Building things (was: [Elecraft] K3 S/N plate,)

[N2EY at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/20/07 5:55:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
brian-wb6rqn at lloyd.com writes:


>  My radios are just  
> radios and they behave as they do because of the laws of physics.  
> Likewise my boat or my airplanes. They are machines, nothing more and  
> nothing less. 

I disagree!

I say they are much more. 

Whenever you see something that was manufactured - that is, something 
intentionally made by people - you're seeing someone's thought and effort made
real. 

Whether it's a building, a radio, a vehicle, a painting or an apple pie, they 
didn't just happen. People made them happen, not just the laws of physics.

When I look at the Elecraft product line, from the KX1 to the K3, I don't 
just see radios and radio accessories. I see the creative vision to imagine those 
radios, the practical skills to turn that vision into real products, the 
business sense to make them in quantity at reasonable, competitive prices, and the 
management know-how to coordinate all the people and processes involved. 

*and* the resulting community, on the air, on-line, in person, etc. 

The better care I take of them the more reliable they  
> 
> will be. The more attention I give to dealing with possible failure  
> modes, the more reliable they are.
> 

Of course. But there's a lot more to it. The original design has a lot to do 
with reliability, too. 

> Still, the scary thing is that nowadays people don't really think  
> about building anything. They think they have to buy it, that the few  
> people who build things are somehow endowed with special skill or  
> knowledge.

That's a side effect of increased specialization. Modern society tends to 
value and reward extremely specialized skills at the expense of general 
knowledge. 


 This is why I am teaching hands-on science mixed with  
> 
> various shop skills to my students. I want them to know that they can  
> get some wood, some sheet metal, a handful of parts, and build just  
> about anything they want. No mystery and no magic.

I say there *is* a magic to it, but not the card-trick kind of magic. It's 
the magic of realizing what a person can do - which is often much more than what 
they think they can do.

IMHO, one of the biggest differences between happy, upbeat people and 
depressed, negative people is that the former are enthused about and energized by the 
possible, and the latter are defeated and downtrodden by the not-possible.

What oufits like the Elecraft folks have done is to expand the possible. 

73 de Jim, N2EY



> 
> Does anyone know if Elecraft has some sort of educational discount?
> 
> 




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