[NLRS] Technical Radio

[Paul Beckmann]

Regarding technical interest and competence in Ham Radio:

I'm actually heartened by the amount of interest there is in the technical
aspects of the hobby overall. There were appliance operators back in the
1950's just like there are now. There does seem to be, though, a latent
interest in building your own, testing, understanding, tweaking, etc. that
is starting to flourish again. Of course, NLRS is a stellar example but, you
might say, there wasn't a whole lot of off-the-shelf microwave equipment or
high-power VHF/UHF equipment in the ham market until recently. However, even
with current off-the-shelf offerings, many of us still are building,
testing, modifying.

Another example is the QRP scene. MNQRP was close to NLRS at the Buffalo
hamfest. Nice collection of little gadgets. A few nice hand-built
transceivers. One, the NorCal 2N2/XX is a rethought/pc-board/kitted version
of a single band CW QRP transceiver designed with only 2n2222 as active
devices. That was a "good trick" and was originally built Manhattan style.
But the thing I like about what NorCal did with these kits is that they are
built in small stages and then tested as the builder goes along. You are
encouraged to look at the circuit in isolation, its relationship to other
circuits nearby, and how it operates. It's MUCH better than the
Heathkit-like assembly philosophy of most kits.

QST's "the Doctor is in" is great for hams of all ages. They also offer many
good publications that help deepen understanding by building, even one
transistor transmitters (the modern equivalent of the 6L6 crystal-controlled
transmitter w0aus loaned me in '67 to get on the air!)

Bottom line: there are as many techies as before. The proportion of
home-built equipment in shacks in the near future may get a boost as the
economy continues to frown on us. Those folks are out there and we always
need to take the opportunities to "show our colors" with enthusiasm to
engage them, especially new hams (or at least new hams to that area.) "Act
locally" as Bruce says and "write globally" as Rich suggests!

73
--Paul, wa0rse

P.S. Now, if I could only find an undergrad Psychology student that could
write a decent paragraph *or* knew algebra....