I think all of the major ham rig manufacturers could halt all magazine
advertising TODAY and nothing would miss a beat. They are so well
established, well known, and so many hams have internet access they could
get by with just their websites. I expect within the next 10 to 20 years
QST will go entirely on-line. No vendor or manufacturer really needs those
full-page ads. Most of the product information hams get is off the internet
now. For me, the ads at the front and back of QST make up a sort of
monthly "catalog" to flip through, but not use for real information
gathering. The only good purpose they serve is to notify me of a new
vendor or product I didn't know about before and because of that, the
businesses that really need QST are the little guys who are starting up and
buy the single column inch display ads to use as a sort of "we exist--here's
our web address" type of heads-up. BTW, does anyone look at the Ham-ad
classifieds still?
With the product reviews, i'm more interested in finding out about features,
metering, rear panel connections, controls, malfuctions, and such than I am
about technicalities such as rx specs. Some hams obsess about BDR etc.
beyond what 95% of hams give a flip about. For those 95%, whether a rig is
"good" or "bad" boils down to what I call the pleasure rating: on a scale
from 1 to 10, how much fun is it to operate; how much pleasure do you derive
from the experience? Factors affecting this can range from audio quality,
to heft (does it move on the table when i plug in cans?) and build quality,
as well as drift, f.p. layout, PA power, blah blah with the rx down there
somewhere in the priority list. Oh, it has to be able to hear--don't get me
wrong, but if the AGC pumps at times, it's not the end of the world. I have
a rig that is reviled by some hams but I love it; I've had a rig that has
been claimed as the best ever made and I thought it was a looser, all
because with the first one, I have a lot of fun with it, and with the
latter, my operating experience with it was marked by irritation and
annoyance. I am convinced you only find out where a rig fits on the
pleasure scale by purchasing it and using it for awhile (unfortunately,
since that gets expensive).
rob / k5uj
_________________________________________________________________
On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to
get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement
_______________________________________________
TenTec mailing list
TenTec@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
|