I still have my 64 edition.

"Argusy" wrote in message
...


J-McC wrote:
I used to really enjoy the ARRL handbook. I used to purchase a new
one every so often here in Australia. I think the best valve ones
were in the late 80's and then naturally it slowly evolved to
semiconductors, integrated circuits and printed circuit boards and
more sophistacted circuits etc.


Just took a look - I've still got a 1977 issue. Threw out the earlier ones
when I moved around the countryside (RAAF Bases Amberley, Edinburgh,
Garbutt, Laverton (now some other name), not in any particular order)

I think the old days of truly making your own receiver and or
transmitter are allmost gone.

I agree


I have become old any eyesight is now growing dim! snip

Well, eyesight's not dim, but I can't read without specs anymore


When I look at some of the modern Ham gear I am amazed at how complex
and tiny they have become. I supposed all we really have left now is
making aerials and dxing.

Yeah...


Next time I am in the city I must checkout the latest ARRL Handbook as
I still enjoying reading them in bed.

I can't do that anymore - book's too heavy, and my eyes get bloodshot.
BTW, I still have William Orr's 1978 'Radio Handbook' as well. That's also
good for a read occasionally, as well


Jim McCardle ex VK3ZOE in Australia.

snip

Argusy
AKA Graham (VK5CRC but "deaf" for 20 years)

That's the first one I ever bought (graduated that year, that's how I
know) but sadly, now gone.

Graham AKA VK5CRC


Juan M. wrote:
I still have my 64 edition.

"Argusy" wrote in message
...


J-McC wrote:

I used to really enjoy the ARRL handbook. I used to purchase a new
one every so often here in Australia. I think the best valve ones
were in the late 80's and then naturally it slowly evolved to
semiconductors, integrated circuits and printed circuit boards and
more sophistacted circuits etc.


Just took a look - I've still got a 1977 issue. Threw out the earlier ones
when I moved around the countryside (RAAF Bases Amberley, Edinburgh,
Garbutt, Laverton (now some other name), not in any particular order)


I think the old days of truly making your own receiver and or
transmitter are allmost gone.

I agree


I have become old any eyesight is now growing dim! snip

Well, eyesight's not dim, but I can't read without specs anymore


When I look at some of the modern Ham gear I am amazed at how complex
and tiny they have become. I supposed all we really have left now is
making aerials and dxing.

Yeah...


Next time I am in the city I must checkout the latest ARRL Handbook as
I still enjoying reading them in bed.

I can't do that anymore - book's too heavy, and my eyes get bloodshot.
BTW, I still have William Orr's 1978 'Radio Handbook' as well. That's also
good for a read occasionally, as well


Jim McCardle ex VK3ZOE in Australia.

snip

Argusy
AKA Graham (VK5CRC but "deaf" for 20 years)

Argusy wrote:
That's the first one I ever bought (graduated that year, that's how I
know) but sadly, now gone.

Graham AKA VK5CRC


Juan M. wrote:
I still have my 64 edition.

"Argusy" wrote in message
...


J-McC wrote:

I used to really enjoy the ARRL handbook. I used to purchase a new
one every so often here in Australia. I think the best valve ones
were in the late 80's and then naturally it slowly evolved to
semiconductors, integrated circuits and printed circuit boards and
more sophistacted circuits etc.


Just took a look - I've still got a 1977 issue. Threw out the earlier ones
when I moved around the countryside (RAAF Bases Amberley, Edinburgh,
Garbutt, Laverton (now some other name), not in any particular order)


I think the old days of truly making your own receiver and or
transmitter are allmost gone.


It's not a question of can't. It's a question of don't want to.

Look at a Mini-Circuits catalog sometime. What people would have given
for those parts in 1940...0r 1960?
http://www.minicircuits.com/

My biggest beef with ARRL handbooks were they were too specific to
Amateur radio. If you knew RF theory and good design practice you could
build anything you wanted. They used to publish all these homebrew
receivers that were actually poor designs because they assumed the
amateur wanted a ham-band-only receiver and nothing else, and also did
not have a generator to align them with. They were also very trendy in
that when the new came in they promoted it to the exclusion of all
else. For example, they went over 100% to solid state on PCBs in the
early 70s, despite the fact a lot of hams never liked making PC boards
and quit building when they were convinced the tube equipment was no
good. They did not promote the idea that you needed good test equipment
and encouraged the use of half-assed methods and procedures. When they
did publish test equipment projects it was for the stuff you could buy
cheaply, not for what you really needed that was expensive. They never
published a frequency counter that was any good even though counters
were high dollar relative to build cost until the 1990s.

Still, there's a lot of good data there. My favorite ARRL books are
1955, 1962, 1965 and 1976. The RSGB books from that timeframe are also
excellent and the W6SAI book can be as well, but he was a poor editor.

That was a very informative reply regarding the whole homebrew thing. Where
CAN you find good circuits to build, by the way? I saw a cool schematic
for an all-tube general coverage reciver, but on the same site was a
harmonic-ridden two tube transmitter schematic. One band, no less.

I'm trying cook up an interesting homebrew project. Any ideas?


"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
ups.com...

Argusy wrote:
That's the first one I ever bought (graduated that year, that's how I
know) but sadly, now gone.

Graham AKA VK5CRC


Juan M. wrote:
I still have my 64 edition.

"Argusy" wrote in message
...


J-McC wrote:

I used to really enjoy the ARRL handbook. I used to purchase a new
one every so often here in Australia. I think the best valve ones
were in the late 80's and then naturally it slowly evolved to
semiconductors, integrated circuits and printed circuit boards and
more sophistacted circuits etc.


Just took a look - I've still got a 1977 issue. Threw out the earlier
ones
when I moved around the countryside (RAAF Bases Amberley, Edinburgh,
Garbutt, Laverton (now some other name), not in any particular order)


I think the old days of truly making your own receiver and or
transmitter are allmost gone.


It's not a question of can't. It's a question of don't want to.

Look at a Mini-Circuits catalog sometime. What people would have given
for those parts in 1940...0r 1960?
http://www.minicircuits.com/

My biggest beef with ARRL handbooks were they were too specific to
Amateur radio. If you knew RF theory and good design practice you could
build anything you wanted. They used to publish all these homebrew
receivers that were actually poor designs because they assumed the
amateur wanted a ham-band-only receiver and nothing else, and also did
not have a generator to align them with. They were also very trendy in
that when the new came in they promoted it to the exclusion of all
else. For example, they went over 100% to solid state on PCBs in the
early 70s, despite the fact a lot of hams never liked making PC boards
and quit building when they were convinced the tube equipment was no
good. They did not promote the idea that you needed good test equipment
and encouraged the use of half-assed methods and procedures. When they
did publish test equipment projects it was for the stuff you could buy
cheaply, not for what you really needed that was expensive. They never
published a frequency counter that was any good even though counters
were high dollar relative to build cost until the 1990s.

Still, there's a lot of good data there. My favorite ARRL books are
1955, 1962, 1965 and 1976. The RSGB books from that timeframe are also
excellent and the W6SAI book can be as well, but he was a poor editor.