[Elecraft] Re-posted interesting comments Fwd: [GQRP] Do-it-all Kits

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

It's important to remember that over the past five decades not only has =
the
technology available to manufacturers improved (better components, =
boards,
etc.) so has the technology available for the manuals drastically =
improved.
When Heath started making kits, manuals were produced on manual
(non-electric) typewriters and every illustration was either hand-drawn =
or
produced from a photograph by a fairly complex and expensive process.

Also, Heath started out as a "war surplus" company, buying WWII surplus
electronic parts by the ton and then figuring out what they could build, =
kit
and sell out of that massive "junkbox". It was quite a feat and
time-consuming, but when you figure that they were getting brand-new =
parts
for a few pennies that would cost dollars if bought through normal =
channels,
they could invest the time. Only when the surplus channels dried up or =
fail
to provide essential parts did they turn to normal suppliers. =20

That required engineers to try to figure out just what they could do =
with
the parts. Sometimes they pushed a little too hard using existing parts =
or
holding down the price on new parts. Some of the Heathkit power =
transformers
were particularly "fragile" the way Heath used them, for example. But,
overall, they did an wonderful job putting the parts and a design in the
hands of eager builders that simply weren't available any other way to =
many
and at a price impossible to beat if they were purchased individually. =
In
over 50 years on the air I've always had an HF rig that I built myself,
either my own design scratch-built or a kit. I was just about to give up =
and
buy a factory-built rig to get something close to the "state of the art"
when I ran into the first K2's on the air. Still, the K2 isn't my only =
rig.
On QRZ.COM you'll see a superhet receiver of my own design sitting on =
the
shelf above my K2, and that's not a keyer paddle in my hand. It's a
50-year-old Speed-X bug. Shoot, I've even got some vacuum tube projects
coming together in the shop.=20

Hardly a week goes by that I don't work an old Heath or E.F. Johnson =
rig, or
even a WWII surplus or homebrew effort on the CW bands. I enjoy every
encounter, even if I have to open up the I.F. bandwidth a bit on the K2 =
so
the other station doesn't drift out of my bandpass.=20

It's an essential part of Ham Radio for me. If the day ever comes that =
only
"state of the art" rigs are acceptable on the bands, Ham radio will have
lost a precious resource -- and a key part of what the hobby is all =
about
for many of us.=20

Ron AC7AC=20

=20