[Elecraft] Very off topic, but...

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

> I know it's an unrealistic and unpopular view, but I
> wish it were a condition of the license that a ham had to construct his or
her
> own equipment.
>
> You can bet that my grandson will have some kind of kit to build as soon
as he
> can hold a soldering iron!
>
> Vic K2VCO

"Unrealistic"? Yes, no doubt. "Unpopular"? Perhaps, at least among some Hams
today. But I hope that there will always be some who choose to sniff solder,
and that some of those will move on to the challenge of a 'scratch build'
project.

I had just about resigned myself to buying a factory-built rig if I wanted
something that performed better than my aging CW rig built in the 70's when
I was introduced to the Elecraft rigs. Scratch-building is fun, but it's a
real pleasure to make use of someone else's better-equipped design lab and
engineering skills and assemble a good kit. This thread is "off topic" only
if it isn't appropriate to note the real interest and pleasure many Hams
have in building a great rig from a kit.

There's lots of room in our hobby for both operators and builders. Reading
the history of our hobby, it seems that those two groups emerged quite early
on - pre World War I - as some operators focussed almost entirely on setting
up working relays to pass messages across the continent. Most of those
stations measured their success in terms of how often they could keep the
regular net schedules rather than how far they could transmit. And their
achievements in moving information quickly and efficiently had a lot to do
with convincing the US Government to allow Hams to stay on the air, and
finally to back an official Amateur Radio Service.

So while I like to build, I have great respect for those who prefer to
operate as well.

And my most enjoyable QSO's will be with fellow builders...

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289