RadioBanter - View Single Post

Dave Heil[_2_] · March 21st 08, 06:25 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated

wrote:
On Mar 20, 1:54� am, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 19, 6:10� pm, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
You were there a couple of years, as I recall.
Yes--1998-2000.

You should write a book! Or at least a collection of stories about
your experiences in various services and locations. Military, dept of
state, ham radio...

Funny you should mention it! I've got most of the work done on a memoir
of the travels as they relate to amateur radio with just enough of the
non-radio events thrown in for flavor.

You could put it on the web, too.....

Naw, I plan to finance my next rig with the proceeds. There'll be DVD's
as well. I'm still in the process of importing the videotaped material,
editing and glitzing it up.

There's a certain British approach to engineering and
craftsmanship
that is underappreciated on this side of the pond IMHO.
For example, the BBC was doing regular scheduled
electronic TV
broadcasting in 1936-37, and only shut down when
WW2 broke out.
They invented things like the re-entrant multiple
cavity magnetron,
practical jet engines, the dambuster bomb and
delivery system (fly a
Lancaster 50 feet off the water at night? No problem!)
and much more.
Somewhere here in the shack, I have a little green
hardbound book on
Baird's work.

If you mean John Logie Baird, unfortunately he barked up the wrong
(mechanical) tree for too long. But when he got together with
Farnsworth things really started to roll.

Yep. The rotating wheel was wild.

And yet people still think TV was first demonstrated to the public at
the New York World's Fair in 1939.

The book I have was printed around 1937 I believe.

Whatever happened to World's Fairs, anyway?

That's a good question for which I have no answer.

I have an RSGB handbook from the 1960s.
It's quite different from the
ARRL Handbooks of the time - more technical,
more projects, more
advanced and varied stuff. But nothing on operating, history,
licensing, or the RSGB.
You can make up for that lack of info if you can
find a wonderful book
from the 70's called, "The World at Their Fingertips".

I'll keep an eye out, but my point was the difference in focus.

The RSGB Handbook was more narrowly focused. I think it
eventually influenced the ARRL handbook, too.

Note too that the RSGB handbook wasn't a new edition every year, or
even every 2-3 years.

I think that's probably due to the relatively small number of radio
amateurs in the British Isles. As I recall, the RSGB handbook was
nearly thirty dollars in the 70's.

One thing that I think is missing from the ARRL library is a successor
to "Understanding Amateur Radio". "UAR" was a
great book that filled the gap between the basic intro books and the
full Handbook.

I agree. It was full of information set forth in an easy to follow style.

For example, the phenomenal G2DAF receivers,
particularly the last
version. Incredible sophistication and performance.
Really great designs. � He kept at it for a long time. �
He provided many
mods for commercial rigs like the Yaesu FT-101 series.

Those early '101s sure needed them!

Agreed. The transmitter sections worked pretty well. The receiver
portions needed some help.

Of course part of that was the different economics
of homebrewing in
Europe at the time.
...and that went on through the 70's too. � Taxes on
imported equipment
were very high throughout most of Europe.

I would not be surprised if imported *parts* were taxed/tariffed/
dutied much less than imported finished
products.

You're right. Finland taxed imported transceivers and amplifiers at
100% duty--even into the 80's.

In the back of the RSGB book were ads for outfits that would
sell you complete punched and drilled chassis, panels, brackets, etc.
for various well-known projects like the G2DAF receivers, or would
make up such things to your drawings. Also the Electronique coils,
Jackson Brothers drives and capacitors, etc.

As far as I know, Jackson Bros. is still in the business of making
vernier reduction drives--top notch stuff.

Pete Millett's site. All kinds of stuff. There's also Frank's Tube
Data Pages.
I'll check that one out.

"Frank's" is actually a collection of sites all over the world. Not
only do they have data for tubes you never even heard of, there are
often multiple data sheets from different manufacturers. So you can
compare the GL-833A from GE with the RCA 833A, for example.

Odd that you mentioned those two. The only 833A I've got sitting around
is an Amperex.

� I have a 24 hour clock atop
the amp, one in the computer and one of
those "atomic clock" things
hanging on the shack wall.
I have a classic Numechron Tymeter 24 hour
digital clock for the
shack. It was made from parts of three junkers
back in the 1980s and
runs perfectly today. I might have three dollars
invested in it.
I used to have one of those and would love
to find another. � They're
getting rather pricey these days.

Hamfests....

I'm going to make a vow to hit more this year.

� I'm happy to report that I have less
in my atomic clock than you have in your tymeter. �

My neighbor bought it
new and gave it to me when the outside temperature
transmitter quit
working. � I found a web site where I can order the
transmitter for ten
bucks postpaid.

That's The Southgate School way of thinking and doing, right there.

I'm used to it. I once repaired a Heathkit Warrior amp for WA8JOC with
tandem copier transformers which I got for free.

P&H's later offering was a low profile, chrome plated
until called the P&H Spitfire--the LA-500M.

YES! I remember now!

There was a smattering of amps with lots of tubes in parallel, aiming
to achieve 50 ohm output impedance.

Yep, relatively low plate voltage and high current jobs. One fellow did
a homebrew amp design which appeared in CQ in the 60's, which used
sixteen horizontal output tubes. Now if a guy wants some oomph for
cheaper, 811A's are a pretty good bargain as are 572B's. With four
811A's making 800 or so watts output, that's an inexpensive way to get
9db more than the typical 100w rig and it is down only about 2.5db from
the legal limit.

� It used six 12JB6's at 500w
input and was introduced in the early 60's.

Yup.

Back in the 1960s the ARRL Handbook had a single 3-1000Z
amp that
still looks good today. In inflation-adjusted dollars it probably
costs less now than it did then.
Those bottles are hard to come buy these days. �
I think it is hard to
beat a pair of 3-500's for legal limit or near legal limit power.
They're relatively inexpensive, can be used with or without the air
system chimneys and sockets and the graphite anode variants
are quite
rugged.

Less than $200 each, too. Adjusted for inflation, they are cheaper
than in the early 1960s when the 3-400Z first appeared.

That's what I mean. Price 3CX800's, 8877's or 3CX1200's and you'll get
an idea of what a bargain the 3-500's are.

It is a sad state of affairs when it won't all fit in two rooms.

Not at all, IMHO!

Well, there's likely a move in my future and something's going to have
to go.

Out here near Cameron, it is possible to buy a
perfectly good house for under 30k.

Boy do I want to move! But one has to go where the jobs are.
...right up until retirement time rolls around. � Then you're free to
live where you like.

Sort of. Depends on the family situation, both spouse and kids. Also
one's health and ties to the community.

Pass it along to the kids now: There is an applied implication that
that they travel to visit the parents.

And most of all finances. With people living longer, having kids later
and the greater dependence on 401K/IRA funding rather than
company pensions and Social Security, retiring at 60, 62 or even 65
isn't nearly so doable as it was in times past.

Right now probably isn't a good time to hang it up so early. Then
again, many people seem to believe that they're going to need the same
amount of money as they now earn in their retirement. The house is apt
to be paid off, they do less driving. They don't have the kids to
support. Many of them don't need as large a house.

I've been going through realtors listings for the southern part of
this
state, getting an idea of what's available and what prices are
like--this for our eventual sale of this place to the approaching
longwall coal mine. � I'm not bookmarking any homes which are in
subdivisions.

IMHO the thing to do is to find a good RE attorney and agent, and
explain to them *exactly* what you will and will not accept. If they
don't "get it" right away, find somebody else.

What I've done in the past is to write it up in the offer, "subject to
there being no restrictions on the installation of an amateur radio
tower/s."

After a couple of false starts with a Cincinnati realtor back in the
70's, I got the agent working with us up to speed on what we wanted in
addition to style, size of yard, number of bed and bathrooms: no antenna
restrictions and located on high ground. I had trouble with a southern
West Virginia realtor before we bought this place. I'd specified "high
altitude. She showed me a couple of places with a great view of a hill
perhaps 500 feet higher than the house. I might have had to become an
Asia specialist.

Realtor.com is a wealth of info, too.

....and homes.com and a number of other sites I'm presently browsing.

I'm thankful that my XYL and I agree that neither of us wants to be
hemmed in by neighbors. She likes vegetable and flower gardening.
I like multiple towers. I'm thinking 3 or 5 or 8 acres. *grin*

Dave K8MN