You Can Never Have Too Many Radios

There is a saying in ham radio.. it goes something like this: "You Can Never Have Too Many Radios."

I believe in this. There is always something one radio does that another doesn't. My philosophy is to cover as many bases as possible. From DX'ing to backpacking, there is a radio to fill the position.

I know my thoughts on radios are a little different than the older generations - those that grew up with names like Collins, Drake, Swan, Hammarlund, and Hollicrafters. The days of glowing tubes and radios the size of microwave ovens - the "golden years" of Ham radio. I didn't grow up in that era. I was born towards the end with the rise of solid-state. My first daydreaming exposure to Ham radio was in the late 90's, somewhere around '98 or '99 I would imagine - well beyond the era of boat anchors. I thought the Kenwood TS-950sdx, Yaesu FT-1000D, and Icom IC-781 were the rigs to have. However, I still highly respect the old radios - they were stepping stones in the advancement of technology.

In my 8 years (and going strong!) of being a Ham I have seen some impressive ham shacks before. I have had the distinct honor of operating from K8RA's shack and running KA0Y's monstrous 50' parabolic dish on 1296 EME(yep, I tapped the key and generated my own echoes!), among others.

However, I just came across Tom NE7X's shack while surfing the 'net. I have to say that is one IMPRESSIVE array of 7 full ceiling height 19" racks - full of some magnificent classics! Not to mention the other side of the room and main operating position sporting an FT-2000 and IC-7700, among others. Wow. Great shack Tom!