We have maintained the same price for over 10 years — since long before we opened the web store. Unfortunately, our profit margins have been taking a steady hit:
- The 1.5mm nitinol wires cost a bit more than the 1.1mm wires did
- We now have connectors custom made in order to improve quality
- We’re getting everything in black now so that things look snazzy
- Material (particularly metal) prices have been slowly but steadily increasing over time
- Due to issues with COVID we haven’t been able to gather as many
suckersvolunteers from the local ham radio community to help with manufacturing. - Because of the above, I’ve needed to pay another company to build the signal sticks for me, which has a very measurable effect on the margins which actually exceeds the increase we’re making here.
I have been very resistant to increasing prices and have put it off longer than I should — but I’ve had to face facts and admit that it’s past time for a small increase. Our manufacturing costs for the Signal Staff have also increased and so that is getting passed along as well.
Here are the new prices:
- Black Signal Sticks: increased from $20 to $22
- Glow in the Dark Signal Sticks: increased from $26.50 to $29
- Other Signal Stick colors: increased from $23 to $25
- Signal Stalk 1/4 wave: increased from $32 to $35
- Signal Staff: increased from $60 to $65
- All adapters: increased to $5
All bulk discounts remain the same on a percentage basis.
I have already updated the site with the new prices but have put a sale in place to keep things at the previous price for a bit longer but plan to take the sale down in a week (Feb 9, 2022) at which point the new prices will take effect.
As always, thank you all for your continued support! Sales from this site are what allow me to spend so much of my time working on ExamTools and HamStudy, as well as allowing me to support many other endeavors in the ham radio community.
73 de KD7BBC
What Signal Stick do I need for a Baofeng UV-5r?
What is the advantage of your more expensive antennas?
Completely understand and thanks for continuing for putting out great products.
Can you come out with coyote tan antenna colors?
Believe it or not, adding even just a single color to our lineup adds a *lot* of overhead both in time and money, so it’s unlikely that we will be adding any more colors — actually there is a good chance some will go away as we figure out which ones just don’t really sell. White is the most likely candidate to disappear one day at present =]
I can feel the anguish you wrestled with over the price change. I’ve seen it before and it is a mark of a genuine individual putting off the inevitable. Next time you need to do it, do it because none of us do much of anything for free. I don’t work for free and I would never ask that of anyone else.
Thanks for all you do!
Cliff
You remind me that there are still a fair number of people in this world with real character. I have used Hamstudy to prepare for my exams, now my daughter and wife are doing the same. Many thanks my friend! 73 W9BLH