talking House. That way ISS would become the only provider of low power AM transmitters for Canada, while also vastly improving the quality of their part15AM line at the same time.
Win for Gerry, win for ISS, win for us.
This is very sad to hear. I've shut my part 15 station down over this past weekend. Not sure if I will continue or not now. The Procaster is the only transmitter that worked well for my needs. I had a rangemaster, I could never get that to work right. I sold it.
I may have a complete part 15 AM station for sale soon. Transmitter, mixing boards, processor and modulation monitor.
@wefr Maybe I'm misunderstanding. Are you saying that you've shut down operations of your station and probably quitting it for good because Procaster is going to retire after he sells out the rest of his stock?
@richpowers Good idea. I should suggest to him to consider selling the name and transmitter manufacturing to someone like who you mentioned or Eric at Progressive concepts.
@wefr It's also sad to hear you shut down you station? Are you out of part 15? Procasters are available still! You can get a second for back up. The Procaster is a better value as it includes a processor and isn't tricky to tune and frequency agile. I don't know how long at the rate he sells them which isn't a lot the stock will last, could be a while.
@richpowers No, I shut down on Saturday before I seen this. Procaster IMHO is the best Part 15 AM Transmitter out there. I shut down for reasons I can't discuss here. I don't know if my station will be back on anytime soon. I'm debating what I want to do. Either sell out, or wait and see if things will change to where I can come back on.
@richpowers Good idea. I should suggest to him to consider selling the name and transmitter manufacturing to someone like who you mentioned or Eric at Progressive concepts.
YES! Please encourage him to do so. I would have bought SSTRAN if the guy had named a price and replied. But my wife has asked I don't start or assume another business at this juncture, except tinker with some wood working. Otherwise I would look into it myself.
@richpowers Good idea. I should suggest to him to consider selling the name and transmitter manufacturing to someone like who you mentioned or Eric at Progressive concepts.
With Bill being the primary TIS provider for the US, founder of the AAIRO, and has successfully proposed and had changed several FCC TIS rules, I think he's more in an arena of potential of sparking interest and sales, but the only part 15 option is his InfoSpot (Talking House/Range Extender), it seems to me the Procaster would be a major upgrade to that (my opinion based on general consensus, I've never used either), the Procaster is also a more convenient install, I think he could sell them.
But I'm just fantasizing, he might have no interest in it at all, I mean then what would he do with all the Talking Houses?