IMO, the days where a radio could basically live forever are gone.
Tube radios were easy to rebuild and keep running.
Most of the early transistorized rigs were too.
Once our radios began having special components, it pretty much ended our
chance of doing this, unless you are sharp enough to design a replacement
circuit such as Steve just described.
When considering which radio to buy, one VERY important factor, which for
the past several years has been pointed out by Rob Sherwood in his
presentation, is "Cost of Ownership". (COO)
I doubt many people consider this in their new radio purchase decision.
All kinds of factors weigh in on determining COO.
In Rob's case, this idea came to him after paying an outlandish price for a
repair to his IC-7800. The repair cost almost as much as some mid-range
transceivers.
AS Bob pointed out, many times the repair cost for a good radio is as much
or more than the radio is worth, if you have to pay the going rate to get it
repaired.
For that reason I have set a rough maximum on what I'm willing to pay for a
radio.
In my case it is $2K.
This means that in the event the radio breaks in 5 or 6 years and the repair
costs more than it's worth, my maximum write-off is $2K.
Each of us can and should set his own limit, and this should be a part of
our decision criteria.
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
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