[Elecraft] Elecraft - Ethic, Esthetic and Experience

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Dick, KA5KKT. is right as far as I'm concerned. Like him, I'm 99% rag
chewer, although almost all CW instead of SSB. 

Years ago many guys bought certain makes of transmitters and receivers for
the reasons he cites as opposed to raw performance. I was an E.F. Johnson
transmitter fan (mostly because they were kits as well as FB performers) and
owned National receivers. Others focused on B&W, World Radio, Heathkit,
Collins, etc. for the same reasons. 

Esthetics are in the eye of the beholder. For example I chuckled over
long-ago comments that the K2 looks "industrial" with its pan head case
screws whereas that was part of the esthetic appeal to me. After all, in my
view real Ham radios need just a hint of having come from a laboratory, not
mass-produced by robots on an consumer product assembly line. 

I appreciate and admire the gang who seriously compete and need to shave
every millisecond possible off of an exchange to win contests or bust
DX-pileups just like I admire a good stunt pilot. Even so, my flying
pleasure comes from spending time cruising the skies in an old plywood
winged WWII PT-23 with its greenhouse canopy and bellowing radial engine in
front of my face or ducking clouds in a bright yellow fabric covered J4
Piper Cub, just as I prefer a good rag chew to a brief exchange on the
radio.

I no longer have the E.J Johnson transmitters, or the National receivers, or
the airplanes. But, today, I enjoy the Elecraft rigs in the same way. 

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----

...
For me the participating in Elecrafting involves no less than the following
interrelated concepts.

	Ethic - The principles that form the base of Elecrafting include,
"Hands On Radio," community input in the development stage, and responsive
support.

	Esthetic - My Houghton Miffin eReference offers the following
definition for Elegance:  "Restraint and grace of style."  What I know of
Elecraft meets that definition quite precisely.

	Experience - For those that choose to participate in the Elecraft
Experience, there is much more offered than absolute measurements can
display.  Dollars per Watt, bottom dollar, decibel measurements,  point
tallies and such are but a very few quantities with which to evaluate the
overall Experience.  Overemphasizing them may cause some to at times
overlook other rich qualities of the Experience.
the right of the decimal point can sometimes be just that.

....


73,
Dick - KA5KKT