[Amps] The cost of amplifiers, radios

[Catherine James]

No argument there, but most of us couldn't afford a $13,000 radio today.

Luxuries, including ham radio equipment, have gotten cheaper in real (non-inflationary) dollars since the 1950s and 1960s.  But the cost of necessities (land, houses, cars) and college education has risen dramatically, and real wages have not.  So there's less left over for luxuries.

73,
Cathy
N5WVR

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 12/3/16, Charles H <k4vud at hotmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: [Amps] The cost of amplifiers, radios
 To: "Bryan Swadener" <bswadener at yahoo.com>, "amps at contesting.com" <amps at contesting.com>
 Date: Saturday, December 3, 2016, 7:50 PM
 
 To fairly evaluate radio costs, I took my purchase price new of a Drake TR-3 and used
 Google to get that money converted into 2015
 money.   The TR-3 would cost about $13,000 USD in today's money.
 
 Actually printed circuit boards and other inventions have LOWERED the cost of ham radios today.
 
 73, Charly
 
 
 ________________________________
 From: Amps <amps-bounces at contesting.com>
 on behalf of Bryan Swadener via Amps <amps at contesting.com>
 Sent: Saturday, December 3, 2016 3:54 PM
 To: amps at contesting.com
 Subject: Re: [Amps] Not just you... The cost of
 amplifiers
 
 IMO, it extends
 to other things... not just ham radio toys.
 Suffice to say very few of us can justify the
 most expensive toys.
 But, we still have fun.
 :)
 vy 73,Bryan WA7PRC
  
    Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2016 06:12:05 -0800
 From: Cathy N5WVR
 To: Amps
 Subject: [Amps] Not just you... The cost of
 amplifiers
 
 "Maybe its
 just me, but I have problems wrapping my head around
 spending $7995.00? ( $10,313.55? in cdn
 dollars)...on any amplifier"
 
 It's not just you. I have trouble picturing
 myself spending more than, oh, call it $3k on an amp, and
 even that would be a real stretch. Better to surrender the
 money on multiple amps to provide backups and extra
 capabilities.
 
 I have 3
 amps:. an AL-811H bought new, an SB-220 bought at a hamfest
 and repaired, and a 2-meter TE Systems 160 watt amp.
 Probably have a total of $2k invested on all three combined.
 ( Technically I have a fourth, a QRP-to-35-watts HFPacker,
 but that's pretty specialized. It lets my K1 be
 heard.)
 
 I have sacrificed
 frequency agility to save $$$. To me it's a good
 trade-off.
 
 I've spent
 quite a bit of money on ham radio over 20+ years, but never
 too much on any one thing.
 
 73,
 Cathy
 N5WVR
 
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