While amateur radio gear hasn't been in its product
lineup for decades, many hams still keep track of the successor to the Collins
Radio Company that dominated the amateur radio marketplace in the 1950s and
'60s. In September, Rockwell Collins, Inc. announced that it had been purchased
by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) in a deal worth some $30 billion.
Among other things, United Technologies builds Pratt and Whitney jet engines
and Otis elevators.
Rockwell Collins will be merged into UTC Aerospace
Systems, which will be renamed Collins Aerospace Systems. The announcement did
not indicate whether the Rockwell Collins facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will
remain open. UTC is headquartered in Connecticut.
