[WARC] Fw: Ham Radio Costs
Miller
jimarmiller at charter.net
Sun Jun 8 14:40:41 GMT 2008
I enjoyed reading this article and thought you may as well.
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73!
Terry, KB9YXV
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Ham Radio Is A Real Value
(Originally published in AIRWAVES, The newsletter of the Sierra ARC, May 20=
08.)
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Mike Herr, WA6ARA
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As a kid in the '60s I hung around my father, WB6MNX, and his ham buddies. =
The talk in those days was pretty much similar to now, what features their =
new rig had. But one thing I now note is that each ham had but one rig, yep=
, just one rig. It was usually a HF rig, and it was used both in the house =
and in the car. Before the 2 meter revolution everyone, except for the few =
brave experimenters in the VHF regions, was on the HF bands. But why did mo=
st ops have only one rig? The answer is simple economics; radio equipment w=
as expensive back then. =
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As a novice I would lust over the Heathkit "perfect" novice station, the DX=
-60B, HR-10 receiver and HG-10B VFO. Wow! Ninety watts on CW or AM on 80, =
40, 20, 15 and 10 meters (In my Novice days we only had privileges on 80, 4=
0 and 15 meter). But with a price tag of $200 it was way out of reach for a=
lot of people, especially for a teenager.
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Today ham radios are much cheaper and offer much more features than rigs av=
ailable to Amateurs in the mid 1960's. I cannot comment on every ham's fina=
ncial situation but when comparing selling prices, average salaries and tec=
hnological features, Amateur Radio is a bargain today.
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Let's take a look at the previously mentioned DX-60B, HR-10 and HG-10B stat=
ion. In 1965 it cost about $200, only offered two modes (AM and CW), took u=
p an entire desktop and it generated enough heat to warm half the house. Ad=
justed for inflation the "perfect" Heathkit novice station would cost $1,32=
3.00 today! Compared to entry level radios today that offer 100 watts on a=
ll Amateur bands, all modes (AM, FM, CW, SSB and digital), dual VFOs, gener=
al coverage receive and all sorts of bells and whistles, not to mention out=
standing dynamic receivers and clean, stable transmitted signals, when adju=
sted for inflation, would have cost less than half the price of the 1965 mo=
del.
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The Heathkit HW-101, an entry level SSB rig for many operators during the '=
60s and 70s, sold as a kit in 1971 for $350. In today's dollars that same =
unit would be $1,849, which buys a heck of a lot more radio the old '101.
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The biggest bang for the buck is in a piece of equipment that we all use, a=
2 meter rig. Back at the time the 2 meter revolution was in full swing FM =
transceivers were selling for about $300 to $500 which translates to thousa=
nds of dollars today. There were a few synthesized models but most were cry=
stal controlled which meant purchasing a pair of crystals, one each for tra=
nsmit and receive for each channel that you wanted to operate and were limi=
ted to two to ten channels. They were about the size of a large book and o=
perated
at 2 to 5 watts output. Today you can buy a shirt pocket handheld
or a 65 watt mobile transceiver, fully synthesized 100 channels, scanning, =
CTCSS encode/decode, etc for what amounts to about $28 in 1971 dollars.
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Ham radio is CHEAP. In the 60s the typical ham had to work for a month to b=
uy a rig, today it is more like one week. I remember in 1965 when dad bough=
t a SBE-34 and he had to buy it on time because it
was just so expensive. Compared to other hobbies and recreation,
ham radio is a steal. You can be on the air with the local repeater for abo=
ut $150. A complete 100 watt HF station including an antenna is less than =
$1000. If you are a builder, parts have never been cheaper or more availab=
le. A couple of minutes on the internet and you can order parts and have th=
em at your house in a couple of days. No more waiting for the once a year t=
rip to the Hamfest. =
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Of course you can spend tens of thousands of dollars creating the ultimate =
station. There is no limit as to what you can spend on any hobby but there =
a tremendous value to anyone who is attracted to
Amateur Radio. Let's compare Amateur radio to other past times. A
decent 4 wheel drive vehicle, with the extras to keep up with others in the=
local 4 WD club might set you back $30K. That boat for water
skiing or fishing during the summer is about the same. How about the
home computer? Again, about the cost of a HF rig and you buy a new one ever=
y couple of years or so. Ham radio cost a fraction of what it did in the pa=
st and offers twenty times the features. So get out and enjoy ham radio and=
stop feeling guilty about the money. =
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Here are some prices taken from advertisements in January 1976 QST and adju=
sted for inflation using an inflation calculator. < http://www.westegg.com/=
inflation/ >
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VHF Gear 1976 % mean income 2007
Tempo VHF/ONE 2m synth xcvr-2 chan-10 watts $495.00 3.31% =
$1,887.98
Yaesu FT-620B 6m AM/CW/SSB $449.00 3.00% $1,712.53
Yaesu FT-221 2m AM/FM/CW/SSB $679.00 4.54% $2,589.77
Midland 13-505 2m FM (plus crystals @ $6.95 ea) $309.95 2.07% =
$1,182.18
Heath HW-2026 (kit) 2m synthesized $289.95 1.94% $1,105.90
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Handheld VHF/UHF =
Wilson 1405 SM 5 watts 6 chan (plus crystals @ $6.95 ea) $279.95 1.87% $1,=
067.76
Heath HW-2021 (kit) (plus crystals @ $6.95 ea) $169.95 1.14% =
$648.21
$449.00 3.00% $1,712.53
HF Gear $449.00 3.00% $1,712.53
Yaesu =
Yaesu FT-101E HF xcvr $749.00 5.01% $2,856.76
FV 101B ext VFO $99.00 0.66% $377.60
XCVR + VFO $848.00 5.67% $3,234.36
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Collins =
Colins KWM2A xcvr $1,760.00 11.77% $6,712.82
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Drake =
Drake TR4C $599.00 4.00% $2,284.65
RV4C remote VFO $110.00 0.74% $419.55
XCVR + VFO $709.00 4.74% $2,704.20
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R4C rcvr $549.00 3.67% $2,093.94
T4XC xmtr $580.00 3.88% $2,212.18
RX + TX $1,129.00 7.55% $4,306.12
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Kenwood =
TS-520 $629.00 4.21% $2,399.07 =
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R 599D rcvr $459.00 3.07% $1,750.67
T 599D xmtr $479.00 3.20% $1,826.95
RX + TX $938.00 6.27% $3,577.63
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HF Amplifiers =
Henry 2K-4 Legal Limit HF Amplifier $995.00 6.65% $3,795.03
Yaesu FL-2100B linear 600 watts out $359.00 2.40% $1,369.26
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