Hoax, fake and counterfeit!
It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, the confusion can be truly annoying. I'm talking about fake
radios that some people and/or companies try to launch on the net for various reasons. Some do physically
exist but use fake trademarks and model numbers while others are just simply photoshopped fantasies.
Here are some of the make believe radios found so far.
AnyTone AD-7777
Origin: | Most likely England |
Purpose: | For kicks and giggles I guess |
Nice Photoshop job. Sorry CB folks, this is a ho-ho-hoax!
Icom IC-V87
Origin: | Most likely China |
Purpose: | Probably to increase sales by hijacking a well known brand name |
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Icom IC-V89
Origin: | Most likely China |
Purpose: | Probably to increase sales by hijacking a well known brand name |
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Icom IC-997
Origin: | Most likely China |
Purpose: | Probably to increase sales by hijacking a well known brand name |
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President Marshall
Origin: | Unidentified swedish individual |
Purpose: | Sales fraud |
I saw a used sale ad for this CB-rig in the swedish "Gula Tidningen" (Yellow paper) back
in the early 1990's. It was a specialized paper that was THE biggest buy/sell market for
all sorts of stuff in Sweden before the World Wide Web. The ad claimed a frequency coverage
between 20-45 MHz and a whopping 70 W allmode output. It was also supposed to have 20
different roger beeps, repeater offset and a real VFO. There was no picture in the ad.
I called the guy up for more information, but he was quite flimsy about the whole deal, so I
became suspicious and decided against buying it.
When I initiated the RigPix project in 1999, I did some extensive research and also contacted
President for a verification of this radio, but they had never heard about it. I decided to add
it to the CB-area, but with a clear indication that it most likely was a hoax. The net has not been
able to produce a real President Marshall in all this time passed. The only references found are
those on various sites that has nicked the info from RigPix. Many of them have sadly failed to
indicate the hoax warning though.
Yaesu FT-101TT
Origin: | Rumors say one or more members of Fox Tango International are behind this one |
Purpose: | For kicks and giggles I guess |
I had been running RigPix for about three or four years when someone contributed this
baby. I don't remember who it was, but I had no reason to doubt the authenticity, despite
the somewhat unusual appearance. So, I added it to RigPix.
After about a week or two it became clear that it was a hoax, so I quickly removed it
from RigPix. Here comes the annoying part. The Fox Tango International Users Group kept
a copy of the RigPix webpage I already had deleted, and posted it on their website where
it still remains to this day. I've kindly asked them to remove the reference to RigPix but
to no avail. Har-de-har! The joke is on me.
NB! If you search Youtube, you will find a clip from a guy that has actually tried to create
a rig that kinda looks like this hoax ;-)
Yaesu FT-898A
Origin: | Unknown |
Purpose: | For kicks and giggles I guess |
This one came to my knowledge in august 2012. Although I think it's a pretty good
Photoshop job, it is apparently a hoax. It has too many faults, like misspelling of
the word receiver (reciever), missing or illogical functions, and of course the fact
that much of the front panel is cloned from an Icom IC-746.
Yaesu VX-10R
Origin: | Most likely China |
Purpose: | Probably to increase sales by hijacking a well known brand name |
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