Hi Barry:
True... but those boat anchor rigs were designed to be repairable,
under the assumption that you could still get the parts/components to
repair them. Or, at least find a viable substitute.
But, over time, we hams as customers, have (requested, demanded,
voted with our dollars) new features (DSP, performance, etc.) that
were most economically done using digital and computer techniques.
Could a boat anchor transmitter be set to 1 Hz frequency accuracy?
And maintain that frequency for long periods of time?
Today's radios are much like today's computers: they are a -
subscription-. Periodically, we "renew" the account by buying the
latest version. Any day now, my computer is going to fail. And, I
won't try to fix it (unless it's something -really- easy and simple
to repair). I will then get a replacement for it, most likely the
latest version of machine and OS. Same thing with my car.
It might be possible for a company to manufacture a radio that could
be kept operating properly for decades. But, I bet it would cost -a
lot- of money. And, most hams will be quite unwilling to spend that
amount of money for such a radio. We might lament the fact that this
is the case, but it -is- the case so we have to deal with it on those
terms.
Perhaps, some radio company might consider engineering the design of
a radio to future-proof it by finding ways to replace components or
whole circuits with some generic part. However, unless there is a
demand for that, I doubt it would happen, since it would be an added
cost. And most companies stay in business by selling new gear, not
by keeping the old stuff running. Those companies who support the
ham community by offering repair service at economically feasible
rates as long as they can, offer us the comfort of knowing that radio
we buy should serve us well for a good interval of time. And, that
disposes us toward buying their products.
Hams are creative and inventive people, and I also suspect that there
will always be some of us who will enjoy keeping the old clunkers
running, and have much satisfaction in doing so. It's part of the
hobby!
73 de Ray
K2ULR
FN20kg
Warrington, PA
On Jan 14, 2011, at 8:08 AM, Barry N1EU wrote:
Yes, but those "boat anchors" are repairable. I think we need a
new term
for more recent radios that can't be repaired and don't weigh 80lbs.
73, Barry N1EU
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