Ok.... you asked for it... lol
New hams and lots of us OT's have been frustrated at the hodge podge
arrangement of radios and accessories. Why the new person always asks
is what should I buy..... The ad's and tech info on the products need to
have a "boiled" down list of what it takes to make it all work. i.e.
examples
of radio antenna match need? Power supply? key? mic? Amp? Vertical ?
Slope?
dipole? random wire. Play radio only at home or in car too. Poor lids.
:-( and the whole
works for recommended uses like DX or contest or just rag chew.
Maybe several "typical STATION set ups for a few ranges of total cost"
Even for an OT you just cant tell from the ad's what it's going to cost in
the end
or what it will do or not do very well.

Hope your career lasts a while... seeing all the sw jobs going over seas
just
like the mfg jobs have. Hope they plan to sell the products over seas...
no one here will have a job/money to buy it.

Load Accumulator what? Which mag core ? tube! Reset!!!!
Sure ain't C or what ever else has come along in the last 10 years
since I got to retire and play with my toys. LOL

A straight key is the one for the ignition huh?

Good luck 73 K4TWO

A good Elmer list of hams who can show off their stations
and be able to "guide" a new person into the hobby without
going broke and with enough knowledge that what ever the
Elmer is showing has taken a good while to accumulate.
What ever station you build... its never right forever so it is a
life time job of rebuilding the new station for the new
and varied aspects of ham radio. Even the ARRL
handbook is an accumulation of many folks efforts.
Ham Radio is just TOO big to be a master of all
the hobby. (although some declare that they are LOL)

I didn't have an Elmer so many years back as a
novice, I was pizzzed off for 2 years before I learned
that DX didn't live in my novice band.

P.S. Make it all free, won't last long but be big hit.

You do plan on a web site eh? I have bought most of
my recent "ham stuff" on ebay or other places on the web.
By the time I spend gas and time shopping or going to
hamfests, I can have the same items shipped the next day.
Just won four 50mhz crystal mobile rigs for $6 costs more
to ship them than the purchase fee from ebay auction. But
look out 6m here I come. Tune Tweek Diddle Diddle smoke.
I need a big garage.

Need good pictures / prices and web site to sell these days.
Most commercial places are too cheap (price fixing?) to put
prices in mag' advert's and web advert's some dont even
put an email address up due to spam and customers that
are unhappy.

Yeah, I got my rag chew award a long time back lol

A copy of an email I sent to the ARRL recently below:

ALL the files and adverts I see in QST or on the web can drowned and
overwhelm a new ham.
What is ALWAYS missing is "what this radio needs to work is.... AC line...
DC power supply... Antenna match... Types of Antennas a user might connect.
Sheeez get some of the basics out to the "New Hams" they want to sell
these things too.
Let them know about how much MORE it is going to cost than the listed price
of the current unit under test.
How about a Key or Speaker or Mic, need a rotor?.... Come on lets get the
newbies a chance to spend his few dollars with out getting
a box and then wish for Christmas to come so he/she can connect it up and
really get on the air.
Go look at the advert's and "reviews" as though you were NEW to the hobby
and about to invest some hard earned money.
While most of the tech info can be impressive, it is fluff to a newbie.
Just tell me how it worked and what needed to make it usable.
How much were all those "options they said were available?" Money for what
filter? What warrantee??? It is the price of a car is it 5 years too?
Thanks.... Hope this message gets to where it will do some good.
Might even put some "shop and compare tables" out for them.
I been around a long time and was getting ready to upgrade from my GTX757II
to a "last good radio" for my retired years and wading through
all the poo has just about put me off buying another radio. I did apply
for a new 4 land call for retired call... I hope Vanity call. Can get a
little vain when that's all that is left. hihi
I just spent 2 days rebuilding the optical dial that froze up in my 757 so I
better move on before it gets arthritis again.
Now WHAT to buy?? eh


wrote in message
oups.com...
All,

I know this sounds like a troll, but it is not, I assure you. I am at
a point where I may be forced to consider a career change. My wife
wants to teach at a reservation for the next several years, and as I do
not see very many days left in my 20 odd-year career as a software
designer, I am very much tempted to take her up on this.

Since I have a had an abiding interest in building amateur gear from
parts, and since I hear a lot of complaints on this group about certain
retail chains not being responsive to amateurs, I thought I should do a
little bit of "market research" and ask my potential customers what
they might want to see from my store if I should start one.

I know that I can't be all things to all people, and I also know from
Idiots Guide to Starting a Business that retail sales can be a tough
row to hoe.

My few advantages are that I would (hopefully) thoroughly know my
product, that I would be organized where a lot of scrap shops aren't,
that I would listen to what the customer wants, and that I wouldn't be
going into this simply for sentimental reasons but hopefully to make a
small profit to supplement my wife's earnings

So, what is the perfect homebrewer store for you all?

1) Lots of discretes at low prices?
2) Transceiver and other kits sold at slight markup?
3) Parts kits and boards for successful homebrew designs found on the
net?
4) A depot to drop off and buy antique gear and test equipment?
5) Home-made precision such as crystal filters, diode mixers, amplifier
modules?

Anything I haven't thought of?

Thanks,

The Eternal Squire