Re: The curse for HF bands

[lbudney@pobox.com]

Anonymous Sender > writes:
>
> ...so the economy of these countries will grow with new ham shops.

Bwahahahaha! So there are enough people clamoring to become hams, but
who refuse to learn CW, that they'll make a noticeable impact on their
country's GDP when the code requirement is dropped? Thanks for a great
laugh.

> Perharps a new generation of low cost HF transceivers (CB like) will
> appear on the market...

Remains to be seen. I'll be glad if it does.

Regards,
Len.

[Dan/W4NTI]

Nope...never happen...until they turn the test into a 20 question open book.
That will be for the extra. Then the crap will hit the fan.

Course by then BPL will destroy HF anyway.

Dan/W4NTI



> wrote in message ...
> Anonymous Sender > writes:
> >
> > ...so the economy of these countries will grow with new ham shops.
>
> Bwahahahaha! So there are enough people clamoring to become hams, but
> who refuse to learn CW, that they'll make a noticeable impact on their
> country's GDP when the code requirement is dropped? Thanks for a great
> laugh.
>
> > Perharps a new generation of low cost HF transceivers (CB like) will
> > appear on the market...
>
> Remains to be seen. I'll be glad if it does.
>
> Regards,
> Len.
>

[Brian Kelly]

Anonymous Sender > wrote in message .com>...
> The fastest countries to abolish Morse
> will conquer the HF bands. New hams on HF will need transceivers, antennas,
> etc ... so the economy of these countries will grow with new ham shops.
> Perharps a new generation of low cost
> HF transceivers (CB like) will appear
> on the market considering that the mass of customers will be important and that an IC-7800 is not required to make a good QSO.
> $300 is a good price to introduce a
> 25W SSB monoband (40m for example).
> Im sure that CB manufacturers will
> sell soon low cost ham equipments for
> HF bands and not only for 10m like
> today, because companies like ICOM has
> lost their spirit of simple transceivers
> like the IC-202.
> Think, an IC-202 like for 40m sold $300.
> At least 1.000.000 are sold on the first
> week.

You're suffering visions of grandeur. A million decent new 40M antennas?

Never happen, none of it.

w3rv

[N2EY]

In article >, writes:

>Anonymous Sender > writes:
>>
>> ...so the economy of these countries will grow with new ham shops.
>
>Bwahahahaha! So there are enough people clamoring to become hams, but
>who refuse to learn CW, that they'll make a noticeable impact on their
>country's GDP when the code requirement is dropped? Thanks for a great
>laugh.

It gets even funnier when you consider what has happened in Japan, which has
long had a nocodetest QRP HF amateur license. Since 1995 the number of JA
amateur stations has been dropping, along with JARL membership. JARL is now
smaller than ARRL. If the trend of the past 8 years continues, soon there will
be fewer Japanese amateur stations than there are US hams.

All this even though Japan is the home of Yeasu, Kenwood and Icom. Go figure.
>
>> Perharps a new generation of low cost HF transceivers (CB like) will
>> appear on the market...
>
>Remains to be seen. I'll be glad if it does.

What does "CB like" mean?

Currently, there is a wide selection of amateur HF/MF transceivers available
new for less than $1000. Lots of good used equipment as well for even less
money. Plus kits. As we head into a declining sunspot cycle, the need for
multiband capability increases.
>
A prediction: We won't see significant changes in the equipment offered for
sale to radio amateurs because of changes in code test requirements.

[N2EY]

In article >, writes:

(N2EY) writes:
>>
>> ...consider what has happened in Japan, which has long had a
>> nocodetest QRP HF amateur license. Since 1995 the number of JA
>> amateur stations has been dropping, along with JARL membership. JARL
>> is now smaller than ARRL.
>
>That _is_ interesting!

Check out

http://www.ah0a.org


>Acourse, one wonders how their 10-year-long
>recession has impacted these statistics, for example.

It ain't pretty.

Note that Japanese *operator* licenses are free and do no expire, so the number
of Japanese operator licenses is an indicator of how many people have been
licensed in Japan since the end of post-WW2 military rule (1952?). not how many
are licensed today.

Japanese *station* licenses must be renewed and cost 120 yen, as I recall. They
are more of an indication of how many active hams exist in Japan. However, note
that an operator can be active without having a station license, by using a
club station of friend's station.

>I'd tend to see
>it as proving that lowering the bar actually reduces interest.
>
That's one factor. Another is that saturation was reached. Or that amateur
radio was a fad for a while in Japan and now the fad is over.

There is also the effect of inexpensive cell phones and 'net access. I have
read that many Japanese got ham licenses and HTs for personal communication,
which have since been replaced by cell phones.

>>>> Perharps a new generation of low cost HF transceivers (CB like) will
>>>> appear on the market...
>>>
>>> Remains to be seen. I'll be glad if it does.
>>
>> What does "CB like" mean?
>
>I just took him to mean "cheap". I can get a reasonable 40-channel CB
>in any truck stop for under $100.

I doubt you'll see that in amateur radio. The trend is towards more, not less.
>
>> A prediction: We won't see significant changes in the equipment
>> offered for sale to radio amateurs because of changes in code test
>> requirements.
>
>I'd tend to agree.
>
In fact, if demand increases, we may see prices rise rather than fall. Supply
and demand.

73 de Jim, N2EY

[lbudney@pobox.com]

(N2EY) writes:
>>
>> I just took him to mean "cheap". I can get a reasonable 40-channel
>> CB in any truck stop for under $100.
>
> I doubt you'll see that in amateur radio. The trend is towards more,
> not less.

Hopefully, that's accompanied by increases in features and quality! If
the same item was increasing in price over time, I'd be annoyed.

> In fact, if demand increases, we may see prices rise rather than
> fall. Supply and demand.

Until it got so high that it attracted Wal*Mart into the market! But I
don't believe demand will rise high enough to attract more players.

Regards,
Len.

[Radio Amateur KC2HMZ]

On 7 Jul 2003 14:45:31 GMT, Alun Palmer > wrote:

>CBs are cheap not only due to mass production, but because they are single
>conversion with ceramic filters (a design choice) and because they are
>single band and low power (FCC requirements). There may be an increased
>market for an entry-level HF rig that will only cost about as much as a 2m
>FM rig, because more will now choose to start out on HF.

You can, if you want to, stick several hundred bucks into a CB rig.
You can also get one for about forty bucks. The latter type will be
single mode (AM only) with zero bells and whistles. The former will be
AM/USB/LSB and include such extras as some form of RIT, dual power
supply (AC/DC), an actual S-meter rather than a bunch of LEDs as a
signal strength indicator (if any at all), some basic DSP functions,
and reception of NOAA weather channels. The top-of-the-line CB base
stations cost far more than a 2m FM rig as it is.

>But what could be included? Probably SSB/CW only, maybe just a couple of
>bands (which ones?), probably 10-20 watts out (PA transistors are
>significant part of the component cost of a rig). Probably only ceramic
>filters, but maybe with a high first IF a la Alinco (they might be one of
>the firms interested in this market). Maybe 80/20m to use the image
>response to make it easier to build, or 40/15m, so the user can just use a
>40m dipole?

Sounds to me like you just desribed the Ten-Tec Scout with its modules
for different bands, except that the price tag does not rival that of
a CB rig. Frankly, I don't think we'll see $40 ham HF rigs, ever. Take
one of those $40 CB rigs and modify it for use in the AM portion of
10m and see how it performs, and you'll quickly understand why. You
get what you pay for.

I can, however, see a $200-$300 single-band HF rig (on other than 10m)
with limited mode selection and few if any bells and whistles. I
exclude 10m from that statement because those have already been
offered in the past - see Radio Shack HTX-10 for example.

73 DE John, KC2HMZ

[Alun Palmer]

Radio Amateur KC2HMZ > wrote in
:

> On 7 Jul 2003 14:45:31 GMT, Alun Palmer > wrote:
>
>>CBs are cheap not only due to mass production, but because they are
>>single conversion with ceramic filters (a design choice) and because
>>they are single band and low power (FCC requirements). There may be an
>>increased market for an entry-level HF rig that will only cost about as
>>much as a 2m FM rig, because more will now choose to start out on HF.
>
> You can, if you want to, stick several hundred bucks into a CB rig.
> You can also get one for about forty bucks. The latter type will be
> single mode (AM only) with zero bells and whistles. The former will be
> AM/USB/LSB and include such extras as some form of RIT, dual power
> supply (AC/DC), an actual S-meter rather than a bunch of LEDs as a
> signal strength indicator (if any at all), some basic DSP functions,
> and reception of NOAA weather channels. The top-of-the-line CB base
> stations cost far more than a 2m FM rig as it is.
>
>>But what could be included? Probably SSB/CW only, maybe just a couple
>>of bands (which ones?), probably 10-20 watts out (PA transistors are
>>significant part of the component cost of a rig). Probably only ceramic
>>filters, but maybe with a high first IF a la Alinco (they might be one
>>of the firms interested in this market). Maybe 80/20m to use the image
>>response to make it easier to build, or 40/15m, so the user can just
>>use a 40m dipole?
>
> Sounds to me like you just desribed the Ten-Tec Scout with its modules
> for different bands, except that the price tag does not rival that of
> a CB rig. Frankly, I don't think we'll see $40 ham HF rigs, ever. Take
> one of those $40 CB rigs and modify it for use in the AM portion of
> 10m and see how it performs, and you'll quickly understand why. You
> get what you pay for.
>
> I can, however, see a $200-$300 single-band HF rig (on other than 10m)
> with limited mode selection and few if any bells and whistles. I
> exclude 10m from that statement because those have already been
> offered in the past - see Radio Shack HTX-10 for example.
>
> 73 DE John, KC2HMZ
>
>

Other bands, particularly 15 and 20, have been offered in the past by
Belcom, Tokyo HiPower, Mizuho and others. I think more of this kind of
thing will surface in the near future.

[K0HB]

Anonymous Twit > wrote in message .com>...

> The fastest countries to abolish Morse
> will conquer the HF bands.

I said it a few years ago, and I'll say it again. Every ham who wants
to be on HF is already there.

The number of new hams who actually show up on HF when the Morse
examination requirement is removed (as opposed to showing up as an
upgrade on www.qrz.com) will be negligible.

With all kind wishes,

de Hans, K0HB

[Alun Palmer]

(K0HB) wrote in
om:

> Anonymous Twit > wrote in message
> .com>...
>
>> The fastest countries to abolish Morse will conquer the HF bands.
>
> I said it a few years ago, and I'll say it again. Every ham who wants
> to be on HF is already there.

I think you'll be proven wrong there, but let's wait and see, shall we?
>
> The number of new hams who actually show up on HF when the Morse
> examination requirement is removed (as opposed to showing up as an
> upgrade on www.qrz.com) will be negligible.
>
> With all kind wishes,
>
> de Hans, K0HB
>