Monthly Archives: January 2016

CES 2016 – PART 3 – CB DISTRIBUTING and PRESIDENT USA

Posted on 21st January 2016 | Comments Off on CES 2016 – PART 3 – CB DISTRIBUTING and PRESIDENT USA

CB DISTRIBUTING

01Booth of CB Distributing

At CES there is only one distributor who is present each year with a booth. That is the company CB Distributing from Portland OREGON. They are USA West coast based and for them it is a good opportunity to meet new and existing customers.

02Talking to customers

The program they display has much similarity with the Avera program. That is why we always pay a visit to their booth. They show Cobra CB and marine, Uniden CB, Stryker 10M, GearKeepers for CB, Firestik Antennas, K40 and Wilson antennas and their own line Accessories Unlimited and lots more.

03Cobra CB and Marine, Uniden CB

A brand we do not often see in Europe is ‘STRYKER’. They are mainly known for the 10 meter radios they make for the USA market. In the booth CB Distributing showed the new Stryker SR89MCV2. This is a ‘remote’10 meter transceiver, all functions and controls are put in the microphone.
In Europe we have a 40CH CB Transceiver in same casing, the CRT MIKE.

04nw
Under the brand name ‘Stryker’ CBD also showed some antennas. Most of these look like copies of famous USA antennas like WILSON. One model that looked unique was the Stryker SR-A10. The coil is put in a robust oil can. The look is very special, but It is so ugly that it looks great, but the market for these will be very small.

05Stryker SR-A10 antenna

As a President distributor from Europe we were happily surprised to see a President flag and two President boxes in the CBD booth. One box for ‘President Johnny-3 USA’ and one box for ‘President Johnson-2 USA’. At the show the price information was not available yet. The products were expected to be available within 4 weeks.
The flyer from CB Distributing told us that the introduction is made for a Johnny-3 USA with a free of charge New York antenna. The Johnson-3 USA comes with a free IOWA antenna.

06Keith Eschliman proudly shows the new President USA models.

PRESIDENT USA

President USA was not available with a booth at CES 2016. But in a suite of Mandalay Bay the USA distributors could meet Chief Operations Cavi Sharma and Chief Sales Kip Sullivan from President USA. There were also models of the new radios available.

07Kip Sullivan showing the new President USA models

PRESIDENT JOHNNY-3 USA

The smallest model to start in USA is the Johnny-3 USA. (PDF)
It is a 40 channel AM radio. The tooling looks like the European Johnny-3 but internally it must be totally different as there is also a WX function and weather channel function is not present on the European models.
The USA model has a three colour display, better than the European model.
New for USA is that the President models come as a 12V/24V radio.

Most trucks are 12 Volt in USA. But agricultural tractors and some other pullers use 24 Volt systems. The people we spoke during CES find the 12V/24V a great option from the President CB’s.

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10Johnny-3 USA with three colour display

PRESIDENT JOHNSON-2 USA

For Avera one of our main selling radios is the President Johnson-2. This is by far the most popular CB for truckers in The Netherlands. In USA the President Johnson-2 USA (PDF) is the 2nd model that comes on the US market. It is also a 40CH AM CB transceiver.
The looks are the same as the European model, but also for this type counts that the PCB is totally different. It will be more like the PCB of Uniden PRO538W. But this model has also a three colour display and 12V/24V capability.

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13Johnson-2 USA with three colour display

2+3 GUARANTEE

Guarantee in USA is different from Europe. In Europe it is a real legal right you have. Even if the manufacturer tells 1 year, the law might say 2 or 3 years. In USA it is more that you get what the manufacturer is promising you.
President USA decided to give 2 years guarantee. But you get 3 years more if you buy also a President antenna.

The US market is mainly a truckers market. Until now we have not seen President antennas that are a real competition for the famous USA truck antennas. But who knows what President will come up with in the future.

14President showing that looks might be the same but
electronics have changed.

15Kip Sullivan acting with a Johnson-2 USA

PRESIDENT WEBSITE

For more information visit the new President website at:
http://www.president-electronics.us

So far our news from CES 2016 – more CES news next year !

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CES 2016 – PART 2 – MIDLAND and WHISTLER BOOTH

Posted on 16th January 2016 | Comments Off on CES 2016 – PART 2 – MIDLAND and WHISTLER BOOTH

In part 2 of CES 2016 we inform you about what was shown in the booth of Midland USA and Whistler.

MIDLAND

01Booth of Midland USA

The theme for Midland this year was all about being E+READY.
The booth was a kind of ‘EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS CENTER’ and showed mainly Emergency Solutions by Midland.

02Line of E+Ready products

The weather in USA is different from Europe. It seems the weather can change more rapidly to more dramatic circumstances. There are large areas that suffer from tornados. The long distances sometimes prevent for rapid response in case of emergencies. Popular outside the cities is NOA Weather channels. Even many CB Radio have weather channels were you can listen to the weather forecast.

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The range of Midland USA Emergency Solutions offers:
• Emergency crank radios
• Emergency portable weather radio
• Emergency portable chargers
• Emergency set of two-way radios

Midland Europe introduced some time ago a crank radio for the European market, the type is ER300.

04Midland Europe crank radio type ER300

FLYING COW

To show how huge a disaster can be Midland showed a ‘flying cow’. A kind of tornado was created in a showcase and a small cow was flying around in the air. Mother cow was standing on the ground and looked desperately to the young cow flying around. Funny idea but no idea or this will help selling the emergency products. But at least it caught our attention. But for those who want to be storm chaser Midland offers some good products.

05Tornado Showcase

06aThe Flying Cow                                                      Sad Mother Cow

LIKE EUROPEAN GB1

07More interesting than the flying cow was the little truck in the Midland booth. Mounted in the vehicle was the Midland MicroMobile Two Way radio type MXT100.

Midland MICROMOBILE™ GMRS Two-Way Radio is the latest innovation from a leader in Consumer GMRS Two-Way Radios. With an ultra-compact design which mounts just about anywhere, the MICROMOBILE™ is great for RVing, Road Trips, ATV/UTV activities, and on the Farm or Ranch.
A Full 5-Watts of Power with an external magnetic mount antenna, offers
extended range capability. Best of all, the MICROMOBILE™ provides the ability to talk to other Midland and most other GMRS Two-Way (Walkie-Talkie) Radios.

In Europe we have a similar model radio from Midland called the GB1. In USA it is a GMRS and in Europe it is a PMR446. The frequencies for both models are different and can not communicate together. What is similar is the fact that the antenna from both models is fixed to the radio by a coax cable.

In future Midland USA will introduce new versions of MXT100 with higher output power. For higher output a license is needed for GMRS in USA.

WHISTLER

The Whistler brand is not well known in Europe. They sell many different electronic devices like radar detectors, power inverters, navigation and scanners. New on the booth were wearable electronic flashing lights to mount on shoes, helmets etc.
Our attention was mainly for the scanning receivers.

08Scanner part of Whistler booth

A few years ago Whistler took over the scanner line from GRE. All models are built for the USA market and not specific for Europe. In UK you find will find some traders that import this brand, but Uniden is by far the leader for scanning receivers in Europe and USA.

09Wayne Willson

The scanner specialist from Whistler is mr Wayne Wilson. He is a friendly man, always present at CES to answer questions from visitors about the scanner line.
He has been working during many years for several scanner brands and is now the Whister scanner specialist and manager.
In USA the scanners are distributed by a selected group of retailers, mainly HAM related.

NEW WHISTLER MODELS

10WS1088 and WS1098

Wayne proudly talked about the new scanners WS1088 and WS1098. Both models cover some of the recent trunking systems used in USA. Whistler does not have a solution or plans to introduce a scanner that will cover the European TETRA network.

So far Part 2 of CES 2016, next time what we saw and heard at CB Distributing and new comer on USA market President USA !

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CES 2016 – PART 1 – COBRA BOOTH / UNIDEN

Posted on 14th January 2016 | Comments Off on CES 2016 – PART 1 – COBRA BOOTH / UNIDEN

01World famous logo of CES

Early January is always the traditional CES in Las Vegas. Most brands are available with a booth or a suite to receive customers and display products.

UNIDEN

Watching the short video we made from CES you will see that there is no video shot from a Uniden booth. Since several years Uniden is not present with a booth at CES. Often they do have a suite in one of the hotels. There they talk to customers and show new products. But this year Uniden USA is absent. We met a friendly Uniden sales man on the show talking to distributors, but that was all. One of the USA distributors showed some Uniden products at CES, so they were not totally absent for the public.

COBRA BOOTH

Each year COBRA is present with a booth to show the existing and new products. This year Cobra moved from Central hall to a smaller booth in the North hall.
Last year the shares of Cobra were purchased by an investing company.
The market is waiting for the moves they will make. Until now it seems ‘less expenses’ as there were no exiting new products introduced at CES this year.

CB – TWO MODELS SHOWN

02Cobra LX BT, 40 Channel AM, great radio but not new

The first CB shown was the CB29LXBT. This radio looks the same as the European Cobra 29LXEU. But this is the American BT version. BT stands for Bluetooth. A great radio, very popular by USA truckers, but not a new item.
The BT option makes it possible to make and receive hands free cellular calls through the CB radio.

03Cobra C75WXST, 40 CH AM, remote CB

The C75WXST is a remote CB. In Europe we supply a similar model from Cobra the Cobra 75STEU. It is a great concept, but not very popular in the truck market.

Other Cobra CB Models for USA market like C19DXIV, C18WXSTII,
C25 models, several C29 Models and HH portable models are still available but not shown at CES.

COBRA MARINE

At CES Cobra showed two mobile and two portable models for marine applications. The total range is four mobiles and four portable models. The models shown are for the USA market only and not for the European market. Here we use different channels and different functions.

04Mobile Marine Transceivers

05Portable Marine Transceivers

CONSUMER PRODUCTS –DSP9200BT

06Cobra DSP9200BT

For DSP9200BT Cobra received a 2016 CES innovation award. Cobra tells us:

“The DSP 9200 BT is the most advanced system in its class and the company’s first digital detector, improving on detector range and performance. It embeds advanced technology for precise notifications through Digital Signal Processing (DSP), which identifies alerts from unwanted noise for greater reliability and frequency. The unit scored highly across all judging criteria, and it joins a small percentage of other products that are given this honor each year. Products are judged based upon several criteria including, but not limited to: engineering qualities, aesthetic and design qualities, intended use or function and user value, unique or novel features consumers would find attractive and how it directly compares to other products in the marketplace.

The DSP 9200 BT is the first detection system developed by the company that leverages the advanced precision and power of DSP technology, and we couldn’t be more pleased to be recognized by the most prominent awards committee in the CE industry for our constant improvements to our new and existing product lines.”

CONSUMER ITEMS

Cobra clearly choose to show products for the larger markets like dash cams, radar detectors, power inverters etc. The radar detectors are totally illegal in most European countries. In The Netherlands, where Avera-Distributing is based, a dealer will be fined Euro 500 for each radar detector the Dutch FCC finds in the warehouse. So no need to explain that there is no trade for radar detectors in European countries that have similar regulations.

07Cobra inverters for truckers

In CES Part 2 more news from this show.

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