On Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:33:14 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

On Sep 12, 8:38*pm, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
http://tinyurl.com/qb7cs3

And as it happens, I know somebody who wants to get rid of a
Hammerlund HQ-180A.

Hmmmmm....

I bet you could heat a room with it!

I remember my grandpa used to listen to short wave quite a bit, and he
had an old tube Hallicrafter. I remember that the tube glow made the
wall look like it was on fire. I dont' remember much about it but it
sat on a small table facing a wall, and it had a couple of large knobs
and three or four small knobs on the front and a couple of meters and
a large sign on the back of his chair that said "STAY AWAY!!"

But one thing I thought was odd was his antenna, which was a bare
copper wire strung from their house to the summer kitchen in the back
yard.

I thought that was weird but I understand it now.

Heh - I know what you mean. My maternal Grandfather had a collection
of early Grundig radios he had shipped in from Germany. Being a
German immigrant right after WWI, he loved to listen to music and
radio "from the old country". He had a wire antenna system that
rivals my own in some ways.

It's funny when I think about it - he was a "ward healer" in Milwaukee
politics, but when WWII broke out and we entered the European theatre,
he had to turn in his shortwave radios because of the hysteria about
German spies - he eventually got them back and went right back to
listening to shortwave broadcasts from Germany. A little oddity with
that was that he was the Foreman/Supervisor for the GM engine plant
that made the blocks for Sherman tanks. What's even odder is my Mom
was a USCG CPO (Waves) radio operator and was the Chief Operator on
Cape Cod during WWII and all my uncles were either in the Marine Corps
or Navy. :)

I remember Hallicrafters - one of the best names in radio. Had an
S-120 that I modified for SSB by adding a BFO. Still have it in fact.

Hammerlund, National, Galaxy, Heath, TR Drake, Lafayette, Allied
(Knight), E.F. Johnson, Gonset, Collins - all gone.

Those were the days man - those were the days.

Ever build a crystal set? I actually used to DX with crystal sets -
on the AM band of all things. I just looked at my "DX" log when I was
eight or nine - some real catches with four or five stations west of
the Mississippi. Back in those days, you'd send a letter addressed to
"Chief Engineer, WWL, New Orleans, LA" detailing the time, date and
program you listend to and a week or two later, back would come a
letter on station letter head thanking you for the reception report,
confirming the information and a thanks for listening.

Try that now. :)

I still smile when I think about my very first "DX" when I got my
General ticket in '64. I was working for the local TV repair shop -
actually a gofer, but the owner used to let me work in the shop on
radios and TVs. I had built a Heathkit "lunch box" - 10 meter AM
transciever which were popular at the time. I had it with me on a TV
pickup because I wanted to use the shop scope to tweak the transmitter
and just for yucks hooked it up to the CD whip on the old Volkswagen
bus we used for pickup and delivery.

Put out a CQ and back came DL6RE - German clear as a bell. Gave me a
great signal report and we held that QSO for five minutes until the
band crapped out. Man that was so cool.

Mrs. Wave used to get really ****ed when we would park out at the
light house after a dance or movie and I'd turn on the radio and sweep
the bands for something interesting. :)

She got used to it though.

Good times - good times. :)