[Elecraft] Wha'ts Wrong With Our Radios (WAS:NewProducts, Building Demo, ...

[Phil Kane]

On Mon, 29 May 2006 14:03:12 -0700, Alexandra Carter wrote:

>Since a lot of ham gear was actually ex-military gear following WWII,

  Memories of my T-23/ARC-5 first Novice transmitter......

>and since the US's warlike nature has supplied hams
>with a constant supply of military surplus stuff since, (this has
>only recently dried up, due to the classified/controlled nature of
>the modern mil gear)

  Not quite...how much post-Korean War (1950) "militaty surplus"
  have you seen around?  The reason is not "classified/controlled
  nature of the modern mil gear" -- Rockwell or Zeta or any of
  the suppliers will be very happy to sell you the same stuff if
  you put their obscene price on the table - cash, check, or
  money order.  Heck, Motorola has been selling the STU-3
  secure phone to private businesses for almost 20 years!!

  The real reason is that the DoD has a side business of
  supplying out-of-service military hardware - including
  communications gear - to our less well endowed allies.
  Sometimes such gear is better than the hand-me-downs that our
  own National Guard gets from them!

  I for one am happy with the K2 and the small form-factor "rice
  boxes" and peripherals that make up my comm station.  I gave
  away my last full-height relay rack 40+ years ago.

--
   73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

   From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
   Beaverton (Washington County)  Oregon