Hi Switch Kit,
The real question isn't why did they quit making them, but why did they stay in production for so ridiculously long?
Most semiconductor products have a pretty short life. New technology displaces old stuff in 3 or 4 years or less, in most industries. The need for government approval "freezes" parts of the design for a CB radio, just so it will be legal to sell. Until you get a new one approved. It's just business. Most "old" device designs get sold off to a lower-cost vendor who buys the manufacturing license from the folks who invented the part. The "RCI8719" is an example. There was enough of a market for the chip that RCI could hire a "generic" manufacturer to make a copy, long after Fujitsu stopped making ANY analog chips.
The 2SC1969 is a 25-plus year-old component design. That's an insanely long life for a transistor type. The reason is always the same. Mitsubishi couldn't make money making them any longer. Just business.
Gotta figure some lower-cost (lower-quality) outfit will either license the original part, or just make their own "clone". In China, spending money on a manufacturing license is considered silly. Who's gonna take them to court in China? ? ?
Besides, if there are any patent issues, that patent has either expired, or will soon. Mitsubishi recovered their up-front cost to develop the part 20-plus years ago. When making it stopped being a low-cost cash cow, they stopped. Just like the D-104.
Same reason again. The bandit radios with more power, channels and knobs were kicking their ass in the market. A legal radio with high manufacturing quality (and cost) just doesn't compete with cheaper stuff.
Kinda like buying a 8950 tube. A big, loud CHA-CHING ! !
73
