The cost of a hobby & the best deals in ham radio today
Many years ago, a high school friend and I decided to get into scuba diving. We took lessons, rented equipment and dove those muddy lakes in East Texas. Its a wonder we didn’t get bitten by water moccasins like that Irish kid in Lonesome Dove. Years later, the Navy took me to real places for divers: Guam, the Philippines, Thailand, VQ9, VK6. But while my transportation to these places may have been free, the requisite equipment wasn’t.
Today, a modest scuba set-up easily tops $1000. And that doesn’t include transportation to a worthwhile site.
How about photography as a hobby? Good D-SLRs can now be had for $500 or so, but accessories will quickly push that to the kilobuck level and beyond. And accessories are needed for all but snapshots.
Motorcycling? Another expensive hobby. Ditto for radio-control stuff, trains, car restoration, computers, hang-gliding, skydiving, amateur astronomy, backpacking, etc.
So when people piss & moan about how expensive it is to get into ham radio, I take it for what it is: a BS excuse. Expensive compared to what – knitting? Yakking on 2m FM with your JingTong?
For less than $500, a DX-working HF station can be put on the air in a variety of modes. That assumes you already own a computer, and who doesn’t?
And if you don’t even want to spend $500, here are the best deals in ham radio today:
- A $55 CW QRP rig. As an added bonus, you get to build it yourself.
- A free ham radio magazine – and an interesting one at that.
- And a selection of QSLs to send all those DX stations you’ll work.
Unlike a lot of hobbies, ham radio doesn’t have to be expensive. And at my house, it ain’t!
However there are a LOT of rip-offs in ham radio. That’ll be another post.
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Themocracy
John,
Great blog and comments! Enjoyed reading your bio and share many memories with you. Hope to meet you on the air or at a major QRP event one of these days! Happy New Year… cu on SKN?
72,
Kelly K4UPG
Thanks Kelly. I hope to be on SKN – I’m in the process of building a straight key from a door hinge so I can finally put my NS-40 on the air (electronic keyer won’t key it). Thanks again and Happy 2010 yourself!