Rich says:
>wasting a $650 8877 for lack of spending $6 is bananas.
Depends on whose bottom line you're thinking of. Unless it
can be shown that the tube consistently failed within its
guarantee period because of the lack of a rheostat, bottom line says 'don't fit
it'. Somebody else picks up the bill.
Would I fit it on a homebrew rig? Sure - unless I was having a stabilised power
supply instead. But if I'm making amps for
a living, unless it's going to be a frequent failure that can be
proved to be a lacking rheostat, it don't go in. Poor engineering?
Maybe. Keeping in profit..YES!
>$700 crapper seats, et cetera is how the military-industrial
> complex conceals "black project" funds.
Not entirely. It works like this:
The Army needs hammers, engineering, 1 pound. If you got to a recognised
supplier and order hammers out of the catalogue, Senator Gridleak starts
bitching that a hammer manufacturer in Crapville ND or whatever (which is his
state) didn't get a chance. So the military has to come out with an 'RFP'
(Request for Proposal) and everybody produces a mound of paper, and there's a
load of travel to meetings. Then they come out with an RFQ (Request for
Quotation), and there's more paper as everyone tries to get the lowest bid/
fastest delivery etc. Then there's the 'BFO' (Best and Final Offer) where they
play the bidders off against each other. When the order finally gets placed, the
inspection starts of the hickory for the handles (did it come from renewable
forests properly managed?) and the casting quality (does the foundry meet EPA
requirements?), and the inspectors have to be housed in your factory etc. Then
it has to be packaged, and then you wait to be paid. The other side of the coin
is that GI Joe in a fox hole somewhere in the back of beyond overseas, with
shells arriving all around him can't go to Walmart if he's stuck for a
hammer....
That's how the costs build up for mil stuff, and that's why COTS (Commercial Off
The Shelf) is popular in some quarters.
Sorry to go on - I've had enough of dealing with mil procurement to last the
rest of my life.........when you're the sole source, it's a lot of grief you
don't need!
73
Peter G3RZP
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