I suspect we old-timers are wrong in believing that more radios were
designed or made in the past than today, probably by factors of 500% or
more. The main reason is QRP radios using modern ICs for the receivers and
MOSFET transmitters, coupled with a revival of nostalgia tube simple
transmitters.

Our campus radio club W5YF is building several pixie-2 cw transceivers
($10 kits from HSC) as a project for newcomers. As part of an IEEE
construction and kit building event tonight, they are offering free SWL
radio kits, free robotic kits to students to encourage them to build
electronics skills, learn to solder, etc. We are also building a cross
band repeater (for ballooning), an emergency power system, a VLF beacon
transmitter (of our own design), and various other antenna projects.

There are lots more people in amateur radio today than in the past too.

Many of the projects built in the past were slavish copies from articles
in QST or the Handbooks (ARRL, RSGB..), since relatively few could design
Pi networks etc. Today, software makes it easy to customize a design to
parts available cheaply, making many designs "originals" ;-)

The cost of constructed electronics, esp. with SMC, has dropped (along
with low cost labor etc.) such that kits like heathkit are more costly to
build than to buy, due to need to write instructions manuals etc. ;-(

Lots more information is available online too, making it possible to do
things with surplus "junque" that we couldn't before due to lack of specs
or pinouts etc. Similarly, lots more projects are being built from online
articles of other folks successful projects.

EBay has made huge amounts of surplus test equipment available, moving it
from inactive users to those having a need for such items, and reducing
the cost of electronics construction. At our local sidewalk sale last
weekend (http://people.smu.edu/arc/sidewalk.html), I picked up a large
working VTVM that also did RMS volts and resistance and even capacitance
from pfs to 2,000 uF, as well as 4,000 volt scale volts - for $5, 8 digit
counter and display with reset for $1, and a computer UPS with 12v SLA for
$3. I can't build an SLA battery charger for that, or a capacitance meter,
so one reason some folks aren't building is that buying used or online is
much more cost effective, plus provides extra features (e.g., a VTVM+, a
300 watt sine wave inverter etc.).

One interesting argument put forth by Forest Mims III (pop tronics author,
in Nuts and VOlts magazine recently) is that we are no longer component
level builders, but rather system level designers. So I'm designing a
cross band repeater with CW-IDer, beacon DF transmitter, and possibly ATV
transmitter for our club's 75th anniversary high altitude balloon project.
The CW-IDER (from K1EL) is a single chip microcontroller which not only
does the whole morse code ID message generation, including sidetones (for
7 messages ;-), but also does the 10 minute (0 to 600 second delay) timer
for the repeater - for $8, preprogrammed, including mailing. What would
have been a major project (CW-IDer for VLF beacon and balloon project) is
now a single component and ten minute ordering form away. ;-) Sure, I
could build one from an EPROM and logic and timers - but not for $8.
Should I feel bad I'm not doing discrete logic work again, or be happy I
can focus on creating other functionality in the system? Hmmm? ;-)

Similarly, many radios are rather complete today, unlike in the past. You
needed to have an outboard audio filter with some rigs, today, DSPs are
built in. You needed a VHF SWR meter, now some rigs have these built-in,
along with lots of other functions. So the need to design and build has
been decreased as the complexity of equipment has increased. The cost of a
used 2m handheld radio (often $50 even for an older synthesized rig) is so
low that you can hardly build such a complex item except to say you did
so.

On the other hand, I think there is a lot more interest and construction
where it does count, e.g., building antennas, as the rec.radio.antennas
group suggests.

So I think we should be happy that modern technology has eliminated the
need to build needed "accessories" to our main radios, which now include
such needed features (and many others ;-). We also don't have to build
from the ground up, since used gear offers a lower cost starting point to
building a station. On the other hand, many ham stations today are much
more complex than in the past. Most of us run HF and VHF/UHF, many do
multiple modes, including digital modes, and work specialty areas (like
ATV or satellites). Our focus is not on building a single radio
transmitter, rather we are focusing on expanding our radio station
capabilities in modes and bands and facilities (including emergency
power..).

my $.02 ;-)

bobm




--
************************************************** *********************
* Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 *
********************Standard Disclaimers Apply*************************

On 7 Sep 2004 18:39:59 -0500, (Bob Monaghan)
wrote:

[snip]
So I think we should be happy that modern technology has eliminated the
need to build needed "accessories" to our main radios, which now include
such needed features (and many others ;-). We also don't have to build
from the ground up, since used gear offers a lower cost starting point to
building a station. On the other hand, many ham stations today are much
more complex than in the past. Most of us run HF and VHF/UHF, many do
multiple modes, including digital modes, and work specialty areas (like
ATV or satellites). Our focus is not on building a single radio
transmitter, rather we are focusing on expanding our radio station
capabilities in modes and bands and facilities (including emergency
power..).

I'm sure you're right. But AFAIC, I prefer doing things from the
ground up. That way, you learn a hell of a lot more. I'll stick with
my discretes and continue to make 'em work at RF., for all hassle,
they make life infuriating but *so* much more challenging. Perhaps I
should get a better psychiatrist. :-)
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

Now THIS is the kind of answer I like to see on questions like this.
VERY well put Bob, thanks for sharing.

Paul
kl0an



Bob Monaghan wrote:
I suspect we old-timers are wrong in believing that more radios were
designed or made in the past than today, probably by factors of 500% or
more. The main reason is QRP radios using modern ICs for the receivers and
MOSFET transmitters, coupled with a revival of nostalgia tube simple
transmitters.

Our campus radio club W5YF is building several pixie-2 cw transceivers
($10 kits from HSC) as a project for newcomers. As part of an IEEE
construction and kit building event tonight, they are offering free SWL
radio kits, free robotic kits to students to encourage them to build
electronics skills, learn to solder, etc. We are also building a cross
band repeater (for ballooning), an emergency power system, a VLF beacon
transmitter (of our own design), and various other antenna projects.

There are lots more people in amateur radio today than in the past too.

Many of the projects built in the past were slavish copies from articles
in QST or the Handbooks (ARRL, RSGB..), since relatively few could design
Pi networks etc. Today, software makes it easy to customize a design to
parts available cheaply, making many designs "originals" ;-)

The cost of constructed electronics, esp. with SMC, has dropped (along
with low cost labor etc.) such that kits like heathkit are more costly to
build than to buy, due to need to write instructions manuals etc. ;-(

Lots more information is available online too, making it possible to do
things with surplus "junque" that we couldn't before due to lack of specs
or pinouts etc. Similarly, lots more projects are being built from online
articles of other folks successful projects.

EBay has made huge amounts of surplus test equipment available, moving it
from inactive users to those having a need for such items, and reducing
the cost of electronics construction. At our local sidewalk sale last
weekend (http://people.smu.edu/arc/sidewalk.html), I picked up a large
working VTVM that also did RMS volts and resistance and even capacitance
from pfs to 2,000 uF, as well as 4,000 volt scale volts - for $5, 8 digit
counter and display with reset for $1, and a computer UPS with 12v SLA for
$3. I can't build an SLA battery charger for that, or a capacitance meter,
so one reason some folks aren't building is that buying used or online is
much more cost effective, plus provides extra features (e.g., a VTVM+, a
300 watt sine wave inverter etc.).

One interesting argument put forth by Forest Mims III (pop tronics author,
in Nuts and VOlts magazine recently) is that we are no longer component
level builders, but rather system level designers. So I'm designing a
cross band repeater with CW-IDer, beacon DF transmitter, and possibly ATV
transmitter for our club's 75th anniversary high altitude balloon project.
The CW-IDER (from K1EL) is a single chip microcontroller which not only
does the whole morse code ID message generation, including sidetones (for
7 messages ;-), but also does the 10 minute (0 to 600 second delay) timer
for the repeater - for $8, preprogrammed, including mailing. What would
have been a major project (CW-IDer for VLF beacon and balloon project) is
now a single component and ten minute ordering form away. ;-) Sure, I
could build one from an EPROM and logic and timers - but not for $8.
Should I feel bad I'm not doing discrete logic work again, or be happy I
can focus on creating other functionality in the system? Hmmm? ;-)

Similarly, many radios are rather complete today, unlike in the past. You
needed to have an outboard audio filter with some rigs, today, DSPs are
built in. You needed a VHF SWR meter, now some rigs have these built-in,
along with lots of other functions. So the need to design and build has
been decreased as the complexity of equipment has increased. The cost of a
used 2m handheld radio (often $50 even for an older synthesized rig) is so
low that you can hardly build such a complex item except to say you did
so.

On the other hand, I think there is a lot more interest and construction
where it does count, e.g., building antennas, as the rec.radio.antennas
group suggests.

So I think we should be happy that modern technology has eliminated the
need to build needed "accessories" to our main radios, which now include
such needed features (and many others ;-). We also don't have to build
from the ground up, since used gear offers a lower cost starting point to
building a station. On the other hand, many ham stations today are much
more complex than in the past. Most of us run HF and VHF/UHF, many do
multiple modes, including digital modes, and work specialty areas (like
ATV or satellites). Our focus is not on building a single radio
transmitter, rather we are focusing on expanding our radio station
capabilities in modes and bands and facilities (including emergency
power..).

my $.02 ;-)

bobm

Behold, Bob Monaghan signalled from keyed 4-1000A filament:

snip

my $.02 ;-)

bobm

Very well put Bob!

Ah, yes. Growing up to Forrest Mims books was the cat's meow of DIY of
the time :-)

--
Gregg t3h g33k
"Ratings are for transistors....tubes have guidelines"
http://geek.scorpiorising.ca

(Bob Monaghan) wrote in message ...
I suspect we old-timers are wrong in believing that more radios were
designed or made in the past than today, probably by factors of 500% or
more. The main reason is QRP radios using modern ICs for the receivers and
MOSFET transmitters, coupled with a revival of nostalgia tube simple
transmitters.

Some snipped to save space

Bob, a very well reasoned and written response to the original posting
- I can only concur. What seems to be forgotten is that amateur radio
has only ever been a hobby appealing to a small minority of
technically inclined people - the same numbers are still there, but
with the ready availability of store bought radios, the numbers seem
even smaller. A cursory search of the net reveals many people doing
many interesting things.

If we keep canning each other with "Yor only a CBer" type labels, then
yes indeed, things are grim - things will NEVER be as good as the "old
days" -thats why we call it nostalgia, and your points about using
surplus ww2 junk etc are correct - that wasnt homebrew, it was
adaption of existing equipment.

There is SO much stuff out there that can be modified/adapted to ham
use - junked computer UPS supplies provide a BIG 18v power transformer
for a homebrew linear supply, ex computer switchmode supplies are easy
to mod to 12v at 20 amps plus.

Perhaps the problem is lack of lateral thinking - one thing is for
sure, as long as we continue to argue and bitch and denigrate amongst
ourselves, how can we expect (or even deserve) continued free access
to the radio spectrum we are licensed to use!

73 de VK3BFA Andrew.

yes, Andrew, thanks for that note and some very good points...

we recently had our annual regional Hamcom 2004 convention, at which I had
the chance to catch local microwave and antennas guru Kent Britain's
WA5VJB's seminar on microwaves modifications. My favorite was a obsolete
cell phone 3 watt output chip that does 18 watts nicely on 13.8 Vdc ;-)
All the wi-fi and garage door conversions into microwave transceivers, and
the police radar detectors into microwave setups. And how about some of
the simple conversions of TV tuners into spectrum analyzer projects? ;-)
And the cable TV modules that do all sorts of jobs from preamps to power
amps ;-) So I just joined the North Tx Microwave Society to expand beyond
the satellite and ATV stuff we are doing now into new areas for our club
;-)

so thanks to computer and phone co. surplus, we may have a second
generation of surplus conversions to rival those of the 1950s and 1960s
for military surplus to amateur radio uses?

grins bobm

--
************************************************** *********************
* Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 *
********************Standard Disclaimers Apply*************************

On 11 Sep 2004 23:31:06 -0500, (Bob Monaghan)
wrote:

we recently had our annual regional Hamcom 2004 convention, at which I had
the chance to catch local microwave and antennas guru Kent Britain's
WA5VJB's seminar on microwaves modifications. My favorite was a obsolete
cell phone 3 watt output chip that does 18 watts nicely on 13.8 Vdc ;-)

You got a part number for that chip, Bob?
--

"What is now proved was once only imagin'd." - William Blake, 1793.

nope, sorry, but it was a more or less typical example of some of Kent
Britain's and others discoveries of easy ways to get onto microwave bands.
Raising the voltage on these chips does great things to the power output,
as that E^2/R goes up fast as E goes up a little ;-)

Another example was an amplifier with many microwave modules, most of the
power was used to produce a linear (digital compatible) output; junk that
overhead, and the power went up from 10 watts or so to over 100 watts ;-)

You might try emailing the North Texas Microwave Society or Kent directly?
http://www.ntms.org/ - we are having a major conference in October I
hope to attend, so I may have more notes there ;-) Kent is also the
author of the "cheap yagi" designs from VHF-CQ and other online sources.

sadly, there was a second seminar at Hamcom 2004 on resources for
microwave wanna-bees. The first were a series of older books on microwaves
and test equipment, with the sensible observation that most of the
affordable test gear being surplused now is described in use in these
older books ;-) The second was a series of newsletters and publications,
some in German/English, from RSGB, and ARRL on microwaves operations etc.

Some of these were described and seen to be quite pricey for the amount of
articles therein ;-( The NTMS has evidently made an effort to build up a
collection of articles and resources related to microwaves, rather than
have each member try to duplicate these costly and hard to find
references.

I am not seeing a lot in the way of homebrew microwave construction or
conversion articles, given some of the relatively easy projects I have
seen described at these seminars and in some ARRL materials I have etc.?
So the conference may turn up some more resources, I hope ;-)

Part of the motivation here is we are trying to "inherit" some big
roof-top microwave satellite dishes from our engineering school as these
get obsoleted as we go online with streaming video on demand. Our club's
roof access port is only ten feet from the bigger dish ;-) It will cost
the school major $ to take this stuff down, so it would save $ to let us
use it - and might provide lots of useful hands-on microwave experience
for some of our future graduates. That's my argument, anyway ;-)

If anybody knows of some microwave homebrew resource and project pages,
let me know!

regards bobm
--
************************************************** *********************
* Robert Monaghan POB 752182 Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas Tx 75275 *
********************Standard Disclaimers Apply*************************