KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Just for fun: A vacuum tube USB drive

Posted: 23 Nov 2016 07:36 AM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


A link to this funky USB drive appeared in my inbox this morning. Its kind
of expensive at $39, but it also looks kind of fun. Heres some more
information:

This piece contains High Quality SanDisk USB Flash Drive.
Radio vacuum tube was made in USSR in 1981.
Supported Standard: USB 1.0, USB 1.1, USB 2.0 (USB 3.0 interface
compatible).
Work with : WinXP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Mac OS, Linux,
Android, Smart TV
Made in Latvia(EU). Shipping to US: 10-15 business days (at Christmas time
could be longer).


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Radio Blog.


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Is there a market for a $400 "prepper" radio?

Posted: 22 Nov 2016 12:07 PM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email




A couple of days ago, a reader wrote:

I would like to know if it would be feasible to build a radio with the
following features:

SSB operation (only SSB is required, CW would be an additional benefit)
20 50W of power
Portable-friendly (lightweight, capable of operating at lower voltages from
small portable batteries)
Low receiver current drain
Coverage of 40m and 80m bands (very limited coverage is acceptable, even
channelized coverage of a few select frequencies would be acceptable)
S-meter

It strikes me that there is a large market for ham radio products for
preppers, and there has been a lot of interest in the Baofeng line of
radios from that market. Â*I think there would be a LOT of interest in a
radio that could go far beyond line-of-sight and contact friends or family
hundreds of miles away. Â*Preppers would have little interest in contacts
more than a state or two away, and no interest at all in novel operating
modes. Â*I wonder if a radio that trims away excess features (all-mode
operation, wide frequency coverage, high power output, sophisticated audio
filtering) could be produced for a lot less cost than currently available
HF rigs. Â*If so, and it was paired with a decent NVIS dipole and some
General-class study materials and sold as a package deal, it could be a
huge hit Something you could tuck in a bug-out-bag, set up in the field,
and use to make contacts in a reasonably local area, or set up in your
backyard at home and use minimal power to operate.
I work in manufacturing, but radio and electronics are relatively new to
me. Â*Is there a reason why I dont see radios like this on the market, some
kind of technological limitation that would make this sort of thing
impractical? Â*If something like this was built, what kind of cost and
performance would you expect? Â*Im certainly not expecting any kind of
detailed analysis, but even just a speculation about if such a project
could be feasible would be appreciated.

I replied:

I think one of the reasons you don’t see radios such as the one you
describe is that more full-featured radios are already pretty inexpensive.
The Yaesu FT-450D, for example, costs less than $800 and offers 100W
output. The FT-817ND, which is designed for portable operation, costs less
than $700. Is that too much for preppers?
While it might seem like you could sell a radio with fewer features for
less, I think that you hit the law of diminishing returns. At some point,
removing features, doesn’t reduce the cost all that much. For example,
removing the CW capabilities from a transceiver capable of SSB operation
really doesn’t save that much because in a way CW operation is really just
a subset of SSB operation. You’ll save the cost of a key jack, but how much
is that? Maybe a buck or two.
Having said that, it could be that the big amateur radio manufacturers are
overlooking an opportunity here. The problem that a small manufacturer
would face is that they dont have the manufacturing muscle to make a
product like that at an affordable price point. If a smaller company tried
to produce this product, they would have to charge more.

We swapped a couple more e-mails about this. He noted, Most preppers would
probably rather buy a high-end AR-15 or several months worth of storage
food for $800 than a radio. I suggested, If there was a SHTF event, and you
really needed to communicate, wouldn’t it seem silly to have not spent the
extra $400 on a really decent radio?
Im wondering what you all think. Is my analysis a little too simplistic
perhaps? Are amateur radio manufacturers ignoring a potential market?

The post Is there a market for a $400 prepper radio? appeared first on
KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.