[HBR] Cost Of Homebrewing?

[Mobile Engineering]

Hi All,

We're enjoying all the banter about homebrewing!

In perhaps partial answer to 'why' we homebrew, I remember reading a line 
in a book years ago which goes "It's inherent in the nature of joy that 
it's spoilt by any thought of purpose." (D. Bonhoeffer) And there's 
unmistakable joy in putting one's mind and hands to a fun homebrewing project!

Here's a bit of puzzlement re. my own homebrewing: I spend lots more time 
building/optimizing/fixing than finally using.

And it's not only me. I've noticed this about our community and the several 
FM repeaters we've designed, built and installed. There's much fun in 
cooperatively doing it all - it's the domain of the technologist in each. 
Along the way, there's the Saturday morning coffee at safe altitudes before 
reassembling the crew to the roof of the hospital or dormitory later in the 
day to excitedly install and test the equipment. We even get into awards 
for this-n-that technical contribution at the next RC Xmas. dinner. But a 
year later, once the gear is up and operating and everyone's given the 
functions a try or two then disappears into the woodwork, the domain 
switches from technology to that suitable for a PhD's study and 
dissertation in sociology or psychology.

Back to my own shack: The HBR-16 I started when a Novice and when W6TC 
first published the design in QST finally got finished ten years later - 
after marriage, Army during Vietnam, degree, and before the first of three 
kids arrived. I've used it for 1/2 doz. Morse QSO's since, but mostly 
moving it from one home to the next like a dear old scrapbook of rich 
memories (the scrapbook's file still containing a letter from Ted Crosby 
containing his advice to this fledgling Novice / high-schooler whether or 
not the project was too big for me). It's always a work-in-progress; last 
winter I torqued that old National ACN knob for the last time and 
homebrewed a velvet-smooth flywheel-weighted 10" slide-rule dial which now 
proportionately graces the HBR (I'd originally gotten the ACN mislocated on 
the front panel and the HBR-16 always looked as if it was ready to tip to 
the left.). And, I'm in the finishing stretch of stylizing the front panel 
to match the polished bakelite surround of the dial. And when I've 
completed it this winter, sure thing I'll use it once and then decide to 
rip into something else instead of USING what I've completed!

(Anybody interested in the old National ACN dial?)

Cheers to you all. Really enjoy the HBR stories...and Walt's technical 
exegesis of receiver design/development technicalities.

John, K0YQX

At 06:29 AM 10/7/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 10/5/03 7:45:29 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>fkamp@comcast.net writes:
>
>
> > waltah@earthlink.net wrote:
> >
> > > In the main I agree with Jim that the HBR's were not cheap to build.
> > > He makes a number of good points:
> >
> > I have been following this thread with interest.
> >
> > You guys are loosing sight of the main reasons to homebrew.
> >
> > You homebrew if the design is something special that is not commercially
> > available
> > at a reasonable price.
>
>That's one reason.
>
>
> >
> > You homebrew if you can't afford to buy on the commmecial market either in
> > kit form
> > or assembled and tested.
>
>
>That's another - and my point is that, over time, the savings from
>homebrewing diminished, and fewer hams needed to homebrew.
>
>For example, homebrewing a grounded-grid amp used to be a real money-saver.
>But when Heath announced the SB-200 kit for $200, hams without big junkboxes
>found it easier to just buy the kit.
>
>Nowadays amplifiers have gotten so expensive that one can often save some
>money by building.
>
> >
> > My definition of homebrew has always been rigs that are built from surplus
> > or junked radios.
>
>Mine has always been "something built from parts alone" regardless of source.
>
>
>You don't take a parts list to a parts house and fill it!
>
>Why not? Some parts can only be gotten that way. My Southgate Type 7 is 99%
>"recycled" - but I could not find some of the needed xtals, or anything 
>close,
>at hamfests or discarded equipment, so I had them made. Does that mean it's
>not homebrew?
>
>You find your
> >
> > parts in equipment that you can acquire for next to nothing.  Like old 
> tube
> > type TV
> > sets, ARC5 surplus at $10 a unit, old computer junk for solid state
> > equipment.
>
>Sure - or at hamfests, from other hams, even eBay. But what if what you
>need/want isn't available that way?
>
>
> >
> > Most of the really good stuff has dried up.  There is still lots of 
> military
> > surplus
> > around but it is out of any homebrewing price range.
>
>Not if you get the beaters.
>
>There is no point in buying
> >
> > surplus equipment when you can take the same cash and buy decent,
> > ready-to-use, ham
> > gear.
> >
>
>Which is why homebrewing became a niche activity. And there's a regenerative
>effect - fewer hams building meant fewer parts houses stocking stuff to build
>with.
>
>
> > If the only way you can 'homebrew' is to fill a parts list at a parts
> > house, you
> > will probably not be able to get the thing to work even with new, prime
> > parts.
>
>Why not?
>
>
> >
> > Successful homebrewing requires skill levels that go beyond slapping a lot
> > of prime
> > parts together.
> >
>
>Gotta start somewhere.
>
>"Homebrew" incorporates a spectrum of efforts, from the exact duplication of
>a well documented article to the one-of-a-kind complete original effort.
>
>IIRC, when the HBR designs were new, one could send away a few dollars and
>get a set of high quality photos, chassis drilling templates and notes 
>that gave
>more details than the magazine articles. And in the back of my RSGB Handbook
>is an ad from a shop offering to make up the metalwork for the G2DAF 
>receiver.
>Were hams who used those services not homebrewers?
>
>Personally, I homebrew for lots of reasons:
>
>- Money or rather its lack
>- I want rigs I can work on myself
>- I have an enormous junkbox
>- I want a combination of features that are rarely found in the same rig
>- I've been spoiled rotten by things like BC-221 caps and 866As
>- There's just something about taking an idea and a pile of parts, and
>turning them into a unique working device that you use to make thousands 
>of contacts
>all over the world.
>
>73 de Jim, N2EY
>
>
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