Well, fully outfitted it's a $5000 transceiver. I don't know whether it's worth that or not .. but what you and I call a "toy" must differ in some significant ways. Rather than dismiss it out of hand, why not actually get some information? It may not be the Wizardee 5000 dxSDX bravissimo! DX350i that all the contesters drool over, but perhaps it would be worth more than a hand wave ... and a dis out of hand.
I wasnt referring to the Sienna as a toy by any stretch, sorry for the confusing post. In fact Id love to hear from serious owners who have made real world comparisons between it and the Big 3's top of the line. I was referring to the 40M HT as the toy.
Nor am I against any company finding a successful niche market with kits. What I personally find uninteresting, too low end, etc, should hold no bearing against anyone elses needs or choices no matter how one individual continually tries to twist my comments to his own warped views. Heck, I even sold my own line of kits from 1985-98 when operating as Radiokit.
My first Heathkit was the Apache transmitter at age 15. It think it took me almost 6 weeks to assemble the entire package. Worked the first time I plugged it in and I still use it today. I better go change all those caps; they're over 50 years old.
Are there any paper caps in there Pete? I havent touched an Apache in decades so usually refrain from commenting beyond standard troubleshooting suggestions with the schematic. Based upon various DX-100's Ive overhauled the past few years all the papers and all electrolytics were leaky while every carbon resistor was well within spec except in the parasitic suppressors. Leaky caps in the audio stages can certainly degrade its performance as I ran various on the air tests with Tim and others (several from AMfone) as I progressed with the replacements and then upgrades on the last one I did last month.
I built my first DX-100 at 16 in 1957 and then several for others until I joined the USN in 59 and actually learned electronics from the pros. QST and the ARRL HB was the start for which Im still grateful.
Carl
