[Elecraft] Appliances vs. kits [was: RE: Can Elecraft takeover...]

[Bob Rennard]

I think the main reasons homebrew has become so challenging are access to
small quantities of parts (thanks to Mouser for ovecoming this to some
degree), and the challenges of assembly for small lead sizes and spacing.
The steady hands of pick and place machines and solder reflow allow this
affordably on commercial equipment.  Moore's law drives this, too.  I doubt
that hand soldering itty bitty parts is going to be successful.

The real challenge to prices for ham gear is the production volumes.  There
are not yet 5000 K2s.  Rarely does any iCom, Yaesu, or Kenwood specific
radio model achieve much larger volumes than the K2 has.  If you want the
prices to come down, get the number of consumers up to where the design cost
does not have to be amortized over such a small production run.  I think we
should be impressed that the K2 design is so well thought out that it did
not get discarded every 2 years, instead, it just got upgraded with the help
of the "community".

I rolled my own until the late 70s.  In the 60s, I built tube transmitters.
In the 70s I did not roll any thing challenging, just solid state VHF
amplifiers.  Fortunately, the K6AA ARC worked with Carson High School, CA to
allow us into their vocational electronics labs so we could try our hand at
board layout, board etching and drilling, and the trials of actually making
it work.  I doubt that this capability is available to many hams.  Yet, I
continue to be impressed by and envious of some of the great homebrew
projects that are still produced today.

I also think the ARRL could do a better job of making QEX a little more
challenging, and to foster the notion of ready to use boards for projects.

I am one of the old timers whose age is pulling the mean age of hams upward.
We need more to pull the mean age down, and to revitalize the hobby.  Our
challenge as individuals is to lure more hams who want to build and operate
into the hobby.

My 2c

N7WY

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Coleman" <aa4lr at arrl.net>
To: "Mike Markowski" <mm at UDel.Edu>
Cc: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 6:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Appliances vs. kits [was: RE: Can Elecraft
takeover...]


>
> On May 20, 2005, at 10:33 PM, Mike Markowski wrote:
>
> > It's from Electronics Illustrated,
> > Sept. 1964, "The Scrounger" by Herb Friedman W2ZLF, and starts with
> > this:
> >
> > "Real challenge used to be ham radio's keynote.  No one in the early
> > days ever thought of flipping through a catalog, ordering gear galore
> > and then going on the air the same day the stuff arrived.  Most
> > everyone
> > rolled his own in those days.  Today, this kind of fun is pretty much
> > gone with the wind."
>
> Herb is correct to a point, but he misses some historical issues.
> First, in the 20s and 30s, any gear that could be ordered through a
> catalog was outrageously expensive for the day. Only the extreme
> wealthiest of hams could possibly consider it.
>
> In the 40's and 50's, it was common for a ham to buy a receiver, but
> build his own transmitter. Again, cost was a major consideration.
> Even then, though, it was possibly for a well-to-do ham to order a
> stack of Collins gear, install a Big Bertha and a christmas tree and
> solder together virtually nothing but PL-259s.
>
> In the 50's and 60's (and even into the 70's) the reason that
> Heathkits were so popular is that the assembly costs were a major
> portion of any electronic equipment. Heath could sell gear at a
> fraction of the cost of assembled gear, since the buyer provided all
> the labor to assemble the gear. In the 80s, however, advances in
> electronics and manufacturing finally turned the tide. Assembly costs
> dived.
>
> Today, most electronics is assembled on a line with robotic
> equipment. That's why parts have become so vanishingly small.
>
> We no longer build kits because it is a cheaper way to get access to
> great equipment. We build for other reasons.
>
> It is interesting to note that other kit industries, like the kit
> aircraft industry, are thriving because the economies of self-built
> equipment still exist.
>
> Bill Coleman, AA4LR, PP-ASEL        Mail: aa4lr at arrl.net
> Quote: "Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!"
>              -- Wilbur Wright, 1901
>
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