[Amps] Decline of homebrewing?

[Catherine James]

Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com> wrote:

"All this demonstrates is that there are two ham radios..."

There are at least two ham radios, and probably more.  Even among builders, the one that involves restoring boat-anchor gear doesn't have much overlap with the one that involves homebrewing microwave gear.

In my own local ham radio club, I can think of three active members (including myself) who routinely build or repair stuff and have the experience to do it. The others are either recently licensed, not very active, or strictly operators who don't build.

"Some of you inhabit a world foreign to mine.  In my ham radio, nearly everyone I know is a 'ham in a basement with a soldering iron'."

Do you belong to a local club that includes newly-licensed hams?  Or does "your" ham radio consist entirely of hams who have been doing this for 10+ years?  How many hams in "your" ham radio do not have gray hair?

"Building is cost effective because the parts are not purchased new.  There are these things called hamfests.  You ignore the shiny new junk and stay outside in the flea market where the quality parts are:  Cardwell air variable caps, Radio switches, EFJ edge wound plated coils, Sangamo cast mica caps etc."

Newbies wouldn't know what to do with those.  Are you Elmering new hams local to you so that they can take part? Or are all of your ham friends QCWA members?

Cathy N5WVR wrote:
> "Few hams today are comfortable working with high-voltage vacuum tube circuits"

"Really? That statement is mind boggling.  I feel like I'm in a parallel ham universe.  Everyone I know runs tubes.  I can't
 imagine radio without the glass fire bottles."

How many hams do you know who are not retired and not approaching retirement?  How many hams do you know who came into ham radio after commercial radio moved from tubes to solid state?  How many hams do you know who were first licensed since 1991?

Hint:  it takes some effort to go back and learn the tube stuff today.  It's not on the tests, not in intro courses, and not in books currently in print.  The typical ham licensed since 1991 has no experience with it and has had little opportunity to get such experience.

I recently bought a 1955 ARRL Handbook and a Bill Orr book from the 1960s so that I could have references that cover tube theory and practice.  Nothing recent covers it.

I would love to see more hams building and repairing things of all types, but for that to happen they need Elmering.

 
73,
Cathy
N5WVR