I could never understand that attitude. It is true that the state of the art
is such that building something as sophisticated as commercial gear is
pretty much out of reach of most amateurs, low tech gear is easier than ever
to build. Station accessories, qrp gear, ect are much simplified by ICs.
Oscillators, amplifiers, regulators, ect are all available in IC form. Just
assemble the blocks. In any case, if one wants to do it completely from
scratch, the components are still readily available.

wrote in message ...
New equipment has
become so sophisticated and controlled by IC's that there are few
opportunities for the basement tinkerers to really build something from
scratch these days.