Antennas
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Having moved to Milwaukee from Minneapolis in July
1999 (but
I'll remain
"forever a zero" ;-) ), I thought I'd miss the larger property with
trees
and room for a horizontal loop of about 400 feet around. That loop was
the best general-purpose wire antenna I've used, with pretty darn good
signal reports on QRP.
But the current 60 x 120 foot rectangular lot's
possibilities
have unfolded
over time. Putting up an old collapsible TV antenna mast for a TV
antenna,
the wheels started turning, and I could see the possibilities.
The mast (about 40+ feet, originally 50 feet but with
storm-damaged
areas trimmed out) supports a "random droopy dipole" of about 150 feet
(the ends looped back along a fence, and other odd routings at the
ends).
This also works as a quasi-top-loaded "vertical", though the open wire
feed runs horizontally quite a ways before exiting the house and going
up. In this mode, a water pipe ground at the shack works "OK" on 160
(the
house, built in the early 60's, has mostly threaded iron pipe).
Also, the mast is set up to be a top-loaded vertical -
the
base is insulated
with a piece of thick plexiglass, and the top guy wires have insulators
at 10 feet from the top, and a wire skirt to connect the bottom of
those
top loading wires. It seems to resonate about 3.2 MHz if I read my
dipper
right. Right now, just a single ground rod, and open-wire feed -
radials
to come.
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Rigs
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Yes, I have commercial gear, too, classic items
usually
obtained in
"technicians' special" condition. That's what makes it so fun. As a
ragchewer
and occasional DX'er, this stuff suits me fine, though a nice new
computer
rig would be nice. (These days, I may end up with that in my homebrew
rig,
see other pages).
Ten-Tec Argosy
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-- great 50 watt solid
state analog rig, covering
80, 40, 30,
20, 15, and 10m, with CW audio and crystal filters. My first solid
state
rig when I got back actively into hamming in 1989 after ten years off
the
air. With CW crystal filter, CW audio filter, noise blanker, and
calibrator,
I got it for $200 (banged up, but all working). It got on 160 meters
also
with the aid of an outboard transverter (based on the one appearing in
the 1988 ARRL HAndbook) that looped back into the Argosy's PA. It's my
portable rig when I want to work all bands in a less-clumsy package
than
my big homebrew R2
setup. |
R-392/URR |
July
2001 - a
lingering virus finally grew into a
full-grown disease
- the desire for a receiver in the 51J or R-390 class. These go for
hefty
prices now, but my moment came... When confronted with two R-392's
sitting
on a hamfest table here in Milwaukee, at the right price, I was
bit
with the boatanchor bug. Me and another guy split the $300 asking price
for both of them, and I even got a power supply thrown in. I took the
rougher-looking
one, because the dial felt smoother. As it turned out, it needed all 5
12AU7's restored, since they'd been pilfered... but it worked well
(after
some tweaks and exercise for the switches). And obviously, improvising
a connector is fun - suddenly I noticed this leftover acrylic disk on
the desk, and a light went off - just put some push-on terminals on the
appropriate pins, drill holes in the plastic, fit it over the
terminals, some dabs of epoxy... and you've got it.
The R-392 is a superb piece of 1951 analog tube
mobile
precision (a
quadruple oxymoron?) It's basically a ruggedized mobile R-390 - same
idea,
with the .5-32 MHz, err, Mc, coverage in 1 Mc bands, with those
precision
PTO's and a mechanical digital dial good to better than 1 kc.
It's
quite compact compared with an R-390, but still about 50 pounds, and
runs
directly form 28 volts, plates and all (yes, low plate voltage CAN work
with careful design). You don't get real narrow filters - just LC
filtering at 500 kc with rated bandwidths of 2, 4, and 8 kc. (I believe
that the famous Collins mechanical filters were not considered
appropriate for a vehicular rig - too easily damaged by vibration.)
This is fine for general
listening, and especially for classic AM listening, it's real hi-fi for
a communications rig - that wide-open 8 kc sound is really fine on a
strong
signal... I use it now in peacetime (well, sort of), and wonder about
the
action the radio saw in the field... in what battleground or boot
camp did it get that fine brown dust in the crevices...
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Signal/One CX7A
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-- yes indeed. A rig that
aspired to be truly
elite in the 1970's,
it has many interesting cutting-edge features, but also lots of rough
edges
that don't seem very appropriate when you consider it cost $2000 plus
in
its heyday! Acquired in about 1993 at a cost of $150, this rig was a
basket
case -- power supply board removed for rebuilding, PA bandswitch wiring
screwed around, lots of little problems. After getting it basically
working,
I got in touch with Mark Mandelkern, KN5S (one of the CX7 gurus), and
applied
a number of modifications that users had evolved over the years. So
that's
my hi-tech QRO rig, and for its day, it really sings. Some great info
at http://www.zianet.com/k5am/MiscEq/CX7/ and http://www.hamanuals.com/
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Heathkit DX-60
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-- my original Novice rig
from the late 60's,
bought used as
a birthday present from "Radio Shack - Walter Ashe division" in St.
Louis,
MO. I guess Walter Ashe had been the big radio store for years, but
acquired
by Radio Shack and permitted to operate somewhat independently for a
while.
Later, acquiring a new HG-10B VFO was another highlight. |
Drake 2B receiver
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-- acquired in the 70's
from a friend, this
compact classic still
is lots of fun to use. When the power transformer blew in the early
90's,
can you believe that Drake still had a replacement on hand? Hooray for
support for older rigs. |
Drake SSR-1 receiver
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-- talk about contrasts
from the same maker!
Acquired in the
90's for $85, it is pretty problematic, but looks nice and sounds good
when you're not on a birdie signal! This 70's rig has a
poorly-implemented
version of a synthesizer scheme for the front end that eliminates the
need
for tons of crystals, but leaves lots of birdies in there. I have
wondered
about rebuilding the basic circuit with better mixers and shielding, or
maybe just using the shell and dial mechanism for a new rig. But by no
means will it go in the trash. |
Radio Shack DX440 shortwave receiver
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. For $85 again, this obviously
was a much better buy
than the Drake
cheapie, although it sure has its limits when hooked to a big outdoor
antenna.
With one of my antenna tuners as a preselector, it is quite tolerable
at
night. This is the closest thing to a frequency counter I now have... |
Panasonic RF-2900 portable
receiver
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My dad Roland, an avid lover of
all things German, got
this about 20
years ago to pick up Deutsche Welle. While visiting and tuning around
with
it, I was impressed by what it would haul in with its built-in whip -
just
stable enough for tolerable SSB/CW, wide range analog tuning but with 1
kHz digital readout. A year ago, I saw it gathering dust and
resurrected
it, and now it's my portable unit of choice till I replace the front
end
transistor in the DX440 above... |
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