[Elecraft] Heath vs Elecraft

[n2ey at aol.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Van Wallaghen <w8fgu at comcast.net>

>There are some basic similarities,
>but certainly different times and technology.

Yep. Here's another difference: advertising.

In the bad old days, if a company wanted to sell to hams,
they pretty much had to advertise in the ham magazines
like QST and CQ. They also needed to print and distribute
catalogs/flyers of their products as widely as possible. And
the more info in the catalog or ad, the more it cost.
Those costs showed up in the product prices.

Today, a small company can put an incredible amount
of info on a website, which acts as a catalog and reference
point. Sure, ads in magazines are still needed, and websites
are certainly not free, but it's a completely different cost
and dynamic than in Heath's time. Imagine being able to
get a free copy of the manual for anything in Heath's
catalog *before* buying....

OTOH, we have largely lost the "cross-fertilization" effect
of the old catalogs. Someone who got a Heathkit catalog
because they were interested in a stereo kit or test equipment
stood a good chance of seeing the ads for ham gear and
wondering "what's ham radio?". IMHO, we hams are a lot
less visible today than 30-40 years ago.

>I think I would have become dissatisfied with just operating in the 
80's and
>90's and not having the chance to play with the hardware.

I've been a ham 40 years come October 12, and there's *always* been
a chance to play with the hardware.

The existence of Elecraft is due in some part to the QRP movement,
which started in the late 1960s. Lots of homebrewing, articles,
and small companies making kits, which reached a growing community
of hams all through the 70s/80s/90s.

All of which is a Good Thing.

73 de Jim, N2EY
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