Picture of first Novice Station

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

When the time came to buy some coax, I didn't know about the cheaper RG-59/U. I could only afford 3 feet of RG/8U.  The stub of coax ran out my bedroom window to the Gotham vertical standing right next to the house. It was December and the window closed down on the coax leaving a big gap. The room was always cold after that. But I kept warm by calling CQ for the next 3 days - with no answers.  

Talk about PW - a General 5 miles away listened for me and heard nothing.

I just don't understand it, Tom. The ad seems very clear about the World Class results from using such a fine piece of RF engineering. 

Novice, indeed!

[K1JJ]

Yep, Whirl Class all right.  I don't understand it either, Todd.  Do you think if I sent in MY glowing testimonial they would have added it to their advertised list of proud owners?

T

[W9GT]

Hey...I can remember when $16.95 was a lot to spend for an antenna!   It was in print that it worked, therefore, it must have worked!  I guess a mobile whip will work...it is just the degree that it works that might be slightly exagerated   

73, Jack, W9GT

[WD8BIL]

Gee Tom,

I had a ground mounted HyGain 18V vertical. Pretty much the same thing. An 18' pipe in and insulated mount with a base loading coil. All those QSLs you saw on the wall in the JN pix were worked on that antenna. Maybe your 3' of RG8U was defective?

[K1JJ]

Gee Tom,

I had a ground mounted HyGain 18V vertical. Pretty much the same thing. An 18' pipe in and insulated mount with a base loading coil. All those QSLs you saw on the wall in the JN pix were worked on that antenna. Maybe your 3' of RG8U was defective?

The truth be known, Buddly:  At the very top (high impedance point) I connected a bare guy wire from the Gotham tip to the roof's metal vent pipe in case of tornados in Dec.  It must have been the perfect dummy load for three days of practice calling CQ. The room was so cold and I so nervous, I had the shakes, so no one would have understood what I was saying anyway..

T

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Three feet of coax was not enough. From the Gotham ad you can see you need to coil up the excess coax for best results. I bet your station was not in the basement too. That is also a requirement.

[WD8BIL]

Pays to read ALL the instructions!

[W1GFH]

It's worth noting that the impressive list of DX contacts in that Gotham ad were almost entirely made on 20 meters during the 1958 super duper mega sunspot cycle. I think 1/2 watt into a wet piece of string would've worked as well back then.

[WA1GFZ]

Joe,
On Feb. 3 1967 at 1831 I called WN3GMS on 3725 but you didn't come back. Mom must have yelled at you to do your homework. 5 minutes later worked WN8VLM then WN1GSR at 1909. then Called quits at 1925.

Now if I could just find the call of the guy I visited down the street when we were on vacation at Giants Neck about 6 houses south of GFZ south. His family was renting a cottage for a week and the guy had a Drake transceiver (TR3 maybe) and a Gotham vertical just outside. We worked a lot of DX that week. I think it was '67 or '68.

[W3GMS]

Hi Frank,
That is amazing the you found my call in your early log book!  Sorry I did not hear you.  I was probaly tuning up and down the band listening for someone responding to my CQ.  Then again, as you know, the GR-64 was so wide you did not have to do much tuning.  The only way to seperate the stations was to listen to pitch change between stations.  Do you still have your GR-64?  I sold mine to my High School Radio Club but did manage to pick one up again probably about 30 years ago.  When Bert WA3JYU was working for Heathkit he got me a new front panel for mine.  A common problem was people tightened the front panel nuts down to tight and cracked the plastic.  I also have the earlier version that I think was called the GR-91. 
Joe, W3GMS   

[WA1GFZ]

Joe,
I unloaded my GR64 many years ago. I did have a small crack in my front panel.