Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
You say FT-101, etc...aren't $100 pieces of gear on ebay. Thats too
broad and maybe your perspective is different than mine. As found Galaxy V are lucky to get $100, as are HW-100. FT-101, Kwood TS-520, Swan 350-500, Drake TR-3/4 will garner twice that in "last time I fired it up it worked" condition. I've given away two Galaxy V in as found condition this year because they couldn't be sold at any price. Found condition is the key. I'm sorry, but I got into bidding wars at least 3 or more times trying to get a Yaesu in guaranteed working condition with recent maintenance. I'm not clear if you are suggesting building these things from scratch or taking older xcvrs and refurbing them. If you haven't walked this talk I suspect you'd find out very quickly that paying $35 for an old Galaxy and refurbing it at maybe a cost of a dozen hours of labour you might get $125 on resale on a good day when there are no other buyers that could do the same thing for their own purpose. Nope, I am indeed talking scratch. To do an equivalent Galaxy 5 from scratch for $199 commercial resale? No way. Why not? Well, you have my input. I'll never discourage rolling your own but trying to make a bizness out of it is a whole nuther can of worms. Oh, and I so much appreciate that. That is not sarcasm. The Eternal Squire |
#2
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#3
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
Maybe not a Galaxy 5 itself, you could be right. Besides, it was a
hybrid rig, not an all- tube rig anyway. But, what about this lineup for receiver: 1) 3 sets of switchable preselector filter with ganged variable capacitor with a single dual triode amp, half of which are placed between each filter. 2) Single dual triode as cascode IF converter, rather than a pentagrid converter which are hardly made anymore. 3) Single dual triode as differential VFO, glass equivalent of recent QEX circuit, with oscillator variable capacitor ganged to the preselector capacitor as part of same set. 4) Single dual triode as pre and post amps to lattice crystal IF filter. 5) Single dual triode as cascode baseband converter. 6) Single dual triode as differential BFO, similar design to VFO. 7) Push-pull audio power amp... reuse this in transmitter. Transmitter lineup: 1) Single sweep tube operated class E for CW, modified to class H with aid of receiver's push pull power amp. 2) Share the preselector for use in postfiltering of the power amp. 3) Use the same differential VFO as the input to the class E amp. This isn't really SSB: it is more quick and dirty DSB/CW transmitter with SSB receiver. (If anyone can modify a class E amp for SSB service I would love to hear about it). So, this lineup uses a single sweep tube, 6 dual trodes, and a pair of 6L6 equivalents. Shuguang 807 as sweep tube: $16 retail Shuguang 6SN7 (VFO) $11 retail Shuguang 6SN7 (BFO) $11 retail 2 Shuguang 6L6 (Amp/Mod) $25 retail 4 CH-12AX7A $48 retail ----------------- $111 retail == $55 wholesale if I can establish a dealer relationship with supplier. Tubes: (presumed wholeale) $55 Resistors (NOS wholesale): $10 Caps (NOS wholesale): $10 Power transformer: $5 sheet metal stack made in LDC 4-gang variable $25 (Soviet make from EBAY) Chassis: $20 sheet metal Planetary gear drive: $15 (cast iron gears from LDC) Crystals (NOS wholesale) $5 Rotary Band Switch (NOS EBAY) $10 --------- $140 Labor (20 hours at $1/hour in an LDC) $ 20 --------- $160 Murphy Factor (20%) $ 32 ---------- COGS w/labor $192 ====================== OK, you are likely right that the wholesale cost is high. But I only worked this out in 20 minutes using recent surfing, reading, and other communication. Perhaps with further refinement I can get the cost down. I added a murphy factor for amortized taxes, freight, and customs. BUT: I think I made it with $7 to spare, including labor, so long as I do not rely on the US for a lot of things. Maybe $250 would be a more realistic retail price... Not much profit margin, though, but not much needed for mail order sales if I am only intending to supplement income rather than support myself. Thoughts? The Eternal Squire |
#4
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#6
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
Where's the chassis
$20 of Korean sheet metal shaped and drilled by a firm in Africa, see recent post knobs Digikey tuning caps 4-gang soviet surplus from EBay, see recent post IF cans toroids Tube sockets PC mount sockets, 50 cents each. Xtal filter $1 each, $5 total, see recent post cabinet more sheet metal dial stenciled plastic, negl cost power xfrmr $5 stack of carbon steel made in Africa, see recent post Using your figure of 20 hours I calculate that you'll clear an income of $40 per week on 2 rigs, $60 if you work nites, if you do it all yourself. No, I'll be using Mexican labor for final assembly If I could build a Galaxy 5 equivalent in 20 hours...never mind... No, this is not a Galaxy 5. This is a 21rst century transciever topology in glass that may deliver multiband audio/cw contacts at less cost. Okay. Paying shipping for one single returned rig in this scenario will have you WISHING you hadn't eaten last week's can of cat food for dinner. Clearly I would have to reduce mass where I can. I interpret a boatanchor as meaning tubes as active units and mechanical tuning with a planetary drive... I don't intepret that as meaning I have to use 50's-70's era parts for anything else or even point to poiint wiring. Maybe I can get the weight down to 15 pounds if I use aluminum for chassis and fiberglass or carbon composite for case. You couldn't do this for less than $500 per rig (sans labour and profit).... Only I use parts from US and attempt to exactly duplicate a mid-60's rig. If instead I can outsource nearly everything and never buy retail, and if I simply make a FET rig in glass, this might be less. and thats why there isn't the market that you imagine. What I have to find out is determine how much someone is willing to buy a glass rig for that delivers similar functionality as a 60's rig, and then determine how many people would buy for that price. At that point, I have to work backwards to see if I can make parts, labor, intermediate freight, and customs fees work inside the interpolated wholesale figure. So let me ask you... if you had the ability to buy a rig, in glass, capable of 4 band operation where you could manually tune and dip the amplifier, that gave you an operating range of 2000 miles on a reference dipole, AND it was built new, HOW MUCH would you pay for that? The Eternal Squire |
#7
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() |
#8
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
Bill ) writes:
Xtal filter $1 each, $5 total, see recent post Ask for 400 of all of the above and see how quick those 'surplus' sources go dark. And of course, it's all interrelated. If one doesn't buy a lot of stock to begin with, then they have to scramble later to get suitable parts, and in the case of the mechanical parts, that may mean reworking the chassis. Which means if a large stock isn't bought in advance, then the chassis work can't be done in bulk, because that might mean the prepunched and drilled chassis have to be scrapped. And if production has to stop while new sources are discovered, that may cause significant problems. That's why there's all those second sources for semiconductors; if a manufacturer can't count on being able to get those ICs on a continuous basis, they won't use the part. Michael VE2BVW |
#9
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]()
It's all right. I just needed a final refutation of details.
Thanks, The Eternal Squire |
#10
![]() |
|||
|
|||
![]() wrote in message ups.com... Where's the chassis Squire.. So far this is all mental gymnastics. Why not do a prototype to prove and debug the design, run it for several weeks to work out glitches, and do one or two more test prototypes to finalize the design? This will give you some idea on labor and material costs, and how much time is needed to acquire parts... assemble... align and test.. etc. I think at that point you'd have a better feel for what you are proposing. One thing to think about: why not also offer a kit version? If you do a magazine construction article, say in Electric Radio, that would give you a "free" ad for the kit of materials, and some exposure. Pete |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Forum | |||
FA Boatanchors: B&W 370 SSB adpt,Drake TR4CWRIT, NCL2000 More | Boatanchors | |||
FA Boatanchors: B&W 370 SSB adpt, Drake TR4CWRIT, NCL2000 | Swap | |||
It's a breeze as Fresh Air is voted best student radio | Broadcasting | |||
FS/FT: Assortment of Boatanchors! | Boatanchors | |||
Free Boatanchors | Boatanchors |