[Elecraft] Re:K2 vs. the world.

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

N3DRK wrote:

I agree there are many fine commercial rigs out there, but there is nothing
like building your own equipment. I just wish cost could be kept to a
minimum, as a blue collar ham, it took me a while to save for the K2 and the
KPA 100. I do not regret my purchase as the K2 is one of the best rigs that
I have ever owned. I think I will be using it for a long time.

--------------------------------

Back in 1952, as a new Novice licensee pounding brass on 80 and 40 meters
with a homebrew one-tube (6V6) transmitter putting out about 10 watts, I was
also quite active in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES). On
several occasions I had the privilege of operating net control for a 75
meter phone RACES net during a Simulated Emergency Test (SET). The net
control was a the home of a great friend and well-heeled adult Ham who lived
on a hilltop with what can only be described as a dream station. 

After one of those sessions lasting all day at his rig passing traffic for
the SET, I still remember being struck by a thought as I closed down the
net. I suddenly realized that I was anxious to get home and make a few QSO's
on my little scratch-built 6L6 crystal-controlled oscillator rig. No matter
how beautiful my friend's station was, operating it was like driving a nice
car. It was just a very nice appliance that I used. It could not replace the
simple joy of making a contact on equipment I had assembled myself, perhaps
even designed myself. That was what Ham radio was all about for me. 

It still is, 54 years later. I've never owned or cared to own an HF
transmitter that I didn't at least assemble myself, like my K2/100. On VHF I
built a number of rigs over the years, rescued a Gonset communicator that
was simply a pile of parts in a box that someone gave up on and put it back
on the air (then I sold it, Hi!). I've had a couple of HT's that only get
used very infrequently as a sort of "Ham-cell-phone" to chat with locals.
Other than those, all of my VHF/UHF gear has been homebrew or at least
home-built as well. Along the way a great friend gave me a National HRO-5
receiver that I tore down to the rivets and rebuilt with a new homebrew
lattice filter in the I.F., so it was a sort-of-commercial unit.  Even so I
was more inclined to use my homebrew receivers, most of which I designed
myself. 

It's nice that Elecraft offers state-of-the-art engineering and performance
for home-builders like myself. Even so there are times I get the itch and
cobble together a simple little regen receiver or drag out one of my more
complex HB receivers, put it alongside the K2 and then go on a hunt for a
signal on the K2 that I can't copy FB on my creation.   

Different strokes for different folks, of course. Building and making
contacts with something that started out as a box of unlikely-looking
fiddly-bits is what Ham radio is all about to me! 

Ron AC7AC