Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

He and Jack Fulmer W4HAV (later W4YF) opened a Volkswagen dealership way
too soon after the war.

Yeah,Yanks were nowhere near accepting sub-compacts in that timeframe.
Nor were they very anxious to do biz with the Huns.

Jean and Jack were SURE that they'd stumbled on a good thing. If they'd
only waited five or six years...

How many times has this scenario been played out? Little guy sticks
his neck out, goes bust, big guys come along later and feast on it.

number of times on biz in Cincinnati and in KY. Where is WLW vs. the
airport?

The studios are downtown. The transmitter is up north of the city near
Mason, Ohio in the same general area as the VOA relay station was
located.

Dunno where I got the notion it was on the Kentucky side of the crick.

They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

Neat story. We were at the other end of the automotive spectrum. Dad
owned a '51 Pontiac and one day, one of the plugs unscrewed itself and
put a pretty good dent in the hood. Pop traded it for a decidedly
unglamorous '60 AMC wagon.

Hey I been there. Had a '64 Rambler American followed by a '72 AMC
Hornet Sportabout wagon. Then I bought my first Honda in '81. New
ballgame.

No ads for industrial designers. No ads for illustrators. Four pages
of ads for engineers. End of.

Engineers are generally the guys who make things work. Designers are
those who make them nice to look at. We all know of the exceptions.

Amen. I followed the niece's coursework thru Pratt. The artsy-fartsy
side is the least of it. Either ya already have it or ya don't and if
ya don't ya don't go to Pratt period. What she did get is piles of
courses in materials science, math thru Calculus, a good dose of
applied mecahanics (basic stress & deflection analysis),
manufaucturing engineering, etc. As she put it "Now I can at least
speak your langauge Uncle Brian." And she can too. In the meanwhile
she's up to her ears in computer graphics I can't even start to get
into.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
..

sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

It does sound as if it runs in the family.

Seems like. A cousin made a bloody fortune with his advertsing agency,
"retired" into being the Art Director for the Franklin Mint, was
elected a Fellow in the American Water Color Society and at 86 he
still has one-man shows in NYC twice a month. He's also a train nut, a
Pennsy fan. I have one of his train watercolors, one of his few
whimsical blasts from the past. One of these days I'll cobble together
a website and post it.

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

Oh yes, fully restored and sitting on a shelf to my right.

Uh-huh . . . Hmmm . .

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

No, not at all. Hallicrafters (and many other firms) were still building
the same basic receivers in a variety of cabinets through the decades
with few innovations or variations.

AMC Honda. Hallicrafters Kenwood.


W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

Sure do. It sits next to the S-40A. The engraved German silver dial is
super looking.

There's some trip bait . . I've always wanted to listen to one of
those '30s rcvrs but never had the oportunity.

So many of the ham radio dealers and parts houses have gone out of
business or have been bought by larger firms. West Virginia had
Chemcity Electronics back when I first got on the air. They had several
locations throughout the state and they sold amateur radio gear as well
as parts. This end of the state had a Cameradio shop.

Cincinnati had a number of places selling amateur gear. There was
Coston's. The "Saturday Night at Coston's" gathering of hams is the
stuff of legend. Queen City Electronics was run by John Dine WA8DFD.
R&L Electronics started in a garage in Hamilton, Ohio. In Dayton, there
was SREPCO. Cincinnati had a number of parts houses including Holub's,
Hughes-Peters, Mytronics, United Radio and the surplus house, Lapirow
Brothers.

Different times, different places. I guess there were exceptions but
in the '50s the Philly parts & radio distributors were clustered
downtown along Arch Street. A whole bunch of surplus joints and the
two big parts houses, Almo and Radio Electric Service Company, known
as RESCO. Both were family business single-location store front parts,
general electronics and ham gear distributors. Wanna a couple
resistors, no problem. A Collins rcvr and a "hi-fi" amp or a PA
system? Here ya go. Both still exist but in far different forms and
none of 'em have had anything to do with ham radio for decades. You
might enjoy this link.

http://www.almo.com/corporate/history.asp

Over the years there have been a few ham-only stores but they never
did very well and disappered. The parts stores still exist here and
there even today but they're few and far between so it's easier to
dial up Mouser and let the brown trucks do the running around. The HRO
store here has an armlock on hamdom in these parts today. I got stupid
and dropped into the store on a Saturday, unbelievable, there were
folks there from as far away as NYC and Baltimore, took two hours to
get to the cash register. No more "HRO Saturdays" for me!

In the end what matters is today and my view is that when it comes to
finding "good stuff" it's all out on the web in volumes the Almos and
RESCOS of days of yore never had.

I've noted Globe King 500-C's going for $3,000+. I was amazed to get
$775 for a 51J-4 the year before last.

NICE radio!

One of the big differences
between the modern marvels and the vintage gear is that one can still
obtain tubes and parts for the vintage rigs. I doubt that any of the
current stuff will be operational or repairable in fifty years. The
lack of a replacement switch, an LSI or an LCD display will doom them to
the scrap heap.

Tell me, I have a zonked TS-940SAT with all the options except the
voice card, it's been updated by the Kenwood factory shop to the final
production design and it's loaded with filters. I love the radio but
it's full of creaky old point-to-point wiring, weird switches,
unmarked ICs, etc. I found a local shop which specializes in 930/940s
and as soon as I get it fixed I'm gonna dump it and run with the money
while it's still worth a few bucks.

If/when I ever make it your place you'll have to let read some of 'em.

Once you start, there's no stopping. Allow me to whet your interest with
the following from 1977:

That's probably why I missed 'em. I was well into in my hiatus from
ham radio in '77.


"There were some local QRPers up the hill last week, the group including
one of those serious types. His beady eyes were everywhere, questioning
and checking. And the QRPers got to talking of Red Eye and the Palo
Verdes bunch, and Slim and the Hero of Mafeking. So we had to tell them
about the JA who in all seriousness had asked that alongside the obscure
jokes we place an explanation of what we meant. Perhaps we should have
kept the file sealed. 'Jokes?', says this serious one. 'Obscure jokes?
Where are they? Why, I've been reading the bulletin for some years now
and while there are things that sometimes I do not understand, I have
not noticed any jokes.' Son of a Gun!! What does one do in a situation
like that? The sky was blue, the day was warm and there had been a slow
joy in the group as they talked. But we realized that like a lot of
things, humor and DX and home cooking, that most things are relative and
sometimes more so. So we told the beady-eyed one that we would
underline them in his copy from now on, a service that perhaps others
might want and use. And for $14.00 a year, the enigmas of DX will
comeyour way in inscrutable prose, tangled, twisted and tortured...and
maybe stretched a bit. $18.00 will fling it at you by first-class mail
to the U.S./VE areas. $20.00 will fly it far down the moonpath to
Mexico and all the lands below the Tropic of Cancer and beyond the
meridians. Someday we may get the message...someday someone might get
the message to us."

Heh. Yeah, I gotta read some of 'em. We used to needle the clueless,
the innocnet and the gullible with our "secret communications" from
the "Bowling Team Captain's Committee".

I don't support the ARRL's "gimme" for tens of thousands.

Ham radio has bigger problems than this one.

Now Len can't
accuse us of not discussing amateur radio policy, his favorite topic for
some obscure reason.

A Putz is a Putz is a Putz, whatta bore.

SNORE

Dave K8MN

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

number of times on biz in Cincinnati and in KY. Where is WLW vs. the
airport?

The studios are downtown. The transmitter is up north of the city near
Mason, Ohio in the same general area as the VOA relay station was
located.

Dunno where I got the notion it was on the Kentucky side of the crick.

You're likely thinking of the old WCKY at 1530 on the dial. It is now
WSAI which was at 1360. Confusing enough for you? WCKY was owned by
L.B. Wilson, a Kentuckian and the call stood for W Covington KentuckY.
Transmitters are on a hilltop overlooking Covington and the studios are
in downtown Cincinnati.

They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

Neat story. We were at the other end of the automotive spectrum. Dad
owned a '51 Pontiac and one day, one of the plugs unscrewed itself and
put a pretty good dent in the hood. Pop traded it for a decidedly
unglamorous '60 AMC wagon.

Hey I been there. Had a '64 Rambler American followed by a '72 AMC
Hornet Sportabout wagon. Then I bought my first Honda in '81. New
ballgame.

Dad tried a couple of Buicks but has owned a number of Merc Grand
Marquis Limiteds over the last couple of decades. I'm a small car guy.
I'm now on my third Dodge Neon, this one is bright yellow and has a
spoiler.


I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

It does sound as if it runs in the family.

Seems like. A cousin made a bloody fortune with his advertsing agency,
"retired" into being the Art Director for the Franklin Mint, was
elected a Fellow in the American Water Color Society and at 86 he
still has one-man shows in NYC twice a month. He's also a train nut, a
Pennsy fan. I have one of his train watercolors, one of his few
whimsical blasts from the past. One of these days I'll cobble together
a website and post it.

Do it!

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

Oh yes, fully restored and sitting on a shelf to my right.

Uh-huh . . . Hmmm . .

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

No, not at all. Hallicrafters (and many other firms) were still building
the same basic receivers in a variety of cabinets through the decades
with few innovations or variations.

AMC Honda. Hallicrafters Kenwood.


W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

Sure do. It sits next to the S-40A. The engraved German silver dial is
super looking.

There's some trip bait . . I've always wanted to listen to one of
those '30s rcvrs but never had the oportunity.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance, I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat. If we talk about the modern era, I'm
partial to the 75A-3 (modified to A-4 with the Universal Radio product
detector) for the ham bands and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

You might enjoy this link.

http://www.almo.com/corporate/history.asp

I'll take a look.

In the end what matters is today and my view is that when it comes to
finding "good stuff" it's all out on the web in volumes the Almos and
RESCOS of days of yore never had.

I've noted Globe King 500-C's going for $3,000+. I was amazed to get
$775 for a 51J-4 the year before last.

NICE radio!

It fell into my "if you don't turn it on and use it" category. I found
other uses for the money. I need to reduce the size of my collection of
heavy iron and increase the number of dollars. I can use the dollars
for modern marvels.

Tell me, I have a zonked TS-940SAT with all the options except the
voice card, it's been updated by the Kenwood factory shop to the final
production design and it's loaded with filters. I love the radio but
it's full of creaky old point-to-point wiring, weird switches,
unmarked ICs, etc. I found a local shop which specializes in 930/940s
and as soon as I get it fixed I'm gonna dump it and run with the money
while it's still worth a few bucks.

Not a bad idea. I think I may have told you that OH7XM was trying to
repair a TS-850 for a fellow in Helsinki. He found that the frequency
display unit is no longer available. That's one of the things which has
kept me away from K'wood.



"There were some local QRPers up the hill last week, the group including
one of those serious types. His beady eyes were everywhere, questioning
and checking. And the QRPers got to talking of Red Eye and the Palo
Verdes bunch, and Slim and the Hero of Mafeking. So we had to tell them
about the JA who in all seriousness had asked that alongside the obscure
jokes we place an explanation of what we meant. Perhaps we should have
kept the file sealed. 'Jokes?', says this serious one. 'Obscure jokes?
Where are they? Why, I've been reading the bulletin for some years now
and while there are things that sometimes I do not understand, I have
not noticed any jokes.' Son of a Gun!! What does one do in a situation
like that? The sky was blue, the day was warm and there had been a slow
joy in the group as they talked. But we realized that like a lot of
things, humor and DX and home cooking, that most things are relative and
sometimes more so. So we told the beady-eyed one that we would
underline them in his copy from now on, a service that perhaps others
might want and use. And for $14.00 a year, the enigmas of DX will
comeyour way in inscrutable prose, tangled, twisted and tortured...and
maybe stretched a bit. $18.00 will fling it at you by first-class mail
to the U.S./VE areas. $20.00 will fly it far down the moonpath to
Mexico and all the lands below the Tropic of Cancer and beyond the
meridians. Someday we may get the message...someday someone might get
the message to us."

Heh. Yeah, I gotta read some of 'em. We used to needle the clueless,
the innocnet and the gullible with our "secret communications" from
the "Bowling Team Captain's Committee".

Not too much changes. After all, we're still needling the clueless, the
innocent and the gullible.

I don't support the ARRL's "gimme" for tens of thousands.

Ham radio has bigger problems than this one.

I don't know that they're bigger. They're mostly just "other".

Now Len can't
accuse us of not discussing amateur radio policy, his favorite topic for
some obscure reason.

A Putz is a Putz is a Putz, whatta bore.

We're not dealing with ordinary here. This one was in the BIG TIME once
upon a time.

Dave K8MN

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

Dunno where I got the notion it was on the Kentucky side of the crick.

You're likely thinking of the old WCKY at 1530 on the dial. It is now
WSAI which was at 1360. Confusing enough for you? WCKY was owned by
L.B. Wilson, a Kentuckian and the call stood for W Covington KentuckY.
Transmitters are on a hilltop overlooking Covington and the studios are
in downtown Cincinnati.

Probably, I do remember seeing BC towers on a hill near Covington.
Maybe that is where my confusion started. Usta run up and down 75 to
Lexington and Danville. Made Danville to the airport in two hours flat
on one occasion by golly.

Dad tried a couple of Buicks but has owned a number of Merc Grand
Marquis Limiteds over the last couple of decades.

Barge pilot huh? Pop has a USCG Master's ticket?

Went to the local Enterpise vehicle rental store a bit back, told 'em
I wanted the cheapest set of wheels they had for a week. Like the
$10/day Metro three-banger they'd been hyping. One thing led to
another, I wound up with some monster Pontiac for the price of the
three-banger. Talk about "road shock" . . I'll spare ya my thoughts
when I first squeezed the beast into a parking slot at my favorite
food emporium. Tried to. When I turned it back in a week later I still
hadn't found out what a third of the stupid bottons in the thing were
supposed to do. Maybe Ralph Nader was right after all.

I'm a small car guy.
I'm now on my third Dodge Neon, this one is bright yellow and has a
spoiler.

Yoicks . . . ! Didja install the mandatory resonator on the tailpipe
yet?

I'm big on small cars too, gots me a silly little 4 dr. '96
Chebby/Suzuki/Metro Geo w/150k miles on it. I keep telling myself I
really oughta get one for the other foot. Managed to blow a piston
last fall, $1,600 engine rebuild by my pet Benz wrench, runs like a
Swiss watch now. 'Cept my nickle-Extra N3 buddy backed his friggin'
monster Freightliner Classic into the rear end of my nice little Geo
and "reconfigured" a bit of sheet metal . . Back to the Benz shop . .
red body, green trunk deck and the rest is still in primer.

Dunno if I can trust it to make Wheeling & vicinity and back or not
but I'm seriously mulling that prospect come the warmer winds of the
days ahead. I figger if I gotta thumb it back home on the PA tpk. I
might as well do it when it's warmer.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Yeah, great start . . I like your National Blue and the brushed SS
panel concept a bunch for openers. Needs to be expanded though.

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.
Breakthrough systems design concept; "widely distributed CW
transceivers".

About as counter-miniturization as it gets right? So he's already
ingeniously solved that one. As a matter of policy I submit that we
should concentrate on just the packaging problem and let him handle
the "engineering". He is, after all, the group MSEE.

I'm thinking maybe your National Blue for the front surround and the
SS panel then maybe something like a flip-top transparent blue tinted
plastic cabinet along the lines of an iMac so that everybody could
actually see how it works. Could also include a built-in soldering
station for doing the never-ending mods? And a drawer in which to
store spare eight-pin tube sockets of course.

OK, so it would be about the size of a steamer trunk and it would need
castors to be able move it about . . details, details . . don't bore
me with stupid details, "I'm a concept guy . . "

Sure do. It sits next to the S-40A. The engraved German silver dial is
super looking.

There's some trip bait . . I've always wanted to listen to one of
those '30s rcvrs but never had the oportunity.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms. I used an HRO 50 when I
took the graveyard shift on 40M in my first-ever contest, a
neighborhood club Field Day exercise. Smooooth tuning.

I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat.

You got a 69 too??!

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/RME69.html

If we talk about the modern era, I'm
partial to the 75A-3 (modified to A-4 with the Universal Radio product
detector) for the ham bands

I'm partial to the 75A4 myself, I had one for years which had the
W2VCZ front end mods. Best 160/80/40 RX out there until rigs like that
later 940s finally came along.

and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

I've noted Globe King 500-C's going for $3,000+. I was amazed to get
$775 for a 51J-4 the year before last.

NICE radio!

It fell into my "if you don't turn it on and use it" category. I found
other uses for the money. I need to reduce the size of my collection of
heavy iron and increase the number of dollars. I can use the dollars
for modern marvels.

I hear ya and I agree, I'm on the same course.

Not a bad idea. I think I may have told you that OH7XM was trying to
repair a TS-850 for a fellow in Helsinki. He found that the frequency
display unit is no longer available. That's one of the things which has
kept me away from K'wood.

Sure I remember that one. Sad. So far it seems like the 940s are still
being supported at least to some extent. Plus there are still ten
jillion of 'em out there and for absolute fact the repair shops are
hoarding junkers for parts in this country. But it ain't last forever
like the tube rigs have.

Kenwood made itself a legend in the '80s and a lotta folk still yearn
for a new competition-grade xcvr but lookit the junk they're peddling
these days. TS-2000 . . gimmee a break! There are persistent rumors
all over about Kenwood cooking some killer new xcvr in the back room
but I'm not holding my breath.

I don't support the ARRL's "gimme" for tens of thousands.

Ham radio has bigger problems than this one.

I don't know that they're bigger. They're mostly just "other".

There's enough policy-shredding fodder running today to keep RRAP
running for YEARS to come.

Now Len can't
accuse us of not discussing amateur radio policy, his favorite topic for
some obscure reason.

A Putz is a Putz is a Putz, whatta bore.

We're not dealing with ordinary here. This one was in the BIG TIME once
upon a time.

"Plop-plop, fizz, fizz . . "

Dave K8MN

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

Dunno where I got the notion it was on the Kentucky side of the crick.

You're likely thinking of the old WCKY at 1530 on the dial. It is now
WSAI which was at 1360. Confusing enough for you? WCKY was owned by
L.B. Wilson, a Kentuckian and the call stood for W Covington KentuckY.
Transmitters are on a hilltop overlooking Covington and the studios are
in downtown Cincinnati.

Probably, I do remember seeing BC towers on a hill near Covington.
Maybe that is where my confusion started. Usta run up and down 75 to
Lexington and Danville. Made Danville to the airport in two hours flat
on one occasion by golly.

Cincinnati, like Rome, is built on seven hills. There are a number of
other hills on the Kentucky shore. Most of 'em have radio towers. I
operated from four spots during my days in the area: As WB4KTR/8, I was
a block off the U.C. campus on top of the hill in an area called
Clifton. I had no tower but was able to put a mast on top of the three
storey commercial building. I moved across the river to Fort Thomas in
'74 and operated from atop the hill in that town with a tribander on a
40' push-up mast. Site three was in Mt. Airy, across the road from a
nice, quiet 1600 acre city forest. I used a 60 foot tower there.
Finally, I moved to the west side of the city to Cheviot. That same 60
footer was used there and was then hauled around the world. There are
still tower bases for that one in the ground in Botswana and Tanzania.
The tower stayed in Dar es Salaam. The embassy now uses it for a
repeater antenna.

Dad tried a couple of Buicks but has owned a number of Merc Grand
Marquis Limiteds over the last couple of decades.

Barge pilot huh? Pop has a USCG Master's ticket?

You know the drill: Mom feels "safer" in the big car.

Went to the local Enterpise vehicle rental store a bit back, told 'em
I wanted the cheapest set of wheels they had for a week. Like the
$10/day Metro three-banger they'd been hyping. One thing led to
another, I wound up with some monster Pontiac for the price of the
three-banger. Talk about "road shock" . . I'll spare ya my thoughts
when I first squeezed the beast into a parking slot at my favorite
food emporium. Tried to. When I turned it back in a week later I still
hadn't found out what a third of the stupid bottons in the thing were
supposed to do. Maybe Ralph Nader was right after all.

In a tale similar to yours, we came back to the U.S. from Helsinki in
the late 90's and ended up with a Pontiac Grand Am. I was underwhelmed
with the underpowered, poor-handling beast.

I'm a small car guy.
I'm now on my third Dodge Neon, this one is bright yellow and has a
spoiler.

Yoicks . . . ! Didja install the mandatory resonator on the tailpipe
yet?

Naw, all stock. I stop using the performance tires when the factory
rubber gives up the ghost. It doesn't matter which tires I buy, the
twisty, hilly roads hereabouts make certain that I get only about 25,000
miles on them as the outside corners get worn down.

I'm big on small cars too, gots me a silly little 4 dr. '96
Chebby/Suzuki/Metro Geo w/150k miles on it. I keep telling myself I
really oughta get one for the other foot. Managed to blow a piston
last fall, $1,600 engine rebuild by my pet Benz wrench, runs like a
Swiss watch now. 'Cept my nickle-Extra N3 buddy backed his friggin'
monster Freightliner Classic into the rear end of my nice little Geo
and "reconfigured" a bit of sheet metal . . Back to the Benz shop . .
red body, green trunk deck and the rest is still in primer.

It'll fit right in here! Just be careful you don't end up with a deer
pasted to the front of it.

Dunno if I can trust it to make Wheeling & vicinity and back or not
but I'm seriously mulling that prospect come the warmer winds of the
days ahead. I figger if I gotta thumb it back home on the PA tpk. I
might as well do it when it's warmer.

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear. If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Yeah, great start . . I like your National Blue and the brushed SS
panel concept a bunch for openers. Needs to be expanded though.

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.
Breakthrough systems design concept; "widely distributed CW
transceivers".

About as counter-miniturization as it gets right? So he's already
ingeniously solved that one. As a matter of policy I submit that we
should concentrate on just the packaging problem and let him handle
the "engineering". He is, after all, the group MSEE.

I'm thinking maybe your National Blue for the front surround and the
SS panel then maybe something like a flip-top transparent blue tinted
plastic cabinet along the lines of an iMac so that everybody could
actually see how it works. Could also include a built-in soldering
station for doing the never-ending mods? And a drawer in which to
store spare eight-pin tube sockets of course.

OK, so it would be about the size of a steamer trunk and it would need
castors to be able move it about . . details, details . . don't bore
me with stupid details, "I'm a concept guy . . "

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

Sure do. It sits next to the S-40A. The engraved German silver dial is
super looking.

There's some trip bait . . I've always wanted to listen to one of
those '30s rcvrs but never had the oportunity.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms. I used an HRO 50 when I
took the graveyard shift on 40M in my first-ever contest, a
neighborhood club Field Day exercise. Smooooth tuning.

I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat.

You got a 69 too??!

Yeah--with 5 and 10m converter, and also from the same era an FB-7 and
an SW-3.

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/RME69.html

If we talk about the modern era, I'm
partial to the 75A-3 (modified to A-4 with the Universal Radio product
detector) for the ham bands

I'm partial to the 75A4 myself, I had one for years which had the
W2VCZ front end mods. Best 160/80/40 RX out there until rigs like that
later 940s finally came along.

Great receiver though the current pricing is too rich for my blood.

and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

Talk to me!

Dave K8MN

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear.

I'll bring the hot sauce. They don't call it "Total Insanity" for nothing.

If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

I got an air mattress for travel....

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .

aw geez...

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Miniature is for poodles.

Yeah, great start . . I like your National Blue and the brushed SS
panel concept a bunch for openers. Needs to be expanded though.

Too fruity for me.

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.

Anybody can make 'em small. I make 'em GOOD.

How many FD QSOs you make so far with the little stuff? The Type 7 did 629 one
year....

Breakthrough systems design concept; "widely distributed CW
transceivers".

It's called "modular design". The cat's meow.

About as counter-miniturization as it gets right? So he's already
ingeniously solved that one. As a matter of policy I submit that we
should concentrate on just the packaging problem and let him handle
the "engineering". He is, after all, the group MSEE.

"Anybody who says size doesn't matter never had a really big one".

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

Fits in a two-footer vertically with room to spare.....

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms.

Ugh. Ten turns to cover the band? Puhleeze, I did better in high school.

The Type 7 uses a cap from a junked BC-221. The Type 6 and 5 used caps from
ARC-5 transmitters.

Swords into plowshares.....

I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat.

You got a 69 too??!

Yeah--with 5 and 10m converter, and also from the same era an FB-7 and
an SW-3.

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/RME69.html

I copied one feature from RME: they didn't label much on the panel. They said
if you didn't know what the knobs did you shouldn't be using the set.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

Talk to me!

I probably have a plug that will work. And a line cord. Etc.

Got rid of all my Johnson gear, though (sniff). Adventurer, Viking 2 with 122,
Valiant.

73 de Jim, N2EY

(N2EY) wrote in message ...
In article , Dave Heil
writes:

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear.

I'll bring the hot sauce. They don't call it "Total Insanity" for nothing.

That's why you get the back deck.

If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

I got an air mattress for travel....

No thanks, I'd rather travel in my car.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Miniature is for poodles.

Yeah, like Audrey Hepburn.

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.

Anybody can make 'em small. I make 'em GOOD.

How many FD QSOs you make so far with the little stuff? The Type 7 did 629 one
year....

How many did it make last year?

My Type 75A4/T4XB did 1,000-1,200 several times in the CQ WW CW. And
you . . ?

"Anybody who says size doesn't matter never had a really big one".

SPARE us!

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

Fits in a two-footer vertically with room to spare.....

There ya go Dave, the four foot rack will work.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms.

Ugh. Ten turns to cover the band? Puhleeze, I did better in high school.

Better at what?

The Type 7 uses a cap from a junked BC-221. The Type 6 and 5 used caps from
ARC-5 transmitters.

Dayum, another N2EY stroke of genius. And here all us no-clues been
using these synthesizer thingeys, tsk, tsk, shame on us.

I copied one feature from RME: they didn't label much on the panel. They said
if you didn't know what the knobs did you shouldn't be using the set.

Anybody who doesn't know what knobs are for is a sick pup.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

Talk to me!

I probably have a plug that will work. And a line cord. Etc.

The cord is a no-brainer, it's the female 8 or 11 pin plug or whatever
it is which is problem.

Got rid of all my Johnson gear, though (sniff). Adventurer, Viking 2 with 122,
Valiant.

Good riddance, they're probably doing splendidly on 27 Mhz by now.


73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

(N2EY) wrote in message
...
In article , Dave Heil

writes:

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear.

I'll bring the hot sauce. They don't call it "Total Insanity" for nothing.

That's why you get the back deck.

"Fire in the hole!"

If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

I got an air mattress for travel....

No thanks, I'd rather travel in my car.

HAW!

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Miniature is for poodles.

Yeah, like Audrey Hepburn.

How'd you know she was one of my favorites?

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.

Anybody can make 'em small. I make 'em GOOD.

How many FD QSOs you make so far with the little stuff? The Type 7 did 629
one year....

How many did it make last year?

About 300 in SS, in a half-hearted effort.

My Type 75A4/T4XB did 1,000-1,200 several times in the CQ WW CW.

Sure - with ten times the power and big antennas, in a contest twice as long as
SS or FD.
With all the comforts of home and a spotting net......

And you . . ?

DX isn't my bag. Domestic contests are. One of the Barracuda Rules is that you
don't
try to beat the other guy at his game, you get him to play your game.

"Anybody who says size doesn't matter never had a really big one".

SPARE us!

How many you put in the log for 'RS?

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

Fits in a two-footer vertically with room to spare.....

There ya go Dave, the four foot rack will work.

Twice over.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms.

Ugh. Ten turns to cover the band? Puhleeze, I did better in high school.

Better at what?

Better at mechanical dials.

The Type 7 uses a cap from a junked BC-221. The Type 6 and 5 used caps from
ARC-5 transmitters.

Dayum, another N2EY stroke of genius.

You betcha, cost me maybe $5 for the whole VFO assembly. Including spares.

And here all us no-clues been
using these synthesizer thingeys, tsk, tsk, shame on us.

You had a synthesizer in 1972?

I copied one feature from RME: they didn't label much on the panel. They
said
if you didn't know what the knobs did you shouldn't be using the set.

Anybody who doesn't know what knobs are for is a sick pup.

Exactly. I have each one's functions memorized. Plus they are ergonomically
designed. No fatigue after hours of use.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

Talk to me!

I probably have a plug that will work. And a line cord. Etc.

The cord is a no-brainer, it's the female 8 or 11 pin plug or whatever
it is which is problem.

Count the pins and let me know, I have both. Plus the hoods and the clamps and
more line cords than I can remember. 2 wire, 3 wire, whatever.

Just as long as they're not the oddball 9 pin ones that EFJ used. Those things
are so rare that some owners have actually hacked into and modified their
Johnsons to mate with less unusual devices.

Got rid of all my Johnson gear, though (sniff). Adventurer, Viking 2 with
122, Valiant.

Good riddance, they're probably doing splendidly on 27 Mhz by now.

Not at all. The Adventurer doesn't work 'phone, the Vikings (I had 2) went to a
ham pal, and the Valiant went to an AMer.

The one Viking 2 was used to make my one-and-only 160 QSO. But that's another
story....

73 de Jim, N2EY

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:


Cincinnati, like Rome, is built on seven hills. There are a number of
other hills on the Kentucky shore. Most of 'em have radio towers. I
operated from four spots during my days in the area: As WB4KTR/8, I was
a block off the U.C. campus on top of the hill in an area called
Clifton. I had no tower but was able to put a mast on top of the three
storey commercial building. I moved across the river to Fort Thomas in
'74 and operated from atop the hill in that town with a tribander on a
40' push-up mast. Site three was in Mt. Airy, across the road from a
nice, quiet 1600 acre city forest. I used a 60 foot tower there.
Finally, I moved to the west side of the city to Cheviot.

Jeez. Didja ever get to completely unpack??

That same 60
footer was used there and was then hauled around the world. There are
still tower bases for that one in the ground in Botswana and Tanzania.
The tower stayed in Dar es Salaam. The embassy now uses it for a
repeater antenna.

"World's most traveled tower". Foggy Bottom did pay you for the tower
when you left it with 'em right?

In a tale similar to yours, we came back to the U.S. from Helsinki in
the late 90's and ended up with a Pontiac Grand Am. I was underwhelmed
with the underpowered, poor-handling beast.

I gave up on Detroit iron 20 years ago and I haven't run across any
particularly good reasons to go back.

Naw, all stock. I stop using the performance tires when the factory
rubber gives up the ghost. It doesn't matter which tires I buy, the
twisty, hilly roads hereabouts make certain that I get only about 25,000
miles on them as the outside corners get worn down.

I have some West Virginny time under my belt, I understand the "hills"
and the driving condx. A month in the coal mines in the Bluefield area
working an accident expert witness job was one of my "tours". Very
different part of the world when it comes to driving. And everything
else for that matter vs. here. Not a place for timid or anal drivers.

monster Freightliner Classic into the rear end of my nice little Geo
and "reconfigured" a bit of sheet metal . . Back to the Benz shop . .
red body, green trunk deck and the rest is still in primer.

It'll fit right in here!

Heeee!

Just be careful you don't end up with a deer
pasted to the front of it.

I'm tuned, we have monstrous herds of the things close at hand right
here, we do some *serious* deer-ducking too. At 60 mph on four-lane
divided highways.

Dunno if I can trust it to make Wheeling & vicinity and back or not
but I'm seriously mulling that prospect come the warmer winds of the
days ahead. I figger if I gotta thumb it back home on the PA tpk. I
might as well do it when it's warmer.

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear. If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

He gets the back deck, I get the guest room.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

OK, so it would be about the size of a steamer trunk and it would need
castors to be able move it about . . details, details . . don't bore
me with stupid details, "I'm a concept guy . . "

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

This is gonna be a class radio, right up there with the IC-7800, cost
in NO object.


I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat.

You got a 69 too??!

Yeah--with 5 and 10m converter, and also from the same era an FB-7 and
an SW-3.

Boy that's a real keeper, lotta WW2 history wrapped around that one.

I'm partial to the 75A4 myself, I had one for years which had the
W2VCZ front end mods. Best 160/80/40 RX out there until rigs like that
later 940s finally came along.

Great receiver though the current pricing is too rich for my blood.

Mine suffered a horrible demise, I doan wanna hear what they're worth
today!

and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

Talk to me!

Eventually. Bigger priorities are looming for now.

I'm gonna spend a few hours running with the big dawgs this weekend as
a reality check, third op at the N3RS baby multi in the ARRL CW DX
blast. Haven't done one of these for a quarter century, this is gonna
be UGLY.

Dave K8MN

w3rv

"Brian Kelly" wrote in message
om...
I'm gonna spend a few hours running with the big dawgs this weekend as
a reality check, third op at the N3RS baby multi in the ARRL CW DX
blast. Haven't done one of these for a quarter century, this is gonna
be UGLY.


I am definitely note a "big dawg" but having fun. Picked up a couple of new
DX countries while I was at it. However I've heard several that I'd like to
get with pileups just to big for me to break (Oman, Ivory Coast and some
others). Oh well maybe I'll get lucky sometime this weekend.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Brian Kelly wrote:

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:


Cincinnati, like Rome, is built on seven hills. There are a number of
other hills on the Kentucky shore. Most of 'em have radio towers. I
operated from four spots during my days in the area: As WB4KTR/8, I was
a block off the U.C. campus on top of the hill in an area called
Clifton. I had no tower but was able to put a mast on top of the three
storey commercial building. I moved across the river to Fort Thomas in
'74 and operated from atop the hill in that town with a tribander on a
40' push-up mast. Site three was in Mt. Airy, across the road from a
nice, quiet 1600 acre city forest. I used a 60 foot tower there.
Finally, I moved to the west side of the city to Cheviot.

Jeez. Didja ever get to completely unpack??

It was good training for the Foreign Service days ahead. Unpack
everything, put up the antennas, operate for two or three years, take
down the antennas, pack everything, move to a new location, unpack
everything, put up the antennas...

That same 60
footer was used there and was then hauled around the world. There are
still tower bases for that one in the ground in Botswana and Tanzania.
The tower stayed in Dar es Salaam. The embassy now uses it for a
repeater antenna.

"World's most traveled tower". Foggy Bottom did pay you for the tower
when you left it with 'em right?

Indeed they did and they paid to move it a bunch of times.

In a tale similar to yours, we came back to the U.S. from Helsinki in
the late 90's and ended up with a Pontiac Grand Am. I was underwhelmed
with the underpowered, poor-handling beast.

I gave up on Detroit iron 20 years ago and I haven't run across any
particularly good reasons to go back.

Most of the U.S. machines are now much better than those made a couple
of decades back. You'll find a few Q-ships though. The Pontiac Vibe,
for example, is a Toyota.

Naw, all stock. I stop using the performance tires when the factory
rubber gives up the ghost. It doesn't matter which tires I buy, the
twisty, hilly roads hereabouts make certain that I get only about 25,000
miles on them as the outside corners get worn down.

I have some West Virginny time under my belt, I understand the "hills"
and the driving condx. A month in the coal mines in the Bluefield area
working an accident expert witness job was one of my "tours". Very
different part of the world when it comes to driving. And everything
else for that matter vs. here. Not a place for timid or anal drivers.

We have some of both but they are usually self-removed from the gene
pool.
Unfortunately, they often take others with them.

Just be careful you don't end up with a deer
pasted to the front of it.

I'm tuned, we have monstrous herds of the things close at hand right
here, we do some *serious* deer-ducking too. At 60 mph on four-lane
divided highways.

The past couple of winters it hasn't been uncommon to come home at night
to find twenty or thirty of the critters on our place. They've even
bedded down right around the perimeter of the house.

Dunno if I can trust it to make Wheeling & vicinity and back or not
but I'm seriously mulling that prospect come the warmer winds of the
days ahead. I figger if I gotta thumb it back home on the PA tpk. I
might as well do it when it's warmer.

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear. If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

He gets the back deck, I get the guest room.

The guest room is comfy. The futon is twelve feet from the rig.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

OK, so it would be about the size of a steamer trunk and it would need
castors to be able move it about . . details, details . . don't bore
me with stupid details, "I'm a concept guy . . "

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

This is gonna be a class radio, right up there with the IC-7800, cost
in NO object.

Reminds me of OH2BH's classic tale of the Russian EMP-proof cellular
phone. It was all vacuum tubes and took up the trunk of a car.

Eventually. Bigger priorities are looming for now.

I'm gonna spend a few hours running with the big dawgs this weekend as
a reality check, third op at the N3RS baby multi in the ARRL CW DX
blast. Haven't done one of these for a quarter century, this is gonna
be UGLY.

I heard one of your ops calling LU2EWL on 10m yesterday.

Dave K8MN