[Boatanchors] [Glowbugs] ARRL level of construction articles

[Rob Atkinson]

It's become very apparent over the past several years that there are
two ham radios:  the ham radio we all know and love which you could
call flea market ham radio, and the plug and play, no code,
entertainment center ham radio, which you could call the indoor
commercial vendor ham radio.

I don't think anyone homebrews to sell (okay I guess a few do), but
rather for the satisfaction and also to get something that's just the
way they like it.

I guess the commercial rig level of sophistication with bells and
whistles and the SDR stuff is making the distinction between my kind
of ham radio and the indoor vendor ham radio more obvious.

73

Rob
K5UJ

>
> On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 16:07 Hubert Miller <Kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:
>
>> The edition I have, 1967, says it is less expensive, in the longterm, to
>> buy commercial manufactured equipment than to build HB - because, get
>> this,  the trade-in value will be higher. Now who expects HB gear to have
>> any substantial trade-in value at all ?
>> It also says that when you build the 2 tube regen receiver, "...most of
>> the parts can be used later in other equipment."
>> Like you are going to do all that metal work, assembling the coils and so
>> on, and in a year or so, take it apart. Hmmm, makes good sense to me.
>> -Hue
>
>>
>> My copy of that booklet contains the following regarding component values
>> for a regen receiver: "...There is no need to buy new parts either. A
>> considerable saving might be made by using parts from a discarded TV set,
>> or from items picked up at a ham auction or swap-shop..."
>>
>> There are three major categories of hams: Appliance operators, kit
>> builders*, and build-from-scratch folks (with overlap between these
>> groups). The ARRL pubs had to contain articles that appealed to all three
>> -- quite a challenge.
>>
>> *Kit-builders can include those who build from schematics but want to use
>> factory-made components -- they won't wind an inductor.
>