Re: Anyone know the ham that owned this rig

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

PMS?

[Sam KS2AM]

KS2AM said:

"Old transmitter + jacket & tie  = One classy operator."

Check this out for classy.    That's the old homebrew rig that I run to this day, though I later put pp 100THs in it.  It looks just the same -- very old buzzardly.  Pardon all the scratches. It was taken on a Polaroid.
 

Thats a great photo Herb but I was only 2 years old when it was taken so I have to ask, was that back in the days of silent radio ?   

[WA3VJB]

The fact that we just recently got the phone portion of 75 meters increased is a result of the ARRL and their historical CW first attitude. Thanks goodness the FCC finally saw past such foolishness.

The agency "saw past" the League's problem partly because the group in Newington has lost its place as a monopoly regulatory activist for the Amateur Service.

The ARRL once held so much influence that they could impose their philosophy on the greater hobby, including their bent toward CW and against "phone" in all its forms.

With voice communications inevitably catching on anyway, the League was forced to capitulate. The timing of their revelation was poor for AM, which had never been embraced by the ARRL on the way to their late promotion of SSB.

So, as far as the League is concerned, AM has been an ugly stepchild in their political and regulatory dealings, first because it was "phone," then because it got in the way of selling SSB.

The mode and activity of AM were essentially purged from the ARRL Handbook in the early 1980s, a decision made by then-publisher Paul Rinaldo, W4RI.

Rinaldo, 75, now is the chief promoter of the League's "go digital" campaign, which includes his regulatory push for the WinLink system to bring internet email through ham radio.

You may be aware that Rinaldo and some of the paid and volunteer leadership of the League held an unpublished meeting last month with FCC officials to try to revive the ARRL's threatened "bandwidth" proposal, a digital scheme which has been discredited on a margin of 8 to 1 in FCC public comment deliberations.

And the cycle continues.

There is a substantial protest underway to file additional Opposition comments to keep the coffin nailed shut.

Thankfully, the FCC today has lowered the League to being one of the many sources of information it uses to make decisions affecting ham radio.

Please see:

http://www.qrz.com/ib-bin/ikonboard.cgi?s=60ea6305fe507ee765e51234857ec940;act=ST;f=7;t=148567

[Herb K2VH]

Thats a great photo Herb but I was only 2 years old when it was taken so I have to ask, was that back in the days of silent radio ?   

Sure was, Sam  .  Actually, that rig was originally very noisy.  I had TV-doorknobs for HV by-passes, but they were the noisy kind.  I didn't realize it at the time, but some doorknobs did a terrific amount of talking back, while others were quite silent.  I had put in the wrong kind and even had audio feedback from the mike to the doorknobs.

vH

[W9GT]

One of the things that makes amateur radio such a great hobby, and a factor that has helped it to endure for so long, is its tremendous diversity.  Diversity is an overused political term these days, but it really describes our hobby with respect to all the multiple facets,different specialties, and a wide range of individual personalities covered under one umbrella.

I, for one have enjoyed many different modes and specialty interests over my ham career.  I still enjoy working CW, SSB, FM, occasional digital modes, in addition to really loving AM and vintage/classic radio.  I would hope that I am not bad-mouthed or judged in any way by my fellow AMers if they happen to hear me working SSB or CW or working occasional contests.  Just because I enjoy other modes and activities does not make me disloyal to the AM cause.  I sure hope that I am not lumped-in with the minority of lids and cretins that we all hear on the bands from time to time.  We sometimes have to deal with troublemakers in ham radio as we often have to deal with misfits and idiots in every aspect of life.  On the other hand, I really get my hackles up when I hear SSBers criticizing and complaining about AMers.  So it certainly goes both ways.

Why do we constantly insist on dividing ourselves into hostile camps!  We are all radio amateurs and in my opinion we should all be enjoying our common bonds in the greatest hobby in the world.

I guess, maybe I am as guilty as the next guy in sometimes over-reacting to outrageous on-the-air antics of SSB elitists and other negativists who seem to relish in spoiling others enjoyment of the hobby.  I, however, just think that we need to concentrate more on the positive aspects of what we are doing and just enjoy the fact that we are still able to pursue such a great endeavor.

I applaud the efforts of several members of this list and many of the "prominent" AMers who are trying to win a little understanding and recognition of our niche of the hobby through education and promotion, rather than through name calling.

I shall now retreat into my cave and put on my asbestos suit.

73,  Jack, W9GT   

[Herb K2VH]

Jack,

I agree fully with what you just said.  I only feel that it's sad that you had to say it.

K2VH
CW since 1954
AM since 1955
SSB since 1963
VHF and UHF FM since 2003

[kc2ifr]

I also agree with u Jack. I think my post was misunderstood.......again!
About 2 hours before I made that post.......I was on side band with another regular AM'er. We were talking to a few sidebanders on there "sideband" frequency. I love everybody.......well maybe not everybody but almost! 

 

[wb2fof]

Mr. VH,

How much for the suit ? It's a collectors item today !

Wasn't it hot next to that radiator ? Maybe you were single at the time !

You could pass for a early FBI, CIA agent ! Or Geneva City PD dispatcher !

Are those binoculars next to the command transmitter ? Neighbors pool !

Not Camels next to the pen ? Right ?

Bob, FOF

[W3RSW]

3VJB said, "The agency "saw past" the League's problem partly because the group in Newington has lost its place as a monopoly regulatory activist for the Amateur Service."

Yes Paul and they've been really torqued since the late '20's and '30's when Holy coast to coast relay networks by appointed high speed CW saints were bypassed by, gasp!, the ionosphere and higher frequencies.  Now the whole agency's been bypassed and right after the new HQ addition too.  You see that so much in the biz world; the minute an outfit builds or rents most of a signature skyscraper, i.e. in love with themselves and forgetting their mission, they're bought out.

 BTW I love CW, HamPal, AM, digital, VHF, VLF.... you name it. I've even been known to frequent quackerjack nets occasionally : )
Gotta dig up my ol' SSTV homebrew from the closet. What a thrill that was, 8 frames per minute, 120 lines of gorgeous snow, b&w.  Traded for a Robot monitor just as computers were taking over. Ah well, ..  DRM here we come.

 I've tried to play my old 8 frame tapes on MMSTV and well, the damn auto sync barely has time to get the frame straight when the next one overwrites..  Darn hard to cross my eyes in time. I know, special glasses with a rotating disks ought to fix it.

Hey, see ya at Timonium an' I'm a gonna bring the chocolate chips to Frank's; Don't want to take them home this time.

[WD8BIL]

I think my post was misunderstood.......again!

Unfortuatly Bill, this happens alot with the written word. Unless the reader knows the writter personally it's easy to inject your own perspective into a comment and get 3 from 1+1.

For the record..... I love ya man !!

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Since the majority of the information communicated between humans when speaking face to face is non-verbal (body position, posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc), it's easy to be misunderstood when communicating here, totally via written word. Add to that, that most of us can't write worth a damn (like me) and the other half can barely read, and it's a wonder any communication takes place.

[WD8BIL]

No group or mode should ever be considered as "anchors of Ham Radio".

Why not, Pete.

Seems to me "back to basics" practices are the foundation of everything that follows. Do you imply that modern appliance operators of today have the "anchors" in the art that many in the vintage realm do.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Hey, Wise A$$e$ -- Those are screws with washers --

*whew*    I'm just glad they aren't rhinestones! 

Thats a great photo Herb but I was only 2 years old when it was taken so I have to ask, was that back in the days of silent radio ?   

And I hadn't even been born yet! Fortunately they came out with talkies just before.

Hey Herb, is that an American mic in your hand? These mics were the topic of discussion with the 3733 What's for Dinner group recently. Rumor has it that anyone using an American velocity mic knows what dinosaurs ate. 

[WD8BIL]

and the other half can barely read,

whoa, whoa Steve.... ya gotta type slower....
I'm a slow reader.

[WA1GFZ]

Nice Rig Herb and my old beasty looks good too.

I like Joe's picture.....I strappa you ass

[Herb K2VH]

Since the majority of the information communicated between humans when speaking face to face is non-verbal (body position, posture, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc), it's easy to be misunderstood when communicating here, totally via written word. Add to that, that most of us can't write worth a damn (like me) and the other half can barely read, and it's a wonder any communication takes place.

Hey Huz, that's why we have emoticons 

K2V

[k4kyv]

With many of the old timers reluctant to give up the past for the future, how did ssb catch on so universally over am for fone service??

It can be best summarised by quoting Thorstein Veblen,  US economist & social philosopher (1857 - 1929):  "Invention is the mother of necessity."

SSB was reportedly first attempted by amateurs in the mid 1930's.  There was one article published in QST in that era, explaining what SSB is, and promising articles to follow on  construction of rigs.  But the article abruptly ended in mid paragraph, with no further explanation, and the promised articles never appeared, and the League appeared to stonewall the issue whenever inquiries were made.  A story about the QST was published several years ago, in Electric Radio as I recall.  I looked up in my back issues and found the article.  One theory is that the article was effecively censored by someone at the League, and that part of the QST article got published in error.  But nevertheless, there were supposedly a half dozen or so stations on the air in the early to mid '30's with experimental SSB stations.

But it was during the Great Depression, and most hams were lucky to be able to  get on the air with 10 or 20 watts using a one-tube transmitter with regenerative receiver, so there was little interest in SSB at the time.  As already discussed in this thread, there was relatively little interest in any kind of phone during that period, when CW was "king."  But there was really no reason SSB couldn't have been practical on the ham bands back then.  The National HRO receiver, first introduced in late 1934, was plenty stable enough to copy SSB even on 20m.  Many amateurs were using stable crystal controlled transmitters by then, so a homebrew crystal controlled SSB transmitter, along  with a HRO receiver or something of similar calibre, would have easily made a practical SSB station for anyone who could afford the "stuff" and had the ability to put it together and make it work.

Following the war, Oswald G. "Mike" Villard, W6QYT, published his famous article QST describing the upside-down tube circuit, which was a high level balanced modulator, used to transmit double-sideband reduced carrier.  The title of the article was "Overmodulation without Splatter."  The intent was for the upside-down tube to accommodate the negative peaks to prevent overmodulation, but the receive mode was still conventional AM.

In September 1947, Villard and a group of student hams at Stanford University started new experiments with SSB, the famous, challenging technology that was such a big flop in 1933-34. Their pioneer experiments where published from January 1948 in  QST in a three-part article dealing with the "Single Sideband, Suppressing Carrier".  This was the beginning of amateur interest in SSB.  From the late 40's throughout the 50's, SSB was mostly limited to an elite minority of hams, since it required considerable technical skill and test equipment to build a homebrew SSB rig, or considerable financial means to be able purchase one that was commercially built.  About the only commercially built SSB rigs available at the time were by Collins and Central Electronics, well beyond the price range of  most hams.

But during that period, there was no let-up to the big push to convert to SSB by ARRL and the publishers of all the ham radio magazines.  The League even sold a special publication for a number of years, "Single Sideband for the Radio Amateur."  Many phone operators of the late 50's and early 60's became wannabe slopbucketeers, but could not afford the equipment, so they continued with AM even though they could not wait to gain possession of a SSB rig.

The propaganda did not let up, and evolved into a virtual crusade to "save bandwidth."  At first, SSB was limited to relatively small portions of the bands.  On 75, it started to congregate at the top end of the band, and as more amateurs converted, gradually work its way down towards 3900 kc/s.  There was some friction between the two modes, but a "gentlemen's agreement" evolved on 75, that SSB would  remain above 3900, and AM below.

Then, in the early 60's, around 1963, the cheap transceivers suddenly appeared on the market.  They were low quality cheap junk, but at least allowed the average Joe Bloe ham to afford get on the air with something capable of running SSB.  These were the Heathkit "Hotwater' rigs, the Swans, the Galaxies, and similar transceivers made by Eico and National.  Sideband for the Masses!  The propaganda  machine then turned up full blast.  AM was openly derided in QST and all the other ham radio publications, at ham club meetings, by the manufacturers of SSB equipment, and by SSB "converts" over the air and at club gatherings.  The FCC openly promoted SSB while discouraging the use of AM, in the interest of "spectrum conservation".  Hams who had not already converted to SSB were subjected to a lot of pressure by all involved, and those  still  running AM were derided and made to feel guilty.  Many AM'ers reluctantly changed over to SSB because they felt they could no longer resist the peer pressure to do so.

Besides the "bandwidth" crusade, the advent of SSB for the Masses opened a whole new market for a new product, so commercial propaganda was added to the already mounting pressure by the "amateur radio establishment" to change over to SSB.  Many very nice, solid, high quality AM rigs were hauled to the dump to be replaced by one of the cheap, drifty, flimsy transceivers and a sweep-tube "leenyar".  In later years, countless times, I have heard veteran hams express how much they regretted getting rid of their old rigs.

But some AM'ers did manage to resist the tide and decided to stick it  out with AM regardless.  That's when the legendary AM vs SSB wars of the mid 60's heated up full blast.  That is also the period when deliberate interference and jamming became commonplace, almost to the point of being accepted as normal in amateur radio, from which we have never fully recovered to this day  But gradually, more and more phone hams gave in and converted to SSB.

Then in the late 60's Incentive Licensing went into effect.  Almost overnight, 90% of the remaining AM'ers disappeared from the bands, along with most homebrew equipment.  I  was  living outside the country at the time, but I made a visit to the US in late 1968 or early 1969, after the 1st phase of Incentive Licensing had gone into effect. I got on the air, and still found plenty of AM stations to talk to, although by then AM was distinctly in the minority.  A little over a year later when Incentive Licensing had been fully implemented, I returned to the US, and when I listened on the air, there was virtually no AM left.

One of the  reasons I never converted to SSB was that I strongly resented all the pressure being exerted on to change over.  It just made me more determined than ever to stay on AM, come hell or high water, and to join the fight on the AM side in the great AM/SSB wars.

For years, the most adamant anti-am'ers have been those who lived through the AM vs SSB period. 
       
       

[Herb K2VH]

Hey Herb, is that an American mic in your hand? These mics were the topic of discussion with the 3733 What's for Dinner group recently. Rumor has it that anyone using an American velocity mic knows what dinosaurs ate. 

Hey Todd, look closely.  That's a D-104 in my hand, and on the wall behind me is a SQUARE D 30 amp fuse box, which makes it look like I'm holding one of these (sort of):

[Herb K2VH]

Mr. VH,

How much for the suit ? It's a collectors item today !

Wasn't it hot next to that radiator ? Maybe you were single at the time !

You could pass for a early FBI, CIA agent ! Or Geneva City PD dispatcher !

Are those binoculars next to the command transmitter ? Neighbors pool !

Not Camels next to the pen ? Right ?

Bob, FOF

Hey, FOF,

The suit is going on e-Pay.  I plan to get in the five digits for it.

The radiator was turned off because the big rig was up and running.  No need for the radiator.

I lived about 1000 yards away from the Buffalo Police Radio Station.

Now look closely.  What you think is a Command transmitter is a bread slicer for the ant tuner.  And what you think is binoculars is the plug-in coil to go with the bread slicer in the ant tuner.

Not camels, right.  They're  Buffalos.

Any more questions?  

VIntage Herb

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Any more questions? 

Can I have your autograph?

[Herb K2VH]

Nice Rig Herb and my old beasty looks good too.

Thanks, Frank.  But you gotta remember, I got just the top deck of the beasty from Dave, N2KSZ, who got it from Corky, who got it from you.  Dave had pretty much gutted the modulator and power supply of yours.  The bottom two decks I had picked up locally, two years before I got your top deck.  But Maggie, the cat, enjoyed sitting on your top deck anyhow.

vH

[K3ZS]

AM is a pleasure mode of operating mainly because most hams are on SSB.   Anyone who remembers what it was like on the 100 Khz of 40M phone in the 50's would agree.   It was one mass of heterodynes, sort of like the CB band at the top of the sunspot cycle.   The only way to make a contact was if someone was close enough to override the clamor or running a true 1KW to brute force their way through the massive QRM.   The past always looks good, but in reality, the operating conditions for phone, AM and SSB have never been better, thanks to the FCC and SSB being dominant.   The main contentions seem to be the fact that some groups would rather interfere with one and another instead of moving off their coveted frequencies.

[k4kyv]

The present-day AM vs SSB animosity is a legacy of the SSB/spectrum conservation/transceiver marketing crusade by ARRL, CQ and 73 magazines, local radio clubs, the FCC, self-appointed experts and radio cops, and equipment dealers and manufacturers, which ran for a 10-year period from the late 50's to the late 60's, to pressure everyone to change over to SSB and lay a guilt trip on anyone who didn't. 

If SSB had simply appeared as an alternative to AM, without the self-righteous campaign to force the change, the division of the modes would have freely evolved to about what it is now with most users of each mode respecting the other.  SSB would be the mode of choice for DX and weak signal operating, contesting, traffic handling and net operations, but AM would have remained an option for more laid back ragchew type of QSO's, audio and vintage equipment enthusiasts and homebrew artists, and many phone operators would have continued to use both modes.  The infamous AM vs SSB wars of the 1960's would never have occurred.

A small, but significant amount of the anti-AM attitude on the bands today is a carry-over from 11m, where the vast majority of the "freebanders" work SSB and look down their noses at all AM operators as "CB'ers." 

[w3jn]

Look at it in the context of the times, Don.  The 60's were a period where old objects and old ways were looked down upon, and "progress" was encouraged.  All the major magazines pushed SSB, but was it by demand from the subscribers or their own editorial bias?  Dunno, but in the case of the ARRL, their active discouragement of phone and VHF FM seemed to actually encourage these modes.

Nowadays nostalgia and trying the old ways of doing things is mainstream.  Much different from the '60s... hence the resurgence of interest in classic gear in general and AM in particular.

[WA3VJB]

John I fancy myself somewhat the student of this situation, even though the battle lines were drawn, fought and settled well before my time.

At the start of the time frame cited, the popularity of "phone" was high, the mode was AM, and I understand there was chronic congestion on then-smaller phone bands as Bob K3ZS pointed out, above. The environment lent itself well to alternatives, and I have no doubt SSB would have caught on by itself as a way to fit more people on the bands with greater quality of operating.

As Don points out however, the group in Newington , other publishers, and manufacturers who advertised with them were not content to permit a natural but slower shift that could have avoided antagonism as people concluded without pressure which mode they preferred.

I see the same scenario taking shape today, digital versus analog. It is not motivated by band congestion, and many believe digital modes will make things worse because of incompatibility issues. This time it is Newington's need to marshal sources of revenue and perhaps achieve some incidental growth in the number of licensees in the hobby.

By pushing the category of "digital" communications, the League's technology lobbyist Paul Rinaldo, 75, believes he can lasso federal homeland security grants by offering ham radio directly to served clients as an emergency communications path. Some local government responders have been recruited to become "ham radio operators" in order to use equipment this federal money has purchased.

But, far from being a visionary, he is doomed to failure because neither the ARRL subscribers nor the greater Amateur community has been convinced of the merits of switching wholesale to digital. And, the League has slipped to a far lower place in ham radio compared to 50 years ago.

I wonder what the ratio of subscriptions-to-licensees was back then. Today just 20 percent of licensed amateurs choose to subscribe to the League. Although their club can still kick up some dust, as they've done with their threatened "bandwidth" scheme, they clearly have only marginal influence with the FCC and the overall body of active, interested and concerned hams.

Yes, we today can enjoy AM and successfully invite others to join us because the people who use SSB have made room for us.  That's fine. We are a specialty that is vibrant and growing.

We need to continue to portray our critics as out of touch, narrow minded, and part of a very small minority. We have nothing to be defensive or apologetic about, and the more we can make THEM defensive, the more accurate the exchange shall be for onlookers who may then support us.

The result of taking the high road is just as John points out:

...nostalgia and trying the old ways of doing things is mainstream.  Much different from the '60s... hence the resurgence of interest in classic gear in general and AM in particular.