[AMRadio] Retro 75

[Brett Gazdzinski]

The wilderness radio sierra does 160 to 10, has a better receiver, 5 watts 
out, variable bandwidth, a vfo, a case, and costs about $200.00 I think.

So I think a 10 meter AM rig could be built without a lot more expense.

I find there are plenty of nice interesting people to talk to on AM, but not 
during prime time.
80 and 40 meters weekend mornings are best for me.

Brett
N2DTS



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "LEE BAHR" <pulsarxp at embarqmail.com>
To: "Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service" 
<amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 2:56 PM
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Retro 75


>I have a Retro 75 and it is great.  I also don't represent Dave Benson the
> designer.  That said I think Dave decided to design a simple fun radio to
> build which is very usable at a very attractive price.  As I see it, 
> putting
> a rig like this on 10 meters will require more parts, more stability, and
> much more expensive crystals, plus a more costly output transistor.  The
> aligning would be more involved too.  This design was for a nostalgic 
> return
> to the past with an inexpensive price.  I doubt you will see a ten meter
> version ever produced.  Maybe if the 80 meter kit took off, you might see
> one for 160 meters or even 40 meters but that would be it.  You can't take
> months designing something, kitting it and then only sell 50 kits at 
> $65.00.
> Understand too, there is a great financial stress on anyone coming up with
> the needed operating crystals at an affordable price.  You can't supply a
> $30.00 crystal in a $65.00 kit.  It's got to be in the $3.00 range. How 
> many
> guys want to have 2000 made for $2.00 each and sell them for $3.00?  It
> would take a club with a great designer with everyone doing all the work 
> for
> free and then charging a near cost price for the kit to sell an AM rig for
> 10 meters at around $80 with no cabinet included.  (I used a very nice Ten
> Tec cabinet for around $6.00 for this project).
>
> I also, just built, a Ft Tuthill 80 CW transceiver offered by the 
> Scorpians
> QRP group.  They kitted the transceiver for $50.00 and it is VFO 
> controlled
> with around a plus 50 khz tuning range.  This too is a really nice nice 
> kit.
> It works very nicely and is very stable.  (I made a great looking home 
> made
> case for this radio out of PC board material so the radio fits into the 
> box
> like a glove)   I think a VFO approach to 10 meters would be better then
> using a costly crystal on ten meters.  Of course, at this frequency, it
> would take some effort producing a stable oscillator.
>
> "Through hole" parts are also becoming obsolete.  Spending time designing 
> a
> transceiver only to find out parts in your design are now no longer
> available is not too exciting for a designer.  How many guys out there per
> centage wise, want to build something with 150 surface mount parts?  Then
> too, how many designers want to "help" guys who have built this surface
> mount wonder when after it is turned on for the first time and it doesn't
> work.
>
> The other problem I see is as the price increases, the demand falls off. 
> I
> think many of todays hams would prefer a SSB radio over an AM or FM radio.
> You start getting into $150.00 for radio and cabinet and many are going to
> start questioning, "Do I want to spend $150 for a one band radio?  The 
> more
> you add to the project the more considerations need to be addressed.  The
> considerations are not all electrical but the social ones become more
> important.
>
> I have been licensed since 1953.  I love to build and restore radios.  I
> love boat anchors and also QRP as I can restore stuff and build stuff.  I
> rarely operate because I have very little in common with most hams today 
> and
> don't belong to any "group" operating on one frequency.  When I do operate
> it is usually on CW or talking to a close friend.  I own a KW broadcast
> transmitter, KW-1 all the way down to an Ameco AC-1 clone and many QRP 
> rigs.
> Just my thoughts.
>
> Lee, w0vt
>
>
>
>
>