The High Cost of Amateur Radio

[Michael M]

It might not be what you think. Here we can take a look at equipment from decades ago and adjust using the CPI to get a fair comparison. Some of the comments are interesting.

[wd4llq]

In my humble opinion the operational value of today's amateur radio equipment on the market is exceptional. (Baofeng HTs exempted.) What you get for the price far exceeds what you got in days gone by even if you bought all the optional filters accessories adapters and station candy. I chuckle to myself when I go to a ham fest and 25 year old radios going for sometimes more than what they originally went for back in the day. Now let's be frank today's radios are not exactly easily repaired by the end user. Older radios could have a tube plugged into him and occasional transistor replaced and some out of tolerance resistor swapped out and aligned by the user. Not so anymore today's radios are very complicated and the technology that assembled them are beyond human touch for the most part.

In addition to that not many people want learn about the intricacies of the bits and bobs that comprise the radios of today so they're incapable of maintaining them anyway. Heck most folks don't know how to check the oil in their car or mower! Oh yeah we don't mow our own lawns anymore either. To be sure today's radios I don't expect will last 25 and 50 years like we've seen some of the old stuff hang on but, when MTBF catches up with us there will be a better mousetrap waiting for a shinny penny us to embrace.

[NY2RF]

Just for the record: my FT-817 now halfway to 50 years of flawless operation. My FT-857D now halfway to 25 years flawless operation.

The Drake T-4XC R-4X, power supply, and Mn1000 tuner originally cost $5,000 in 2025 dollars back in 1969. I loved the rig but I wouldn’t trade it for my IC-7610.

Ditto the drake linear.

[KA4D]

Two things jump out at me in that thread:

1) One person noted,

One thing that’s great about radio is the lack of consumables. Shooting, flying, and driving hobbies will bankrupt you with consumables but with radio one you make your initial purchase you don’t have to keep spending just to operate.

If we focus on operating, ham radio can be very inexpensive. Looking at the sold listings on eBay reveals a slew of HF transceivers selling for under $200. You might not get the WARC bands or AM with some of these, but toss up a wire and you've got a station. The challenge - and this is the case with any hobby - is avoiding the temptation of bigger, better, faster, flashier, etc.

2) A few folks tossed in other factors. One mentioned housing costs, taking issue with the idea of operating portable,

sitting at a picnic table with a little radio is fun but it's not the same experience as being able to have a permanent shack in a climate controlled area, and that's going away more and more every day.

However, if you want to participate in a hobby, you find a way. I'm a sailor, but I live in a HOA neighborhood (i.e., no boats in the yard) with no waterfront, so I keep a small sailboat on a trailer in my garage.