Why are almost all the new HF ham radios so ugly? HF Ham radios use
to be a thing of beauty, but now most of them are butt ugly!

Icom Radios all look like oversized Palm Pilots

Kenwood HF Radios - What where they thinking?
TS-480? - Yuck! I would not want that thing on my desk.
TS-2000 - Deaf, poor selectivity, and ugly.

Ok. The Yaesu FT-2000 is nice looking, but according to EHam.net
reviews there are issues with the AGC popping, and the 3 kHz roofing
filter actually being wider than the 6 kHz roofing filter. I'm
holding out for future fixes on this one.

Yaesu FT-950 -mildly ugly
Yaesu FT-897D - really ugly
Yaesu FT-857D - compact and ugly
Yaesu FT-817ND - Looks like it has warts on it's face
Yaseu FT-450 - Pretty ugly

TenTecOrion II and Omni VII - Oversized Palm Pilots.

Now the Kenwood TS-940 was a good looking radio.
The Drake TR-7 was nice looking.
The Yaesu FT-980 was sharp looking.
The Yaesu FT-1000d was nice looking
The TenTec Omni VI was nice looking.

The same thing happened to component stereo systems. In the 1970s and
1980s they were gorgeous, but now they are ugly black metal boxes.
What happened to the radio equipment that you could display proudly
for everyone to see instead of something so ugly even the owner does
not want to look at it?

"Middle Aged Ham" wrote in
message news

Why are almost all the new HF ham radios so ugly? HF Ham radios use
to be a thing of beauty, but now most of them are butt ugly!

Icom Radios all look like oversized Palm Pilots

Kenwood HF Radios - What where they thinking?
TS-480? - Yuck! I would not want that thing on my desk.
TS-2000 - Deaf, poor selectivity, and ugly.

Ok. The Yaesu FT-2000 is nice looking, but according to EHam.net
reviews there are issues with the AGC popping, and the 3 kHz roofing
filter actually being wider than the 6 kHz roofing filter. I'm
holding out for future fixes on this one.

Yaesu FT-950 -mildly ugly
Yaesu FT-897D - really ugly
Yaesu FT-857D - compact and ugly
Yaesu FT-817ND - Looks like it has warts on it's face
Yaseu FT-450 - Pretty ugly

TenTecOrion II and Omni VII - Oversized Palm Pilots.

Now the Kenwood TS-940 was a good looking radio.
The Drake TR-7 was nice looking.
The Yaesu FT-980 was sharp looking.
The Yaesu FT-1000d was nice looking
The TenTec Omni VI was nice looking.

The same thing happened to component stereo systems. In the 1970s and
1980s they were gorgeous, but now they are ugly black metal boxes.
What happened to the radio equipment that you could display proudly
for everyone to see instead of something so ugly even the owner does
not want to look at it?

-------------

Anime happened. That's what.

Ed, NM2K

On May 23, 1:02*pm, Middle Aged Ham Middle-Timer.
wrote:
* Why are almost all the new HF ham radios so ugly? *HF Ham radios use
to be a thing of beauty, but now most of them are butt ugly!

It's very possible to be a thing of beauty and be butt ugly.

I personally am not a big fan of the TR-7, FT-980, FT-1000D, other
"black" radios.

I actually like the HW-100, R-390A, etc., but I've always claimed
green to be my favorite color :-). Having a big metal panel up front
with knobs etc. is good.

But my favorite of all, by a very large margin, are the Heathkit
Mohawk and Marauder. Huge chrome knobs, big green panel.

You think "huge chrome knobs" will get filtered out by any anti-porn
filters? :-).

Tim.

On Fri, 23 May 2008, Tim Shoppa wrote:

I actually like the HW-100, R-390A, etc., but I've always claimed
green to be my favorite color :-). Having a big metal panel up front
with knobs etc. is good.

But my favorite of all, by a very large margin, are the Heathkit
Mohawk and Marauder. Huge chrome knobs, big green panel.

You think "huge chrome knobs" will get filtered out by any anti-porn
filters? :-).

But their whole line at that point had big chrome knobs. There was
that VHF AM transceiver, I can't remember if it was only 2meters or
included 6 meters, that had a tuneable reciver and tuneable transmitter.
I remember one article decades later that basically said "this is a thing
of beauty, it's also completely useless at this point" right before he
described how to convert it to FM.

I seem to recall, but can't remember their names, that there was even a
mobile pair for HF, though I'm sure it was AM.

There was also a six meter phasing SSB rig in that chrome era.

Even their first transistorized portable shorwave receiver, circa 1961, I
think was part of the chrome wave.

Heath tended to redo their line every so many years, the technical specs
not changing that much while the external looks did. The chrome SSB
design was the same basic design for the SB line that followed.

Michael VE2BVW

Was it the 'Gonsett Twins'?

Dean -- W4IHK




I seem to recall, but can't remember their names, that there was even a
mobile pair for HF, though I'm sure it was AM.



Michael VE2BVW

On Fri, 23 May 2008, Dean Craft wrote:

Was it the 'Gonsett Twins'?

Dean -- W4IHK


No, all of that was about the chrome-knobbed Heathkits.

I was thinking of the Heathkit "Commanche" mobile receiver,
and the matching "Cheyenne" transmitter, both of which were
AM.

Michael VE2BVW



I seem to recall, but can't remember their names, that there was even a
mobile pair for HF, though I'm sure it was AM.



Michael VE2BVW

I thought the 1990s Japanese radios looked a lot like Yamaha stereo
receivers.

I like my IC-7700. Excellent performance, appearance, functionality,
and build quality.

In news wrote:

Why are almost all the new HF ham radios so ugly?

They're not.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

Totally agree with you. Another important point (for me
at least) is rigs of the past were repairable. No longer the
case IMO.

Thats why my main rig is a Kenwood TS-830S, and
my stereo rack is full of 1970's silver face Pioneer equipment.
And yes, it all works!

Steve

Why are almost all the new HF ham radios so ugly? HF Ham radios use
to be a thing of beauty, but now most of them are butt ugly!



Perhaps you are not aware of the common phrase, "beauty is in the eyes
of the beholder."


Ed K7AAT