[CW] ARRL MUST GET BETTER

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/8/2005 7:04:36 AM Eastern Standard Time, "Brian Carling" <bcarling at cfl.rr.com> writes:

>I can't entirely agree with John - see below...
>
>On 8 Mar 2005 at 5:53, John/K4WJ wrote:
> 
>> If they did print an article on how 
>>to "Build Your Own Nine Band QSK
>> Transceiver", could you duplicate the PC boards
>> and drill them? Do you
>> have the tools to fabricate the chassis? 

Yes! 

>>Where are you going to find
>> the logic chips for the display board at a >>reasonable price? Do you
>> get quantity discounts on your parts? (I can't run >>down to the local
>> Army & Navy Surplus store and find the parts I need for a construction
>> project. In fact I don't think there is a local electronics parts
>> store in all of South Florida.)

That's the real issue, and it's what killed off much of
homebrewing decades ago.

If you want to build a 9 band QSK transceiver, 
it's much easier, quicker and less expensive
to simply buy an Elecraft K2 kit and put it
together. The price of the basic kit is probably
not much more than the price of all-new components
bought in small quantities. 

This isn't a new thing at all. My first non-homebrew
rig was a Heath DX-20 that cost me $20 about 1969. It had originally sold for $35.95 back in the late 1950s. Using a 1959 Newark catalog, I found that it would have been impossible to build an equivalent rig from new parts back then.

Or look at the original Heath SB-200. When it came out 40 years ago, it was $200. Could you build a tabletop 100W CW/1200WPEP linear from new parts for much less than $200 back then? 

Of course what homebrewers learned to do, then and now, is to get parts from "nontraditional sources". Or they build stuff that is not manufactured anymore.

>John,  there are plenty of sources of electronic >parts.
>Probably more today than 20-30 years ago.
>Now they may not be in many retail stores.... because suppliers 
>have realized that in today's awful economic climate they
>are forced to sell at lower prices than 20-30 years ago yet 
>pay more for their overhead.
>Therefore many sell on the web, via mail order or through 
>other means.

Hamfests, too. 

But what that has done is to add shipping into the mix, and time delay. Time was, a ham could take a list of parts down to the local emporium and go home with everything needed for a project. Or browse the local "Radio Row" and come home with inexpensive treasures that once cost Uncle a small fortune. 

>Local electronics parts stores in all of South Florida:
>
>Radio Shack.
>Jaco Electronics,  Deerfield Beach, FL
>Nu Horizons, Ft. Lauderdale
>Electronic Equipment Co. Miami 305.256.9200
>Fusion Electronics, Miami
>Herman Electronics, Miami  305-477-0063
>You can find more Parts and Tools today than you could 
>back then. You just have to find out where they are.
>Prices are lower now too, thanks to the Asian pressure.
>Here is an example of how easy it is to find parts at a 
>sensible price.  I can buy logic chips, chassis, PC Board supplies, 
>all kinds of tools etc. with NO difficulty.
>
>http://www.af4k.com/Boatanchors_Directory/Parts.htm
>
>Throughout the 1970s there were good articles on >decent sized 
>projects in Ham Radio, QST etc. so why not now?

One big reason is the one I gave above. Manufactured 
gear has become so inexpensive that the economy of homebrewing large projects from new parts has all but disappeared. 

>Anyway, those larger articles can be published at >almost no cost
>on the internet, and some guys are doing it already.
>
>http://www.af4k.com/Boatanchors_Directory/Homebrew.htm
>(Now those are mostly TUBE projects, but you can find many
>"squalid-state" ones too...
>
>http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/bldgeqp.html
>(of course this is 'MEMBERS ONLY' information, to coerce folks to 
>join ARRL.
>
>You could join for a year, download it all and then leave 
>I guess, LOL!
>
>http://www.circuitsage.com/

For the articles to appear in QST, somebody has to write them and submit them. 

>The problem is as Don says, that the ARRL has been >dumbing
>down amateur radio, and to be honest I don't think it >is ALL 
>the fault of QST and the League's policies. Much of >it also
>has to do with the choices of amateurs and the >calibre of the people
>coming into the ranks and what they have NOT been >taught.

I think the latter is the biggest factor. IMO, The modern testing methods (past 20-odd years) are like the Susquehanna River - a mile wide and a foot deep. To pass the license tests today requires knowing a little bit about a lot of things, but not much about any particular thing. The old tests focused on specific areas so much that you had to know at least some of the material in depth.

That change isn't ARRL's fault - it's FCC's and Dick Bash's. 

>Our education system has been severely dumbed down 
>over the past 40 years. We have more information
>and more
>degrees but far less knowledge, oddly!

I disagree 100% on that!

We don't have an education system in the USA, we have several systems, and they range from goshawful to excellent. The children I know - including my own - are far better educated than I was at there age. Not just in how to use computers or such things, but about stuff like writing, history, math, and science. 

But that's just around here, where I live, which we moved to specifically for the schools. In other places the story is very different. Many schools are so tied down by social problems and unfunded mandates that they simply can't do a good job. That was true 40 years ago too. 
>
>> I'm no genius but I believe I understand why 
>> complicated construction
>> articles are lacking in QST, and even in today's ARRL Handbook. It is
>> because of what I stated in the above two paragraphs.
>
>I disagree. I just think plenty of parts and articles
>are out there for 
>those who care to make the effort. If the demand goes
>away so 
>does the supply.
>
>It's certainly easier to get service information for >your old tube gear 
>including  
>the old AM-CW rigs these days, and many of us are >homebrewing 
>them too.
>
Yup. In part that's because the tools and test gear needed is less.

Google my callsign to see what can be done...

73 de Jim, N2EY