[Milsurplus] Hamvention

[Bob Camp]

Hi

The “way it’s done” these days:

	Fire up your layout program (Kicad maybe)

	Enter the schematic for something basic

	Do the layout from the schematic

Ship the result off to someplace. Get a quote. Maybe fiddle the parts a bit. 

Pay them < $300. (possibly a lot less ….)

In under three weeks, you get a fully assembled board delivered with all the parts on it. 
You also get another 4 boards with all the parts to do whatever you want with ….

No, I didn’t work that all out myself. A kid ( = a buddy in his early 20’s …) got me going that way. He moved over to it after doing SMT builds in his basement for a number of years.

Note: The three weeks is the time from “fire up your layout program” to the boards showing up. That’s not with the kid doing it. That’s with a tired old senior citizen doing it ….

Is / was that kid a ham? nope. Are all his buddies who do the same sort of things hams? nope. Time marches on …...

Bob

> On May 29, 2025, at 5:21 PM, Hubert Miller <Kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> I get the same impression of the local hams here. That's just the way it is. You can't expect everyone to be enthusiastic about donning an eye loupe to desolder some miniscule part, using a schematic diagram that shows a hundred tiny lines running close parallel to each other. What fun ! No, i think we're in the new age, where if you work on anything, it's equipment connectors and lines of program code. 
> Some of the new hams i swear, could not draw the schematic of a flashlight, i mean the single function no - chip ones too. Certainly not the schematic for the stairs lighting, where you have a switch at top and bottom and either switch can cotrol the light. Certainly they couldn't do well in the old TV game show sponsored by CQ magazine, "Name That Thing",  the show where contestants had to look over a strange electronic device or box and tell what it was.
> Oops - that game show was a fiction story from a 1950s CQ.
> That's just the way it is. 
> -Hue Miller
> 
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy
> 
> 
> ______________________________________________________________
> Milsurplus mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/milsurplus
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/milsurplus/attachments/20250529/8cef0d5c/attachment.html>