On 9/6/06 9:29 AM, in article , "Michael Black"
wrote:

Scott Dorsey ) writes:
Don Bowey wrote:
"WPE9JRL" wrote:

Dealer, Dealer.

And a good one at that.

Well, he can just call ICM like everyone else does. It's not like the things
aren't made any more.

I suppose he's trying to save some money, but yes, every time I see
something like this post, it makes me wonder if they know about having
a crystal ground. Sometimes I've seen questions where people seem
to think that crystals are only a commodity item (and with the rise
of digital circuitry, there is a bigger selection of out of the
catalog frequencies, far bigger a selection than in the days when
there wasn't much standard beyond a 100KHz crystal), and they wonder
who supplies the frequencies that aren't in the catalog.

Obviously WWII set a different standard, with all those surplus
crystals after the fact that could either be directly used or ground
a bit to frequency, but those weren't commodity components, they
were leftovers from a war.

But generally, crystals have always been a custom ground thing.
"Custom" may be misleading, because it implies away from common
place, but the common place when it came to crystals was to
have one specifically ground for the frequency.

Of course, it became common in ham circles when 2M FM came
along, because suddenly one needed to be exactly on channel (rather
than use something out of surplus that was close enough), so everyone
had to deal with the crystal companies. But that faded as synthesizers
came along.

So maybe most hams with knowledge of crystal grinding are either
oldtimers (and I am amused that I can be an oldtimer at almost 47),
or those building things because that's the only way to get certain
frequencies. Since crystal control is no longer a requirement,
be it legal (no more of that law that made US Novices use crystals to
determine frequency), or technical (VFOs got good enough decades ago,
and synthesizers took over somewhat fewer decades ago), non-builders
have relatively little interaction with crystal manufacturers.

Michael VE2BVW


All true, but if I was working on a boatanchor I'd ask here first. I prefer
to offer an opportunity to a fellow boatanchor lover than to just go buy new
for such items.

Junkers abound, but it would hurt to just trash them. Two or three of them
could become a pristine piece of equipment.

Don