AF6AY wrote:
AF6AY wrote:

... The idea is to take some
modern technology and make it look as if it was manufactured in another
time and place. So while a person might take an Ipod and etch an old
fashioned picture in it, or a guitar and modify it, they wouldn't likely
make an instrument like a tuning fork.

Yeah, you're right on what Steampunks advertise themselves as, but
that is also a small niche activity in home workshopping, not just
electronics. There's much more to be found in home wood-working
catalogs in regards to 'retro' design and home workshop construction.

I had a little trouble following this in that the attributions appear to
be wrong. I don't think you were really replying to yourself.

Take Hallicrafters for radios. A Biggie among amateurs before WWII
and in the immediate post-WWII period. The pre-war 'style' peak
might have been the SX-28 HF receiver just from appearance.

It might have been, but there were other contenders with big, German
Silver engraved dials.

Their
post-war 'style' peak might have been the SX-62 Big Dial AM-FM and
'shortwave' band receiver.

Except that wasn't a number produced or sold in large numbers.
Hallicrafters had a number of contenders in the post war period. Some
of these include the SX-100, the SX-115, the SX-88 and the SX-42. Even
the Raymond Loewy-desgined, inexpensive S-40B would have been on the list.

They, like National Radio, came out
with a consumer product TV receiver and (like National) failed to
penetrate the market with their 7" electro-static deflection design.
Hallicrafters had a better exterior 'style' than National's wooden
cabinet model but was doomed in not going towards bigger screens.

Hallicrafters did not do anything special in designing the cabinet. The
very same cabinet style was used in the SX-101, HT-32/32A/32B, HT-33 and
perhaps one additional linear amp.

Collins Radio beat both out in commercial and military equipment
after WWII. Collins Radio established its own 'style' which
dominated lots of aesthetic sensibilities back then.

Collins had two-and-a-half styles during the fifties: There was the big
and clunky series of transmitters and receivers all painted in a very
dark St. James gray wrinkle finish. These included the 51J series of
receivers, the 75A series, a series of high power and low power AM/CW
transmitters and the KWS-1 SSB high power transmitter. Then came the
intermediate styling of the tiny KWM-1 SSB transceiver. That was
followed by the light gray, low profile styling of the KWM-2/2A and
S-Line in the late fifties.

RACAL in the
UK was a strong rival in that.

RACAL, jointly owned by those in the UK and in South Africa was never a
contender in the amateur radio market at all. Eldico did make some
Chinese copies of early fifties Collins gear which was sold to the
amateur market. Many USAF MARS stations were also equipped with the
Eldico stuff.

Hallicrafters just couldn't get with
the program after around 1960 and just drooped, eventually
dropping out.

I don't believe that Hallicrafters was ever a big player in the military
market, post WW II.

Market rivalry in the USA began to be taken over more and more
by off-shore designer-makers around 1960.

Japanese manufacturers did not gain more than a toe hold in the U.S.
amateur radio market until about 1969 or 1970 so you're about a decade
off there. Only in low-end, inexpensive stuff sold by the likes of
Lafayette Radio, did the JA stuff do well. Most of their
"communications receivers" weren't really that.

WWII was over a long
time by then and off-shore production in electronics was ramping
up on all markets of electronics, including amateur radio. The
Big 3 (Icom-Yaesu-Kenwood) began their domination, establishing
their own exterior AND interior 'styles'. Lower labor costs (and
smarts) made the Japanese the leading Asian off-shore producer
first, quickly followed by Taiwan and China. Their 'style' of
electronics became THE style to copy, engraved in visual centers
of many minds for a quarter century.

WW II was only over for fifteen years by 1960. Icom was not a big
player in the U.S. in other than the 2m FM game until the late
seventies. Yaesu had a head start on Kenwood in SSB transceivers sold
in the U.S. Kenwood (actually still Trio at the time) made some
inexpensive gear sold by Lafayette and others. Kenwood HF gear didn't
really start selling much until the early/mid-1970's.

I don't see "smarts" entering into the mix as much as low price. One
could save hundreds of dollars on an HF transceiver made in Japan
compared to the price of one made in the U.S. Early Japanese suffered
from awful receiver performance. That made it possible for outfits like
R.L. Drake to stay in the market until the mid-1980's. It also made it
possible for companies like Ten-Tec to grow from what was essentially
the producer of inexpensive QRP rigs to a maker of full featured HF rigs.

To my knowledge, no amateur radio receivers, transceivers or linear amps
made in Taiwan have ever been marketed in the U.S. I believe the
first HF transceiver to be built in China is the Yaesu FT-2000.

But to return to topic, The concept of making a station conform to an
aesthetic is not all that unusual.

I'm NOT saying that nor ever implied it. But, let's take it in
context. Who or what determines a 'retro' look? And what is its
appeal to certain folks?

There are those now marketing (Thomas) what look like cathedral or
tombstone radios which incorporate AM-FM tuners and CD players. Those
who buy them must like them--and I'll even go so far as to say they
deserve them. They are retro in style. They just aren't authentic.
I'm much rather own the real thing than some modern contrivance.

A half-century ago ought to qualify as 'retro' to most. But how
many were alive or experienced in such period radios?

I'm not certain how that matters.

I was in my
twenties in the 1950s but nowhere would I consider 'going retro' to a
stark utilitarian environment kind of radio communications that I
got started in over a half century ago.

When I became a radio amateur 44 years back, I used junk. That didn't
mean that everyone used junk. Much of the high end stuff of that era is
quite capable of doing a good job today. My Hallicrafter HT-32B uses
the crystal filter method of sideband generation. It puts out nearly
100 watts and it features 1 KC readout. The Collins 75A-3 it is paired
up with uses selectable mechanical filters and it too has 1 KC readout.
Neither can be considered "stark utilitarian".

Neither does the 'style'
of electronic things done in a period before 50 years ago appeal
to very many.

I dunno. One of the first things visitors to my home notice is a 1942
Philco console AM/SW radio in the living room. They ooh and ahh over it
and want to know if it works. When I turn it on and let them hear KDKA
rolling forth from the big speaker, they're impressed. I know of a
number of businesses who'll obtain and "remanufacture" such radios on
order for those who want one in their homes.

There are SOME exceptions: The Zenith Transoceanic
line of portable receivers spans the pre-WWII and post-WII times
with its own unique 'style' that is unmistakable. It IS attractive
to so many that it has a large fan base on the Internet, several
URLs, all for one model line. It has a distinct STYLE to its design.

Well, at least *two* distinct styles. The solid state Transoceanics are
quite different looking than the earlier models.

I'm not against 'having fun' with radios.

That pleases me, Len.

With receivers (or
transceivers) one spends a LOT of time looking at front panels
whether or not a user realizes that. Subliminally, at least, the
appearance of a front panel, its control arrangement, colors,
indications, etc., enter the visual cortex and become memory.
Will added brass geegaws enter into the mind as adornement for
the memory just because they look pretty at first glance?.

If I want extra brass, I'll add a diving helmet or a ships lantern. The
manufactured radio equipment of the past is what it is. It doesn't need
the extras.

Our stations can be an expression of
ourselves, and we can either place the items on the desk and be done
with it, or we can embellish the room as we see fit. It is just another
way to have some fun.

I don't agree with that entirely. First of all, an amateur radio
is a communications device, not an article of 'interior design.'

I don't think that was claimed. I have a neighbor who makes kitchen
cabinets with raised panel doors. He has made many a hutch or computer
center with similar raised panels, all out of solid wood. I'm giving
serious thought to having him make me a new operating position. The
choice is mine to make. If someone else wants to set his gear up on a
card table, that is his choice to make.

Secondly, today's ready-built amateur radios can stand on their
own as far as appearance and 'style' is concerned. That includes
most peripheral equipment. OTHER people did the styling of all
those, contemporaries, not some long-gone folks of another era a
century ago.

I'm not one who believes that things have to match. I go for function
first in my primary station. Everything else is secondary. The long
ago stuff is of interest to me and I enjoy having it surround me.

Dave K8MN