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Author Topic: What was your first rig?  (Read 104356 times)
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W1RKW
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« on: September 05, 2006, 06:29:13 PM »

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.
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Bob
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KA8WTK
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« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2006, 07:01:31 PM »

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.
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Bill KA8WTK
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« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2006, 07:05:51 PM »

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

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Carl WA1KPD
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« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2006, 07:18:10 PM »

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.....


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Carl

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Mike/W8BAC
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« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2006, 07:28:25 PM »

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 Grin 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
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W1JS
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« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2006, 07:49:00 PM »

In 1963:
BC-348R receiver
DX-60 transmitter
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73 de
W1JS
Jack
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Bacon, WA3WDR
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« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2006, 07:53:35 PM »

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.
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« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2006, 08:53:03 PM »

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
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wa1knx
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« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2006, 08:58:13 PM »

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
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David, K3TUE
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« Reply #9 on: September 05, 2006, 09:15:13 PM »

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  Smiley

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  Smiley

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Bill, KD0HG
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« Reply #10 on: September 05, 2006, 09:38:29 PM »

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!)
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wa2zdy
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« Reply #11 on: September 05, 2006, 09:48:29 PM »

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!!!!
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W2XR
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« Reply #12 on: September 05, 2006, 10:19:28 PM »

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
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K9FH
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« Reply #13 on: September 05, 2006, 10:30:56 PM »

In 1961
Johnson Adventurer transmitter - 7188 kcs xtal
Hallicrafters S-38E receiver
Indoor 40 meter dipole strung along baseboards of 3rd floor apartment.
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John Holotko
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« Reply #14 on: September 05, 2006, 10:31:49 PM »

Johnson Viking 2.
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« Reply #15 on: September 05, 2006, 11:07:20 PM »

...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...
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« Reply #16 on: September 05, 2006, 11:58:37 PM »

My First Novice station, Dec, 1964:

Ant: Gotham Vertical with no radials





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


* DX-20.jpg (20.46 KB, 539x414 - viewed 1332 times.)

* HE-30.jpg (20.72 KB, 400x266 - viewed 1282 times.)
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W1ATR
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« Reply #17 on: September 06, 2006, 12:04:34 AM »

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



* The Iron Curtain 1994.jpg (23.88 KB, 480x640 - viewed 1297 times.)
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wa2zdy
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« Reply #18 on: September 06, 2006, 03:44:59 AM »

. . .  I bought for $75.00 from John Kakstys thru a QST advertisement

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
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AB3L
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« Reply #19 on: September 06, 2006, 07:00:04 AM »

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.
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w3jn
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« Reply #20 on: September 06, 2006, 07:09:11 AM »

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



It can only go downhill from there  Grin

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.
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« Reply #21 on: September 06, 2006, 07:13:54 AM »

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.
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Jim/WA2MER
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« Reply #22 on: September 06, 2006, 07:22:40 AM »

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
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« Reply #23 on: September 06, 2006, 07:48:47 AM »

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
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« Reply #24 on: September 06, 2006, 08:00:25 AM »

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
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