[TowerTalk] The CW filter and dumbing down

[paul@w8aef.com]

SNIP

> Surface mount technology has made it very difficult for the 19502-1960s
> era ham to maintain their own
> equipment, something they took pride in for 40-50 years.  If the
> equipment goes bad a yellow light comes
> on indicting its time to send it back by UPS for repair.

SNIP

And that is really too bad because equipment that uses Surface Mount Devices 
are really east to circuit trace as each device has at least 2 accessible 
test points

And the components themselves are not hard to change, once I get my 
illuminated magnifyer adjusted so I can see what I am doing.

I purchased a Tektronix 465 oscilloscope for $100 at a hamfest a couple of 
years ago and since then I have saved several hundred $$ in equipment repair 
costs and much down time, not to mention the damage our toys can suffer in 
transit.

de Paul, W8AEF