"rocky" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Noon-Air" wrote:

Whatever happenet to a simple to operate 100watt HF rig that transmits
and
recieves??... something in the way of an inexpensive, baseline, HAM band
*only* rig... maybe along the lines of the re-production of the TS-130S.

-n6ojn


too many want,,,,no demand they be able to hook up their computer. The
days of simple are far in the past.

I was thinking more along the lines of inexpensive, entry level equipment...
the ranks of licensed operators is rapidly dwindling as all of us old farts
are dying off. The only time that there seems to be any push to increase
ranks is after a disaster, when the infrastructure is wiped out and all that
is left are the HAM radio operators. I believe that a lot of prospective
HAMs are put off because of 2 things....
1) The expen$e of buying new equipment, antennas, towers, etc. Most
prospects don't know that you gan get a workable station on the air for just
a couple of hundred dollars. All they *see* are the tower systems, and high
dollar radios where the HAM has been licensed for 20+ years and has
built/accumulated a top drawer station over the years.
2) The equipment is getting to where you have to be an EE just to figure out
what everything does. Newbies need to have a simple to operate station so
they can learn the basics, then after they get a handle on it, they can
start building a station with some of the latest and greatest, state of the
art, toys.
I don't know about you, but my first station was nothing more than a used
TS-520S, and a wire antenna(40/15M dipole), a borrowed MFJ antenna tuner,
and a straight key(no voice privileges for novices then)...That was all I
could afford at the time, and that almost broke the bank. I was a little
overwhelmed with the 520 when I first got it and it took me a while to
really feel comfortable with the rig. Imagine the new HAM today with
something like a TS-2000.....if they can afford it. Even tho I have been an
active HAM since 1984, I have had my TS-480HX since July, and I *still*
don't know and haven't figured out all it will do...and thats running it
mobile!! No tellin what it would do in the shack. Would I recommend the 480
for a newbie?? not hardly... but for an experienced HAM, its a great rig
that will do everything you ever dreamed of.
There still needs to be an inexpensive, easy to operate, entry level, HF
rig, made available to the new Novice.

What kinds of rigs/stations did the rest of you *start* with??
What do you think that *most* young prospective HAMs would be able to handle
to get into the hobby??

-n6ojn

--

Steve @ Noon-Air Heating & A/C


Life is what happens while you were making other plans