Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffhs
I wouldn't be in such a hurry to get rid of your Collins, etc. boat anchors just yet. As I understand it, shortwave in the US isn't going to disappear any time soon; just standard AM broadcasting. Just think of what an outcry there would be from ham radio operators in this country if SW were legislated out of existence, and the ham bands reallocated to other services (the latter has happened on a very small scale here with part of the 220-MHz band, and could eventually happen with six meters as well, but to the best of my knowledge, all nine high-frequency ham bands, and most VHF-UHF bands, are still allocated to the Amateur Radio Service and are still in use). With over 640,000 amateur radio licensees in the US alone, the FCC probably wouldn't hear the end of it (if they reassigned the amateur frequencies, especially HF) for quite some time.
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Oh, I was being facetious...Plus, w/my bum leg, I couldn't manage to get 'em down to the street anyhow...The Collinses weigh nigh on to 90 lbs to begin with, that EK checks in at 150 or so. The '55 contract R-390A, Rick Mish offered me $5K or 2 of his museum-grade restorations for it, he said it was THAT good..I don't care if Angel Modulation completely dies, to me they're worth keepin' around just to see what incredibly intricate, fascinating pieces of an older technology they are...Rick told me once that an R-390A is half machine, half electronics, & that's about right. The geartrain looks more complicated than what you'd find in an expensive watch from a few decades back...The EK isn't quite as "mechanical" as an R-390A, but it still looks like it was designed by the same team that designed the Tiger tank, everything is about 17X as robust as it needs to be... The difference between these radios & consumer-grade stuff, really even high-end consumer items, is about like the difference between "Lightning" & "Lightning Bug"...Military-grade stuff is just built to a level that is "Off the Charts" compared to consumer-grade...When you look at the insides of an R-390A, & compare it to yr latest Gee-Whiz AM/FM/CD/Blu-ray/Ray-Gun/Whatever at Wally-World, or any electronics emporium, you just hafta shake yr head 'n' smile...Or grimace, as the case may be...