[SixClub] Real value

Wed Jun 7 01:41:17 EDT 2006

> Long live the days when manufacturers offered both kits and ready built 
> radios, so those just beginning could buy the parts & put it together, 
> learning while you go in order to make better decisions down the road..
>
> Long live E.F. Johnson and Heathkit, love them or forget them, they both 
> made kits and completed radios with quite a wide range in prices and 
> degree of completion..

As I recall, Johnson only mades kits early on.  I built a Ranger from a 
kit., but I don't think there were many Ranger 1s as kits and no Ranger IIs.

Later on even Heatkit radios were getting pretty complex with the SB series. 
I had a prototype SB101? Trnasceiver that had a tan cabinet and that was all 
solid state. It and the remote VFO were digital readout.

>
> How many of you started out with a crystal receiver when you were knee 
> high to a grass hopper...?

That S40B was the most primitive receiver I had, but it did have a Heathkit 
Q-multiplier added. turning that up to the point where it'd go into 
regeneration made it very sharp although you did have to keep your hand on 
the VFO knob <:-)) Stable by today's standards it was not. Actually it 
wasn't very stable by the standards of those days either.

>
> I bought my first radio used, knowing what it cost when new, then went 
> from there..
>

My transmitter was a pir of 6L6s with a 6AG7 oscillator built on the corner 
of a TV chassis.  It also used the power supply from the TV.  That sure was 
a big chassis for such a little transmitter.

>From that I went to the Globe Scout, to Ranger, to HT-37. Receiver was from 
the S40B to an RME 6900 and then the Hallicrafters SX117 with the HT-44 
transmitter.  That took about 6 years to go through that equipment.  I'm not 
sure if I could list my stations in sequential order.  After the 117/HT44 
came the Kenwood TS820 with the tiny digital readout as a kit I installed. 
After the 820 was a Yaesu FT101B, then the little Ten-Tec 544, followed by a 
Omni-D. Some where in there (after about 20 years) I picked up a Collins 
KWS-1 and 75A4. (that was an old rig when I acquired it)  Now there was a 
rig that not only worked well it'd heat the basement in the dead of winter.

It took 20 some years and a good job to work my way up to a contest style 
station that could simultaneously operate all bands, SSB or CW at the legal 
limit.

Now I'm back to a much smaller home, a smaller lot,  a single station in the 
house and my portable rig plus the old antique Hallicrafters station set up 
in my shop.

> Maybe we ought to be aiming beginners to swap meets & similar shows so 
> they could learn by experience & go from there..?
>
That's what we do around here.
We point them to the swap which is the 17th of this month at the Midland 
County Fairgrouds and try to offer some guidance.

This will be the first year in a very long time that I've not operated as 
the talk in station on 147.00 no tone.  The remote receiver to the west runs 
103.5 for a tone.

> End of story
>
> Anyone have a boat anchor for sale.....?

Depends on how bad you want it<:-))
I have several variations of the SX101 receivers, HT-32 and HT-32B 
transmitters working and in various states of disrepair, or repair depending 
on how you look at them. Also a refurbished HT-33B that looks almost new 
with a good PL-172.  These are from the days when you never had to worry 
about the rig blowing off the table at field day.  Colapsing?  Probably<:-))

I had hoped to do some tower work today, but a sick cat and an emergency run 
to the Vet and a 30 mile trip to fly an airplane back to Midland, and 
installing a temporary window air-conditioner,  pretty much put a stop to 
that. Tomorrow is supposed to be thunderstorms of which I see two bands 
already well into the state from Lake Michigan.  I still have to pull all of 
my coax cables, rotator cables, and remote antenna switch control cables out 
of the counduit, mount a box on the side of the house and run the conduit in 
through that instead of through the basement wall as they are now. (Major 
basement repair coming)

Roger Halstead (K8RI and ARRL 40 year Life Member)
N833R - World's oldest Debonair CD-2
www.rogerhalstead.com
>
> Howard Bingham
> KE5APJ
>
> --
>
> At 05:41 PM 6/6/2006, martin glazer wrote:
>>Ham radio is definitely not a inexpensive hobby to get into.
>>
>>John Carson <em15hf at yahoo.com> wrote:   Well put Mike...
>>
>>In my humble opinion, if you like a rig and you can afford it new or used, 
>>then buy what you like...if you get in the old "cost is most important" 
>>mindset then you may miss out on some very nice equipment. Just because 
>>one rig is lower priced than another is no way to judge its performance. 
>>Cheaper is not always good or bad... Maybe the question should be, does 
>>the rig do what you want it to do? . Just take real good care of your rig 
>>and when and if you choose to sell it to "upgrade" or whatever price it 
>>fairly to the market and go from there. So what if a fellow ham gets a 
>>good deal, you promote the healthly attitude of this hobby and hopefully 
>>the other ham you helped will pass it on....
>>Perhaps I should end this by saying , if you're in this for the money, 
>>you're in it truly for the wrong reason...this is not an ego trip. I am 
>>sure we have all encountered Hams with a shack full of the latest and the 
>>greatest, with no concern for cost whatsoever, more power to them...That 
>>said, is it a useful tool or just something to brag about...
>>
>>I you have it and you can affort it by all means use it...
>>
>>I could be wrong on all counts, but to quote Randy Newman in the Monk TV 
>>show theme song..."I don't Think so...."
>>
>>My thoughts only, agree or disagree.
>>
>>73de kd5srw
>>
>>"Mike (KA5CVH) Urich" wrote:
>>I think what a some people, myself included, have in the back of our
>>minds but haven't verbalized is, if I buy this rig and don't like it
>>(or any other reason), what would the resale value be? Thus with that
>>in mind I think some people again myself included, will look at the
>>cost of a Ranger or MFJ-9406 and go ... gee for $XX more I can pick up
>>a used IC706 or FT100 or any other of the HF w/V/UHF and have a much
>>better rig, that will be easier to sell if I need too. Or if you do
>>upgrade to Gen/Extra you now have an HF rig to get on the air with
>>too. Even if you don't it will be much more down the road than the
>>Ranger. When you look at cost per band say a new 100 w Ranger 5054 @ ~
>>$400 times the 12 bands in my FT-100 makes my FT-100 equivalently
>>worth $4800 (less being 5 years old and original purchase price of
>>~$750), kinda puts things into perspective doesn't it!
>>
>>--
>>Mike Urich, KA5CVH
>>http://ka5cvh.com
>>
>>Amateur radio ~IS~ a contact sport.
>
> --
>
>
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