[AMRadio] State of the Hobby!

Fri Apr 24 14:56:37 EDT 2009

There is very good homebrewing to be done in both vacuum tube and 
solid-state technology.  I do as much of both as time allows.  I see no 
reason to have to choose between the two.  But it is perfectly cool if 
some folks concentrate on one or the other - go for it.

I will mention one thing, though... I've heard a lot of guys say "I 
know tubes!" and "you can't get those parts any longer!", as a reason 
they don't build any homebrew stuff anymore, but the truth is that it 
is that it is very easy to build tube gear today - everything is 
available online at the flick of a mouse.  I think they just don't want 
to build - which is fine.  Why do they need an excuse?

Steve WD8DAS

sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/
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Radio is your best entertainment value.
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-----Original Message-----
From: alton young <w4bni at yahoo.com>
To: Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service 
<amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thu, 23 Apr 2009 5:32 pm
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] State of the Hobby!

You know when the f.c.c. dumbed down the commercial license and we all 
know why ,that amateur radio was not far behind .the people that want 
something for nothing is the reason of the state of amateur radio ,The 
tech class was a good class for the vhf uhf experimenters and served 
its purpose well but i never taught t
he tech test if you could pass you 
could get a general and most of the guys upgraded to advanced or extra  
given this day and time we live in there is no excuse at all for 
someone not upgrading other than just being lazy.I listen each evening 
to most of the a.m. spots and dx windows and dont hear as much as i 
would like .I wish everyone would at least get a general and use the 
spectrum .Good luck.W4BNI

--- On Thu, 4/23/09, Bob Macklin <macklinbob at msn.com> wrote:

From: Bob Macklin <macklinbob at msn.com>
Subject: [AMRadio] State of the Hobby!
To: "AM Radio" <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009, 6:07 PM

Reading the comments about upgrading to EXTRA makes me think about ham 
radio has changed over the years.

I have a collection of ARRL Handbooks ranging from the mid 50's to the 
mid 90's and a 2003 edition.

If you look at the technical articles through the years you can see the 
DUMBING down.

Part of what seems to happened is that the change to solid state design 
and construction has made building complex HB projects too difficult or 
time consuming for the average hobbyist. Also the availability of some 
components is getting difficult or expensive.

Homebrewing with tube gears was and still is easier than working with 
solid state stuff. And I am a retired design EE.

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Kent (Seattle), Wa,
"Real Radios Glow in the Dark"
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