[Collins] AOR DDS-2A Revisited

Wed, 25 Dec 2002 01:19:21 -0500

Sir,
    Your point is well taken on one level or another, but what I don't 
understand is why so many people see this as only a black-or-white issue.
     Art Collins was a true American genius of the highest caliber, and we 
are all deeply indebted to his contributions to all of our lives.  My 
circa-1964 KWM2-A (s/n 14530) is one of my most prized possessions.  I 
inherited it from my grandfather shortly before he went SK at 94 years of 
age.  It was badly damaged by UPS in shipping, but I was fortunate enough to 
live within driving distance of a true gentleman who was kind enough to 
ressurect it in spite of my impatience, bad manners, and lack of funds.  He 
taught me more than he realizes, even now.  Thank you Yves.
     My father received his first operator's license a few weeks before the 
declaration of World War Two, when the amateur bands were shut down.  I grew 
up around Radio in the early 1950's.  I'm a third-generation Ham.  My 
earliest memories are of "boatanchor" rigs...converted military surplus, 
Civil Air Patrol, "homebrew", etc...ALL TUBES!!!  I have only the most 
casual interest in solid-state gear, for a multitude of reasons we could 
discuss at great length some other time.  I was a professional guitarist for 
quite a few years...hundreds of watts of amplifiers...ALL TUBES!!!  I know I 
don't have to tell you why; it isn't necessary to "preach to the choir".
     To me, the tune-up, the setting of the voltages, gain, and currents, 
the "tweaking"...all of it, embodies everything that fascinates me about 
amateur radio.  Automatic anything is by definition, BORING! Nothing is more 
repairable than tubes, wires, a real metal chassis, and as few plastic parts 
as possible.  Nothing else will withstand EMP, if it ever comes to that (or 
when it comes to that...), and there is something that fascinates me about 
the fact that even if the whole "system" shut down tonight, there would 
still be hams on the air...twenty years later, (if we teach our children 
about "the ethers", tubes, etc.) there would still be Collins gear on the 
air, even after we all are dust.
     But...although Art Collins was a genius, he was far from perfect, as 
the numerous accounts by his employees can attest.  No matter how much they 
admired and/or respected him, he had his flaws, bad judgments (the 
ubiquitous oiled-paper "caps", or his lack of business acumen), in short he 
was a living, breathing, human being subject to the frailties and faults of 
being mere flesh and blood and bone.  For that, I admire him even more, 
because he rose so far above the commonplace, the banal, and the mundane 
"lives of quiet desperation" that most mere mortals are doomed to endure.  
But He was not a God, and Collins gear is not the Holy Grail.  By all 
accounts, he never hesitated to continue to try to improve and modify his 
own products...to the point where it even proved counterproductive to 
actually getting "something" out, since he kept "improving", modifying, etc. 
until another one of his engineers suffered the misfortune to receive the 
full brunt of his attentions long enough for somebody to get something out 
of the building.
     Art was fortunate enough to not have to live in the shadows of too many 
"sacred cows"...there was a lot of free space and new territory to be 
explored.  Music and Art (the muse, not the man) have gone through similar 
"peaks and troughs" of creativity stifled by too much reverence.
     As much as I revered tube-powered guitar amplifiers, many of the 
effects and devices, pedals, and "horns and whistles" that I utilized to 
take the music "one step further" were solid-state, digital, etc. and no 
tube-powered, analogue device could substitute.  Similarly, the Yaesu FT101, 
as a "mixed hybrid", was one of the finest rigs of its day, and in many 
ways, it supplanted what had gone before.  It was my first rig, and I would 
still own it proudly today if "economic redistribution" (looting) prompted 
by the unseemly arrival of Hurricane Andrew hadn't separated me from 
virtually everything I owned while my wife and I were caring for victims of 
Andrew in another part of town (I've been a Paramedic since the 80's...no 
good deed goes unpunished).  As much as I love American-made gear, the "rice 
boxes" arrived just in time to shake up the industry enough to provoke some 
quantum-leaps in technology, design, and general approach.
     I've never had the misfortune to see genuine Collins gear "butchered" 
by ugly mods, holes, "hood-scoops", "mud-flaps", etc., and I hope I never 
do, but I don't see anything wrong with utilizing outboard peripheral 
devices to enhance all that is unique and wondrous about Collins gear.  Yves 
P.'s solid-state power supply mods for the 30L-1 transform something great 
into something legendary...still tube-powered and it still sounds like 
Collins.  Art used some solid-state components toward the end, and if he 
were alive today, I have a feeling that he would be embarrassed by all this 
canonization. So what's the point?  I think that it all has to do with 
balance, and judgment.  As much as I thoroughly enjoyed your rendition of 
"When Mods and Improvements Go Wrong...", I hardly think that the addition 
of an AOR destroys the "Collins Spirit", and for all we know (from what the 
good Dr.Gerald Johnson describes), if they hadn't managed to sneak the KWM2 
"out the back door", Mr. Collins might have designed the AOR himself...I 
also agree that it (the AOR) may not be absolutely necessary, and learning 
to cope with the design limits of "the wandering VFO" probably builds 
character the same way that my first guitar with the 2x4 neck made me 
appreciate my Stratocasters and Les Pauls after I learned to overcome the 
handicaps and hurdles that made me stronger...balance and judgment...as rare 
as Common Courtesy and Common Sense...Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, 
Joyeux Noel, Happy Chanukah, Kwanza, Ramadan...Peace on Earth, Good Will 
toward Men (and women), and God Bless Us Every One. Be well, and Be 
Happy...Art is in a far, far better place, and is probably laughing at all 
of us right now.

Sincerely,
and 73's
C. Fred Neff
KB9RMT

>From: "Ray V." <[email protected]>
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [Collins] AOR DDS-2A Revisited
>Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 07:54:35 -0500
>
>I find it interesting that people are upgrading their Collins gear with 
>"solid state" replacement parts, making mods that are not original Collins 
>and adding digitial displays.
>
>While I expect it does make our Collins gear maybe just a little bit better 
>or more usable in certain cases, I must ask "Why do it?" Why not just go 
>out and buy a new whiz-bang solid state transceiver and be done with it?
>
>Where is the pride of Collins ownership when the QSO goes something like 
>this:
>
>"Howdy, rig here is a 1964 Collins KWM-2A. All original and owned it since 
>new and just made a few tweaks, like replaced the power supply tubes with 
>solid state, swapped out all the tubes for solid state devices, added some 
>mods I found in various ham magazines over the years, running an AOR DDS-2A 
>digitial unit, got a DSP device on the audio output and a DSP mic 
>equalizer/amp on the input to tailor my audio. But other than that, it's 
>all stock, just like Art Collins and company designed it. Doesn't it sound 
>great?"
>
>73, Ray  W2EC
>
>
>Sponsored by the Collins Radio Association
>http://www.collinsra.com

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