Comments on: The Wesco BN-1 http://kb6nu.com/the-wesco-bn-1/ My personal adventures in amateur radio Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:36:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David Brodbeck N8SRE http://kb6nu.com/the-wesco-bn-1/comment-page-1/#comment-307749 David Brodbeck N8SRE Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:35:09 +0000 http://kb6nu.com/?p=1798#comment-307749 Jim's comment prompted me to go visit the inflation calculator (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/) and find out how much $14.95 in 1956 would be in today's dollars. It worked out to $112.87. That does seem like a lot of money for what you get; on the other hand, I can't think of a new HF transceiver you can buy for under $120 today! Even finding a used one for that price would be tough. Jim’s comment prompted me to go visit the inflation calculator (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/) and find out how much $14.95 in 1956 would be in today’s dollars. It worked out to $112.87. That does seem like a lot of money for what you get; on the other hand, I can’t think of a new HF transceiver you can buy for under $120 today! Even finding a used one for that price would be tough.

]]> By: Jim http://kb6nu.com/the-wesco-bn-1/comment-page-1/#comment-307619 Jim Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:26:10 +0000 http://kb6nu.com/?p=1798#comment-307619 Hi Dan, One of the comments you made was it was cheap, and wouldn't matter if it didn't work too well. In 1956/57 my father was making $4200 a year. That's less than $12 per day and was as a skilled tradesman in a Ford factory. I bet that there wern't too many sold in my neighborhood. Not exactly cheap, when I was sent to the corner store to buy a loaf of bread, 2 pounds of hamburger and a bottle of ketchup with a dollar. My mother was there to collect the change when I returned. 73! Jim K8ELR Hi Dan,

One of the comments you made was it was cheap, and wouldn’t matter if it didn’t work too well. In 1956/57 my father was making $4200 a year. That’s less than $12 per day and was as a skilled tradesman in a Ford factory.

I bet that there wern’t too many sold in my neighborhood. Not exactly cheap, when I was sent to the corner store to buy a loaf of bread, 2 pounds of hamburger and a bottle of ketchup with a dollar. My mother was there to collect the change when I returned.

73!
Jim K8ELR

]]> By: David Brodbeck N8SRE http://kb6nu.com/the-wesco-bn-1/comment-page-1/#comment-307609 David Brodbeck N8SRE Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:32:36 +0000 http://kb6nu.com/?p=1798#comment-307609 I saw that on Ebay, too, and was kind of intrigued by it. Thanks for the writeup. Before passing judgment on this rig, I think it's important to remember that this was an era when Novices had to use crystal-controlled transmitters, *and* a Novice license was non-renewable. You either upgraded before it expired, or you were out of the hobby. People may not have wanted to spend much money on what was bound to be a temporary radio, since after upgrading to General they'd probably want to step up to a VFO rig. I saw that on Ebay, too, and was kind of intrigued by it. Thanks for the writeup.

Before passing judgment on this rig, I think it’s important to remember that this was an era when Novices had to use crystal-controlled transmitters, *and* a Novice license was non-renewable. You either upgraded before it expired, or you were out of the hobby. People may not have wanted to spend much money on what was bound to be a temporary radio, since after upgrading to General they’d probably want to step up to a VFO rig.

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