N3DRK wrote: I agree there are many fine commercial rigs out there, but there is nothing like building your own equipment. I just wish cost could be kept to a minimum, as a blue collar ham, it took me a while to save for the K2 and the KPA 100. I do not regret my purchase as the K2 is one of the best rigs that I have ever owned. I think I will be using it for a long time.
-------------------------------- Back in 1952, as a new Novice licensee pounding brass on 80 and 40 meters with a homebrew one-tube (6V6) transmitter putting out about 10 watts, I was also quite active in the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES). On several occasions I had the privilege of operating net control for a 75 meter phone RACES net during a Simulated Emergency Test (SET). The net control was a the home of a great friend and well-heeled adult Ham who lived on a hilltop with what can only be described as a dream station. After one of those sessions lasting all day at his rig passing traffic for the SET, I still remember being struck by a thought as I closed down the net. I suddenly realized that I was anxious to get home and make a few QSO's on my little scratch-built 6L6 crystal-controlled oscillator rig. No matter how beautiful my friend's station was, operating it was like driving a nice car. It was just a very nice appliance that I used. It could not replace the simple joy of making a contact on equipment I had assembled myself, perhaps even designed myself. That was what Ham radio was all about for me. It still is, 54 years later. I've never owned or cared to own an HF transmitter that I didn't at least assemble myself, like my K2/100. On VHF I built a number of rigs over the years, rescued a Gonset communicator that was simply a pile of parts in a box that someone gave up on and put it back on the air (then I sold it, Hi!). I've had a couple of HT's that only get used very infrequently as a sort of "Ham-cell-phone" to chat with locals. Other than those, all of my VHF/UHF gear has been homebrew or at least home-built as well. Along the way a great friend gave me a National HRO-5 receiver that I tore down to the rivets and rebuilt with a new homebrew lattice filter in the I.F., so it was a sort-of-commercial unit. Even so I was more inclined to use my homebrew receivers, most of which I designed myself. It's nice that Elecraft offers state-of-the-art engineering and performance for home-builders like myself. Even so there are times I get the itch and cobble together a simple little regen receiver or drag out one of my more complex HB receivers, put it alongside the K2 and then go on a hunt for a signal on the K2 that I can't copy FB on my creation. Different strokes for different folks, of course. Building and making contacts with something that started out as a box of unlikely-looking fiddly-bits is what Ham radio is all about to me! Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ 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
