I agree that those of us that have the test equipment are in the minority. Do the schools even teach about this stuff anymore? Everyone seems to be learning about computers, not communication stuff. We may be heading for a shortage of broadcast engineers. And it looks like everything in that industry may be headed digital. Are the transmitters actually digital? You can't add digital signals together like you can analog. You have to time multiplex them.
I do have fairly comprhensive test bench/lab. But mostly old tube instruments. That's what we used 50 years ago. That's what I stiil use. But one thing I did not have then is a wide band scope. 5MHz was the bet I had. Now i have a 40MHz and am looking to buy a Tek 100MHz or better. You can get a working Tek 454 or 475 on ebay fro $100 or less. In the early days we used a GDO or a wavemeter to check RF output. We had no isea what it looked like. The scopes we had then were limited to seeing what the modulation looked like. And we did not have SPECTRUM ANALYZERS! Bob Macklin K5MYJ Seattle, Wa, "Real Radios Glow in the Dark" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Wilhite" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Discussion of AM Radio in the Amateur Service" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 10:11 AM Subject: Re: [AMRadio] I ntolerance (was: IARU bandplan) > Bob I have been working on radios (land mobile) and amateur for over 40 > years and my experience has been that there are many who cannot work on > the radios they own. It was better when I started but has diminished to > the point that so few hams repair their own radios it is infinitesimal. > > I would estimate 40 years ago 1 in 4 or 5 did some type of repairs, > today maybe 1 in 100. The great example of people involved in repair is > in the CW and AM fields. Here almost everyone does some repair or > refurbishment. > > What is even more disturbing is the quality of work so many of today's > amateurs do. In past years hams used what they had to repair a radio > and a lot of the work was shoddy at best, but that was because of parts > availability in the smaller towns. Today a ham is lucky if he/she can > remove the top covers and install an accessory without causing trouble. > > Add to that the necessity of test gear and you can understand. For most > hams the test gear on hand is an SWR meter; whereas in years past they > had at least a basic bench test facility. > > Jim/W5JO > > > > >I wonder how many hams there are today that are capable of building a > >SSB > > rig? It's easier to do it with tubes if you can find the parts than it > > is > > with solid state. > > > > With the exception of the lM602 I don't know of any IC's that would be > > SSB > > specific. Ie, there is no eqivilent to one of the FM ICs. It has to be > > built > > up from individual parts. Just like a tube rig would be. > > > > Bob Macklin > > K5MYJ > > Seattle, Wa, > > "Real Radios Glow in the Dark" > > ______________________________________________________________ > Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net > AMRadio mailing list > List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html > List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html > Post: mailto:[email protected] > To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word unsubscribe in the message body. > ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:[email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
