It's all right. I just needed a final refutation of details.

Thanks,

The Eternal Squire

It's all right. I just needed a final refutation of details.

Thanks,

The Eternal Squire

It seems to me that assuming the availability of the components ( R,C &
especially L and big iron) the next biggest headache associated with
"building" a boatanchor is mechanical! Chassis, cabinets, front panels
aren't ceap. How about offering "rebuild kits" for popular BA's. Something
like a rebuild kit for a Johnson Viking with all new replacable components
might be very attractive. Plus you could work the economy of scale by buying
in quantity at a cost much lower than an individual could buy onesy twosy...

Just a thought... probably worth as much as most free advice!

K3PID
Ron H.


wrote in message
oups.com...
It's all right. I just needed a final refutation of details.

Thanks,

The Eternal Squire

wrote:
Oh yes.. this I know. What a ham wants is the most miles to the
galleon, just like a car...

I thought it was Columbus who wished for more miles to the galleon. :-)

Dave K8MN

On 23 Nov 2005 20:46:29 -0800, wrote:



The FT-101, Galaxy, Drake, and Swan are not $100 pieces of gear on
EBay, they are more like $300 to $400 pretty consistencly. I think a
fully loaded multiband fresh boatanchor should sell quite nicely for
$199.95 it if offers compareable features. That would imply a
wholesale price of about $100.00. That would imply that parts, labor,
and other indirect costs should be somewhere between $50 to $80. I
think I can get from Russia or China a single sweep tube plus a handful
of smaller tubes for about $30. The rest would have to be chassis,
discretes, power, labor, shipping, and customs.

Wouldn't the power supply for a 100-watt tube rig, alone, eat up much
of your cost?

I've built a number of solid state kits recently, and one advantage to
them is a simple 12-volt supply or wall wart is typically all you
need.

bob
k5qwg



Now, if I market direct through the net rather than through a retailer,
I think I could go self sustaining after a few build-sales cycles.

If the people on this topic would be willing to be a focus group for
the fresh boat-anchor of thier dreams, I would be quite grateful.

The Eternal Squire

Lazy Senior wrote:

Uncle Peter wrote:


Unfortunately cheap computers usually use properietary
motherboards. Being lazy carries a price beyond the tag.


You know as much about computers as you do BA or hamradio. My HP, the
one I am typing on right now has an off the shelf non- prop Asus
motherboard. A ATI Radeon graphic card etc.Built by HP and bought at
Best Buy.


"Non- prop"? I guess that you can't see the big HP image that
flashes on the screen from the "Prop" HP BIOS when you turn the computer
on. I have a HP LX876 server with an ASUS motherboard. NONE of the
drivers are available and the hard drive is missing so that ASUS
motherboard will probably end up in the trash. Drivers for others in
that ASUS family don't work which is too bad because I really need a
working server for a local Veteran's information website project.

Since I maintained computers for a living for over 30 years, I suspect I
know more than the average person about them and since you are stupider
than average I know a WHOLE lot more than you when it comes to computers.


I still repair a lot of computers, and some down to the chip level.
I replace defective caps on motherboards and clean up bad solder work on
some cards as well. I've been at it for 23 years and it has ranged from
mini-computers to embedded systems, and everything in between. The last
job I had before I was declared disabled was on telemetry equipment, and
some of those systems are in orbit.

Anyway there isnt anything wrong with propreitary motherboards.
Laptops are outselling desktops right now and they are all properietary
and they work just fine.


Laptops are in a separate class altogether, although you already know
that.

Lazy Senior


--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I thought it was Harry Potter's broomstick that got more miles to the
galleon

Good point about the power supply. But here's a wild idea: what about
using a space-charge tube lineup. Now that could operate off 12V
(altho 5 AMP)! I
suppose I could also get a fair amount of output operating a mini power
pentode
in space charge mode in class E. Nobody told me that class E was only
for semiconductors!

The Eternal Squire

Come to think of it, those are good points. I guess nostalgia can
supply its own technical justifications.

The Eternal Squire

wrote:

Good point about the power supply. But here's a wild idea: what about
using a space-charge tube lineup. Now that could operate off 12V
(altho 5 AMP)!


Back in the car radio days transistors were the output of choice even
when the rest of the tube lineup was space charge tubes. Can't get much
power with that scheme. Not impossible for a QRP rig though!

-Bill