Posted on 03/30/2008 12:14:41 PM PDT by mylife
Any Dxer's Or HAMS out there interested in opening a Dxer Forum?
I'm new to this stuff and could use some FRiends to surf the waves with.
Yers Trooly, 'way back when:
Got line out into the computer and active loop antenna. 80 bucks! I dont think I would have the money to go active
Your own private MARS station!
bump
My turn to go "wow!"
One of the members of our Canadian sister site is a Ham, and when he showed me pictures of this new, tiny gear I was amazed.
Those racks of mine held an R-390a as prime receiver and a Collins 51-J4 as secondary, and they weighed a ton, and needed forced draft for cooling ( tubes! )...
I'm tempted to look in to this new stuff- but I'd probably have to get one of my teenaged relatives to explain how to operate it...
I used to work on the R390 back in the day in the navy.
That thing is a boat anchor! tubes and mechanically tuned slugs but the most sensitive reciever ever built. I could tweak on to have a minimum discrernable signal at -127dbm
This little Kaito is pretty neat. Selectivity isnt stellar but it fits in your pocket.
A lot of people bitch about this Kaitos ergonomics.
I found it very intuitive to use. didnt have to read the manual.
I shoulda known...
I have my old TS120 on now.
L0L! Geek!
I built my first receiver in 1959, a Heathkit DX-60. I’ve still got one but use a Kenwood R-2000 and a Realistic DX-200. I remember getting QSL cards from Cuba and Moscow back in the Fifties and my Dad went ballistic. I’m up for a forum.
Cuba And Moscow and China are flamethrower stations.
It think people pick those up on the fillings in their teeth L0L. Its interesting to hear their spin on stuff. I am surprised how unabashedly nationalistic Moscow still is.
China pretends to be western friendly.
Cuba Pretends to be better than the US will adopting our methods.
I miss the old heathkit stuff. Ah well, I get plenty of tinkering at work
I know that SW is archaic, but with the net there is a new dimension of contact. I have this guy up now http://callsign.73ham.net/NG3U
My Canadian friend calls them boat anchors, too-- I learned the "Bell Telphone Lineman's Trick" for setting gear like that in a relay rack- lay the danged rack down on its back, and drop the stuff straight down. Also used threaded rods ( studs ) with nuts instead of machine screws, so I didn't have to struggle to align the cuts in the front panels with screws and holes.
I tried to locate a link to that gear EdS on Free Dominion was talking about, but their "your posts" format is paged, and it was about two years ago- so I quit on page 38.
It was some sort of handheld transceiver that covered an amazing range of frequencies, voice, RTTY, SSB.
Just astounding how much technology was packed in to something smaller than an old bag telephone.
Short history. My Father retired from the Marine Corps and was recuited by the U.S State Dept. to go to Laos as an adviser in 1963. We went and spent 10 years there. He passed away a little over a year ago at 89 and while sorting through a storage unit I found some interesting SSB radio equipment.
A Collins KWM-2A along with its PM-2 power supply and two sets of crystals. These are still in the original boxes. I suspect they were spares for the radio we had set up in our house. The radio was our link to Vientiane where my father's reporting and main office was. We lived in Savannakhet and the only way to get in and out of there was by Air America or by boat across the Mekong to Thailand. I also have the original Manuel and Log Books that came with it.
I suspect this radio was packed up and shipped with the house hold articles when he was told to bug out in early 1974.
Because KWA-2A was a company radio it was a dedicated link and kept on one freq. for coms. My Father decided that he would try getting into Ham radio with his own equipment. From Oct. 1972 to Feb. 1973 he purchased a Yaesu Munsen FT-101, FV-101 and a Sp-101P from a company in Hong Kong named Pacifica Products Limited. Apparently he got it set up and used it at some point while in Laos. Probably less than 3 or 4 months. This equipment is still in its original boxes along with supporting manuals and purchase receipts.
When he left Laos the radios were kept in storage, he never opened or used the radios.
They are for sale.
There was a fellow here a while back who “inherited” an r390 and was looking on advice to get it up and running. I came up empty. I havent seen one in 25 yrs.
These new receivers really are neat. pop a video decoder in the PC and you can pick up video transmissions as well.
Fascinating!
Your Father sounds like a very interesting fellow.
I can receive Vietnam from here.
You may wish to sell that gear on E-Ham.com
Have a yaseu FT 857d and A old R390a here
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