Amateur Radio is an expensive hobby!.......?

Hi All,

I hope you're keeping well and enjoying your radio pursuits.



We often hear (and maybe sometimes expressed) that the Amateur Radio hobby is an expensive pastime. It certainly seems like it if you're hankering after the latest bit of kit to add to your station or looking to upgrade your radios....especially when new to the hobby.

Recently I have been fortunate enough (after a lot of saving from both my wife and myself - yes, she is a star!) to purchase a brand new radio, namely the Yaesu FT-710 AESS. I've got to admit this radio is light years ahead of any radio I've ever used before and am enjoying it immensely. It certainly is a big step up from the Yaesu FT757GX I started off with!

So it got me wondering about the price differences between today's bits of kit compared to days of old.....

I trawled old magazine adverts from publications back when the FT757 was new/current and came across this from 'Ham Radio Today' magazine back in 1984. (Yes, that really is 40 years ago!)



(Courtesy of the excellent online magazine archive https://www.worldradiohistory.com/index.htm)


Looking at the advert you can see that just the radio alone cost £719. 
(Back when we still had pound notes in the UK although the £1 coin had been introduced a year before.)

So how much would that be today in equivalent terms?

According to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) at the site below that would be £2,896 and 31 pence...

https://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflation/1984?amount=719

That's certainly a lot more than the approx. £1000 I paid for the FT710.

But then that's not the whole story as the FT710 has a built in ATU (Antenna Tuner Unit), USB computer interfacing and a whole lot more besides. So if we include the FC757AT along with the FIF232C computer interface as a minimum the total price would have been £1023...

Using the same calculator that would be an equivalent price of £4120 in today's money. Over four times the price!!  

Even then we're not making a fair comparison because today's technology has come on leaps and bounds in the last 40 years. If you take a look at the same advert for the FT-ONE ('The Ultimate') priced at £1569 that would be an equivalent of £6320 today. (<cough!> <choke!>)

Flipping 'eck, when you look at  it that way radios today are relatively inexpensive when you think about it.

(Pretty sure a Ham from 1984 would fall over in disbelief at the touchscreen, additional monitor, mouse connectivity, performance etc. of the FT-710 too!)




But I'll tell you what is expensive about the Amateur Radio hobby today.....having the space to string up an antenna.

The UK average house price back in 1984 was apparently £27,000 according to the gov.uk sites and today that average is reported as £282,000. When calculated backwards that would've put average house prices at £70k plus back then! I'm damn sure the plot sizes that houses stand on today are way smaller too judging by properties around my locale. Enough for your 'off-street' parking but barely enough to string up a decent horizontal wire. No wonder HF verticals or field/portable events are a popular choice amongst the Amateur fraternity.


Anyway, more of my 'waffle' but worth a thought the next time you're scrolling through a website drooling at the bits of kit you can get your hands on nowadays....

Just think on about your antenna choices.



All the best,
Victor

Well done on the new radio, your wife is a star.

I'm sure you will get a lot of pleasure out of it and work some nice DX.

Thanks for the price comparisions.
It's surprising the difference over the years, we bought our council house
in 85.....£18500, the prices up our road are insane now, one recently up
for £600000. We don't look at the money side as it's where we live and
have done so for 69years.

Going back to radios, have never been in a postion to get the top of the range.
Don't take holidays, don't smoke, drink only little and don't have a car so money
saved goes on hobbies and the house.

Enjoy that new radio Victor, I am sure you will! Filters and digital sound manipulation on some new radios really really help with cutting through urban noise to pick out signals.

Can totally relate to price comparisons and sizes you've given. My parents bought what was classed as a new type build starter home when I was very young, but that was twice the size of the same class of build we bought, had four times the garden size, and had a garage. Our house feels like a Japanese tiny home in comparison.

My better half says chocolate bars are a lot more expensive now and also a lot smaller than they were.. that's her contribution to the topic

Victor wrote:

I trawled old magazine adverts from publications back when the FT757 was new/current and came across this from 'Ham Radio Today' magazine back in 1984. (Yes, that really is 40 years ago!)

I got my ticket in 1984! I could only dream about such radios. Not only was it way too far out of my reach financially, but would have been illegal for me to use because I chose not to prove proficiency in a mode I'd never use anyway.

Like many other hams on a budget, I trawled radio fairs and bring-and-buy events at my local club. Even then, my 2m channelised mobile ssb rig cost me £120. But oh the thrill of working Spain from the cliffs of St Martin's Point in Guernsey.

Technology has indeed come on in leaps and bounds, and thanks to mass production, equipment has become more affordable. But we mustn't forget the individuals who invented and developed the technology on which much of today's radio tech is founded: Marconi, De-Forest, Braun, Hertz, Tezla, and many more. And the multitude of genius Hams who, over the years, developed antenna designs, equipment, and technology, mostly for free.

In 1984, I had to load a program on my ZX Spectrum with a cassette player to transmit and receive SSTV; that took time and not so easy to use. But back in the day it was cutting edge. Today I click on an icon and I'm on the air in seconds!

Would I want to go back? No, it was great fun and I knew nothing different. I'm very happy with what I have now.

Deb

Victor wrote:

Recently I have been fortunate enough (after a lot of saving from both my wife and myself - yes, she is a star!) to purchase a brand new radio, namely the Yaesu FT-710 AESS. I've got to admit this radio is light years ahead of any radio I've ever used before and am enjoying it immensely. It certainly is a big step up from the Yaesu FT757GX I started off with!

That's a brilliant rig, Victor. I'm sure you'll enjoy it greatly. Well done on saving up for it. Your wife is indeed a star.

Saving up for something was/is the norm for us oldies, just something else that is probably difficult to understand by some younger people today.

Deb

Hi Mike,

I totally agree, my wife is indeed a very supportive and absolute star.
(I don't know who was more excited when it turned up either! )

Like you we live a simple lifestyle, no car, etc. and something like this new radio is totally out of the ordinary but very appreciated. It is a fantastic bit of kit, the external monitor helping the old eyes so no scrabbling for different reading glasses plus the AESS speaker system really helps out with the diminishing hearing. It's a joy to SWL with it too (best I've ever heard!), pulls CW signals out like they're sat with you on a practice oscillator and well, just absolutely awesome.

It was very easy to set up out of the box and straight forward to use right away just taking some time to learn the menu functionality to get along further. Yes, I am very pleased with it!

I thought the price comparisons was a good little point to make....the technology available to us nowadays is simply stupendous and much more affordable than we imagine.

I agree with your housing thoughts and we have a placard in the kitchen that reads "A house is made of bricks and stone but love is what makes it a home". We live here, it wasn't a monetary investment and now our grandchildren treat it as home-from-home too.


All the very best to you and yours,
Victor

Hi Neal,

Thanks very much, I am really enjoying this new bit of kit.  

Put it this way, the QRM eliminator is no longer required with signals clean as anything. (Plus a few toroids to help out on the leads - why don't they come with them as standard nowadays?) Oh, and now I have 4m added to my arsenal with the internal ATU managing 80m to 4m on the 9:1 EFRW with the old ATU picking up on the 160m side of things. (Already adding to my 160m contacts despite my diminutive antenna. )

I thought the price comparisons added an interesting twist to those considering new gear.

Tell your better half that my Teresa agrees with the chocolate side of things!


All the very best to you and family,
Victor

Hi Deb,

I should've had my ticket back in the 80's but with people dropping out of courses I attended they all landed up cancelled!

I may have come into the Ham side of things late (better late than never ) but struggled to start with despite others generosity needing to perform extensive repairs on the FT757, resurrection of a FT290 for my 2m antics and the usual Baofeng sort of shenanigans. (Plus another very generous person who gifted me the FT450 I was using earlier.)

I remember well helping out my old Dad with his forays into Ham radio too many moons ago to mention.

Yep, totally enjoying the new radio and glad not to be repairing something before I can use it first!

(I know, youngsters don't seem to 'save-up' anymore? We feel more rewarded that we did and finally got there to be a very proud owner of such a bit of kit.)


Thanks there Deb and my best wishes to you and family.

73,
Victor

Hello Victor,

A great post.

It is amazing in comparison, how much cheaper all electronic devices are. When you think what we used to pay for a telly, video recorder or car stereo back in the  80s. The cost of the original sat navs and even video game cartridges. I can remember paying 70 quid for a cartridge back in the '90s.

It is mind boggling how technology has advanced in the last decade or so.

Glad you are enjoying the new radio.

73s John.

You have 6 or 7 weeks to think of something nice to buy T with the cash-back took around 10 to get mine.
???? was there an offer on not looked at new kit recently but normally is.
                        for T.

Hi John, cheers mate.

Totally enjoying the new radio thanks.

Yep, it does make you think about the price of tech over the years let alone the stuff that becomes obsolete in no time at all. Worth considering that despite repair the old FT757 has lasted 40 years so probably worth the money in the end.....I doubt the new radio will still be alive for as long or even as repairable. (Not that I've got 40 years left in me!! )

Cheers again.

73

Hi Alan mate,

Yeah, put in for the cashback offer but it will be going straight back into the savings pot at both our requests.  

Teresa says 'Thanks for the flowers'

(....and I don't think she meant a favourable signal report????? )


All the best to you and of course to your 'station manager' too.

Victor

hi hope everyone is enjoying the weather i have always been interested in radio from school days i used various old valve militery radios i have moved into sheltered housing in which i can put up modest antennas tri band 6/2/70cms vertical hf one when i moved in i sold or give away my bits i dont use well i dont smoke drink very rarely or have a car i saved up money to fit my flat out new stuff new start i have a ts2000x a ts 480 sat vhf/uhf 2 icom ic-r 71e/ic-r 7000 couple of old scanners i have been off air several months but soon geting my 2 verticals  fitted    i have a 4 meter wire dipole for local contacts like all of us collected lots of bits and bobs over the years once i have the ariels fitted i can save for a scooter to get out and about i think i am a survivor in and out of hospital over the years working in education 15yrs well the pension helps now retired got more time for radio enjoy radio paul m0kbd 73s

Hi Paul,

Good to hear from you there and I do hope you are keeping well.  

It sounds like you've been very busy your end and I hope that everything settles down for you real soon. You're already on a good start with your radio collection so well done for saving up to enjoy your interests and I wish you well with the new antenna installations.

Regards mobility scooters, they are great to give you back a bit of outdoor activity where you would otherwise have none and I love mine. However whilst out with a VHF/UHF Handy it did constantly break the squelch with a 'whirr' noise whilst moving and the first time I transmitted my scooter abruptly stopped then beeped error codes at me! (Panic moment!) I soon learned to only use the radio whilst stationary with the ignition key firmly turned off.


All the best to you,
Victor

I think CB radios are still priced quite high, especially the export ones compared to back then in the 80’s

A new Maxcom 30E 27/81 40 channel FM radio would have set you back £65 in 1984.
(CB Citizen's Band magazine Feb' 1984)

Using the same calculator as above that would be the equivalent of £261 & 84 pence.....

....for a 40 channel FM radio!



I remember paying £75 for my illegal Tristar sidebander back then from the car boot of some geezer on the London Chelsea Bridge Run. (Remember them? Used to be some lovely cars on the go.)

That'd be over £300 in todays money!!

Although you'd get a brand new sidebander that could do way more nowadays...with a guarantee.


When you think about Gilles they aren't any more expensive but I know what you mean because comparatively Ham gear is way cheaper than before. But then the CB market is very different than the crazy days of the 1980's too.

Hi Victor, some interesting musings and facts but it's maybe a bit like asking is having babies expensive? The answer has to be no and yes. I agree that bang for buck as they say, new kit is cheaper than that of many years ago but money now goes out in ways it never used to. Mobile phone contracts and internet, now compete with and occasionally compliment the hobby. Technologically it's a hobby with expanding horizons but in all it is a hobby in a squeezed market place and while we would all love to see it grow, it seems to be shrinking. This makes me wonder if it is about supply and demand just as much, if not more than the manufacturing and component costs.

Yes there's definitely many ways to look at it Kate but I thought a simplified direct price comparison was a good bit of fun to look at and maybe even an eye opener for some. Plus I tend to post up something when the forum is experiencing some dead-air or inactivity and always good to experience the interaction with members here.  


On the babies being expensive front we didn't expect to have Millennial-Boomerang kids who not only came back but also in tow with more babies! They also seem to deem mobile phones, internet, TV streaming and Maccy D's as an everyday staple expense too.

Ha! Ha!
But we do love them and never stop being parents no matter how old they get and of course Grandchildren are the most pleasurable or blessed aspect to it all.

The direct price comparison works on many levels. Then again you don't need the best, most up to date or expensive kit to make the best contacts. A cheaper radio with a good home made antenna can be just as satisfying and the buzz from making a contact from that bit of wire you tuned in is probably greater than you get from a shop bought super duper whizzy thing that promised the earth in an ideal world. So in conclusion Ham radio is cheaper than babies  and the best thing about grandchildren is you can enjoy them and also give them back. Have a good weekend.

Definitely right there Kate and I've had more of a thrill out of my bits of wire and old rigs than anything over the years.

Ha! Yeah, Ham radio is waaaaaay cheaper than babies could have ever been.

Speaking of which I'd better get sorted as the Grandchildren are over today and I willingly shut down this station to go enjoy them.

You have a great weekend there too Kate.

All the best,
Victor