Codan Selcall (Or lack there of)

Very interesting idea Wozz

When the Flying Docter went to VKS, there was discussion of Jenal making a special device to do just what you are suggesting. I don;t think it ever went anywhere.

Also there is info on the technicalities for the selcall format on the yahoo codan forum.


I think it would be a great idea to suggest it to

1)RFDS
2)VKS
3)Jenal
4)Menbers of the codan yahoo forum.

Actually RFDS and / or VKS do have a moral obligation and a need to ensure cost effective comms to RFDS and yours is the best idea I've heard to date. Even if you don't have an android, a cheap one would be less expensive than dedicated hardware anyway.

You may have created a new market for older HF's. I hope someone takes you up on it.

Ok, to put people properly in the picture, we (Jenal Communications) called for expressions of interest from RFDS/VKS737 (and other) users to see how many were interested in a stand-alone solution for a selcall encoder. We got a grand total of 5 interested people - not exactly earth shattering! And certainly not enough to base the development of a new product on.

We therefore decided to not proceed with the development of a stand-alone device. A few months later we got the opportunity to obtain a small batch of microphones suitable for building our SC2/SC3 microphones and so we decided the best course of action was to build a new batch of SC2 (selcall/telcall) microphones only and sell them at the price we were previously selling the SC3 (selcall only) microphones. When this batch is sold I don't think we will be making any more.

The numbers just aren't there to develop a new product - even one based on a laptop/soundcard or Android/Ipad/Iphone or similar. To put things in perspective we have sold between 5 and 10 microphones a year into the Australian market (most go overseas). Certainly not enough to develop an app for a smartphone. Even if we sold say two or three times this number it still isn't cost effective to produce such an app (see my previous comment about how many people expressed interest in a stand-alone device!). By the way, out of the 5 people interested in a stand-alone device, only one has purchased a microphone as a solution.

So let's say we sold 20 apps in a year at $50.00 an app, that would equate to a massive $1,000 a year income. Not a very good return for the amount of work involved in the development especially when you consider the requirement for external selcall devices is diminishing as more people purchase more recent secondhand radios which already have selcall facilities.

Well, there we have it. I was prompted to make this post by an e-mail sent to me by another member (thanks Tony) suggesting a smartphone app to sell for $10 to $20 (equal to $200 to $400 a year in sales?). I hope I have explained the practicaities/economics of developing an app (or even a stand-alone device) like this. I'm sure there is someone out there who would relish the idea of making an app for his own use and then selling it to others, however it's a fairly big task that has to be thoroughly tested for reliability and interoperability. You can't just throw something together that works some/most of the time and then market it - although some software vendors seem to have been doing that for years!!

Cheers
Alan
Owner - Jenal Communications

There is an application called ToneTool that can run under the Java App on your Android phone. I've never tried it as a selcall generator. The website is www.tonetool.tk I think the best way to run it would be to install it(copy the .jad file) on to your sd card and then use the java app to run it.

HI Guys
Dont Stress about contacting the RFDS for emergency just join the HF RAFIO CLUB with you HF radio with this radio you can contact the RFDS through the telephone

Terry