[Elecraft] Elecraft Service

[Alan Bloom]

> There is a 52 year old Drake B-line in my shack


In those days, radios were easily field-repairable.  If one quit 
working, you replaced a tube or perhaps a burned-up resistor or 
dried-out electrolytic capacitor.  Almost all the parts were standard 
devices that you could order from a parts distributor.


Component-level repair is almost a thing of the past.  For one thing, 
modern radios include microprocessors, application-specific ICs, and 
other very useful parts that unfortunately can become unobtanium once 
they become obsolete.


Another problem is that surface-mounted parts are harder to work on.  
For example, if a ball-grid array IC fails, you need highly-specialized 
equipment to remove it and install a new one.


And then there is the problem of programmable devices such as 
microprocessors and gate arrays.  Even if you replace the part, you 
still have to figure out how to program it somehow.


Modern amateur radio transceivers are marvels of technology that run 
rings around the radios of yore, but the price we pay is they are not as 
easy to repair.


Alan N1AL



On 4/21/22 14:40, K9ZTV wrote:
> No radio is ever "toss and replace" if it is cared for.
>
> There is a 52 year old Drake B-line in my shack that has never been back to Miamisburg, and a Hallicrafters T.O. keyer of the same vintage that has never revisited Chicago.
>
> There is a 46 year old KWM-2A that has never taken a trip back to Cedar Rapids, and a 23 year old FT-1000D that has never taken a flight to Tokyo.
>
> None are software upgradeable, all are obsolete.  None have fully obtainable parts, yet all are fully functional and occasionally on the air.
>
> Moreover, my own 15 year old $4000 K3 has somehow survived operator miscues of a dozen or more Field Days and I trust it will survive those of the upcoming one as well.
>
> In my experience, amateur radio equipment does not self-destruct.  They need our help.
>
> Which would imply that maybe the fraternity's first obligation to a new ham is to inform him of those things that will harm whatever he is eager to buy.  And perhaps its second obligation is to remind him again when he is eager to spend real money.
>
> 73,
>
> Kent  K9ZTV
>