Topband: Laird ferrites

[Jim Brown]

On 6/29/2012 6:53 AM, Shoppa, Tim wrote:
> Laird mix 28 might be comparable to Fair-Rite 43, and Laird mix LF might be good for 160M balun chokes.

MIGHT BE are the operative words.  The pdf link is to a skeleton 
catalog, and is like looking at the elephant through a pin hole in the 
tent.  One of the major virtues of Fair-Rite as manufacturer is that 
they have published extensive data on their products so that you know 
exactly what you are buying.

Another is that Fair-Rite has a long history of providing engineering 
samples to circuit designers. When I was doing my EMC research nearly 
ten years ago, they provided samples of dozens of specific parts that I 
requested, at no cost.  As a one man consulting business self-financing 
that work, I could not have done that research without it, nor could I 
have published anything useful about RFI.

The benefit to Fair-Rite is obvious -- I've learned enough about certain 
of their specific parts to be able to recommend them to thousands of 
hams and audio professionals, they have completely re-organized their 
marketing and their catalog with their relatively new mix #31 as their 
primary HF EMC material, and I've helped organized the group purchase of 
at least 10,000 pieces so that both I and my friends had the parts we 
needed at low cost.

Other than those samples, I've never gotten a thing from Fair-Rite, but 
they have been an excellent corporate citizen, and they have been quite 
willing to sell directly to hams for group purchases at the same prices 
they sell to distributors for the same quantities.. Why would we want to 
bite the hand that feeds us to buy virtually unknown parts from a 
company we've never heard of?

73, Jim Brown K9YC