2021-03-18, 11:35:20
(2021-03-18, 10:22:52)VE3WI Dave Wrote: Neat website! One can waste a LOT of time there :-)
I got my licence when I was at U of NB in 1968. The UNB club had the big Heathkit twins - Mohawk RX & Marauder TX. d I really enjoyed operating that station. Later, I built an SB-102 and used it for quite a while. I also built a Heathkit weather station, which I think is still at the Port Elgin airport. Heathkits were a great way to get decent electronics, at reasonable prices, and have fun building them.
These days, 1000-pin ICs and tiny SMDs make kits unfeasible for the average builder. Most of the "kits" available (e.g. Elecraft) merely require mounting pre-assembled modules in a case. Too bad.
73
Dave, VE3WI
I though the same. Back then most hams would home brew stuff for most part or buy home brewed equipment. I still own a SB101 but it needs some work. The belts that couple the tuning caps fell apart(maybe I can replace them with O-rings) and probably should be recapped but it's still in nice shape and would hate to send to the scrap pile. Even have a spare set of 6146B finals.
Today it's not building, for most part is trying to figure the radio functions with all the menus and levels of submenus. It seems to be the most challenging for ops now.
73, Adam ve3fp