Patent and copyright protection wasn't that big a deal when these radios were designed. People didn't really start filing patents and copyrights on everything possible until about 20 years ago. Before that, people didn't realize how valuable patents and copyrights could be.
i didn't realise that, i thought most big companies then were doing it, like avanti did. i appreciate you filling in the gaps for me, it was one day i was reading everything about RCI'S battles with the fcc, i thought it strange they had never battled uniden,
i know many contracters are used by bigger companies in the far east,like nissei for yaesu etc, so i wrongly assumed RCI had bought rights from Uniden or just bought over their contracters,the incorporated of RCI gave me that notion, i had also thought there was a possibility Uniden hadn't patented/copyrighted their radios, but it wasn't my first choice as i didn't think they'd be that dumb, taking into account they were running rings around legislation worldwide,
maybe that was more Cobra's doing than Unidens who had supplied their 148 gtl dx model, which as we all know is the benchmark for all modern radios of that kind, and here in the uk the most legendary 11m radio ever built, although i know for a fact Uniden were still producing that model after they severed ties with Cobra, as i have a uniden built one from 1991 with a pb010 board in it, but philippines not Taiwan R.O.C built, must have been around then Ranger produced the first ept3600 variant,possibly for dirland in france and for their home market, at that time 10m monobanders were still illegal to sell here so we had to import them from france or the republic of ireland.i believe around then President france was C.S.I and possibly also one of the early importers of RCI clones before they started dealing exclusivly with Uniden under the President label in France and Stabo in Germany.
anyway you've filled in most of the void for me, for that i thank you. i asked you months ago in another post but you didn't answer, which made me think there was more to it than just Uniden failing to protect their design, they must be kicking themselves, i bet they didnt make that mistake on later boards, you don't see many pb042 clones.Uniden not answering just made me more curious.
3900's and pb010's are the staple diet of my ssb arsenal on 11, they rarely let you down, perform well and are easy to service, despite what many say, the difference between them is minimal, i believe the slight extra drift on the ept3600 chassis may be down to the oscillators using crystals with a slightly different load capacitance than what uniden originally used but once tuned and warmed, i challenge anyone to tell the difference on air.
i love my 3900 eghp, its got more bling than Mr T, i really need to get the astatic flag mike for it, bling to the max,lol.
be lucky Shioda, especially in your dealings with the fcc, like our ofcom they are corrupt to the core and their only interest in radio is making money and waging war with it, not what i think it was intended for.
...runna pile-up on 6m SSB