[Boatanchors] My puddle waders, was Re: The ARRL's ...
John Franke
jmfranke at cox.net
Fri Mar 2 12:07:33 EST 2018
I still do boat anchors from time to time, but most are now either old Hewlett-Packard or military surplus instruments. The sources of parts; broken televisions, ARC-5's, etc., are not as plenty as when I was growing up and they are just too darn heavy. I do spend more time repurposing surplus commercial microwave junk; down converters, etc. The junk is a great source of exotic semiconductors and other parts. I remove the circuit boards, physically cut out sections, splice them together, and play and learn with the results. I call it a "cut-and-paste" approach to microwaves. From time to time I write articles on the projects to show newcomers how easy and inexpensive it is to do. I enjoy getting emails from the readers asking questions or sharing successes. Not all of it is directed to amateur radio. My interests in electronics and optics include non-amateur satellite signals, radar, precision time, navigation...
Still having fun and helping others, hams or not.
John Franke
WA4WDL
March 2, 2018 at 10:40 AM K5MYJ <macklinbob at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I got my Novice ticket in 1957. In those days ham radio was really a
> builders hobby for the average person. Even buying a Heathkit kit was a
> major expense.
>
> We used to build projects from the ARRL Handbook or QST. We could by QST at
> our local Radio/TV supply where we could also buy parts.
>
> We could take our time and buy the parts as we had money available.
>
> Mouser and DigiKey don't carry a lot of the parts needed for tube type
> projects. eBay now seems the best source and you have to grab them when they
> are available.
>
> I have a good collection of old (pre 1980) ARRL Handbooks and the QST
> collection on the computer. Sometimes it's just fun to read the old
> articles.
>
> But today there is not much radio building other than QRP stuff.
>
> Bob Macklin
> K5MYJ
> Seattle, Wa.
> "Real Radios Glow In The Dark"
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "B Farrell" <bradk4rt at gmail.com>
> To: "Boatanchors" <Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2018 6:57 AM
> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] The ARRL's next move
>
> > >
> > Isn't there already a radio service like that, FERS or GERMS or some such?
> >
> > I can't think of one rulemaking petition the ARRL has put before the FCC
> > in
> > the past 25 years that benefited the Amateur Radio Service. The League
> > through the years has gone from one scheme to another, band refarming,
> > license restructuring, etc., in the desparate hope that the change will
> > swell the ranks of hams the League hopes will buy QST subscriptions and
> > merchandise. But has any of it really served Amateur Radio well? The
> > no-code Tech license did bring in a lot of new hams, but how many remained
> > active or renewed their license?
> >
> > I agree, elimination of the CW exam was brought on by a small group of
> > whiners, but the ARRL's rep quietly endorsed it at one of the IARU
> > conferences and then didn't ARRL have a stateside group submit the
> > petition
> > to the FCC?
> >
> > What is encouraging is that I'm aware of a number of newer hams who are
> > learning CW.
> >
> > 73,
> > Brad K4RT
> >
> > On Friday, March 2, 2018, Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > > >
> > > There really needs to be a separate radio service established for
> > > people who just want a VHF rig, and repeater for emcomm stuff and 2
> > > meter CB etc., so the current amateur radio service can focus on real
> > > radio technology and other affairs that have been the traditional
> > > basis for ham radio. And licenses for that service can involve
> > > testing for CW and radio theory and so on. It won't happen for a
> > > variety of reasons though, one being FCC doesn't want more burden,
> > > only less.
> > >
> > > CW test was eliminated by No Code International, a New Zealand group
> > > of zealots who came out of nowhere and blind sided everyone with a
> > > grass roots organizing of opposition that welled up in the IARU then
> > > ITU, and suddenly there was no more international requirement for CW
> > > testing, and FCC scrapped it. Before that happened, a tiny minority
> > > of Americans sued FCC claiming the CW test discriminated against them
> > > because they had a disability of some sort that prevented them from
> > > passing the CW test. And before that happened the CW test had been
> > > deskilled to where you only had to pass a multiple guess test about
> > > what had been sent, instead of turning in a minute of solid copy.
> > >
> > > So to bring back CW FCC would have to get around the ADA. Never going
> > > to happen.
> > >
> > > Rob
> > > K5UJ
> > >
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