Heh heh heh. I've been their target on QRP-L. Almost 50 years ago, my friends gave me a cigarette to try. I did. I puked for hours afterward. They all laughed and said I'd get used to it. I asked them, "But why would I want to?" It's remained a good test for me in other things in my life.
SMTs were made for cheap machine assembly or to save space where it is important to save space. As hams, we have different requirements than consumer electronic manufacturers. We can pop for the 5 cent resistor instead of the 2 cent SMT equivalent. And there is no labor saving hand assembling with SMTs. If anything it takes longer. Our gear is usually large enough to meet our needs for tuning knobs, etc. so space is rarely the overriding consideration. I've built some SMT kits that weren't significantly smaller than they would have been using traditional 1/8 resistors mounted on end. And I've built some that were very small, but could easily have been twice as big and still fit where they were supposed to go. SMTs for SMT's sake is pointless. I'm NOT saying they have no place in ham radio. Where the overriding objective is small size, such as the ATS-III, SMTs are the only way to go and it is deemed worth it for a relatively small number of experienced builders. Anyway, I don't bother with SMT kits anymore for one very simple fact. They aren't fun for me. I'm a hobbyist, not a manufacturer. Elecraft and other kit builders are selling fun as much as they are selling ham gear. Eric KE6US -----Original Message----- From: Mike Morrow [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 8:57 AM To: EricJ; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Wayne on KNBx Eric wrote: >Maybe many hams don't consider building with SMTs relaxing or fun >although THEY CAN DO IT. It may not be that hard, but for many it is not much FUN. > >snip many other good points > >Maybe we forget that SMTs were developed for MACHINE assembly, not hand >assembly. > >snip many more good points > >I might as well get one built better than hand assembly by some machine. Hi Eric, You make many excellent and well-stated points. I agree with every one of them. But watch out for the ire of the "wage holy war for SMT" folks out there who will imply that you're reactionary, ignorant, stupid, out of date, out of step, lazy, not properly motivated, unskilled, etc. because you won't do "SMT." I love kit SMT PCBs...as long as the SMT parts have been machine pre-assembled on the PCB before I have to put other parts on the PCB (example...MFJ Cub QRP kits). That's the appropriate and intended use of SMT technology. Any kit that requires manual SMT application above one or two large parts is a kludge design that I would *never* buy under any circumstance. 73, Mike / KK5F _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
