AJ Lake wrote:

Bob wrote:

I've designed /commercial/ solid-state receivers, and there's just *no*
*way* to get results as good as can still be obtained from valves in
crucial parts of them!

The rest of the transceiver industry (other than you) apparently
thinks tube embedded HF transceivers are quite obsolete for a wide
variety of reasons. Else they would be manufacturing and selling them.

They still do, in /professional/ receivers, though it's becoming rare due to
the component cost. I also find that it's much easier and cheaper to go
QRO with valves than it is with semiconductors. TV sweep tubes powered
many of my HF amplifiers over the years!

Even ham magazines print mostly solid state articles using modern
solid state parts, which is right since hams should learn to use
modern technology. When they do print a tube article it's usually
described as nostalgia.

Most of them are scared that they'll get sued when some know-nothing-numpty
gets bitten by the HT! I use semiconductors where they're appropriate and
use valves when they are the best way to get the results I want. I really
don't care about your perception of nostalgic engineering - I get better
results with my hybrids than are /possible/ with semiconductors alone.

I'm not prejudiced at all -

You used the term "Rice Box" to describe your dislike of a whole range
of several hundred ham transceivers. Different manufacturers. Different
models. Pure prejudice. Logically you should judge equipment on its
individual merits, not by the race of the people who made it.

Believe me, I've tried most of them, and some are actually quite good.
However, they simply don't match up to the performance of the receivers I
have here - I've got my own hybrids, a Plessey PR 155 (probably the best of
its genre), a couple of Eddystone boxes and a couple of "Sailor" marine
rigs. There's /nothing/ that's come from Asia that can match /any/ of
them!

I'll continue with what I consider to be the real essence of
our hobby, and build the gear myself!

Building is but *one* facet of the hobby. Professional engineer hams
capable of designing and building transceivers are a but very very
tiny part of the hobby...

Not over here! Many Hams here are disappointed with the high-priced junk
that comes from Asia, and find that it's very satisfying to build and
operate proper home made gear. We also have a lot of QRP operators (mostly
under 1 Watt) that simply won't be heard by those equipped with the Asian
black boxes!

Not at all - they [Asians] /still/ can't make a good mobile phone! 8-)

As I said prejudiced...

Oh dear. Perhaps you can't understand what's been said: The Asians are
great at making stuff smaller and cheaper (I used to design for Panasonic),
but they're *not* innovators, and everything's made _down_ to a price
rather than _up_ to a specification. I find that attitude to be
frustrating, and many companies I work for have abandoned that paradigm,
and want to produce the best equipment, whatever the cost. That's why
Nokia and Motorola make the best mobile phones, and Sony had to buy
Ericcson in an effort to play catch-up!

There's no actual prejudice involved at all, just a simple statement of
facts!

Bob