Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:44:31 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:00:35 GMT, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

http://tinyurl.com/5hkot4

Hmmmm....used to have one of those.

Bit of nostalgia...

I had one of these as a kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnWFPmG0ypo

http://www.antiqueradio.org/halli07.htm

Man they built some monsters back then didn't they? I remember "da
bomb" as the kids today say was the Hammerlund SP-210-LX even twenty
years after it's introduction.

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/SP210bk.htm

You had one of those beasts, you were on top of the bragging rights
pile even twenty years after they were made. SWLs would literally
fight each other to get hold of one if they ever found one available.

One of our neighbors had one - big time SWL listener, had a wire
antenna array the envy of the US Navy. He used to let me listen
around from time-to-time - nice guy - a little light in the loafers if
you get my drift but he and his "friend" were great neighbors. He
knew his electronics and taught physics at MIT for a number of years -
taught a bunch of us guys about antenna theory when the high school
had a radio club.

My Dad bought it right after WWII in 1947 and it was built like a
battleship. It had continuous tuning from the bottom of the
broadcast band at .55 MHz all the way to the top of the FM band at 108
MHz.

When I was 12 years old I built of of these:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4093

Ah yes - the days of being crystal bound until you could get, beg,
borrow or build a VFO. :)

Probably my all time favorite story/radio was the Heath "Tener"
lunchbox. I had just got my General and it was a present from my Dad
for getting my "full" ticket. I spent two days straight building and
aligning it - then had to put it down. At the time, I was working
part-time at a local TV store as a super go-fer - meaning that I would
go out in the VW van and pick up and return TV sets and/or simple tube
replacement jobs.

So after school, I had a run up to my neighborhood, I stopped at my
house to get the Lunchbox to show the boss who was also a ham my new
toy. I got the idea to load up the CB whip on the way back to the
store and wonder of wonders I heard a DL6 calling CQ. I called back
and bingo - very first voice contact ever, on ten, from a Lunchbox
radio loaded into a CB antenna from a VW bus on West Shore Drive in
Marblehead. :)

WHOO HOO!!!

Now - eh - I can call Germany on my cell phone - big whoop. :)

Not to wander off on a philosophical rant here, but you know, I think
that the advance of technology has dumbed down a lot of things - we've
become isolated from the wonders that the universe provides - the
sense of adventure has left the building if you will if only because
the truly extraordinary has become the ordinary - even mundane. You
used to have to have a general coverage receiver in your car or at
home to catch the BBC World News, now you can get it on your Sirius
just by pushing a button. Everything has become interlinked to hell
and gone and there are no corners or mystery left.

And now I'm depressed.

And its your fault. :)

Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 23:40:24 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 17:04:10 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"D.Duck" wrote in message
...

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
http://tinyurl.com/5hkot4

Hmmmm....used to have one of those.

Bit of nostalgia...

My first, circa 1955

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/S20R.html

Here's the one I used to play with:

http://www.geocities.com/technician4/ronw1.jpg

Got to play with the exciter of one once when I worked some MARS phone
patches back in the day. I couldn't talk the Chief into letting me
fire up the finals on the big guns though. :)

I did get to play with an Air Force station at full power once though
- blasted a signal right below the lower end of the 20 meter ham band
on a phone patch to the East Coast - MARS again.

That was cool. :)

Man, we could get away with some stuff back then on MARS.

After I completed my initial and short introductory phase of military
service, I came back to the states and was offered electronics schools in
IL. I had been a Radioman and had a TTY repair job code, so my "watches"
during school was manning the base Mars station once every four days. I
didn't know much about Mars when I first started, but got the hang of it
after a while. It was always a busy watch, being the only military
representative on the net. Even did a few watches as "net control" a few
times.

The Navy radio guys were great to work with. Not a small amount of
hams back then either on the shore side stations - they had some great
base club stations too - all Collins equipment of various types.

I stayed with MARS for a long time after, but with the advent of new
technology, it became something of an after thought.

That was a long, long time ago. Now everybody uses cell phones, I guess.

Yep - that's the way of it. I try to explain to my kids sometimes
about the fun they missed back when cell phones didn't exist and they
just don't get it.

Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 18:24:24 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:

We also had several Collins original *S* Line setups. We had a 600' per leg
rhombic pointed at Southern California, Camp Pendleton. They were are main
outlet for RTTY traffic.

One of the hams here in town has a rhombic of similar size. The
largest/longest antenna for me was a bi-directional sloped Beverage
that ran NE/SW for a little over a mile through the woods. The ends
were terminated at six foot high on both ends and the mid-slope was at
12 feet. I used it during my contesting days as a spotting antenna,
but I could switch it to transmit quickly.

That antenna was freakin' loud man.

Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 20:09:20 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:

While searching for a picture of the KW-1 I came across this site. Quite a
collection.

http://www.isquare.com/personal_pages/ras-hardware.htm

He's got me beat. When I was contesting regularly, I had three
towers, two at 100' were phased for 40 meters topped by monobanders
for 15 and ten plus the 2, 220 and 440 monobanders. The main tower
was 120' topped by a TH-11 and a 20 meter ten element monobander at
90' on a ring. Plus various wires hug off the towers, slopers, the
Beverage and one of the strangest looking loop for 75 meters ever
built.

Or so I was told. :)

Look what I stumbled across...
 

"Jim" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:
"D.Duck" wrote in message
...
"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
http://tinyurl.com/5hkot4

Hmmmm....used to have one of those.

Bit of nostalgia...
My first, circa 1955

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/S20R.html



Here's the one I used to play with:

http://www.geocities.com/technician4/ronw1.jpg

Eisboch
You've put on a little weight since that was taken. He He


140 lbs soaking wet?

Look what I stumbled across...
 

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:44:31 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:00:35 GMT, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

http://tinyurl.com/5hkot4

Hmmmm....used to have one of those.

Bit of nostalgia...

I had one of these as a kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnWFPmG0ypo

http://www.antiqueradio.org/halli07.htm

Man they built some monsters back then didn't they? I remember "da
bomb" as the kids today say was the Hammerlund SP-210-LX even twenty
years after it's introduction.

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/SP210bk.htm

You had one of those beasts, you were on top of the bragging rights
pile even twenty years after they were made. SWLs would literally
fight each other to get hold of one if they ever found one available.

One of our neighbors had one - big time SWL listener, had a wire
antenna array the envy of the US Navy. He used to let me listen
around from time-to-time - nice guy - a little light in the loafers if
you get my drift but he and his "friend" were great neighbors. He
knew his electronics and taught physics at MIT for a number of years -
taught a bunch of us guys about antenna theory when the high school
had a radio club.

My Dad bought it right after WWII in 1947 and it was built like a
battleship. It had continuous tuning from the bottom of the
broadcast band at .55 MHz all the way to the top of the FM band at 108
MHz.

When I was 12 years old I built of of these:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4093

Ah yes - the days of being crystal bound until you could get, beg,
borrow or build a VFO. :)

Probably my all time favorite story/radio was the Heath "Tener"
lunchbox. I had just got my General and it was a present from my Dad
for getting my "full" ticket. I spent two days straight building and
aligning it - then had to put it down. At the time, I was working
part-time at a local TV store as a super go-fer - meaning that I would
go out in the VW van and pick up and return TV sets and/or simple tube
replacement jobs.

So after school, I had a run up to my neighborhood, I stopped at my
house to get the Lunchbox to show the boss who was also a ham my new
toy. I got the idea to load up the CB whip on the way back to the
store and wonder of wonders I heard a DL6 calling CQ. I called back
and bingo - very first voice contact ever, on ten, from a Lunchbox
radio loaded into a CB antenna from a VW bus on West Shore Drive in
Marblehead. :)

WHOO HOO!!!

Now - eh - I can call Germany on my cell phone - big whoop. :)

Not to wander off on a philosophical rant here, but you know, I think
that the advance of technology has dumbed down a lot of things - we've
become isolated from the wonders that the universe provides - the
sense of adventure has left the building if you will if only because
the truly extraordinary has become the ordinary - even mundane. You
used to have to have a general coverage receiver in your car or at
home to catch the BBC World News, now you can get it on your Sirius
just by pushing a button. Everything has become interlinked to hell
and gone and there are no corners or mystery left.

And now I'm depressed.

And its your fault. :)

You can always head to outer space! ;-)

Look what I stumbled across...
 

"Don White" wrote in message
...

"Jim" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:
"D.Duck" wrote in message
...
"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
http://tinyurl.com/5hkot4

Hmmmm....used to have one of those.

Bit of nostalgia...
My first, circa 1955

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/S20R.html



Here's the one I used to play with:

http://www.geocities.com/technician4/ronw1.jpg

Eisboch
You've put on a little weight since that was taken. He He


140 lbs soaking wet?


He's being a wise ass. Isn't me.

But close, at that time.

Eisboch

Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Nov 7, 6:44*am, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 23:40:24 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
messagenews:ru07h4lcf4ep03sc85hci9m6ka6toi7561@4a x.com...
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 17:04:10 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

"D.Duck" wrote in message
...

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
messagenews:jlm6h4tcqiqi2d0s1cm1aoe12f7ir8mi3i@4ax .com...
http://tinyurl.com/5hkot4

Hmmmm....used to have one of those.

Bit of nostalgia...

My first, circa 1955

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/S20R.html

Here's the one I used to play with:

http://www.geocities.com/technician4/ronw1.jpg

Got to play with the exciter of one once when I worked some MARS phone
patches back in the day. *I couldn't talk the Chief into letting me
fire up the finals on the big guns though. *:)

I did get to play with an Air Force station at full power once though
- blasted a signal right below the lower end of the 20 meter ham band
on a phone patch to the East Coast - MARS again.

That was cool. *:)

Man, we could get away with some stuff back then on MARS.

After I completed my initial and short introductory phase of military
service, I came back to the states and was offered electronics schools in
IL. * I had been a Radioman and had a TTY repair job code, so my "watches"
during school was manning the base Mars station once every four days. *I
didn't know much about Mars when I first started, but got the hang of it
after a while. *It was always a busy watch, being the only military
representative on the net. *Even did a few watches as *"net control" a few
times.

The Navy radio guys were great to work with. *Not a small amount of
hams back then either on the shore side stations - they had some great
base club stations too - all Collins equipment of various types.

I stayed with MARS for a long time after, but with the advent of new
technology, it became something of an after thought.

That was a long, long time ago. * Now everybody uses cell phones, I guess.

Yep - that's the way of it. *I try to explain to my kids sometimes
about the fun they missed back when cell phones didn't exist and they
just don't get it.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I remember living in the sticks in western NY and listening to AM late
at night. Never having been much of anywhere yet (Rochester, NY was an
adventure to us!) we'd get skip from WWVA in Wheeling, WV. To us it
was like listening to radio from another planet!

Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:38:24 GMT, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

And now I'm depressed.

And its your fault. :)

Thanks, that's depressing. :-)

Actually I don't have time to be depressed now that I'm fully retired.
Working on the Grand Banks has become my full time job and the
maintenance chores wait for no man's depression. The reward is going
off cruising on it once in a while.

The big Hammerlund was certainly a fine piece of equipment but the
receiver I always lusted after as a kid was the Collins 75A4.

Look what I stumbled across...
 

On Fri, 7 Nov 2008 08:09:42 -0800 (PST), wrote:


I remember living in the sticks in western NY and listening to AM late
at night. Never having been much of anywhere yet (Rochester, NY was an
adventure to us!) we'd get skip from WWVA in Wheeling, WV. To us it
was like listening to radio from another planet!

Reminds me. Stopped somewhere in Tennessee and the AM band scan only
caught one channel, a preacher singing the bible in a weird chant that
had me smelling sulphur and seeing rattlesnakes.
The radio would go all round the band and only stop there.
I made real sure to double lock the motel door and turned on the cable
TV. Might have put a chair under the door handle too.
For some reason in the '60's WLS Chicago would come in good most
nights in Norfolk VA. Had to dial in 890 just right.
The New Yawkers especially appreciated that rock n roll channel when
I clued them in. It was 50k watts.

--Vic