Me, too. (It astounds me how some guys who experimented with ferrite and
powdered-iron balun and transformer cores awhile back used so much
RG-400 for most of them! Where did they find the cash to buy that much
of that schtuff...
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I have always been lower middle class. There are many hams who have incomes double, triple, or even a lot higher than my own. They can afford to buy the most expensive solutions to setting up a hamshack. So, when something like $108 dollar jumpers are recommended this is reasonable for many hams. I spent my life immersed in my work and not thinking about making more money. I guess I was very lucky in one way. I did not plan for retirement. My civil service job made that plan for me. We have enough income to buy the food we need and keep our home in good repair. I do most of the repairs, but some of them are getting to be outsourced at my age :-)
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Warning O.T. ! I was also very lucky in marrying a childhood sweetheart with whom I grew up. I was always afraid of height. She started putting up my antennas when she was 10. She put up her last antenna when she was 50. She told me that was the last time she was gong to climb a tree for me. I did not have a problem with that after 40 years. Her antenna work got her a job at Raytheon, where she worked on radar and radio antennas because she had no fear of height. She would go up a mast and just unbolt an array and lower it down for replacement without a problem. I did all the technical work on the ships and submarines and she did all the antenna, disassembly, and assembly of equipment. She got paid the same as myself. Going up those masts was considered worth the pay of an FCC licensed engineer. A ship captain reported us to Raytheon because he saw her kissing me after we had done a successful repair. The supervisor at Raytheon corporate told him that we were married and that calmed the captain down a bit. We were a unusual duo doing repair work on Radar, Radio, and Sonar. Back in the 60s, when we wore Raytheon uniforms. It caused quite a stir on a submarine when they found out that they had a woman aboard on a sea trial. She was not recognized as female when she boarded the boat. She was not recognized until we were eating in the wardroom. The captain about choked on his coffee when he realized she was out for full sea trials. She thought it was funny.
