If "modern hams have moved beyond the crystal radio" why are there so many web
pages on how to build one? While quite a few are tinkering with computerized
stuff there is still a lot of interest in non-digital radios - look at the
QRP forms as an example. (Note that the TT 13xx series must still be selling
reasonably well as they haven't disappeared from the web site.) Also, I still
haven't found a digital rig that is as "ear pleasing" to me as a well
designed pure analog rig - and I think I'm not alone in this regard.
While you may not be aware of it, computer tinkering (by hams and otherwise)
has been going on for as long as I can remember - there were kits for "analog
computers" in the 1950s, and later on the ham mags were packed with ads for
6800 and 8080 based systems and parts. I remember a guy back in the mid 1980s
who had significantly modified an Osborne "portable" (in quotes because it
was about the size of a sewing machine case) with extra disk drives and no
telling what else. He had a surplus IBM power supply which was bigger than
the computer sitting under the desk to power it. It was a hoot to see.
"The more things change, the more things stay the same."
Just my $0.02 worth.... 73, Al
On Sat November 1 2014 7:11:14 am Richards wrote:
> Geeze, Rick ... now you sound ... well... kinda OLD ... ;-) ;-)
>
> Modern hams have moved beyond the crystal radio and (as someone on this
> list says) building a kit without experimenting is just solder practice.
>
> What was fun for you may not be fun for other hams. Stuff changes and
> it is neither good nor bad... just different. I don't want to build my
> grandfather's radio kit - I want to build the future of radio. Look at
> all the computer programming that is going on in ham radio. Would
> anyone suggest we go back to when we did not have computers? I think
> of N8LP who builds complex power meters and panadapters, and who will
> (someday) will release the very complex and capable LP-500 station
> monitor - very advanced stuff unavailable just a years ago.
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