[AMRadio] Economic hippy

[CL in NC]

Commenting on comments about SDR's and rig prices.  When I was a kid in the 60's, my ham rig was a regen receiver and a one tube CW transmitter.  When I graduated up to a Heathkit HR10/DX60, paid for it on installments at $16 a month, made by cutting grass, that was a big expense.  When I was making $6000 a year, a Collins or a Drake seemed very expensive, By the time I retired making a lot more than that 500 a month, a thousand dollars for a radio still seems astronomical to me.  Now they have gear that costs upwards of $15K, and SDR's that run $6K.  A 100 watt 'entry level' transceiver is around $1K.  It all seems overpriced to me.  I know, some will say that when I made 500 a month and a Drake TR4 was $595, factor in inflation over the years and a modern rig still costs the equivalent of 1 months salary or more.  To me, a thousand bucks is a thousand bucks no matter what era.  Not wanting to go into debt for that sort of thing puts me in the economic
 hippy category according to a finance guy who thought trying to be  debt free was not the modern way.

Charlie, W4MEC in NC