On Nov 27, 7:27*pm, John Smith wrote:
On 11/10/2011 9:52 PM, wrote:

* With the survivalist market as well as the DIYers who would build a
kit I have given thought to the idea of building a new tube shortwave
receiver as a usable, practical set.

...

Any other comments?

As I once pointed out, long ago, now, in an amateur group, what needs to
be done is to build a radio equiv to how PCs are now done.

First you would have a generic case, these could be made by anyone, in
any design. *The would provide the user with an abundance of choice in
the looks of the rig.

Next, each section of the radio would simply be a plug in card, to a
"mother board." *You would have an rf section, which could cover any and
all bands, depending on construction, it would simple plug into one of
the slots on the motherboard. *Audio, rf, filter, conversion, etc., etc..
could be done this way.

You would have a basic set of all sections, and could expand, or upgrade
as you would have -- or as becomes available.

It would change the face of radio, SW radios would become as numerous as
PCs -- well, almost.

Most any small manufacturer could enter the market, and provide a case,
rf section, audio section, etc. -- and expand from there, if they choose.

I simply can't get enough interest ... but the radio could be just am,
am fm, am-fm-sw, am-fm-sw-vhf, am-fm-sw-vhf-uhf, am-fm-sw-vhf-uhf-shf,
or any possible combination wanted ... this is an idea whose obvious
advantage, for consumers, is simply screaming out for production!

Later, if one wished, he could just buy a larger standard case, move his
receiver components over, buy a larger power supply, and drop in the
appropriate transmitting section(s.)

We simply wait for the radio to leave the age of the horse and buggy ...

Regards,
JS


But.... 99% of radio buyers have little idea what features they want,
and the very slow change in feature sets of each module are in most
cases of close to zero interest to end users. Plus radios seldom
become obsolete - even 1920s sets are still usable, for the few of us
that wish to.

Unit radio did of course exist in the early 20s, when radio technology
really was changing fast, and it made a significant difference. Come
the 30s it was gone though, even though the technology was still
changing fast. End users didn't vote for it.

A slightly similar approach was also tried in tv in the 70s, with lots
of small pcbs that could each be replaced affordably if it ever
failed. But ultimately buyers just wanted the cheapest, not to pay for
later repairability.

Does anyone other than John think there's commercial mileage in
modular radio now?


NT