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1-10 of 105 messages
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Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by K2OOG on October 27, 2009
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Hams often say that they really learned how to use a HF rig when they used a hybrid or all tube rig that requires tuning of the finals.
That raises an interesting question, are 100% solid state HF rigs not really HF rigs? Are they not really ham radio rigs?
Is the real ham radio just the old technology? Is that the essence of ham radio?
Hybrids are definitely HF radios.
All tube rigs are definitely HF radios.
Are all solid state rigs HF rigs?
When you work with hybrids or all tube HF rigs, you are learning about tuning these HF rigs, for sure.
But when you use an all solid state HF rig, you don't tune the finals, but are you not still working with a HF rig?
Of course you are using a solid state HF rig, just a different kind of HF rig that does not require tuning, but still a HF rig, isn't that right?
I remember when people said that if you don't drive a car that requires double clutching to shift gears, you are not really driving, because they felt that double clutching was the essence of driving a car. They felt that if you didn't have to double clutch, you were not a real man, and you were not really driving. Nowadays that seems just silly, doesn't it? Intolerant of newer technologies.
Nowadays, virtually everybody uses automatic transmission or synchronized standard shifting, and hardly anybody still uses cars requiring double clutching.
Does that mean that only people who are required to double clutch their cars are really driving?
Or, is double clutching something our grandparents needed to do, but we do not because of newer better automotive engineering?
So the question is are people who no longer need to double clutch really driving?
Do hams who use solid state HF rigs that no longer require tuning of the finals, really using HF rigs?
Do hams who use HF rigs that use tubes and/or solid state, and no longer requires spark gaps (as in the old days), really using HF rigs?
We now accept tube HF rigs, rather than spark gap HF rigs as really being HF rigs, why not accept solid state HF rigs as really being HF rigs as well?
Why muust we always say the old technology is the only real thing, and the new technology is not the real thing?
Why not be progressive and accept new developments and technological developments as they occur?
Isn't that the real spirit of ham radio? To be innovative, and not to reject new technology, just because it is new technology? Why disparage hams who do embrace new technology of solid state HF rigs? Is that the real spirit of ham radio historically?
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by VR2AX on October 27, 2009
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I would not pay any attention to them. If it works and is convenient to use, use it.
Double de-clutching was only necessary (I just barely remember having to do that on one of my first cars, and then only on first or bottom gear), as a production cost saving measure. Pretty dangerous too, as you had to concentrate more on matching the engine and road speeds, than on driving properly, just to avoid sripping the gears. Your analogy is a good one, tuning a tube transmitter is an exercise in nostalgia.
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by N1LO on October 27, 2009
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Are people who never passed the 13wpm code test really General class ham radio operators?
<G>
Ask in the speak out section.
Mark
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by N8YX on October 27, 2009
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Does it radiate and receive RF?
Then it's a "radio".
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by N2EY on October 27, 2009
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Of course they're "really ham radio".
But it's not the same experience, nor does it take the same skill/knowledge, as using a rig that requires tuning up.
BTW, there were no-tuneup hollow-state ham rigs more than 50 years ago. The CE 100V, 200V transmitters and 600L linear amplifier used patented broadband circuits that eliminated all tuneup controls. CE went out of the ham gear business because the company was bought out.
But here's the big deal:
A ham who knows - I mean really KNOWS - tuneup procedures can operate any ham rig made, assuming they can use the mode(s) and band(s) the rig provides. That's not true of folks who have only used no-tuneup rigs.
Doesn't mean they're dumb or lazy.
Here's a short list of ham rigs I've tuned up and operated (does not include no-tune rigs):
Heathkit DX-20, DX-100, HW-101, SB-101, HW-16, HW-12
Henry Tempo One
Yaesu FT-101
Collins S-line, 32V2
EFJohnson Adventurer, Viking 2, Valiant
National NCL2000, 200
Kenwood TS-520S, TS-820S
Drake R-4B/T-4XB, TR-4
Gonset G-76, Communicators
Eico 753
Lafayette HA-460
Utica 650
Also homebrew rigs (at least 7 different designs of my own), converted surplus rigs, manually-tuned Transmatches, and much more. I even fired up a kilowatt rotary once (into a dummy load, of course).
Just another tool in the toolbox.
73 de Jim, N2EY
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by N1DVJ on October 27, 2009
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Hey, I don't want to have to go back to double clutching. Yeah, I can do it. But a nice 5-speed syncro is much better. Even better than that, my Mustang Convertible is (GASP!!) a 5-speed automatic!
And I NEVER want to go back to tubes again. Well, that's not true. Some aspects of tubes are kind of neat. But I just don't want to have to suck 1000watts from the wall and have the room turn into a sauna just to get a few hundred watts out. Yep, been there, done that, with my old Swan. Had 4 Swans as a matter of fact. Now, I have all solid state. Elecraft K2. Built myself. Another gasp?
Hey, most of the idiots who put down the modern advances are just that, idiots. They can't understand the new technology, so they don't try. They give up and berate it. Like the car analogy I mentioned... They can't work on modern cars, so they blast them as unrepairable. Sure, my Mustang doesn't even HAVE a throttle cable. It throttle by wire. But those that take the time to learn it find out it's actually easier to muck with. I can even add NOS!
Same in HAM. Yeah, with new rigs there's litterally millions of parts in there, but the old-schoolers who can get past some of the details just don't see that the 'system' is now 'modules'. I don't need to know what is 'inside' some of the chips to learn about my radio. Yeah, it's fun to learn it, but there's old-schoolers around who just won't take the effort to learn. That's not to say they should or should have to, but I do object to the know-nothings who spout their lack of wisdon as fact and berate anything outside of the limited circle of their understanding.
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by N6AJR on October 27, 2009
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who cares???
I play radio to make me happy. I don't care what you do, or what you think of my setup.
I like it.
I have 9 HF rigs, 10 mobiles, 8 ht's and more junk than should be allowed.I run everything from a Ten Tec scout barefoot, to an Orion with an Alpha 87 a, to a ft 857d in the car.. I have fun with them all.
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RE: Are 100% solid state rigs really ham radio?
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by N6AJR on October 27, 2009
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who cares???
I play radio to make me happy. I don't care what you do, or what you think of my setup.
I like it.
I have 9 HF rigs, 10 mobiles, 8 ht's and more junk than should be allowed.I run everything from a Ten Tec scout barefoot, to an Orion with an Alpha 87 a, to a ft 857d in the car.. I have fun with them all.
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