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[W9ZSL]

  YO!  I've been posting a lot on the tech forum dredging up dead brain cells.  At age 68, there are more than 1.  Topic "Bare Bones".

I got my novice ticket in the early 60's KN9ZSL.  First XMTR was a DX-20 and the first decent RCVR was a Gonset G-33. Passed the old "Conditional" test then graduated to a Viking Ranger before I graduated from High School.  So around 1966 or '67 I got into recording and the Ticket expired.  I probably sold the gear to buy recording equipment.

I was still involved in Radio because I spent most of my professional life as an announcer/producer/recording engineer and during the 80's was the "house voice" for KSTP-AM Minneapolis for over 4 years and Production Manager.  I did free-lance commercials for Target, K-Mart, Ford Motors, Prince, Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce as the guy giving you a sales pitch when they have you on hold. While in Minneapolis I bought the Scully 4-Track recorder used to master Bob Dylan's Quadraphonic Version of "Blood On The Tracks" but that's another story.  

I'm now retired.  Drag.  My 50-year class reunion is in September.  Want to feel old?  Our "Farewell Breakfast" is being held on Grandparents Day.  I asked the organizer if we should all exchange gifts.  Crap.  Life is a bummer, it kicks you in the ass and then you die unless you are a Ham.  People who keep trying to resurrect old Viking Gear and succeed deserve a special place in Heaven.

Ever since I let my license lapse, I've been itching to get back into Ham Radio. Over the years I've been hoarding, trading, swapping, selling and buying.  Five years ago this month I didn't die.  Blood Pressure so low that my arteries collapsed.  Atrial Fib to boot.  I didn't see that light at the end of a tunnel, but I did see the entrance.

While recovering I studied for my ticket and aced both the Tech and General. Back to work.  K9ZSL was taken.  Did a vanity and got W9ZSL.  I can live with that except for coming up with a creative phonetic.  Zebra Sugar Love worked pretty good when the prefix was K...Hi!

Folks, I gotta build the dream machine; a totally classic 813 modulated by a pair of 811As before I see the end of the tunnel, so I hope you bear with me on the tech page.  Though most of my life I've been involved with both radio and audio, I don't sit down with a computer and force numbers through it.  When it comes to RF, I can't design my way out of a fat Bagel or the paper bag it came in.  In recording, I've found when I place my mics, I rely on TLR...That Looks Right and it does.  Same with RF.  Throw formulas at me and I'll fade into the QRM!

I have built a lot of gear.  This is a shot of the studio mid-90's.  It's all paid for and expanded.  Wired the works.  Most of it is unbalanced and dead quiet.

So here's the plan.  Combine that with the Ham Station which is now in front of the big mixer to the left.  Plug and play!   Oh, I have a DX-20 and a Gonset G-33 waiting in the wings for minor restoration.  What goes round is coming round. Can you say "merger"?  Too much fun.  Picture the later-day version of that studio tied into a clean 250 Watt 813 AM Rig.  I have to sign off before I have a chubby!  By the way, I'm not afraid of the end of the tunnel anymore.  Been there and almost did that.  

73,
Mike
W9ZSL

P.S. I can hardly wait to plate-modulate the DX-20.  Insert diabolical laugh here.

[N0WEK]

Cool!

[W3GMS]

Mike,

I think its great with what your doing!  Once you get the radio sand in your shoes its really hard to get it out. 

Part of the enjoyment of retirement is reliving some of the basic parts of radio that we enjoyed so much when we were just kids.  I have rebuilt my first transmitter from an early article in Electronics Illustrated.  I had as much fun rebuilding that transmitter as working on some of the larger rigs around here. 

I know you have expressed interest in using some of your pro audio gear with your still in development AM rig.  A lot of AM'ers do just that so that should be a slam dunk.  I myself use an Audioarts / Wheatstone R17-10 in one of my AM operating positions.  This on the air BC board is nice since I can playback recordings and send various other audio sources through to the transmitter.  I use a Symetrix 528E microphone pre-amp with my EV RE-25 microphone.  That goes into a multiband EQ and that then drives a line input on the R17-10 board.  Out of the board I have a 16 channel DA which can drive various other audio devices.  One channel of the DA drives an Inovonics 222 negative peak limiter which is right before the transmitter.  I say all of this to give you some idea's about how you can use a lot of professional audio gear as up front audio to the rig.  I do use all 2 wire with shield for audio distribution and find its a lot less prone to RF getting into the audio as compared to unbalanced audio.  I do run legal limit power. 

So keep turning the crank and create that dream transmitter that you have always wanted to build.  The assistance you get here on AMfone will be stellar! 

Here are a few pictures of one of my stations to give you an idea of what I did.  This is not the main boat anchor quarters but rather a modest legal limit station in the corner of our family room.  The heavy iron stuff is downstairs.   

73,
Joe - W3GMS         

[W9ZSL]

Too much fun!