[HBR] Cost Of Homebrewing?

[hbr@mailman.qth.net]

David, your 'career' in ham radio pretty much parallels mine ... I recall 
getting the radio merit badge as a scout, and others of the 
experiences you mention.   In my case the computer technology 
began with the IBM 610 ca. 1959 -- plugboard programming, relay 
and capacitor technology, 15 *operations* per second.    And the first 
sizeable hard drive (1970) was a bank of two IBM 2314's 20 megs 
each, arms hydralicly actuated, moved with a fork lift.  The 3330 with 
100 megabytes on a single disk assembly had unimaginably much 
space ... 

> Vacuum tube receivers, multi-ganged (section) tuning capacitors, and
> a chassis with metal can IF transformers are technology of the past. 
> Some of us in amateur radio, still enjoy the old technology, just
> like some black smiths enjoyed caring for horses after the Ford Model
> A and Model T.  But we old timers in technology, will die out, with
> the newer stuff, technology, replacing our beloved relics. 

I'm sure this is right -- today's youngsters rarely will take up our form 
of homebrewing.   But there are still plenty of homebrew 
opportunities; they just involve more modern hardware.   And I see no 
reason to think that homebrewing with the modern stuff wouldn't be 
fun -- it just isn't where I choose to play.   

(Among other things, I need a justification for many hundreds of 
pounds of, er, *quality materiel*, accumulated over the decades.)

Today's handbook and ARRL should be concentrating on homebrew 
equipment with the modern parts.   But (last time I looked) what 
we're getting is an update of the 60's when they promoted sideband 
for everyone (and thus, implicitly manufactured gear), with spread 
spectrum and digital modes being the new great thing we ought to be 
embracing.   

Frankly, I think it would be better for the average ham to be a little 
behind the technical edge *doing stuff for which he can build some of 
the equipment*, rather than buying whatever's newest.

While the competition between the automobile and horse probably 
can be regarded as settled (give or take issues about the future cost 
of fuel), many of today's high tech comm techniques are where the 
auto was about 1920, with the added consideration that the 
resources they need pass through highly vulnerable choke points -- 
cell towers, orbiting satellites and huge ground antennas -- and 
people who don't like us in the least are looking for targets.  These 
are brittle systems and that's built in at the concept level; practically 
speaking it can't be fixed.   We ought to be thinking hard about what 
other systems will be available when they don't function.   

Ham radio potentially has a role and rock solid justification as a 
resilient backup system and a source of 'can do' technical 
manpower.   But not if it's viewed by our national organization mainly 
as an audience for high-priced advertising.

Walt 
KJ4KV