On Dec 28, 4:02*am, RHF wrote:


"N" - Alas in my heart I am still "that" 8-Year-Old
that gets daily joy from DXing the AM-BCB and
the Shortwave Bands; and more importantly simply
listening to the radio : One Word "Enjoyment".

"N" - You over time have evolved and grow with The
Craft -while- I still simply enjoy it's less technical
aspects as a user : We are different and therefore
naturally see things differently. ~ RHF
*.

I was pretty primitive in the early days. :/
Not much money, so I made do with some weird stuff.
Here is my "radio room" when I was in the 7th, 8th grade
or so. Probably about 1971. The "room" is the closet in
my bedroom..
http://home.comcast.net/~nm5k/r2.jpg
The radio was a philco portable. Covered 4-12 mhz.
No BFO.. So... I would use the white AM radio sitting
behind it as a BFO. :/ Not the most fun in the world,
being neither radio was the most stable things around..
But it would let me listen to CW and SSB with tuning
tweaks every once in a while. Well, maybe more than
once in a while..
The other white AM radio to the left was more for the
clock, and I used the radio in it for local AM listening
most of the time.
The antenna was just a random wire strung out the
back window.
The contraption in the foreground was the first transmitter
I built. It was a single 6V6 run off line voltage for the B+.
Did maybe 5-10 watts I guess.. 40m, and I had two
crystals. Look at my advanced scotch tape coil forming
construction. :/
The chassis was WW2 Navy issue.. The circuit from the
1949 ARRL handbook. Yes, it actually worked..
I later rebuilt it using a transformer, and a bit more power.
I used it as my first novice transmitter for a good while.
By that time, I had a Hammarlund HQ-110 for a receiver.
But as a SWL, I listened to half a zillion stations just with
that little philco portable and about 50 feet of wire hooked
to it.
Spent half a fortune "to me back then" on IRC's to get
faster QSL replies. You can see a RAI card on the wall.
They sent me magazines for about 20 years after that card..
I still got color RAI magazines into the late 80's at least..
For many years, I used to get a Christmas card from Radio
Havana.. Every year.. Then like the RAI mags, they finally
quit coming.
I used to get some real nice glossy color magazines from
China back in those days. :/ The FBI probably thought I
was some kind of communist being I used to get so much
mail from them...