The AM Forum

I was licenced in 82 as KA1IHQ.  I got on the air with an HW101 as a novice restricted to CW.  Had a blast working states and overseas with the 101.

Got my Novice in 1985 and on the air with an NCX-3. I was desperate to get on the air and this was the first rig I could get my hands on. Certanily would not reccomend one of these to a new Ham.

Sold the rig a long time ago. Ened up buying another one a few years back just to have one.

A pair of Gonset twins....what a piece of junk. Also my first OO report ...had chirp, hum, dirft and poor cw waveform all in one!!


B

1967 or 8
Lafayatte KT-320
Johnson Adventurer 50 watts
75 meter dipole and a 40 meter dipole that did double duty on 15
3 crystals did all I needed to do.
Had a blast.....

(http://home.comcast.net/~chnord/novice1.jpg)

My first novice station was a cast off (give away) KWS-1, 75A-4 set of twins complete with the speaker console and T/R switching setup given to me by my mentor Harry Amon in 1977. What a blast ;D Cushman all band vertical with 40 radials on a two story house. Somehow that rig just didn't understand QRP. I won't discuss what I traded that rig for.

WA6VTN than W8BAC now SK

In 1963:
BC-348R receiver
DX-60 transmitter

My first ham rig was a 6V6 driven by a Heath VF-1 on CW, about 15 watts I think.  I had a Lafayette HE-230 or something for a receiver, not bad.   The TX antenna was a coax-ded dipole, at about 20 feet, and I had the old SWL long wire around the back yard for receive.  It all worked pretty well.

My first ham phone rig was home-made AM transmitter by ham unknown, similar to a Viking I.  I got it from W2GJ in Oyster Bay, NY for $25.  It was an 829-B modulated by a pair of 807s using a Stancor A-3893 mod transformer.  About 120 watts plate modulated.  The 20-foot antenna height wasn't too good for AM oeration, so I raised the antenna to 40 feet, which made a big difference, as did upgrading to an old home-made transmitter using 813s modulated by 810s and a UTC VM-5 mod transformer, that I got from my old high school physics teacher.

Before my ham days, I had CB stuff, mostly homebrew except for some RCA unit with a speaker-mic that I converted to a carbon mike.  It was actually an improvement.  When that died, I ran all homebrew using parts from Lafayette radio.  My oscillator was soooo bad that I was halfway into the radio-control channel just above channel 11, but that made my weak liitle signal easier to hear on tunable receivers. I didn't have a CB license, so that wasn't really kosher.

Before that, I had some success with a screen-modulated 6V6 on 1620KHz - crystal controlled!!!  10XR (Ten XR) - Radio Atlantic!  It actually got out using my SWL long wire antenna.  Of course, that wasn't exactly kosher either.

I think my very first transmitter was a modified table radio where I modified the audio to use the speaker as a mic, I used the 12AV6 and maybe the 50C5 as a gain stage, and I modulated a grid on the 12BE6.  It worked for a while, and then it didn't modulate.  Oh well.

1961 WN4MLC.  BC-348, Home Brew 12BY7//1625, Long wire.  Had a BLAST!!!  My neighbor, W4CHT, was central to this effort.  He provided the BC-348 (on loan, I still have it) and scrounging rights in his junque box along with technical help.  The ultimate Elmer.  Thanks again, Fred!

de KE7NL

home brew xtal controlled 6aq5 on a wooden chassis, then a xtal 6dq6 home brew in a mini box. used
it on the 80 mtr novice band. rcvr was a big grunow console radio, xtal as bfo until dad bought me a
hr-10 rcvr kit for xmas (me just 16). fun fun fun, hw100 kit came later. fun

Every other rig history here is more interesting than mine.

o  First (CW) TX: Elecraft KX1 (QRP CW), This is about as protable as they come and I kitted it myself
o  Next CW TX: Elecraft K1, setting myself up with some high frequency QRP CW for the slowly growing sunspot cycle to come

o  First (CW) Contact: Some time in the 80's my Elmer at the time set up a Novice contact for me on his Kenwood Twins
o  Second CW Contact: The only contact I have had time to make on the KX-1 was into Long Island but got cut short by QSB
### only 2 CW contracts to my name ###

o  First AM Contact: Was just me givin' a shout out from Frank/KB3AHE's shack when I was last there visiting
### only 1 AM contact to my name ###

o  First AM TX: I have a Globe Scout Deluxe sitting on my bench awaiting the time and money to go over and put on the air.  It looks nice, but that's about all it does right now.
o  Next AM TX: I need to focus on getting my first AM TX working  :)

o  First RX: National NC-60, while my late Uncle Len was nice enought to give me, never was very good
o  Second RX: Sangean ATS-909, was all I could afford to start listening bedside again, and it's here at work for listening now, and was replace by an Icom IC-R75 bedside
o  Third RX: Drake R-8B, I shot the moon with this to get something serious in my slowly growing shack
o  Next RX: I'm trying to decide between a Hammarlund SP-400 or Drake R-4B, but I need to focus on getting my first AM TX working  :)

WPE9GPI/WN9OZC checking  in....Fisrt SWL receiver was a Knight Star-Roamer. First ham station was a Hallicrafters S-19R with a range filter on receive (later a Heath Q-Multiplier) and a Knight T-60 transmitter (Hey, if you lived around Chicago, you had a Knight rig of some kind!)

January 1975, WN2ZDY got on the air with a homebrew 6L6 with my only rock on 7123.  Had a Halliscratchers SX140 receiver that really sucked.   And what I interpreted to be a 40m dipole around the attic. 

Crap but I made contacts and had more fun than I've had in ham radio since.

Not too long after I upgraded to a Globe Scout then added a VF-1.  Liberated from the 7125 Radio Moscow transmitter!!!!

February, 1970: Heathkit Apache TX-1 and Heathkit Mohawk RX-1. I was 16 at the time and was awaiting my Novice license in the mail, which arrived in April as I remember. I loaded the Apache up to 75W input and used xtal control to stay legal on 15M and 80M CW as WN2OGS. My Dad loaned me $180.00 to buy them both used and they were in mint condx from a local ham. I paid him back every cent when I got my first job putting cans on the local supermarket shelf.  I passed the General in June of 1970 and added a Heathkit SB-10 for SSB that I bought for $75.00 from John Kakstys thru a QST advertisement, and turned the wick up on the Apache to 180W CW input, and started to run 150W AM input on 75M and 10M. I loved that combination and it got me WAS and close to DXCC using CW and SSB, but in retrospect, the Mohawk was a terrible receiver. The SB-10 was no winner either.

I still have that same Apache to this day; I could never part with it, as it is my connection to my earliest days in ham radio. It still sits at the primary operating position here at W2XR (formerly WA2OGS).

Like most of us, I later upgraded to homebrew high power plate modulated AM xmtrs and a lot of other SSB gear over the years.

73,

Bruce

In 1961
Johnson Adventurer transmitter - 7188 kcs xtal
Hallicrafters S-38E receiver
Indoor 40 meter dipole strung along baseboards of 3rd floor apartment.

Johnson Viking 2.

...NO NOVICE CLASS HERE IN CANADA...FIRST TX WAS A VIKING2,AND BC348-L.   GOT MY TICKET ON MY 15th B'DAY,AUG 26/'75...U HAD TO BE AT LEAST 15 TO GET A TICKET THEN....CUD OPERATE ALL BANDS,CW...AFTER 6 MONTHS YOU CUD APPLY TO GET UR FONE TICKET FER 160,AND 10 METRES...AFTER AT LEAST 1 YEAR,YOU WROTE EXAMS THAT ALLOWED YOU ALL BANDS,AND MODES...NO RESTRICTIONS AS TO WHERE YOU CUD OPERATE...THE FIRST TICKET ALLOWED YOU ALL MODES,30MHZ,AND UP...THE FIRST TICKET WAS 10 WPM CW,THE SECOND WAS 15 WPM....KINDA MISS THOSE DAYS...THAT'S WHY I'M HERE NOW...HAVING FUN WITH THE OLD STUFF AGAIN....TIM....SK...

My First Novice station, Dec, 1964:

Ant: Gotham Vertical with no radials


(http://www.ugo.com/images/galleries/batmanbegins_games/1_th.jpg)


TX: Borrowed Heathkit DX-20
RX: Borrowed HE-30 Lafayette Receiver
Three Xtals:  3716, 3744, 7175

This is a scanned polaroid from 1994. It's midnight right now and this is about all I'm willing to admit to.

W2FNT is now a permanent resident of a nursing facility and I'm sure he'd enjoy a QSL.  I know I spent a lot of Saturday mornings in his basement as a kid.   He had that place filled with racks of rigs that would fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at today's prices.   Back then though it was just a place to do some horsetrading.  And with the crowds that showed up on his little dead end street on Saturdays, John's neighbours hated him!

John Kakstys
New Jersey Veterans' Memorial Home
P.O. Box 3013
Edison 08818-3013

1968, I think in the fall. WN3OBC

Globe Scout 65a and a Heathkit GR-64 that was later side stepped by a HR-10b. Home made tuner to a 40M dipole.

It can only go downhill from there  ;D

My first was a HW-7.  Never made a contact with it.  I learned to hate direct conversion receivers, QRP, and CW at the same time.

My first rig was a Johnson Viking Valiant that I bought off of the AM Swap Net. It was teamed up with an HQ 170A.

Heathkit HW-17 on 2 Meter AM.  What a lousy radio!  Sold it a few months after I built it and bought a TDQ and BC-348 that I used for the next ten years.  Still have them.

Jim
W2BVM

My first hf rig was an R-390A paired up with a griefkit Marauder that I bought from another ham who couldnt fix it. The tx was a drifty p.o.s. that we affectionately named the "Merry Udder". It now resides in the "Vortex Joe" museum, and I still have the 390A to this day.
                                                      The Slab Bacon

Before I got licensed I had an ARC-5 rcvr that a local ham down the street got me in Boston at a surplus house on the wharf. He built me a supply and I was off listening to AM on 75. Before that I had a crystal radio called a 'Rocket Radio' but that didn't count cause it wasn't a HAM radio.
When I got licensed as a novice I bought a HQ110 and  HT-40.
Still have the HQ110! One of my first contacts was DX. Well to me it seemed DX. It was an ofshore island afterall.
It was Nantucket on 80 meter CW.

Regards
Q

For me it was a used Heathkit DX-60B and an assortment of xtals. The RX was a Hammarlund HQ-110 which I greatly miss. I later upgraded to a Johnson Valiant 1.

73, Jim
WA2AJM

My first rig was a Valiant, resued from the scrap heap. First recieved I tried was an old Detrola tabletop.  Soon after I picked up  a Hallicrafters S-85.  Later on I got the R-390A... thats it for AM.

Homebrew 6V6GT upgraded to 6L6GT
GR64 with Q mult and homebrew preselector.  STRAP! ... , - , -.- , .- , .--.

First rig was a Home brew 6146 xtal oscillator transmitter from 1957 ARRL Handbook and an old Zenith 7S363 broadcast receiver with another little ACDC set along side to heterodyne in the IF for a BFO.  Ran a Novice KW of 75 watts and had a ball!  Haven't had as much fun since, as I did during my Novice year 59-60.  Sometimes I wonder where the thrill of radio went with all the appliance operating that goes on now.  Sure was a lot of fun back then.

73,  Jack, w9GT

Wow Jack your crystal must have run hot hanging off a 6146.
My third rig was a 6146 but had a 6AG7 crystal oscillator which cooled it down.
Then I got a VF1 and built a 6L6  modulator   

I was KN0VDD back in 1959, working a coax bazooka in my folks attic with a DX-35 and an HQ-110.  Used a knife switch as a T/R relay.  Like an earlier post, I loved that HQ-110 receiver.  So much that I bought another one a few years ago.  After listening to it with a more mature ear, I wonder what I was thinking.  The DX-35 remains in a dear spot in studio B. 

I like the story about the Elmer who helped folks by donating Gold Dust Twins as a first rig.  Guess it's too late for me to be adopted...

Speaking of marginal receivers....  after my first three days of calling CQ with no answers using the Gotham vertical on 3716, I put up a dipole and worked the whirl for a day. Then my buddy wanted the borowed receiver back.  I was so hard up, for a few weeks without a receiver, I called CQ on the DX-20 at least once a day just to imagine all the stations coming back.  In pity, my ham uncle in Ohio sent me a BC-348 and it was heaven.   ;D

T

Hey,
I also had a rocket radio and connected the rod out the top to the baseboard radiator and WTIC came in great. Mine was red.
My parents bought me a couple crystal radio kits before they let me use line voltage
in 7th grade. Dad would give me crap when I used all the extra fuses. Then I learned of the cool screw in breakers with the little push button reset.
Later they put an addition on the house and upgraded to 200 amp service with breakers. The 4-1000A came soon after that.
Tom Vu didn't you have a 750TL crystal oscillator driving the gotham?

In 1968 the Novice station consisted of a Drake 2-NT and an HQ-110.  Had a 2 EL Gotham 15m Beam  :o and Vees for 75 es 40M...

and they ask how I can send CW with no side tone (as I mute the RX).   Oh, I reply, I do have a side tone, don't ya hear it?  They can't and shake there heads.   I then tell them to listen to the hum of the power trannys as I key down!   ;D 

I'm much the same way. I prefer to listen to the hum of the transformers, and like the reassurance I get from from the vibration that goes through the operating table as I key down. I also listen to the mechanical key clicks much like a landline telegrapher would do with a sounder.

73, Jim
WA2AJM

Yes, believe it or not, it was a 6146 xtal oscillator.  Used a pilot lamp in series with the crystal to monitor the xtal current and keep it below the self-destruct point. 

Yeah, my comment about wondering where the thrill of radio went was somewhat tongue in cheek.  I certainly love my boatanchor rigs and really enjoy working AM and CW, just like the good old days.  I guess, I somewhat lament the fact that so many younger hams just don't understand how playing with the old junk could be so much fun!

73,  Jack, W9GT

6DQ5 sweep tube power oscillator with VR tube on the screen, xtal controlled, CW only on an inverted bread pan. Outboard power supply, homebrew. Ran 15 watts on 40 & 80 meters with xtals that were right near foreign commercial short wave stations. Made up call letters WN2ACW laret switched to WN1ACW when I found out that the number had a meaning. This was in 1967-1968, my pirate years. Most fun I ever had in ham radio. First qso was from Plainville, Ct. to Bridgeport, Ct. 2nd was to Corbin, Kentucky and WAS I THRILLED. Upgraded to DX-40 and then to Elmac AF-67 later . Still have the rusty old rig in my cellar. Just can't seem to get myself to throw it away. Too much nostalgia. I might even clean it up & get it back on the air someday.
Precious memories.

OK, I already posted, but this is a great thread. Almost as fun as my JN days

In 1964 at the age of 11 -and unlicensed -I joined the local club at Field Day. I was allowed to operate a “Twoer” on my own. One of the older (16?)* licensed ops took a color Polaroid pic of me with my hand on the xmt switch. They kidded me and said they would send the pic to the FCC. I was so scared that I did not sleep for the first week of school vacation.
 
I also confess to AM with suppressed carrier bootlegging in 1969. Came home from HS, as a JN and searched the Callbook for a HS station in "2" land to use as a call. Called CQ terrified that the real 2 station might hear me. I was so nervous when someone called back I gave them a fake name and went QRT b4 the FCC van could show up.

* The names are hidden to protect the innocent but I have had a table with this K1 at Hosstraders for the last 9 years

My first ham radio AM rig was a Viking 2 as I said earlier. But thinking back further my first "rig",in as far as something that puts a  signal out over the airwaves was a little low power transmitter that transmit CW on the AM bcast band. It used a coil of wire for an antenna and according to the book was only supposed to transmit over a hundred feet or so. We lived in attached 2 story railroad  flats in Brooklyn back then and I got reports from neighbors that  my little transmitter was heard  over half a block away. This was in the early 1960's and I was  about 7.

My first attempt at a CW "ham transmitter" was a 3 tube 4 watt 40 meter cw rig that I built according to a schematic  in a book. I knew next to nothing about proper placement of RF components but it did light up and I managed to get it to  oscillate. But it was extremely unstable and I never  actually used it on the air. Plus I wasn'tlicensed yet anyways.

I used to CQ over and over, just listen to my bug click.

 Perhaps it might be interesting to also mention the first AM rig we had.  I started out on AM in 1960 with a Knight T-50 transmitter utilizing a Globe screen modulator.  probably ran a max of 25-30 watts, if that much.  Wow!! I was actually on fone, with the big guys.  This was my first commercial transmitter and I was really excited about it even if it was miniscule in size and power.  I also had a Heath VF-1 VFO and the (in)famous AR-3 receiver.  The AR-3 had the relative sensitivity of a cardboard box, but it was a real receiver with a BFO!!!  So I could actually copy CW with it without having to heterodyne another radio in the IF like I had done with my old Zenith.  I even acquired a Heath Q-multiplier later and added it to the AR-3 for some selectivity.  Unfortunately, I found out that it even further reduced the sensitivity.  Anyway, I sure had a lot of fun with that rig and worked a lot of contacts all over the place with QRP PW AM.  P W stands for peanut whistle, doesn't it?  I often found that with good conditions, especially on 40m which was my favorite band, that I could work just about everything that I was able to hear.  Great fun!!! :) :)

73,  Jack, W9GT

Viking 1 (now the infamous Viking Bud), S-38C w/ QF-1, Vibroplex Blue Racer cir.1963 (a gift on license day from my elmer WA8MXU), Hygain vertical on the ground for 40/80 meters. Xtals 3725, 7125, 7135.

I got licensed in March of '83 with my current callsign. First on air rig was a Yahoo FT-101EE picked up from a CBer for the then-princely sum of $500. It still had the protective plastic on the panel. Made my first CW contact with it, DX at that! Okay, so Ontario isn't really DX, but it was another country. I recall my girlfriend got bored and went back downstairs while I sent code. After what seemed like 20 minutes or so, I went down to announce my victory to all, only to be told it had been 2 hours! Time flies when you're having fun? Must've been a tad nervous, because I know I didn't say very much beyond di-di-di-di-di-dit...

Also listened to the invasion of Grenada on that rig, even heard the putz Dan Rather get tossed off the air when he tried to get an interview with Mark Baratella(?) on the outgoing-only frequency.

Something always seemed off about the receiver, or maybe 'numb' is a better word. The $5 RAO-7 really pulled in the stations, and it was WWII surplus. So I saved my pennies and did a lot of reading for the next year or so. Discovered the KWM-2 transceiver, found one for sale in Illinois in the back of CQ mag for $550 and bought it. (Sounds scary today, but most all hams were still pretty honest back then). Set it up next to the '101 with an antenna switch between. Tuned them both to the same frequency and was astounded at the difference. It seemed like the signals were ten deep on the Collins, and you could pull them all out. And it was a decade older! Still have my original key and "homebrew dipole", but the Yahoo went down the road fast, years before 'VZR tried to make the '101 Toss an Olympic sport.

First AM transmitter? Did the Yahoo 101EEEEEEEEE! have AM? Can't remember, but if it did, I never used it. So it would be a toss up between the CE-200V and KW-1 that I got in a deal for a 'bunch of junk' from an antique shop in '88. And since the 200V still isn't fixed, the KW-1 is probably the weener. That or the 32V I got in another pile of 'boatanchor crap' from a local dealer. Wish I could find the box with my old logbooks. I'm just thankful for being crazy/foolish/gullible back then, hauling off all of that heavy, outdated stuff.

Carl, you're right: that was a pretty special time in my radio life, too. One of my radio rooms consisted of a small upstairs closet no deeper than 3 feet, with a slanted ceiling and only enough room to step in and sit down. Many an hour of wonder was enjoyed squeezed up next to the small shelf holding the radio, headphones pressed to my ears, trying to pull out that next letter. Hmmm...was that a P or X.....?

javascript:void(0);
SmileyIt was the summer of '62. I got my Novice Ticket as KN3ZFW. My Dad bought me an NC 2-40D and an EICO 720 with 4 PR 40M XTALS. Several months later, another Ham gave me a SpeedeX bug. Boy! Did I have fun!! That XMAS I got a HeathKit Twoer and put an Astatic 200 xtal desk mike on it. My dear Dad saw me having so much fun that he got his ticket as KN3ZPY. Wish my Dad was still around..javascript:void(0);
Cry.

Now I know where all the money was in 1955.  We sure didn't have it in rural Oklahoma.  I started with a BC 45(X) , whatever the number was, for 80 meters.  Converted it to xtal control and used an ARC 5 Receiver as a Novice.  When I received the Conditional ticket, I found the same transmitter and left it VFO, also found the 40 and 20 meter versions plus the two place rack for them.

Then after having the Conditional license for about 4 months I won the preregistration prize winner at my first hamfest.  The prize--and Elmac AF-67.  I chopped cotton all summer and pulled boles (remember that term) that fall until I could afford the factory power supply. 

After I paid for it, I worked for a farmer until I had the 15 dollars to buy some sort or military receiver that was better than the ARC 5.  I don't even remember the nomenclature.  I had one push up pole so I used a long wire for 80 meters until I went mobile in 1961.  Used the Elmac wilth a home brew crystal converter into the car radio of a 1956 Ford Fairlane.  You shudda seen the cap hat on the antenna.

You guys had it easy.

  "I chopped cotton all summer and pulled boles (remember that term) that fall until I could afford the factory power supply."


I have to ask, What dose "Pulling Boles" mean?

Dumb Northerner,
Mike

The answer lies in the phrases, Pick Cotton and Pull Boles.  Pick Cotton came from the fact that people pulled the cotton fiber from the boll so ilt was without the hull around it (assuming you have seen cotton on the stalk).  It is like a pecan that the hull opens and the fruit is inside the hull.  Picking cotton is a very old phrase before the gins could seperaate the cotton from the "bole".

Later the gins could do that separation so the entire boll could be pulled and sent to the gen.  So the phrase "Pull Boles" came along.  All this happens in the dead of winter, usually January after the boll opens.  Now that machines do all the work, they wait until after the first freeze for the leaves to fall from the plant.

                    "The answer lies in the phrases, Pick Cotton and Pull Boles"

.... and I thought it was  about bugs.....   klc

It was about bugs in a roundabout way.  If the bole weevils got the stuff first (they're bugs) the cotton was ruined.   So picking the boles ahead of the weevils is the idea.

An Icom 2At.  :-[

We didn't even SEE cotton plants in actuality until I brought Pat down here to NC in late '04 to check out the area!

The first rig here was a Swan 500 that I fired up on 16 October 1982 and worked a guy in Sewicklay, PA (George) as my first QSO, (KA3BNI).  His QSL is in a frame in a box up in my shack.  Funny thing was that Rebecca, N1GZD, several years later when she got her JN licence, worked George as HER first QSO but his call had changed to a N3 at that point.

That Swan had a selctivity as wide as a barn door which didn't suit my proclivities for CW.  I still work a lot of CW and go to AM for fun when the spirit moves me.  I quickly found a Drake R-4A for getting more selecivity!  I hope to have my stuff ALL unfurled by December and will fire up the SX-101 and Ranger on 40m to catch up with all of my New England friends!

Steve, W1ES/4
Triad Region, NC

I received my Novice ticket on March 31st, 1980 when I was living in Forsyth, Montana. My Elmer was Paul Fourtner, K7ISW and my callsign was KA7GXF. I lived in Montana from 1977 to 1982. Quite a change for a kid from Brooklyn! My first station consisted of:

Johnson Ranger II transmitter (it cost $75.00 from Conley Radio in Billings)
Drake 2-A receiver with the 2-AQ speaker/Q-multiplier (also from Conley Radio)
15 Meter dipole constructed of speaker wire stapled across the eaves of the house

Somewhere I have a picture of my first station, but who knows where it is. What started out as a cost-savings necessity became an admiration for vintage equipment that still holds true to this day. 26 years later, it is still a very important part of my life now, just as it was when I was a 13 year-old kid. What a great hobby!

Hello All,
          The first "real" transmitter I had was a B&W 5100B I used with an R-390. rx. Previous to that I used any number of homebrew 6V6 and 6L6 PW transmitters, and old 1930's type "allwave" receivers.
Regards,
            Joe Cro N3IBX
           

I got my no code tech in 92 and resurrected an old BC-625 transmitter, part of the SCR-522 military set, that I found in a barn, it was set up for 6 meters AM. I used a Hammarlind HQ-110 receiver that a good friend gave me. Had to wash the mice nests out of the 625. Change over was strictly manual.

First licensed in 1959, age 12 as KN8WVI. Receiver was a borrowed Heathkit AR-3. Transmitter was a borrowed DX-40.  The Heath receiver was lousy at best but the QF-1 helped & sunspot activity was very high in th 1959.

Saved up my pennies & bought a used Hallicrafters SX-115, my first decent receiver. Then, in what may be the dumbest equipment move in the history of ham radio, I traded the SX-115 (+ cash even) for a new Tempo One SSB transceiver. Today the SX-115's are going fo $1K+ while the Tempo ones can be had for $75.

Ah yes, the days of WB8FRZ; JN extraordinaire, 1970

HQ 110 A/C
hb single 6v6 xtal osc. into pi net.
40 m folded dipole fed with 300 ohm saxon twinlead. - neat stuff had little blue plastic spacers about every 4 inches.
hb ant. tuiner.

Dipole and tuner didn't work. I wonder if the "dual drive" rubber band from knob to knob on two 365 pf caps was at fault :o

rigged up a decent "75 ohm" dipole and fed with rg59.-  finally loaded up fine.
My first QSO was with a station unknown.  I was so nervous I couldn't copy well. I swear the only copyable phrase was "not the tiger, eh rick?"..   And that after endless hours with the same CW training record.  Well, it was 33 1/3 rpm.

Circa ~1967-1968 in my parents basement, Bronx NY.

The rig is a pretty exact copy of the 6146 screen modulated xmiter from the '67 handbook. The receiver was an ARC jobbie, but soon to come was a Heathkit SB-301 which I had to extort out of my old man... heh. The ant. was strung on top of the adjoining 6 story apartment buiilding eventually, it started in the canyon which was the backyard surrounded by other 6 story apartment buildings. We had one of the few "private houses" on this block.

Wish I had grasped a bit more theory back in the day and had built up a plate modulated rig back then, or used a bigger toobe! Of course I was rock bound, called CQ on CW and tuned up and down the band looking for a reply... but that handbook project looked as complicated as I could handle, and the parts costs were modest so I built it... still have the rig today.

Oh yeah... now I remember, max input for a novice was 75 watts!! That's right. So, that's why it was a single 6146.

DX was Mark, WN2GCS, and Peter, whose call I can not recall... they were about a block and a half away...
Bob W2UO (sk) was my mentor, and gave Mark and me the Novice exam on his dining room table... he had a Harvey-Wells Bandmaster (?) and an NC-101A receiver, then shortly thereafter the Yaseu FTDX-400, which looked to us like the greatest imaginable piece of gear... used to go over to Bob's place and hang out for hours talking radio. I was WN2GCR back then... Note the 4CX5000 pull sitting on its side, or maybe it was the 4CX10000... Bob was chief transmitting engineer for WOR back then... His olde NC-101a sits here living a pampered existence.

That shack never really looked that good, I recall cleaning it up and using the self timer to pose for the shot...  ;D 

Oh, hey, the keyer was a home built key from a QST project, and the electronics were from Digi-Key!! That's how they started, same company!

(http://home.comcast.net/~w1qwt/images/rockrad.jpg)
This was my first receiver. Use to monitor the 300 to 200 meter band with this Rocket Radio crystal set.
Then I got a ARC-5 which could do 75 meters and as I said before once I got my Novice license (WN1QWT) I got a HQ-110.

Regards
Q
W1QWT

wow! my rocket radio was red. WTIC came in real good when the wire was connected to the base board heat.

Yea, that is the first blue one I have ever seen. Mine was red, and i assumed that all of them were red!

must be a cheap knockoff with substandard components....   klc

My first radio was posted before - the Air Champ crystal radio kit, in Boy Scouts clothes.  that was '54

My next radio was the Air Champ two-tube radio in the summer of '55.

BTW - if anybody has a picture or any info about it, I might give up body parts for it.   ;D

First ham rig was a Globe Chief 90A and an AR-3.  Yea, the AR-3 sucked on the upper end of the 20, 15, and 10 meter band, but 20 m. was not bad....but I'm getting ahead of myself.

My particular AR-3 had an unstable component somewhere in the 40m range and I couldn't use it because it would unexpectedly jump frequency at random times.  That left me with 80m, on 3725.  But that was excellent.  I had the QF-1 for the receiver, and that helped immensely in those days, the bands were very crowded.

First antenna is hardly worth mentioning...a random length folded dipole in the attic.  Well, I got 569's from 20 miles away.  Argh.  Finally got a full size folded dipole and then worked most of the eastern half of the country.

When the general came, I tried using a borrowed VF-1 until I got an "advisory notice" from the FCC along with a copy of a Canadien monitor report that claimed I was somewhere around 8 MHz!  Well, at least it was only and advisory.

When I finally got the Knight V-44 I scraped together whatever it took to get enough wire for a 20m dipole and some 72 ohm twin lead, and my first contact was thewest coast - Washington state.  Yippee!

The next upgrade was a Knight R-100, and I loved that one.  It was as sensitive as the catalog claimed, so I was finally on all bands.  Shortly thereafter I got a HyGain 14AVS and started "real" radio.

And again soon, I'd gotten rid of the Globe Grief and had a shiny new Eico 720 on the air.

But before that, I'd had the Globe screen modulator for the "grief", but didn't use it much.  Instead I built the push-pull 6AQ5's out of the '62 handbook, and that worked really well.  I had a borrowed DX-20 and used the 'AQ's to screen modulate that.  Worked good.  But then, when I got the Eico and got down to hooking up a screen modulator I decided that I'd rather use plate modulation at lower power 'cuz the xmtr was already set up for that.  That rig stayed in place through '62 and early '63.  In those days, 10 m AM was busy locally, and I used the rig a lot for local contacts and the local radio club net on Thursday night on 29.610.

Then, in '63 I got an HX-20 and started down the SSB path.

Re:  "it was more fun then..."

Yep.  The novice bands were very crowded, and there were lots and lots of fun contacts to make and friends to make.  ('course up on the AM bands it was wall to wall carriers...)  CQ's were usuallly answered fairly quickly. 

My first contact, the day my license came, was at the rig of the ham across the street.  He had a DX-100 and a brandy-new SX-111 that he'd just gotten at Duffy Radio in Detroit.  He trade a RME-45 for it. 

Remember how the ear wax would collect in the head phone of the rocket radio....

Yeah, and if you collected enough of it you could use it to seal the slugs in IF transformers.

45-year flashback:
Did anyone else ever unscrew the little cover off of one of those wax-collecting earpieces?
IIRC, there was a resistor in there...Wasn't there?

I used my Rocket Radio at the home of my grandparents in Omaha.

The *best* antenna I found was the metal finger stop on a rotary telephone.I could get WOW and KFAB just fine. At the same time.

we only had one phone in the kitchen but yes that worked also. Didn't have a third wire in the outlet to try so had to settle for the baseboard.
AH the day Dad took me on the roof to put up a wire from the chimney to the close line pole. 67 feet end fed with TV 300 ohm lead I was so gotham strappin.

I have read posts where people have said that the original manual suggested trying either side of the AC wall outlet to use the mains wire as your antenna.   ???

David,

Used the mains for an antenna on many "xtal" type radios, zip cord with one side hooked to the main and the other wire on the radio, so had capacitive coupling to the electrical system. Worked great, and no danger of killing yourself. Would recommend it today, but only if you were as smart as I was at 10.

My first rig in Feb 1963 was a homebrew 6DQ6 keyed oscillator and an S-107 into either a 80 or 40 meter folded dipole made of 300 ohm line and feed through a set of Heathkit Balun coils. I still have those Balun Coils, but they have gotten a little smashed in the last 43 years, I was looking at them a couple of weeks ago thinking I should try and straighten them out. Oh, well, another project I may get around to some day.

73, Marty WB2RJR

On several occassions I loaded up one wire of the unused pair in the phone jack.  In an apartment complex I can just imagine the chaos that caused but it worked.

Hey. . .   I've been trying to figure out what to use for antenna here in this super restricted subdivision where I don't have even an attic nor a tree outside to run a #24 wire to.   This house is wired with Cat5 to every room, and I'm not using it.   It's all wireless here.  Hmmm . . .   I'm liking this idea.  No connection anywhere except to a junction block in the wiring closet.  Yeah, I'm liking this idea . . .

Open or closed eves??? If you have  to, try an ant there.. If you have a peaked roof, you may be able to get away a center fed on the back side of the house.  klc

 first ticket was WN2OMH and i came on in 1970 with a 3-6 MC ARC-5 receiver, and 6L6 xtal osc. link coupled with 500 volts on the plate to a 75 foot end fed wire and tuner on 80. i later found it was a great match with no tuner on 40. used it on 40 when Dad was in a good mood and let me use his BC-348 there. before and during that time i also used to get on 3885 with his DX-60/HG-10, using his call (before he would come home from work, HA!) and got beat up BAD by the likes of Timtron and Chuck WA1EKV. Bill W3DUQ was a bit friendlier, but i was piss weak and yellowy to the max! being 14 and trying to cut it with those guys was a trip, and helped build fortitude for a life on 75 AM. a "QSL" card from the FCC about bootlegging influenced me to upgrade by 1971...

In 1962 (I was 9) my parents gave me a 2 transistor kit radio for Christmas.   I can remember sitting up at night listening to it with the headphones. I also remember listening and then calling into the request line on WLIS 1420 (Worst Liars In Connecticut) to speak with Paul Sidney" to request a song. I told him I was listening on a SHORT WAVE RADIO and he asked me on air if I thought I was talking to Castro.....

After upgrading to a Lafayette KT-320 I took it apart for the tunig cap. Over they years  I still had one coil from it and often wondered what it was. I remembered more or less what it looked like, but could not remember the make, or anything else . I knew it was not a popular model. One night I was listening to 1.945 MHz and heard George (W1AJW) talking about a two transistor 1963 radio kit he had bought at a tag sale. My ears perked up slightly and when he mentioned it was built by Revell, I was 99% sure that it was the one. I was so interested that I called him on the phone to confirm my recollections about it and elicited a promise he would call me if he decided to sell it.

I was real excited about it and mentioned it to my XYL. Unbeknownst to me she contacted a local ham (Ron, K1VYU) who figured out who I was talking about and gave her George's name and number. She arranged to purchase it as a surprise 1997 Christmas gift.
(http://home.comcast.net/~chnord/revell.jpg)

Carl,
     Your "Revell" is one kewl little radio! Is it regenerative? How well does it perform?
Joe N3IBX

I knew I had one...here's the rig I remember most fondly from those days....

(Can't seem to preview...hope it comes out OK)

Overall I agree with your assessment Phil, but there is no other satisfactory housing available in this area.  There are these restricted subdivisions or run down shacks.  And for several reasons this is the area my wife and I have chosen for our family to live.   As important as ham radio is to me, not living in a shack ranks higher.   Had there been a reasonable alternatives, I would certainly have preferred them, but there are no such alternatives in this area.

That said, I will deal with the hand I've dealt myself.   You are familiar with the Bunns Lane apartments in Woodbridge.  I survived my childhood there, including my teen years as a ham. I got RF into the air there, I'll succeed here.

As for the Cat 5, no, it's not in use.  This is a single family home and my LAN here is wireless.  So I have this unused wiring running all over the house.   I think my biggest disadvantage, besides the restrictions in the first place, is that there is no attic.  If I had an attic I'd be just fine.  I've always managed to make contacts with my piss weak signal, this would be no different.  Fortunately I don't and never have aspired to be on the honour roll, nor to have a strapping signal on 75.  Within my interests, the antenna situation here will be fine.  I'll get my cake and eat it too.

In case anyone is wondering what my house looks like, pics are available at www.wa2zdy.com/house    The pics with the furniture and lights turned on are of the model but it is identical to my house except for the fireplace.  We don't have one.  Who the hell uses a fireplace in Florida???  But after growing up in the projects, I think I've done ok for myself, restrictions or not.

"Fool me once..."  Not next time.

First receiver -- Boy Scout (maybe Cub Scout???) Crystal Set (sometime in the dark ages)

Second receiver -- Knightkit Ocean Hopper (1957)

First Station -- Heath DX-40, BC-455 w/HB power supply, and one lousy crystal -- 7198 kc (1959)

Second Station -- DX-40 + Eico 730 modulator, homebrew Handbook VFO, BC-312N (1960).

Third Station -- DX-40/730, HB VFO, SX-100 (1961)

Fourth Station -- Globe Champ 350, RME 4350A (1962) .. and yes, the vernier drive on the 4350A never did work right, but it was a better receiver than the SX-100.

(I didn't add SSB until 1970 with an SB-102).

Those were the best times ever!   ;D

First ticket in 1954 as WN7WZY and first rig was home brew 6L6 from handbook or how to become a radio amatuer.  The receiver was also home brew 26 RF amp, 27 regenerative detector and a 45 amp tube.  All this was built from parts scrounged from radio and TV repair shops.  They were very happy to have someone haul the stuff off.  Graduated to a Heathkit AT-1 and AR2 my parents bought me for Christmas!  Ant. was a longwire with home brew tuner.  More fun than a barrel of monkeys!  New hams just do not get the thrill from the first contact made with "junk" carefully soldered together!  This was the beginning of a long 40 year stint in the broadcast business!  I now have 7 BC rigs in the shack.  Just love that glow!

IXZ we need pics of your heavy iron shack there.  Sounds downright magnificent!

Just to add, if anyone has any photos of their first rig/setup/station post it here.

After blowing the picture up I see you built your own tube CW keyer and used two hand keys together to make a paddle!  Outstanding, OM.

Yep, those were magic days when the CW bands were filled with opportunity and mystery. Ya never knew what you'd come across after school let out.

Sometimes at age 13, I would get out of bed at 3AM just to listen to the band. It was like the deep dark ocean with strange creatures crawling about..

T

I used to think the jammers on 40 M were airplanes

This is my second station, I can't find a picture of my first station.
This is a HT-40, HQ-110, and a scanner built into a wooden console.
That was me back in the 1971 time frame.
(http://home.comcast.net/~w1qwt/images/jnmarsh.jpg)

Regards
Q, W1QWT

Can't claim to be the builder, I traded the tank receiver I posted about for that keyer and paddle.  Those were the days when J-38's were a dime a dozen.   ;D  Love hearing about first stations.  BTW the pic was taken in 12/62

Again Phil, I agree with you essentially.  You and I have different situations.  You have only yourself to answer to. I have a wife and three kids all school age.

I'll get some RF into the ether, not to worry.

My first rig was a crystal radio with a coil wound on a chunk of hockey stick, built from plans out of Alfred Morgan's classic: The Boy's First Book of Radio and Electronics. I also built the one tube regenerative receiver from the book exactly as shown with the stupid 6BF6 tube. I can still remember my dad complaining about having to shell out 3 dollars for a tube at the TV repair shop downtown in 1970.

My first ham radio was an ARC-5 BC-696 from Fair Radio Sales which I bootlegged using my buddies call until my ticket finally arrived! THEM WAS THE DAYS!

Mike WU2D

I like the B+ connection to the headphones.

This guy does some great construction of Morgan designs as well as other classics
Check out his web site


http://www.bignick.net/TubeRadio.htm


(http://www.bignick.net/images/RadioPix/IMG_0071_WEB.jpg)

Hey Mike,

It was a treat to see that copy of Boys' First Book of Radio and Electronics.  That was my introduction to the hobby as well.....back in the mid 50's.  I too, built the crystal sets using the square piece of wood for a coil form, etc.  The copy of the book that I got from the library had a red cover and was the earlier printing.  I still have that book.  I was very fortunate......much later (after being a ham for many years) to find the exact same copy at a library book sale and I was able to purchase it for a couple of bucks.  Really brought back many pleasant memories of when I was a young kid just starting out with radio.  I even found a couple of notes that I had made as a kid in the margin on a couple of pages.  (Shame on me, marking up a library book!)
Mr. Morgan probably had a hand in starting many youngsters out in the hobby and his plans and circuits are still very popular to this day!

73,  Jack, W9GT

I like the 2.5 Meg  coil. That many Henerys aughta  keep them b+es away...

I used morton salt container for my first coil. My Dad made me a mount for the crystal out of a hunk of copper tubing he cut and bent. Then he put a lead screw in the side to hold the rock.....then I took a 1n60 diode out of an old TV.

everybody wanted the old glass Sylvaina 1N34A's but I always thought the 1N60's
kicked butt!!

I build a "diode set" for my neighbor a few years ago. He was fascinated at the thought of a radio that played without external power. (He grew up with computers and is a compuker wiz) He is 27 now still plays with it! I used a toilet paper roll for the coil, and a red and white 1N60 for the detector!

                                                the Slab Bacon

I still have a stash of 1N23s from radar days. Yup 1N60s from the UHF tuner.
It was before I had a soldering iron so they were hard to attach. When I really needed to solder something my Dad would wrap wire around the end of the benzomatic and solder with the wire. Acid flux of course. Quaker Oats boxes made good coil forms also. We would strip the wire off an old TV transformer secondary. We had a spot in the woods where all naughty TV's met their maker. Today it is someone's back yard and bet they are still raking up hunks of picture tube glass.
Just over the hill was the track for old cars to meet their maker. This went on until my buddy and brother caught a stump with the center link and both kissed the dash.
Man did they bleed and I got to dispose of the bloody rags. That car died with the brick on the gas no load rev test. (since the toe was way off)

That's how it was done back in the day.  And radio hobbyists managed to survive despite themselves.  Sometimes I realise it's a miracle I survived being a Novice.  Can you imagine today's new hams playing with the power supplies we had back then?

I set up a bench next to the oil tank in the basement. I yanked the chassis out of an all American 5 and set it on the bench to monitor tunes. One day I was leaning on the tank with one hand and went for the volume control with the other and there was no knob. Guess which phase the plug was in. Almost welded my BAs.

A Lafayette KT-135 3-tube regen receiver kit put together at the tender young age of 11 was my introduction to the mysteries of radio -- and the AM guys on 75 were interesting to listen to (of course, there were many AM signals in 1961!).

Licensed in 1964 and the first rig: A Hallicrafters S-38D (pity me!) receiver and another Lafayette kit, a KT-390 "Starflite" (DX-60 clone) was the transmitter.  About a year later (upgraded to a General by then), I put together another kit -- an Eico 730 and plate modulated the KT-390 and had a surprisingly good, clean signal. But then girls and college and a job got in the way and before you know it, I had a used Galaxy V MkII...but that's another story!

73, folks!

My first rig was a Lafayette regen... I wired the tube sockets in backwards..... and a few other things in the wrong place.... Norm, K2KLV (sk) fixed it up for me.<< He had a TV camera and monitor on the front door..CAM pointed outward so you saw yourself when you rang the bell. cool stuff for the 60's>> .... 28 years later, it was an Halli SR-150 with the licence .. by then the madness had decended        klc

I do think my first rig I ever saw was a multi yell mac af 67, and a surplus navy rx when I was about 11 at a friends house. His brother was into it.

My first actual honest ham rig was probably a Viking 2, and couldnt even guess what the RX was. Even though I didnt get on until mayb 1982, I started with vintage gear and never used boxes of rice. I remember putting out a call for boat anchors on the local 2 meter swap net about then and came home with a DX-100, a Hallicrafters sx-100, a Ranger 1, and a navy vlf rx in one day. Old rigs were damn near worthless in the early 80's still.

Having owned literallly hundreds of rigs back when I was active, it's hard to remember them all. I kept bartering and hamfesting them all and never kept on longer than a few months. I did that for years.

Ah yes....the crystal receiver.
  Mine was some sort of "science" kit on a cardboard box with springs you pushed the wires into. Had it hooked up to the aluminum screen on the bedroom window. Would fall to sleep at night with the ear piece in my ear listening to KYW (Jerry G and Company) and WIXY 1260. Love that late 50's and early 60's music still. WHLO 640 would go off the air at sunset. Just a few minutes later Radio Havana Cuba would fire up on the same frequency.
  It is amazing what such a simple receiver can do!

May 1967 Globe Scout Deluxe and HQ_140XA.  First days contact was some guy named Tim, WA1HLR
de WA1HUM  Draina

Ah yes Frank.... me too. I used to wonder why they left the mike open

DX-35 from a junk sale at our local church, even had xtal I believe and an SX-71 that had seen much better days. Still have both, the 35 blew high voltage and the 71 needs recapped. Ah, someday :)

I remember the first time I got the 3725 rock to oscillate with a light bulb dummy load. ....and checking for the FCC van in front of the house when I was done.

Wow the sky is turning black all of a sudden.....It is going to come down

since i am soooooo much younger than you old buzzards, this was my first rig  :P

Yaesu 767gx
(http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/ft767gx.jpg)

I spent all the money for the add on modules.
it was quite the piece of crap.
think i was 18 at the time.

Viking I, Collins 51J2....many o' nights spent on 7290 & 3885 as a high school
kid! 1975 thru 79...
Followed by a HB 813 tx mod by Taylor TZ40's....from 82-85

No AM again til 1997....but now with more stations than I want
to tell my xyl!
73 steve
8tow

I finally remembered my reaction to jammers.  To me, they sounded like a wind band playing a sustained chord.  So I thought, Oh, that's the "band" that the "band" switch and "band" spread were referring to.

1995 I wrote my Basic and Advanced.....same day. I figured I had paid for 2 hours parking I might as well get my money's worth and write 'em both.  ;D

First rig was an ICOM 745, with a Yaesu FL-2200B ( I think) amplifier. Can't remember the model but it was a pair of 572B's. Fed a small full power Mosely MP-33.

Fun fun fun.

Paul
VE7KHz

The first novice rig here (1960, WV2ROC)  was a Heath DX-20 and a National NC-60 "Special"  I have yet to figure out what was so "special" about that receiver!

I traded it for a brand new in the case BC-342 (yes, it really was brand new)  and started hearing some of the folks that answered my CQ's.

First AM rig was a Lafayette KT-390 Starflite and a Lafayette VFO.  That wasn't working out too well so I built a Heath HG-10 VFO which allowed me to minimize the frequency drift.

I also had a Lafayette HE-50A 10 meter transceiver (AM of course) that I used "bicycle mobile" with a 12 volt battery in a trailer behind the bike and a CB whip bolted to it.

Those were the days!

Nothing wrong with that station. Lottsa AM power there.

I was licensed in 1987 so got into SSB and a nice (still have it) Kenwood TS440.
Then discovered the nice sound and playtime of A.M. and I modified a T368 and used an R390A for my ears.
I have been through many Bcast Tx's and came back around to a RA250, then stepped into a modern SDR Flex1000.

Fred

Can't remember my first rig exactly.  That was 1972.  It was either a DX35 or a hb 20 w. xtal controlled cw rig that operated on 40 and 80 m.  All my stuff was flea market, even my rx, a solid state (amazingly) Allied Radio A2515 gen cov. rx.
photo here http://www.universal-radio.com/USED/UT57lrg.jpg (http://www.universal-radio.com/USED/UT57lrg.jpg)

My TR switch was a knife switch on a porcelain base.  My key was a WW2 surplus Vibro Lighning Bug which I fixed up and put into service.  I got that bug (which I still have along with the Allied rx) at the Peoria Hamfest in 1972.  All my purchases were with my money.  My parents took me to hamfests (I was 15) but the deal was any radio stuff had to be paid for by me.  So I saved money from a paper route.  I never had a fancy station but it was all mine.  A few years later I added a halicrafters HA5 VFO and a T-60.  The VFO was a big deal.   I was no longer rock bound.   I became a pretty damn good cw op too because I couldn't afford to operate phone.  I was fast with that bug.  I tried using an electronic keyer but the T-60 key voltage destroyed it.  I didn't know back then that a little IC chip keyer could not key around 100 v.!   You had to watch it around the bug contacts or it would bite  ;D

Rob

My first rx was a Hallicrafters S-38 and a home brewed 6L6 xmtr built on sticks.  See pics -- the rx is one I just got on eBay -- works fine but needs some DeOx.  The xmtr is a commercial version of the one I built.  Mine looked a lot crappier than the pic.  That was back in 1952.  I soon graduated to a Hammarlund SP-100 and an Eldico TR-1.

Al

Back in the mid-60's my first SWL receiver was a "Utica 4-Band Receptor" which looked very much like an old Lafayette HE-40 minus the s-meter. I used to listen to the NY Marine Radio Operator routing calls to all the boats at sea because it seemed like a dangerous thing to do. I later upgraded to a Lafayette HE-10 which was a cheap knock-off of the S-38 series but sported a real s-meter.

As a new ham in 1973 (WB1AEX) my first rig was a Heath HW-16 that had no covers on the top or bottom, but it worked just fine and had full break-in capability. I moved on to a Kenwood TS-520 after I "grew up" and got a job. In the late 70's I stopped growing up and bought a Johnson Viking One filled with mouse turds that was sitting in a barn. It's all been downhill since then...

Rob W1AEX

Well for me it all started in 1964.  Did not have a Ham ticket, but did have an SWL call, WPE3GJF that was issued by Popular Electronics!  To get a SWL call you had to send in QSL cards from stations you heard and got cards from.  I even had some QSL cards printed with WPE3GJF on them!!  For that effort I used a Silvertone Console Radio that I found on a Good Will drive in Cub Scouts.  It did not work but somehow I got it working.

In 1966 I was licensed as WN3GMS.  My first receiver was a Heathkit GR-64 and the first real transmitter was a DX-60A.  I built both the receiver and transmitter.  Antenna switch was a C&K DPDT AC toggle switch.  I was on 80 CW with 2 XTALS, 3.724 and 3.739.  Upgraded to General a few months after getting my Novice ticket.  I then built the HG-10 to go with the DX-60A and bought a used HR-10 from maybe Warren, WA1GUD--not positive that was from him.  Was so anxious to get on AM phone with the DX-60A I tried to grind my 3.739 XTAL up to 3.868 but it crapped out around 3.820!  So thats about when the HG-10 got built.  Had a terrible hum on the DX-60A when on phone and finally gave up and built an 807 plate modulator for it.  I used a JT-30 mike with the setup and finally after hearing Bacon on, WB2YPE ordered a Sure Versadyne like he had!  The NAAM (National Association of Amplitude Modulation) was the AM organization at the time and the frequency was 3.868.  Bill, W3DUG was "king pin" within the NAAM back in those days.

Just before High School I had a "turbocharged" EICO 710 grid dip oscillator modified as a trx :o, with a Lafayette SupeReGen receiver.

After working on the farms for the summer I had enough cash for an EICO 720. The local TV shop down the street provided me with good used tubes at rock-bottom prices. The owner later hired me to check tubes and do soldering after school and deducted electronics parts from my paycheck. Needless to say, I had minimal "bring-home" pay. :P

Antenna was a longwire slingshotted out the second floor bedroom window into a Sycamore tree. ;D

Phil - AC0OB

Viking 1 with 4 crystals, an S-38C with a Q multiplier and a Hygain 18V vertical on 40M.

First actual functioning "rig" of my own was a used National NCX-3 bought at Deerfield in the late 1970s.

(http://webzoom.freewebs.com/wa6dij/National%20NCX-3%20Transceiver.jpg)

As WN2OGS (WN2 Oily, Greasy, and Slimey), my first rig in 1970 was a used Heathkit Mohawk receiver, and a used Heathkit Apache transmitter loaded up to 75 watts DC input. And no, as a Novice, I never used the VFO in the transmitter, although admittedly the temptation was always there. My first telegraph key was an E.F. Johnson knock-off of the J-38 mounted on a piece of 1/4-inch thick diamond plate I cut with a hacksaw; later I bought a used Vibroplex "Champion" bug once my CW speed started coming up. With the Vibroplex and a pair of Trimm headphones, I felt like a real ham!

I still have that same Apache transmitter; I will have had it for 40 years next month. I added the SB-10 SSB adaptor once I passed my General in May of 1970. I could never part with my Apache for sentimental reasons, although I did part with the Mohawk and the SB-10 years ago. I absolutely loved that equipment; so much so that many years later, I purchased another pristine Mohawk and SB-10, so I have recreated my original Novice (and later, General-class) station. A recent picture of that equipment is shown below.

My Dad loaned me the $180.00 to purchase the Mohawk & Apache from a local ham, with the proviso that as soon as I was old enough to get a job, I pay him back in a reasonable period of time. And I did.

73,

Bruce

Clegg 99'er

Not a ham rig, but I got a Lafayette Amsat 25 (or something like that) from my grandfather when I was 10 or so.  It was pretty cool to me, probably where I developed my appreciation for vacuum tubes. I was an SWL too and heard the jammers thinking they were airplanes.  

First Amatuer Station was a valiant and S-85. Still have both.

transmitter? I honestly have no idea. :P

Bruce: I ran the exact same TX setup on both slopbucket and am for about a year. Never had a Mohawk tho. those phasing adapters sound quite pleasing to the ear on slopbucket compared to filter rigs.

Is there a statue of limitations?
Waiting in the late 60s for my Advanced to arrive in the mail I used the HX-20 I had bought for the occasion once on cw as a Novice. I quit the QSO early when the other station told me "Ur xtal has a bad drift Hi Hi"
Carl
/KPD

When I went to college in 1975 I had an NCX-3 in the 66 Chevy Belair - I used it to phone patch back to the folks via my Elmer Ed, WB2ASK with his giant SSB signal. The NCX-3 had a hot receiver and lots of talk power on SSB. It drifted a little and was useless on AM or CW. It fit easily in the center hanging from the dash with plenty of room for a passenger. I used a grounded tapped base load inside the trunk to a 102 inch CB whip on 75M. HIGH VOLTAGE!

MIke WU2D

My first "real" AM rig was a Class-E transmitter...
The Modulator was built into the cabinet from an NCX-5.

 ;D

My first rig....

Got it as a kit , and wired the tube sockets backwards...
Got Norm, k2klv, to fix her up for me...

klc

I had one of those, still got it! !

My fist rig was a Heathkit AT-1. I didn't have a hamboner license then in 1957. I used it on the CB band running obscene power* I found a plug in unit for screen modulation. Not knowing much about RF, I decided to make a linear using a single 807. It somehow worked. I don't know what I did with that gear. It is lost through the passage of time.


* Obscene power. A W2VJZ Ism for high power.   

My first real ham rig was a Kenwood ts 130s (I know not AM)

My First glowing AM rig was and is my gonset g 50.

Dont crucify me im new at this ;D

KB3RRX

First rig was a 100% homebrew 6146 from the 1965 ARRL Handbook. (Blue cover).

Still have it.

Not sure what my first receiver was, I was handicapped, but I nagged my father to buy an "expensive" SB-301 after a while, like several years...

Novices had reduced power restrictions and were supposed to use xtals, iirc.

Looking back, I was too much into "following the rules" and should have "gone for it" a bit more - but at the time SSB was making a big push, so large plate modulated things were no longer very popular.

This is ca. ~1967 or so... maybe 68.

                                _-_-bear

Well, I don't know about the rest of ya but back when I got licensed we feared the FCC man.  When I was a novice if I'd had one of those DX60s ("90 watts for when you upgrade to General") I would have dutifully run it at the novice limit.  VFO?  No way--the FCC man might catch me!  $10,000 fine! (or some huge amount)  Then you went to the Post Office or Fed. Building to upgrade and see the Man in person.  They always very solemn.  No small talk with them, let me tell you.  Yikes!   You'd hand in your test sheet and stand there like it is the Judgement Day.  In Memphis we always got this guy from Atlanta who acted like Dennis Weaver in that cowboy tv show.  Only two things would come out of his mouth: "Pass."  or, "Failed to pass."  Everyone waiting in the hallway..."Did you pass?  Did you?  ...  I always thought this was another reason why not having FCC give the tests was a big mistake.  Now hams probably don't believe the FCC exists.  When you got out of there you wanted to obey Part 97.     

My first station consisted of a Heathkit AT-1 and the companion antenna tuner with the little neon bulb on the front. The AT-1 was the property of the Wantagh HS radio club which would lend them to novices to help them get on air. The receiver was a Heathkit AR-3 that I picked up for few bucks used. A real POS! I took the train into NYC’s radio row and picked up some Command set gear. I got a BC 454 receiver and BC T-19 transmitter for when I passed my general. I had fun with the AT-1/BC-454 combo into zepp antenna. I got my general a few months later and got the T-19 on the air…great to have a VFO. Parts from the Command sets were recycled for years in various HB projects including a 80-10 m transmitter with 6146 finals and modulators. Also a triple conversion receiver which was about the ugliest thing I ever built but it worked pretty good. Used it for 6 years!

Steve
WA2TTP

Two oatmeal boxes and 30 feet of string.

Fox hole radio made with a razor blade and pencil lead and the coil made from the magnet wire from an old model RR switch machine donated by my dad. Made BC band AM transmitter out of an AA5 receiver....grade 5.

 

I just saw an ad on eBay the other day about the razor blades. Apparently the early razors were coated with silicon as a preservative. This was a request by the war department to meet spec. So that's why they worked as a diode.

Not sure if this is true, just what I read. 

First rig here was an ARC-2 transceiver runnning 30 or so watts AM and a Rat Shack DX150 for the RX, as the receive on the ARC-2 was 20 khz wide... 

Worked the Tim Tron that night... not sure ifin he was my first contact or not...

Well.. my first AM receiver back in Detroit (age 9ish?) used the traditional Oatmeal box coil and a razor blade as part of the rectifier.  I can't remember if the Gillette "Blue Blades" were the ones that did or did not (coated?) work properly as rectifiers.  At any rate, the other half of my diode was a pencil lead wire-wrapped to the pointy end of a safety pin.  With a 30 foot wire out the 2nd floor window I had no problems picking up big-gun WJR and the Detroit Tigers games after probing around the razor blade with the lead-tipped pin.  Fun times.

I experienced an incredible improvement in performance after substituting a 1N34 later that summer  :)

Mark K9TR

My dad bought me a Knight crystal set with the genuine 1N34, var. cap, phenolic coil form and fahnstock clips.  That's when I learned to run the coil wire through my knees for proper tension while winding.

I got one station daytime and two nightime.  I was so proud.

March 1962...6AG7/1625, 2 crapstals on 40 and no receiver. Oh yeah, I had a
Heathkit AR3..Again no receiver. Worked 38 states and 14 countries on 40.
3months late upgrade and shove a cathode modulator into the keyjack of the 1625...
Ah AM...
K3SQP