On Mon, Jun 9, 2008 at 5:50 PM, Ron Lawrence W4RON <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> And I talked to several old time hams that were there and on the air > in the 30s. > Things I learned from all this; > Very few hams had factory built gear unless they had serious > money. This was during the depression and money was very tight. Also, if you look at publications from the day (QST, RADIO/R9, etc), you'll see that there wasn't a lot of commercial gear available either. Like any technology, the early years = high prices for the products w/limited availability to most. No doubt the depression helped put the skids on amateur radio's progression from a commercial perspective. Of course, the flip side is the skill and creativity required to participate then resulted in some interesting and even spectacular HB gear still found and enjoyed today. As a ham's knowledge and income advanced, so did his gear. I suspect buying yourself the RME69 or HRO then would be the equivalent of one of those $10K whiz-bang rigs today: some could always afford it, most could not. That Bartlesville transmitter story is fantastic. To be able to step back in time - actually entering a time capsule of sorts - filled with such interesting gear and left as it was then, well...anyone interested in the history of radio would be envious but also thrilled at the prospect. ~ Todd, KA1KAQ ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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.
