Red Wave Radio

by **Alber** » Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:55:45

Hi,

Anyone built this one? How stable was it?

Albert

by **Radiosrfu** » Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:55:50

Quote:> Hi,

> Anyone built this one? How stable was it?

> Albert

I built a couple of their kits - and they worked for what they were intended
to do. However - a friend of mine built a "receiver" kit - and it really
sucked. He called Ramsey to see about getting it "repaired". They wanted
like $75 to do so. He paid almost $50 for the kit. He didn't feel like
shelling out another wad of cash - so he junked it.

All I can say is ask them about their repair/replacement issues first -
decide if you want to proceed - especially if you're not that skilled in
electronics. Good luck!

by **Joel Kolsta** » Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:37:00

Quote:> I built a couple of their kits - and they worked for what they were intended
> to do. However - a friend of mine built a "receiver" kit - and it really
> sucked. He called Ramsey to see about getting it "repaired". They wanted
> like $75 to do so. He paid almost $50 for the kit. He didn't feel like
> shelling out another wad of cash - so he junked it.

That's the problem with building some kits... to troubleshoot them yourself,
you may need equipment that many hobbyists aren't likely to have (e.g., an RF
signal generator in this case), yet a company probably really does need to
charge you at least $50/hour to have a tech sit down and troubleshoot
something that didn't work.

What your friend should do is sit down and spend, e.g., half an hour of his
own time going through and verifying all the components were inserted
correctly and all the solder joints look good. If that doesn't help, he can
probably still sell the kit on eBay for, say, $10 or more -- some people enjoy
the challenge of fixing dead boards.

I remember the days when those offering kits could only expect a kit builder
to have a multimeter and not even an oscilloscope -- some kits included quite
clever internal circuitry to help one align or fine tune their settings.

---Joel

by **Radiosrfu** » Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:54:22

>> I built a couple of their kits - and they worked for what they were
>> intended to do. However - a friend of mine built a "receiver" kit - and
>> it really sucked. He called Ramsey to see about getting it "repaired".
>> They wanted like $75 to do so. He paid almost $50 for the kit. He didn't
>> feel like shelling out another wad of cash - so he junked it.

> That's the problem with building some kits... to troubleshoot them
> yourself, you may need equipment that many hobbyists aren't likely to have
> (e.g., an RF signal generator in this case), yet a company probably really
> does need to charge you at least $50/hour to have a tech sit down and
> troubleshoot something that didn't work.

> What your friend should do is sit down and spend, e.g., half an hour of
> his own time going through and verifying all the components were inserted
> correctly and all the solder joints look good. If that doesn't help, he
> can probably still sell the kit on eBay for, say, $10 or more -- some
> people enjoy the challenge of fixing dead boards.

> I remember the days when those offering kits could only expect a kit
> builder to have a multimeter and not even an oscilloscope -- some kits
> included quite clever internal circuitry to help one align or fine tune
> their settings.

> ---Joel

I don't think he has it anymore!

by **Jimmie** » Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:18:56

Quote:> Hi,

> Anyone built this one? How stable was it?

> Albert

I have one, didnt build it.
Never measured the specs but I know I can hear AC a hundred miles away.
There is no front end on the thing and its subject to image problems and
interference from strong FM stations. You get what you pay for.

Jimmie

Red Wave Radio

Ramsey AR-1C vhf airband kit

Ramsey AR-1C vhf airband kit

Ramsey AR-1C vhf airband kit

Ramsey AR-1C vhf airband kit

Ramsey AR-1C vhf airband kit

Ramsey AR-1C vhf airband kit