[Milsurplus] Receiver Filter Adaptor and Thoughts on Projects In General

[David Stinson]

Taking all the good points into consideration and working on a 
"version 1.1" of the filter adaptor for the TCS receiver.  The 
hard part is not the circuit; it's figuring out where to put the 
parts on the board so it can be wired most efficiently and with 
least feedback/leakage between the two stages.  Will pass that 
along once I puzzle it out, Bill.  I'd be embarassed for your 
readers to see photos of this cobbled-up "Version 0.9 Beta" of 
the thing. ;-)

Also looking for alternatives.  Yes, I know- I feel a little like 
a prostitute for even thinking of a "sand state" solution, but 
dang-it Mechanical filters can be expensive.   Saving money is a 
good cure for uneasy feelings ;-).
Come on "smart people:"  By now there ought to be some 
single-chip active filter thingie that can do this without trying 
to build a mini-computer in that space.

Some thoughts on these projects in general:

I do them for my own curiosity and satisfaction.  I write them up 
to share the idea and hope some generous person smarter than me 
will suggest improvements (and they almost always do, Lord bless 
them).  I also write them in hopes someone else will build the 
thing and, together, we can make it work even better.

There's an important reason I try to keep any solution very 
simple and basic.  It's an iron, unbreakable law of ham radio 
tinkering.

****
The Law of Pernicious Parts Count:
For every additional part in a project beyond eight,
the number of people building the project will be halved.
****

IMHO, there's no point in writing-up some mini-computer DSP thing 
with 100 parts and needing a Masters in digital engineering to 
understand, just to address the bandwidth issue in a boatanchor 
receiver;  no one is going to build the thing or even read to the 
end of the piece once they see the diagram.  No matter how great 
a solution it might be, it's a waste of precious time and effort 
to write-up such a contraption.  If you want to build one for 
your own satisfaction, that's great.  Go for it.  Just don't 
expect anyone else in our community to build one.  Most of us are 
older now.  Our time, patience and resources are very limited. 
We aren't going to attempt a college course in digital 
engineering this late in the game just to improve a vintage 
radio.   "If it ain't easy, it ain't happening."
Just one man's musings.  YMMV of course.

GL OM ES 73 DE Dave AB5S