[HBR] Cost Of Homebrewing?

[hbr@mailman.qth.net]

In a message dated 10/5/03 12:53:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
waltah@earthlink.net writes:


> In the main I agree with Jim that the HBR's were not cheap to build.   
> He makes a number of good points:
> 
> 1.  The change in the cost of living makes 1960 prices look a lot 
> smaller than they were at the time.   According to my World 
> Almanac, in 1960 the Consumer Price Index was about 89; today 
> over 500 -- a 5.6 fold increase.   I know that my pay in 1961 as a new 
> Ensign, USN, was $222.30/month; it didn't go very far in a radio store.

The tax structure back then was different, too, resulting in some serious 
differences in how much you actually took home.

> 
> 2.  Small quantity prices were steep compared to the prices that 
> manufacturers were paying.   

Yep. Still true today.

Manufacturers like Heath would put out specs for huge numbers of transformers 
for all their products, and the lowest qualified bidder would get a huge 
order. This meant a $35.95 DX-20 could have potted power transformer and choke 
made to the exact specs needed for the rig. 


> 
> 3.  Homebrew sets had low resale value -- however, one factor is that 
> most homebrew was junk.   How often today do you see a nice 
> homebrew rig of any sort compared to the ones that were trash the 
> day they were finished?   


I see nice homebrew stuff every time I go down my basement.....;-)

> 
> I'm not, however, completely convinced that homebrewing a receiver 
> didn't make financial sense in (say) 1960 or 65, at least for the ham 
> with a decent general junkbox.   Unfortunately it turns out that I don't 
> have the right catalog after all: Maybe Jim would tote up the 
> following, as regards an HBR-11 or 13?


OK - let's use the HBR-11 as a baseline. The article describing it appeared 
in 1963, so 1964 prices will be very close.

> 
> Tuning cap, 12 coil forms (4 bands) and associated APC (or are they 
> MAPC?) caps.
> 
> Why 12 and not 15?


Tuning cap: $4
12 coil forms: $5 
12 APC caps: $18 

> 
> IF transformers (tho these could have been obtained as I did from 
> command receivers)


Not in catalog. Estimate $3 each for 100 kc. and $2 each for 1600 kc. - $13

> 
> National ACN dial -- that was the recommendation, tho the 898 was 
> a far better dial.   Note that the clever constructor had several 
> choices for 'free' or 'nearly free' dials -- the command receiver tuning 
> cap or the mechanism from a control box, string-and-pulley schemes 
> (which could be stolen from a dead BC receiver), and so on.

$8


> 
> S-meter
> 

$5

> Tubes
> 

$20 (assuming 11 tubes at just under $2 apiece average price.)





> Estimate of the small parts -- silver mica caps, 1/2 watt resistors, 
> paper caps ...
> 

52 small carbon comp resistors $4

1 power resistor 5w $1

21 disc ceramics $2

23 micas and silver micas $4

3 paper caps $1

Don't forget cabinet and chassis (few junkboxes have those new): $11

Gain controls: $5

1710 kc xtal $3

Total so far: $104

> I assume that the power transformer, sockets, switches and other 
> controls, switches, line cord, wire, and so on would be available in 
> the junkbox.   

Possibly. If they're not, however, the numbers add up fast:

Power trans: $8

Filter chokes: $7 

Electrolytics: $3

Tube sockets: $5

Switches: $2

MAPC trimmers, other small parts, wire, solder, hardware, $10

$139 grand total. 


> 
> For comparason, the Heath Mohawk was $275 in kit form (speaker 
> accessory $10).   The comparable manufactured receivers were 
> higher -- SX-101 in 1958, $395.  Both of these were double 
> conversion receivers on the scheme of the HBR-series -- but of 
> course they were bandswitching sets.
> 

But is that really a fair comparison to the HBR-11? The SX-101 has a big 
precision slide-rule dial with something like 40 turns to cover the band, plus 
selectivity that's adjustable from 500 Hz to 6 kHz. And it covers six bands, not 
four.  

The Mohawk has a similarly nice dial and IF strip. 

Both have big heavy solid chassis and cabinets, and heavy-duty power supplies 
much more conservatively rated than the HBR-11.

The *real* question is probably more like: "What sort of second-hand or 
surplus receiver could you get for $139 that would compete with the HBR-11?" The 
same issue that shows the HBR-11 lists a used HQ-110C at $144.50 - from a 
reputable dealer. A special deal on *new* HQ-170s is offered for only $259. 

So you could save a bit of money by building in 1963-64. But the tide was 
definitely turning, and what was pushing it was the development of SSB 
transceivers. The NCX-3 is advertised at $369 - only 3 bands and no power supply, but 
it's a 100 W class transceiver that can go anywhere. 

When the Heath monobanders, HW-100 and HW-16 showed up, things really got 
dicey.


> And for a benchmark on what a well-stocked junkbox can do for you, 
> the immediate cost of the 1MHBR was about $30 -- plywood, 
> shellac, a few machine screws, some paper capacitors and a few 
> other small parts. 'Course I've been collecting parts for about 40 
> years, but (OTOH) most of the collection came from hamfests and 
> junker sets, at pennies on the dollar.   I swapped a spare 85kcs IFT 
> with a helpful HBR-lister to get another set of coils for the front end.   
> Only the small parts and power transformers were new current 
> production, and most of that was recycled from earlier projects.  
> There is no sense today in building with vintage resistors and paper 
> caps unless you are going for the vintage look under the chassis and 
> are willing to accept vintage unreliability as part of the price. 

The receiver of mine that Kees put on the HBR website cost me about $10 back 
in the mid 1970s, mostly for xtals and 88 mh toroids.



> 
> I do think that it would have been a greater service to *develop* the 
> HBR design around surplus parts.    If you replace the cost of the 
> tuning cap, dial, and IFTs with the cost of a couple of parts-only 
> command sets -- say $5 each in 1960 -- the thing gets a lot cheaper.

Better yet, come up with a new/old design based entirely on readily available 
vintage parts, Use of Command set coils and caps from junker sets is a really 
good start. Coil forms from old tube bases and PVC pipe is another. 

We need a word to describe such efforts of "building around what's 
available".

I have found that while paper caps are generally bad and some carbon comp 
resistors are too, many vintage parts can be reused *if* they are given a 
thorough check first, and not pushed in their ratings. I built an electrolytic 
tester-restorer that has done a great job sorting the good from the bad. Iron, 
bottles, quartz and wirewounds almost never go bad unless stored improperly.


> 
> It's very interesting that the RSGB handbook/G2DAF receivers were 
> built by so many hams although the design is *more* expensive than 
> the HBR-series (two mechanical filters in the original!) and the British 
> ham population in the 1960 period must have been only a fraction of 
> ours.  I wonder what the prices for their manufactured gear were like 
> at the time?

The 'DAF articles offer sever options for the filters - the article itself 
shows how to use a single Kokusai rather than the expensive Collins units.

I expect that between the exchange rates and import duties, manufactured 
equipment was prohibitively expensive.

btw, my 4th edition RSGB Handbook (hardbound, a real BOOK) is labeled "63/-" 
for the price. How much is that in US dollars back then? A '67 ARRL Handbook 
(softbound) was $4.

73 de Jim, N2EY


> 
> 



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