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Ralph Mowery

In article ,
says...

Hams are notoriously cheap.
And the internet is a cesspool of useless information.

I've been a licensed Ham for 50 years now.
You wouldn't believe some of the butchery I've encountered on
Ham radio gear. I have a phrase for it. Joe "Claw Hammer" Ham
has been here. Apparently having a ham license gives you the
ability to think you know more than any commercial engineer.

That being said, I've used old NOS capacitors for myself.
But I don't waste my time reforming them. They either work right
the first time they have power applied or they don't.

I understand that # 40 wire was made by 2 hams arguing over a penny.

I have only been a ham for 45 years. I like you have seen many things
cobbled together. Have even done some of that myself. Not that I
thought I was a better engineer,but because I only had so much money to
do things. Those were projects for myself.

If I am doing things for myself, I may do anything to get equipment
going. If I were doing things for others, it would be with good parts.
Like the time at work an outside repair person came in to repair a 3
phase motor drive unit. He found 2 out of 3 diodes bad. I told him to
replace the 3 rd one. It may have been under stress or not. He said
they were $ 200 each. Told him it costs us $ 1000 or more per hour
while that equipment was down, so $ 200 is good insurance it will not
quit in a short time.
That 3 rd diode would probably last , but why take a chance at those
rates.