I liked Pete's comments on the various (analog, digital, mixed) approaches to homebrew:
http://n6qw.blogspot.com/2022/02/2022-return-to-peashooter-build.html
http://n6qw.blogspot.com/2022/02/2022-peashooter-20m-compact-ssb.html
I too have San Jian digital counters watching the stability of analog VFOs (DX-100, HQ-100, Mythbuster).
Variety is the spice of life!
I also liked Pete's comment about the fellow who does on-the-air menu counseling for FTDX-3000 owners. I sometimes run into guys on the air who want to do something similar with my simple homebrew rigs. They start by making comments about my audio -- they will usually say it is "too high" or something like that. Especially when I'm using the separate transmitter and receiver (which have to be "netted" imprecisely by ear), I have to explain that maybe resort to their RIT control would help. If they persist, I sometimes have to tell them that how my rig sounds depends A LOT on the placement of the carrier oscillator relative to the passband of the crystal filter (most recently, the filter from the 1963 Swan 240). Most of them have never had to do that kind of adjustment, so the "technical discussion" usually ends at that point, with my interlocutor saying 73, and presumably moving on to someone whose rig has menus to fiddle with. (Recently heard audio techno term: "massaging the codec.")
To each his own!
I heard an "Audio counselor" last night on 40, trying to help a fellow "correct" his audio on an Icom of some flavor. It was quite comical, as I sat there listening on my SB-101. It ended with the advisor suggesting the gentleman reset his rig, "as this was the only thing that would correct the lack of compression and low frequency response." The interesting part was the advisor's audio was horrible, in my opinion. Over-compressed, and very muddy. To each his own...
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