[Boatanchors] vacuum tube radio kits

[Paul Kraemer]

Many of us who relish a Heathkit assembly experience re live that by 
purchasing a couple junkers at hamfest or auction, disassembling them and 
re-assembling with many new parts using the original manual as a guide.
Voilla new kit built unit and valuable spare parts to pass on to someone 
repairing.
Paul K0UYA
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Troglodite at aol.com>
To: <np2or at yahoo.com>; <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] vacuum tube radio kits


> In a message dated 8/5/2010 4:40:35 A.M. Central Standard Time,
> np2or at yahoo.com writes:
>
> As a  boatanchor fan and user, I favor the technology of vacuum tube
> radios.
> There are many solid state kits on the market these days but few offering
> vintage design and Heathkit-style assembly. I am considering developing
> and
> offering vacuum tube kits through an internet store. The kits would  focus
> on,
> but not be limited to QRP radios starting with a design  developed and
> published
> in QST a few years ago based on the Tuna Tin II  model. This kit would be 
> a
> vacuum tube model. An auxiliary device is the  power supply.
>
>
> Vacuum tube components are not as inexpensive as  solid state stuff so the
> kit
> for the radio would have to sell at about  $99.
> Before I get too far in this I need to assess the potential market.
>
> 1. Would vacuum tube kits be of interest to you?
>
> 2. Would you  spend $99 for a kit to build a vacuum tube QRP transmitter?
>
> 3. If we  were to essentially reproduce a Heathkit AT-1 type radio and
> could
> market  it for under $200 would you consider purchasing?
>
> 4. What vacuum tube  kits would you like to see on the market?
>
> Thank you for your time and  attention.
>
> Jack,
>
> I grew up with vacuum tubes, built many vacuum tube rigs, and certainly
> have a fondness for them. However, I think that there may be problems with
> such  a product, based on what I have seen in the last few years. This is 
> just
> my own  opinion, based on experience, and the fact that I would probably
> qualify as a  potential customer.
>
> Most of the people who would be interested in such a product are probably
> "old timers." The newer Hams don't really seem to have all that much
> interest in  old technology, except as a curiosity. There are younger Hams 
> those
> who might  restore an old vacuum tube product, but might not be interested 
> in
> building one  from scratch. The "old timers" are probably capable of home
> brewing their own  vacuum tube QRP gear, if that is their interest. A kit
> would have to be fairly  cheap to be attractive, and in that case it isn't 
> as
> good a business proposition  unless you can convince the Chinese to make 
> it.
> :-)
>
> Several years ago a club in the South attempted to market a copy of the
> (in)famous Ameco Novice transmitter. They were sincere and did a good job 
> on
> design and fabrication, but they gave up after a few months and probably
> ended  up eating a lot of hard tooled chassis and parts. I don't really 
> know,
> but they  didn't succeed. The Ameco was about as bare bones as you could 
> get,
> but was  complete on one chassis including an AC power supply.
>
> Similarly, there was a guy making an AA5 tube receiver kit on a plastic
> chassis, which was also available as a shortwave model. Irrespective of 
> the
> usual criticism of transformerless designs, it wasn't a bad kit at all, 
> but
> he  too failed after a few months.
>
> No doubt there have been others of which I am unaware. There are also 
> parts
> supply problems with vacuum tube kits. NOS tubes are still available in
> quantity, but they are no longer cheap. Some Russian tubes like 6V6's are
> also  available and are quite good, others, like the Chinese copy of the 
> 6L6
> are not  very good. Tube sockets, RF chokes, higher voltage capacitors,
> transformers etc. are all available, but not cheap like they used to be.
> Everything these days is geared to solid state and PC boards. No doubt you 
> already
> know this.
>
> But the biggest problem appears to be that there just isn't the interest
> any more from the general Amateur Radio populace. Those that are 
> interested
> will  probably roll their own.
>
> This is what I have found. Of course your mileage may vary. I'd be
> interested in opinions of others.
>
> Doug Moore kb9tmy (Formerly k6hwy, originally licensed in 1954)
>
>
>
>
>
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