15 Feb
2000
15 Feb
'00
3:22 p.m.
WA7KKP WA7KKP DE WD9GCO WD9GCO K
My first station (ca. 1978) consisted of a Heath DX-100B and a
Knight R-190A, feeding into a homebrew T/R relay and out to an
inverted vee hanging off the TV tower. I used a 100W light bulb in a
ceramic socket as my dummy load, and I used a WB4VVF Accu-
Keyer (still have it...) My paddle was homebrew as well. I used a
pair of Radio Shack straight keys, screwed back-to-back and
mounted vertically on an angle bracket with two pieces of phenolic
circuit board replacing the knobs.
Worked well. Even worked some DX, which was an incredible thrill
for a Novice in high school.....(also learned that my transmitter was
not exactly right on the money, dial-wise. I got a nice little QSL
report from the fine folks in Grand Island, Nebraska, when I
apparently ventured 5KHz outside the 40m Novice band.....)
Bought a 520s after that, still have it. It's still got tubes in the
final.....they'll take a lot more punishment than transistors...
73,
Paul
I do remember Dick Bash, KL7??? who started the whole
licencing uproar. I
think he finally got his tech licence pulled for some silly reason.
Yes, I love them boat anchors too. Hollow state technology with the warm
glow of filaments is so nostalgic.
I personally will have a boat anchor station set up. Drake 2B and a
Central Electronics 100V transmitter tied into a Johnson Desk Kilowatt. I
heven have the Ranger exciter to run it as a KW plate modulated if
necessary (now illegal). Yes, I do have rice boxes as well, but there is
no challenge to those. But they are nice mobile.
I challenge all of you out there to get a ham licence, no code or even the
5 wpm. The 5 wpm is no barrier -- anyone can learn that in a few weeks a
couple nights a week. C U on the bands . . .
Gary Hildebrand
WA7KKP .__ ._ __... _._ _._ .__. ._.
collector of old General Electric Progress Line radios
and anything else that glows in the dark
Paul Braun
NerdWare -- The History of the PC and the Nerds who brought it to you.
nerdware(a)laidbak.com
www.laidbak.com/nerdware