The AM Forum

..been having fun on 50.400...but..using my yahooo ft847....not the same....are there any conversions about fer the dx60 to 6, or eico 720, etc?...seems rather difficult to find a 6 metre transmitter....

..sk..

There are some 6m transmitters out there Tim:

1.  There's the Clegg line of 6m transmitters and transceivers

2.  Heathkit made some 6m only transmitters

3.  The Ameco 62 did 6m as did some of the Globe Scout rigs

73,
Ellen - AF9J

Keep an eye out for a Lafayette HA-460 which had a 2E26 in the final for about 12 watts out, plate modulated, and also had a transmit VFO and a separate receive VFO all in one package. I'd love to come across one of those again!

Ameco TX-62 is a good bet! Tons of them out there, and there's a matching VFO. They usually sell for cheap. Not much demand?

then there's the Heathkit Seneca dual band TX;  they seem to go for more bucks than the Ameco for some reason. It has a built in 6/2 meter VFO. Either one will give you a good AM signal on six. Matches the Apache if you got one!!

Pete k1ZJH

They pop up on ebay from time to time. I saw two at Boxboro last year. I had several over the years. Took two to Dayton several years ago, rig, box, packing, mike, both cables, accessory hardware. They were part of some estate sale and this guy had three of them so I bought them all. They were all in great physical and working shape. Kept one for myself.

The Johnson Viking Ranger II's are 160 through 6 meter rigs so you can have it all.  And the good thing about this rig is they made lots of them and the price is still good. 

Al, n7ioh

   Gee, don't forget the Clegg Thor 6 and Clegg Zeus, Clegg 99er, Clegg 66er, Hallicrafters SR46, Gonset G50, Gonset gooney boxes, Communicater 4, Lafayette HA-650 battery powered portable , HA-750 mobile, Hallicrafters SR-34 and of course the Johnson 6N2 which was made to be run off of a typical Johnson HF transmitter's power supply and modulator. Stay away from the Lafayette HE-45 I think is the model number, terrible rig. This is just some from the top of my head, there are others, some rather obsure and rare. Knight kit probably had one too. Rob, I have a HA-460, maybe even 2 of them. Also have 2 HA-410's. You should not have much trouble finding a rig.....good luck.

.......Larry

...hey...i totally agree with the rigs, that did 6...but...try to find them...that's why i was thinking of converting something else...the last time i saw a seneca, it was a basket case, and the guy wanted way too much for it......

..sk..

I found a Lafayette HA-460 this summer.  In fact, there were two at the same time on qth.com and then I saw another two on ebay.com.  Sweet little rig.  Plate modulation!  Very clean looking 100% modulation on the scope.  I've also seen several Gonsets for 6 meter AM and even Heath Lunchboxes.  Check qth.com occasionally, you'd be surprised.

You could take an inexpensive transmitter, like a DX-60 beater, and modifiy the final to work as a doubler. The harmonic filter would have to be changed or modified. I wouldn't want to run a TX with a final that is a mutliplier, but that's me... A few early 6 meter rigs did... (Harvey Wells?)  I don't know if the 6CL6 stages could handle the mutlipication factor, maybe with a 12.xx MHz xtal to start with? the driver coil would have to be modified in any case, as would the final PA tank coil. I'm thinking retapping the 10 Meter coils...

Pete

Tim, I might have a Lafayette HA-460 for you.   It's a bit dirty, but I believe it works.  I need to check it out.

I can't agree with you on the HE-45!  Actually, I had an HE-45B and it was a great little 6 M rig!  Perhaps the original HE-45A wasn't as good.  The receiver sensitivity might have been a little on the low side, but a little preamp fixed that, and.... overall it was just a nice little rig.  I bought mine originally from the Lafayette Radio store here in Ft Wayne around  the 1964 time frame.  Got it with the nice little matching VFO and used it for several years on 6 M AM.  These rigs are fairly plentiful and I have seen several on eBay over the years...they seem to sell for around $50.00 or so.

73,  Jack, W9GT

   The affordable Lafayette HA-460 transceiver with a stable VFO has push-pull 6GW8's modulating its 2E26 final. Not the single ended Heising attempt of some others like the Gonset Goney boxes. The Clegg Thor transceiver also has push-pull 6DQ6's modulating a 6146 final, but may be expensive and are heavy to ship in two pieces.
  Both transmitters put some readable audio on a weak carrier.

    I got on 6 meters a year after being on 40 and 75 fone in 1957 with a Hoosac Valley radio club order of one of 12 Heathkit Sixers, next a Harvey Wells TBS-50 TVI generator, then eventually built a home brew 3E29 plate modulated by 6146's into a 6 element Telerex beam on a 24 foot boom. Now a few years later my beam is only 5 elements but its 166 feet above ground !  Man most of those WW2 pulse 3E29's were microfonic speakers. Yes, audio feedback between the D-104 and RF final tube!
 73  John, K1DEU

And, of course, who could resist the Li'l Lulus.

The receiver is on the far right.

(http://amfone.net/Amforum/gallery/25_30_12_07_5_01_14.jpg)

THe HE-45 was not without its problems. Many were sold with the audio output/modulation transformer primary winding leads wired into the circuitry reversed which resulted in low and distorted audio. The problem was corrected in the 45A and 45B but all suffered from drift. The HE-61 and 61A VFO's were wobbly and drift plagued. Lafayette later came out with the HE-89 6 and 2 meter VFO which was light years better for stability. If you pay $50 for a HE-45, you probably are desperate. $25 would be my tops and it would have to be in pristine condition. Lafayette also had a ten meter version of this rig called HE-50 and HE-50A. There was also a CB version called the HE-20, A, B, C. For 6 meter work, the HA-460 definitely runs rings around the HE-45 series. The HE-410 is the 10 meter version.

Off the top of my head I can't remember, but either early on in the HE-410/460 life cycle, or at the tail end of their life cycle, they actually used a different pair of audio output/modulator tubes then what they used for the majority of the life of the products. Power wise, the tubes were similar, but the pin connections were different.

There's an Ameco Model TX-62 over on Ebay now...current bid $1.02!

Looks in good shape and a bit over 4 days to go.

There was a 6M rig made by Utica model 650 with VFO -- it came out in the 60's.  It featured a 2E26 final and Heising mod.  I had the "chinese" copy of it by another outfit -- I think it was an Olsen.  I still have the XTAL mic for it after all these years.  I even the box for it after all these years.  When I first got married, I used that little rig exclusively for my operations mobile.  Yep, it had a vibrator supply and worked FB OM mobile.  I still have the rock for that rig (8.366 MC) that put me on 50.2 MC.

I ran that out of a 56 Ford -- the whole thing made it up Mt. Washington.  Here's a pic of the back side of the conbo.  Yep.  That's a Halo antenna on the backside of the Ford.I still have the log from that "station."  Still work Ted W1ALE from those days.  He was (is) on top of Plasua hill near Concord and could work him all the way to and from work.

Al

PS:  Credit for Utica 650 from QSL net listing of LA5KI

PPS:  Found this link afterwards:  http://www.nitrophotos.com/oldradios.html

     The Poly-Comm 6 is worth attention too, almost forgot about that one.....

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/Polycom6.htm (http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/Polycom6.htm)

Hi Tim..WEK mentioned E-Bay for an Ameco TX-62..there's also one listed on QRZ for $99..used to own that model..quite OK..plenty of mod and power around 30wts or so..included 2mtrs too..Clegg 99er and Swan 250C with a Heath SB110B were other ones that were OK not neccesarily AM on all..had a Gonset G50 too..Tim this stuff is out there but I'm not too gung-ho on E-Bay..bidding starts low then takes off to the stratosphere!..last Nearfest saw umpteen various rigs including the HA650..great guys here have given ya some good model#s..it wouldn't be impossible but rather extensive to convert a DX60 or the like to 6mtrs..better to keep searching..put out a "wanted" on QRZ or other similar forum..it does work!  gud luk 73 de DAVE

I wouldnt waste my time with flea power and instead try for 25-30W or more.

The Gonset G-50 is decent and a few mods make it better. I ran one a few years before finding a Clegg Zeus & Interceptor B.

The Knight T-150A using xtal control sounds nice and it has plenty of power to be heard in a roundtable or band opening. Thats what I use at our summer place with a modified SX-140 receiver.

The Johnson 6&2 go cheap if you dont mind building the PS and audio stuff.

Elmac AF-68 is another and all that needs is a PS.

Building a Heath DX something or other strictly for 6M is a choice as they are certainly everywhere. I wouldnt try adding 6M to the existing circuitry unless you have the equipment to do it right.

There are many 50-60's era 10M mobile rigs that are easy conversions to 6.

Carl
KM1H

I have this setup - the SR-46 with the VFO. It is a fun 6M setup and the RX is very sensitive.

The picture actually shows an SR-42 which is the 2M version, but they look about the same.

The Knight T-60 does 80 to 6 out of the box: it was a nice novice rig, and they had 6 on it for those who upgraded to Tech, back when techs could only do voice about 50 MHz.

Controlled carrier modulation, but you can't have everything.

Bill, W1AC

Saw two pretty clean Ameco 6&2s at the Berryville, VA hamfest today - $25 each. Even had an 8.3 MHz crapstal in them.

..ok steve, but what happened to them?....god i hope they dont find their way into some landfill site...


..sk..

I doubt it. If they didn't sell, I'm sure the guy took them home. But I couldn't say for sure. Wasn't my day to watch them. ;)

I had a DX-35  I modified for 6m back in the late 50s.   Had to have been an article in QST or 73 or CQ or ???.  If the article can be found, should be easy to do now days, probably enough info to be able to modify the -60.   

I used the DX35 with a pair of 5 element beams and a ground plane for 3 or 4 years. 

DX-35 on 6 Meters:
QST, December 1958, page 93, PDF available on the ARRL members web site

CQ, January 1957, page 48