Hi Ted,
    Thanks !! You couldn't have said it better. All hobbies tend to start out 
with home made something or others and evolve into big business. I guess it 
is inevitable. When I was a teenager I got into ham radio and spent a whole 
summer building a transmitter and regenerative receiver. I learned the code 
and got my amateur radio operator's license, W2DNX, in 1931. Radios were 
simple in those days and everybody built their own. It was fun. That's how I 
got started as an amateur scientist. Look at ham radio today. What do you 
see? Don't answer that question. Amateur astronomy is the same story. Eighty 
years ago some amateurs in Springfiewld Vermont learned to grind Telescope 
mirrors and built a clubhouse they called Stellafane on top of a mountain. 
Their guru, Russell Porter, would turn over in his grave if he could know 
what happens at Stellafane today. Amateur seismology is a new hobby and lots 
of us build our own instrument and enjoy it. For me it is an escape from ham 
radio and amateur astronomy as they exist today. Is it bad that hobbies 
evolve like this? Of course not. It is just inevitable. Everything evolves 
and a good thing too. Think of how many people wouldn't be able to enjoy ham 
radio if they had to learn to copy Morse code at ten words per minute. Or how 
few people would be enjoying the night sky if they had to grind their own 
mirror.
Best regards,
Cap
 
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