wrote:
wrote:

I knew I'd coax you outta yer lair when I tossed that one out.

I suspect that if
somebody put the effort into pulling together the actual
facts they'd
find that the total number of manufacturers in the ham
radio market is
higher today than it's ever been in the past.

Well, let's see...

Back in the '60s we had Collins, Drake, National,
Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Gonset, Heath, Swan, Johnson...

.. . . five dollar 12V ARC-5 Jeep radios . . . or were they 6V?

and that's about it for major manufacturers of ham gear
that lasted more than a few years and made more than a
few products. Even in the above list there were limitations
because many of the above did not offer a complete line (EFJ
made mostly transmitters, for example).

Today we have Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, TenTec, Alinco, Standard,
Elecraft, SGC, and maybe a few more. But see below.

.. . . yeah, OK so far . . .

. . . Within ham radio Hallicrafters, Swan, National,
Hammarlund, Drake and Heath simply evaporated with barely a
trace left . . .

Yep. In some cases it was that the founder had died or retired, and the
company wasn't able to adjust to the new market reality.

Founders exits aside it was the "adjusting to the new market realities"
which knocked out the U.S. radio builders. GM is still trying to catch
up with Honda. Darwin prevails.

. . . Collins offered only two basics routes a ham could use to get
on the HF
bands with their gear at any given point in time. One xcvr and one pair
of separates. Period. Ditto Drake and for the most part Heath
too.

Drake and Heath had slightly more elaborate product lines - but not by
much. The point is still valid, though. The variety of new rigs today
is amazing.

Not even a discussion.

Here's a game: Look up all the "100 watt class" HF rigs available today
(mid 2005). Compare to what was available 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago.
I bet today's variety is the largest.

Not even a discussion

Not counting all the HF mobile rigs and the equipment being
developed in various skunk works.

*And* not counting the enormous variety of clean, late-model used
equipment that is still very much usable. Take TenTec - if an Orion is
too much and you don't like the Jupiter, there's the Omni 6 in various
flavors, its predecessor the Omni V, the Pegasus, the Paragon, and the
Corsair 2, among others.

Well yeah, scarfing up used gear to get more bang for the buck has been
a ham tradition going back into the mists of time long before either of
us came about.

The other night I saw an ad for the Kenwood TS-520 in a 1975 QST. $629.
That was back in the days when a new car was less than $4000 and
starting salary for a degreed engineer was maybe $12,000.

Sounds low to me because most of my classmates started for $9-10k right
out of school in 1963. I started for $7,600 for the gummint which was
quite low then.

Or look at the SB-101 from the mid 1960s. $369 for the rig, almost
another hundred for the power supply, CW filter and speaker. Say $450 -
for a kit! What's that in today's dollars?

Beats me but the point is there.

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

wrote:
wrote:
wrote:

I knew I'd coax you outta yer lair when I tossed that one out.

bwaahaahaa

Back in the '60s we had Collins, Drake, National,
Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Gonset, Heath, Swan, Johnson...

. . . five dollar 12V ARC-5 Jeep radios . . . or were they 6V?

I've seen 12 volt ARC-5s (special units from a collection) and it was
no hard task to convert them for six volts. Easy compared to
homebrewing.

and that's about it for major manufacturers of ham gear
that lasted more than a few years and made more than a
few products. Even in the above list there were limitations
because many of the above did not offer a complete line (EFJ
made mostly transmitters, for example).

Today we have Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, TenTec, Alinco, Standard,
Elecraft, SGC, and maybe a few more. But see below.

. . . yeah, OK so far . . .

. . . Within ham radio Hallicrafters, Swan, National,
Hammarlund, Drake and Heath simply evaporated with barely a
trace left . . .

Yep. In some cases it was that the founder had died
or retired, and the
company wasn't able to adjust to the new market reality.

Founders exits aside it was the "adjusting to the new
market realities"
which knocked out the U.S. radio builders. GM is
still trying to catch
up with Honda. Darwin prevails.

Darwin got some help in those areas, though. Detroit spent the '50s and
'60s building big cars and was completely surprised by the oil
embargoes. American electronics manufacturers, run
by "PROFESSIONALS IN RADIO", didn't know how to compete with
Japanese products. The rest is history.

. . . Collins offered only two basics routes a ham
could use to get on the HF
bands with their gear at any given point in time. One xcvr and one pair
of separates. Period. Ditto Drake and for the most part Heath
too.

Drake and Heath had slightly more elaborate product lines - but not by
much. The point is still valid, though. The variety of new rigs today
is amazing.

Not even a discussion.

Here's a game: Look up all the "100 watt class" HF rigs available today
(mid 2005). Compare to what was available 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago.
I bet today's variety is the largest.

Not even a discussion

Not counting all the HF mobile rigs and the equipment being
developed in various skunk works.

*And* not counting the enormous variety of clean, late-model used
equipment that is still very much usable. Take TenTec - if an Orion is
too much and you don't like the Jupiter, there's the Omni 6 in various
flavors, its predecessor the Omni V, the Pegasus, the Paragon, and the
Corsair 2, among others.

Well yeah, scarfing up used gear to get more bang
for the buck has been
a ham tradition going back into the mists
of time long before either of
us came about.

Yup. Or converting surplus - military or otherwise. Hams were doing
that in the 1920s with surplus tubes - WW1 surplus tubes....

The other night I saw an ad for the Kenwood TS-520 in a 1975
QST. $629.
That was back in the days when a new car was less than $4000 and
starting salary for a degreed engineer was maybe $12,000.

Sounds low to me because most of my classmates started for $9-
10k right
out of school in 1963. I started for $7,600 for the gummint
which was
quite low then.

Inflation in the '60s was quite low too until the end.

Or look at the SB-101 from the mid 1960s. $369 for the rig,
almost
another hundred for the power supply, CW filter and
speaker. Say $450 -
for a kit! What's that in today's dollars?

Beats me but the point is there.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation

says:

$629 in 1975 inflates to $2355.99 in 2005

and

$450 in 1965 inflates to $2681.16 in 2005

Either of those will buy quite a bit more rig than a TS-520S or SB-101.

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:
wrote:


. . . five dollar 12V ARC-5 Jeep radios . . . or were they 6V?

I've seen 12 volt ARC-5s (special units from a collection) and it was
no hard task to convert them for six volts. Easy compared to
homebrewing.

. . mmmm . . maybe mine was a 24V unit . . heh . . The only mods I
made to my 80M version to change it from a military version to a
Novice ham version were (1) rewired the filaments (2) yanked the the
tubes in the calibration circuit and circular filed 'em (3)
disconnected the roller inductor loading coil from the PA tank circuit
(4) fired it up and used a flourescent lamp tube taped to the antenna
wire to find the "hot spot" along tank coil and soldered the end of the
wire to that spot on the coil and took it to the airwaves.

Founders exits aside it was the "adjusting to the new
market realities"
which knocked out the U.S. radio builders. GM is
still trying to catch
up with Honda. Darwin prevails.

Darwin got some help in those areas, though. Detroit spent the '50s and
'60s building big cars and was completely surprised by the oil
embargoes. American electronics manufacturers, run
by "PROFESSIONALS IN RADIO", didn't know how

I can see him now, sternly lecturing Art Collins about how to design a
ham rig . . .

to compete with
Japanese products. The rest is history.

.. . . Darwin treated those of us out here in the trenches well . . he
did not treat Detroit, Collins or Drake well . .

Or look at the SB-101 from the mid 1960s. $369 for the rig,
almost
another hundred for the power supply, CW filter and
speaker. Say $450 -
for a kit! What's that in today's dollars?

Beats me but the point is there.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation

says:

$629 in 1975 inflates to $2355.99 in 2005

Slick. Love those little Java calculators.

and

$450 in 1965 inflates to $2681.16 in 2005

Either of those will buy quite a bit more rig than a TS-520S or SB-101.

I did a "reverse" run. I paid $500 for my little TS-50 HF mobile xcvr a
few years ago which is far more radio than either of those boat
anchors. I would have paid $99.25 in 1970. Which is about what one of
the early clunker CB SSB xcvrs cost in those days.

If I paid $500 for it in 1965 it would be $2,900+ today, I coulda
bought an S-Line for $2,900.

Ahhh . . the "good old days" . . but enough of wallowing in 'em . .
ONWARD!

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

wrote:
wrote:
wrote:

. . . five dollar 12V ARC-5 Jeep radios . . . or were they 6V?

I've seen 12 volt ARC-5s (special units from a collection) and it was
no hard task to convert them for six volts. Easy compared to
homebrewing.

. . mmmm . . maybe mine was a 24V unit . . heh . .

Most of them were 24 volt units, but some 12 volt ones were made.
I've seen 'em.

The only mods I
made to my 80M version to change it from a military version to a
Novice ham version were (1) rewired the filaments (2) yanked the the
tubes in the calibration circuit and circular filed 'em (3)
disconnected the roller inductor loading coil from the PA tank circuit
(4) fired it up and used a flourescent lamp tube taped to the antenna
wire to find the "hot spot" along tank coil and soldered the end of the
wire to that spot on the coil and took it to the airwaves.

I did all sorts of mods to the transmitters but they weren't really
that good unless you got lucky. The receivers were and
are much better.

They're also good as parts sources and VFOs. The Southgate Type 6
design has a lot of ARC-5 parts in it. You should see the
VFO - took a transmitter, cut off the chassis from just behind the 1625
sockets forward, drilled out the rivets and made a squashed chassis for
the VFO. A lot less work than making one
from scratch. Which I did for the Type 7

Founders exits aside it was the "adjusting to the new
market realities"
which knocked out the U.S. radio builders. GM is
still trying to catch
up with Honda. Darwin prevails.

Darwin got some help in those areas, though. Detroit
spent the '50s and
'60s building big cars and was completely surprised by the oil
embargoes. American electronics manufacturers, run
by "PROFESSIONALS IN RADIO", didn't know how

I can see him now, sternly lecturing Art Collins about how to
design a ham rig . . .

yeah, right - couldn't even solve a simple heterodyne design
problem...

to compete with
Japanese products. The rest is history.

. . . Darwin treated those of us out here in the trenches
well . . he
did not treat Detroit, Collins or Drake well . .

Collins was still selling the S-line in 1975 (saw it in the same QST as
the TS-520).

What finally happened to Collins was that it was bought out by
Rockwell. Part of the deal was that they'd still make ham gear.
So Rockwell/Collins developed the KWM-380, an advanced rig with
an incredible price tag. Not many were sold, of course. There
was a general-coverage version called the HF-380, too.

It should be remembered that Collins' main products were avionics,
BC transmitters and such. Ham gear was a sideline - some sources
say the ham division was not intended to show a profit.

Drake, OTOH, is still around in a way, making general coverage
receivers. But not a line of ham gear.

Or look at the SB-101 from the mid 1960s. $369 for
the rig, almost
another hundred for the power supply, CW filter and
speaker. Say $450 -
for a kit! What's that in today's dollars?

Beats me but the point is there.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation

says:

$629 in 1975 inflates to $2355.99 in 2005

Slick. Love those little Java calculators.

and

$450 in 1965 inflates to $2681.16 in 2005

Either of those will buy quite a bit more rig than a TS-520S or SB-101.

I did a "reverse" run. I paid $500 for my little TS-50 HF
mobile xcvr a
few years ago which is far more radio than either of those boat
anchors. I would have paid $99.25 in 1970.

Which would have got you a Heath HW-16. As a kit, without any
accessories.

Which is about what one of
the early clunker CB SSB xcvrs cost in those days.

Never followed that stuff closely. As I recall the AM ones cost about
that much back then. They were primitive single-conversion 455 kc IF
jobs with basic MOPA transmitters.

If I paid $500 for it in 1965 it would be $2,900+ today, I
coulda bought an S-Line for $2,900.

Well, IIRC, the cost of a 75S-3, 32S-3, power supply and filters would
run you more than $1500 back then. Which works out to almost
$9000 today.

Ahhh . . the "good old days" . . but enough of wallowing
in 'em . . ONWARD!

The best part is that if someone wants to use old gear, it's out there.
Some bargains, some not, but we have more choice now than ever before.

73 de Jim, N2EY



73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv