[Qcwa] Bragging Rights (A good thing!?)

Mon, 8 Jul 2002 21:53:47 +0200

Jay:

	Quite impressive, and you've obviously thought this out.  You
sound like an accomplished tinkerer (and I use that term in only the
most complimentary sense)!  I have in the past been able to repair all
my own gear, and I've worked on Surface Mount devices with little more
than a low-wattage iron, a pair of tweezers and not a little luck.  It
is, as you say, very satisfying.

	Unfortunately, for me, many times I've found things that I
absolutely cannot match with the junk box, or custom ROMS, or some
proprietary LCD display driver IC that I can't do much with.  I can
recall spending a good 16 hours working out an old burnt out display and
soldering in all 55 pins of the new, and feeling I accomplished
something at the end.  I still hated every minute of it till the end,
and begrudged the time it took.

	It would be interesting to hear, from the sagacious among us,
just what they feel comprises a minimum "bench" setup.  You'd already
mentioned a variable Soldering Station, VTVM (or decent Fluke type DMM)
scope and signal generator, which I have, but I'd add a Freq Counter,
dip meter (or equivalent) and a variable DC power supply.  You know what
I really like?  Those MFJ antenna Analyzers.  Not just for the stated
use, but because they incorporate a Freq Counter and Dip meter as part
of the package.  For less than 250 bucks, that's quite a lot.

	I'd also think we could hear some groups on the accuracy needed
in those test instruments.  I've worked with people who scorn anything
without accuracy approaching PPM levels, and with others who say
whatever you have, estimate when needed (I tend to lean towards the
latter).

	73, Bob, K2PI / ON9CPI
	Brussels

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of J Craswell
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 6:14 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Qcwa] Bragging Rights (A good thing!?)

I suppose what I am trying to say and what I hope people will think
twice about is that my bench equipment.  i.e. the gear needed to do this
is not that extensive.  If we accept that a typical Short Wave Radio
costs a grand then the tools to work on it or build new stuff ought to
be less than that.  I'm easily way under that.  And I think my modest
set up is just that.  A modest
bench.   An adjustable temp iron is really not that expensive.  Can we
stick
to our 100 watt solder irons?  No, of course not.  The cost of solder is
low a solder sucker (ditto) tweezers (ditto)  Now the test equipment can
be anything you like to use.  I've got one of those DVMs (From Radio
Shaft) and I have an old beat up signal generator from HP but a guy
could build his own (As I did) with an Analogue Devices DDS chip for
next to nothing.  BTW the HP was a couple hundred bucks because someone
dropped it on the face and
bent the handles.   The use of a scope is I think not so exotic as it
might
have been in the 50s.  What is important is that the price of a good
used scope is pretty amazing.  I bought a 350MHz Tektronix scope for a
couple hundred bucks and love being able to "see" what's going on.
Being alive today and be able to own such super science equipment for
next to nothing is a big plus!  The good old days?  500 KHz scopes and
6V6s?  No thanks!

I think being able to fix your own gear is a plus.  Is it for everyone?
Well no - but I don't believe it ever was.  What I think we should
promote
is that it "ought" to be for more folks.   (In my opinion) I don't think
we
should make general statements that no one builds their own gear or that
no one can fix this new stuff like the good old days.  Heck I remember
thinking the new parts like Transistors and ICs were too Hard and how
could anyone work on that junk?  Nuvistors were good!  723 Regulators
were bad.  <grin> The problem as I see it is that new hams not knowing
any better will nod their heads and turn into Appliance operators when
this is the last thing we need.  If you step back and look at it this
era we live in is actually pretty nice with the mentality that anything
broke is Landfill.  I can't tell you how many items I've gotten for
little to nothing and am using everyday.  I've got a Lightning blasted
FT-847 that works like a charm.  A FT-100 that had a bad -9 volt supply
also working like a charm.  It's all powered by ASTRON supplies that
were "burned up"  My XYLs radio is another
lightning special.   That one was really toasted but a new audio circuit
(The real one cost too much so I glued in an Audio chip I had in the
junk
box) and some parts in the front end and some new coils put it back on
the air in good fashion.  Heck I may never buy anything new again as
long as people break stuff and want to toss it! <grin>  My cost on a
most of this was the gas to drive over and pick it up and the
replacement parts.  Did I spend a lot of time on it?  Some I did others
not much.  If I was charging $75 an hour as some techs do I think I
would still be way ahead.  But I don't charge $75 to fix my own stuff
<grin>  And it's fun and gives you a little bragging rights which I hope
my fellow QCWA members will do more of. Bragging about being able to
copy 20+ wpm is good.  Ditto designing your own radio etc.  Isn't that
one of the goals of the part 97 regs?  Increased operator skill and
technical ability?

73 my friend!  de Jay W0VNE

p.s. KA0KLV reports my repair job on the little Icom is still working.
(Got my fingers crossed)  He is buying lunch for sure!

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