void * clvrmnky() wrote:
On 03/01/2006 2:03 PM, Jeffrey Herman wrote:
On 1 Jan 2006 16:52:58 -0800, wrote in
Now, if you want to "build from scratch" totally, you
will have to learn to SUCK all the air out of the tubes
you build for yourself (honoring the "tradition").
It's so easy to look up facts nowadays, I'm surprised that you were
unable to find this: "A 17-year-old named Haddaway had built his
entire station from absolute scratch, including the making of his
own vacuum tubes...." QST February 1921.
I love hearing about that sort of thing. I recall an article reprinted
from a later era describing how an old-timer used to build his own
passive components. I actually built my own variable resistor from a
test tube full of water and some copper wire from the instructions.
Hearing that people would roll (literally) their own capacitors from
various conductors and dialectrics really impressed me.
If the argument is that it's easier to buy a ready-to-use rig, so be it.
If the argument is that this has made do-it-yourself somehow obsolete
or less valuable, I have to disagree.
Exactly.
I'll use factory-built gear, but I take comfort in knowing that if
necessary (or desired), I can build my own gear, too.
73, Jeff KH6O WC2XSR/12
--
Chief Petty Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
Mathematics Lecturer, University of Hawaii System