CQ AM- from the new guy

[W2CKL]

Hello All,
Since this is my first post I'll give everyone a bit of background on my station and activities. Since getting my ticket a few years ago I've been working QRP on 20 meter with a Yeasu FT-817, results have been surprising, but I was getting a bit tired of the old "callsign..59" repetitive contacts. So in the last year or so I turned my interest to restoring old BC/SW band tube radios, and it was an eyeopener. Thanks to the guys on the Antique Radio Forum I've learned a lot in a short time, if you search my callsign on Antiqueradios.com you'll see some of my projects, QRZ has a few pictures as will. With time, and a post-flood, curbside find of a Hallicrafters SX-100 and R-48 speaker I started to piece together a nice 60's era station. The last piece of the puzzle was a Heathkit DX-60, HG-10 VFO, and the iconic D-104 mic. Like most of the gear I've collected the DX-60 was a "you fix" special, that was claimed to "light up". Probably true, judging from the vent holes in the eletcrolytics, I'll bet it did light up, and smoke a bit as well. So after a recap, drifty resistor replacement, and general all around cleaning, it fired up nicely last week. Working off my 20 meter antenna I called CQ on the only space I could find (14.340) with no response. Judging from other radios I was monitoring on, my signal was getting out...effectively... I can't say, but it was making it as far as the living room. HI. This week my attention will be focused on getting up a 75 meter antenna, to give 3.885 a shot. I expect this will be the best location for an East coaster.
As for the DX-60; I stayed with the original layout, but I have seen some interesting mods on the AMWindow, so I'll have to look over some of the old post here to see what I can find.
Any advice, hints, tips etc are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Bob     

[KM1H]

Nice to see you over here Bob and welcome.

Carl

[WA3VJB]

Hi Bob, a few minutes ago I just came off 40M with Gene, WA4PGI in Covington VA who also is setting up a DX60.  It's a good band for the eastern region daytime, please join us if you can.

7285Kc and up, typically, also down low 7160 sometimes.

Also drawing your attention to the "What's for Dinner Net" around 3725Kc weekday afternoons.  Eastern regional stations.

Looking forward to hearing you whenever and on whatever.

Welcome to the AM community.

[W2CKL]

Thanks for the replies, and the info.
I'll definitely try to make one of the nets, or throw out a CQ on the frequencies once I get the antenna up. Most of my 40 meter listening has been at night when the guys have been battling the international broadcasters, but if its providing good daytime propagation I might give the 40/80 fan dipole another try. In the past I've run into problems with the elements interacting with one another. I think the key will be a bit more spacing, or possibly giving them a bit of an offset; staying with a north/south signal orientation.
I'll be listening...and with any luck, transmitting beyond the property line.
-Bob    

[W1RKW]

Hi Bob,
Welcome to AMFone.  Glad you're aboard.

Bob

[Pete, WA2CWA]

"Re: CQ AM- from the new guy"

Some of us occasionally utter CQ Contest and even CQ DX.

Welcome aboard.

[W7TFO]

Hang out here, you can't find a better bunch of miscreants to play with than on AMFone!

73DG

[KA2DZT]

Hang out here, you can't find a better bunch of miscreants to play with than on AMFone!

73DG

Yup, and DG is one of the biggest miscreants

Fred

[n1ps]

As for the DX-60; I stayed with the original layout, but I have seen some interesting mods on the AMWindow, so I'll have to look over some of the old post here to see what I can find.
Any advice, hints, tips etc are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Bob     

Bob...welcome to AM....there is an excellent mod for the dixie60 by Steve WA1QIX around January 2011 in the Technical section of this site.  It not only gives you good audio but also provides a negative peak limiter.  I happen to have heard Steve's DX60 on air and can confirm the audio is excellent. 

Peter

[Opcom]

Welcome to the message board. Looks like you have put together a station with good potential for fun! You should find all the help you need here.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Welcome to AMfone & to the ever-interesting world of AM, Bob. As Carl says, it's good to have you here as well. I've not been active on ARF in many months as my plate has been full, and just keeping up here has been more than enough.

We've followed similar paths; for me it was CW then SSB DXing back in the 80s. It eventually became more like contesting, with the massive signals, rude behavior, and mundane exchanges making it pretty dull. So I migrated to AM full time and haven't looked back since.

Your DX-60 is a pretty amazing little box for what it is. As mentioned, Steve/WA1QIX has some great mods that really make it sing. Along with WA4PGI who is a couple hours north of here, Tim/W3TIM in VA also has one on the air that sounds great. He runs it with an amp, which you'll especially need at night if you're going to operate on 75/80m. The 80m portion tends to be a bit quieter, but night time static still clobbers the smaller signals. 40m at night has some hope up around 7.290 as the absence of one broadcaster leaves a big hole in the evening for AM activity. There is often a group in there from around 7 - 10PM or later.

And when all else fails - the wooden sets are always a good way to pass the time.

[W2CKL]

I managed to get the 80 meter antenna up in the rain, and finished running the coax last night. It looked good to the Yeasu with a short run of 50 ohm coax, but once I switched to the 500' run of RG-6U things started to look a little too good, it seemed to show a low SWR across all the bands, but a wiggle of the coax at the connection sent the SWR off the chart. It turned out that the "no crimp" F type connectors were not digging into the braid. So after a bit of experimenting I changed to 239 screw on connectors, with the center pin soldered, this worked much better. One thing I've found while testing on the existing 20 meter antenna was; the suggested 75 watt light bulb dummy load provides less than ideal results. With a 3:1 SWR the light bulb dummy load shows 60 watts out (cw) at 150 ma, but once I switch to the (Yeasu tested) 1.2:1 SWR 20 meter antenna the wattage goes down to around 30 or 40 watts and the meter jumps to 200+ ma. But after 2 new fuses I'm starting to see how this thing works. Now I've started to tune "lite" on the light bulb, then on the antenna, goose up the final load, re dip the plate, and check the drive level. Its definitely different than pushing the ON button on the Yeasu and having at it. It seems that a true 50 ohm dummy load is in order, as well as an idea I had last night about labeling the, real world, antenna tested settings, so that I could just tune it for a narrow portion of the band, say 14.286 or 3.880 and use the labels as a preset indicator of sorts, then it should only take a quick check to verify that all is well. Does anyone else do this, or do you re-tune from scratch every time?
Thanks for all the help.