[Elecraft] Best Radio for a Scout Camp

[Carl Strode]

Jeff,
First, let me offer my congratulations to you for your selfless 
generosity and community service to the Boy Scouts . . . one of the best 
ways to help nurture the youth of America.  The Scouts and Amateur Radio 
have enjoyed a long and productive association over the years.

Second, I would suggest that the older radio equipment is better suited 
for your mission as an Elmer.

The older equipment is better suited for the demonstation of basic radio 
theory.  Your Scouts will be able to see and understand the concepts of 
RF circuit operation if they are required to manually tune the final 
amplifiers to resonance to match the antenna characteristics.  They will 
able to see the relationships of current and flow and voltage levels as 
the radios are adjusted to operate on different bands.

Older radios possess a little bit of extra magic (mojo) that is not 
readily apparent in the new rigs.  Even though I love my K2, I also have 
a set of 1970's vintage Drake radios that are regularly on the air. 
 Dipping and peaking the finals and tuning in the receiver is a ritual 
that your young charges may never have the opportunity to experience if 
the only equipment in your shack is modern 'whiz-bang' technology.

73
Carl
WA7CS

Jeff Burns wrote:

>This is a fairly non-Elecraft question - Unless, of course, you suggest I
>get Elecraft products. 
>
>A complete ham station has been donated to the local Boy Scout Council, and
>I am working to set up a radio station at our camp. The equipment includes
>transceivers, tower, antennas, cable, and accessories. The equipment is
>70's, 80's era stuff, and most of it works. I am trying to decide if I
>should set up the equipment we have or sell and trade for something
>different. 
>
>What is the ideal radio for a Boy Scout camp?
>
>The old equipment has some advantages. It is big enough to be difficult for
>someone to walk off with, and is fairly straightforward to use.
>Unfortunately, the old equipment is also somewhat temperamental. Someone
>that used one of these rigs all the time would quickly become accustomed to
>tuning up and turning knobs to just the right position to make it work. With
>many different operators using the shack without any training I am concerned
>that this will not work out well. 
>
>A modern rig may be easier to use and maintain, but I can see pitfalls with
>them as well.  With all the menus on modern radios it would be easy to set
>something wrong so the radio would not work. If I put a K2 at the camp I
>would hate to have to drive an hour to the camp to reset the side tone
>source in the menu. 
>
>I would appreciate suggestions on specific equipment I should consider, and
>more general subjections on how to set up a ham station at a scout camp.  
>
>Thanks,
>
>Jeff Burns
>AD9T
>
>This is a partial list of the equipment we have now:
>Kenwood 2m All-mode Transceiver TS - 700A
>Kenwood 2m Transceiver TR- 7400A
>Kenwood Communications Receiver R-1000
>Kenwood HF Transceiver TS - 520S
>Array of two 2m beam antennas
>2m beam antenna
>Ringo 2m antenna
>Three Element Beam 10, 15, 20m Antenna
>HAM-IV Rotator
>
>
>
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