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Author Topic: What was your first rig?  (Read 104350 times)
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Carl WA1KPD
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« Reply #100 on: September 28, 2006, 12:21:09 AM »

I used to think the jammers on 40 M were airplanes
Ah yes Frank.... me too. I used to wonder why they left the mike open
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Carl

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« Reply #101 on: September 30, 2006, 02:25:31 PM »

DX-35 from a junk sale at our local church, even had xtal I believe and an SX-71 that had seen much better days. Still have both, the 35 blew high voltage and the 71 needs recapped. Ah, someday Smiley
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WA1GFZ
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« Reply #102 on: October 01, 2006, 12:25:57 PM »

I remember the first time I got the 3725 rock to oscillate with a light bulb dummy load. ....and checking for the FCC van in front of the house when I was done.

Wow the sky is turning black all of a sudden.....It is going to come down
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Blaine N1GTU
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« Reply #103 on: October 01, 2006, 01:12:06 PM »

since i am soooooo much younger than you old buzzards, this was my first rig  Tongue

Yaesu 767gx


I spent all the money for the add on modules.
it was quite the piece of crap.
think i was 18 at the time.
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Steve W8TOW
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« Reply #104 on: October 02, 2006, 12:07:41 PM »

Viking I, Collins 51J2....many o' nights spent on 7290 & 3885 as a high school
kid! 1975 thru 79...
Followed by a HB 813 tx mod by Taylor TZ40's....from 82-85

No AM again til 1997....but now with more stations than I want
to tell my xyl!
73 steve
8tow
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Always buiilding & fixing stuff. Current station is a "Old Buzzard" KW, running a pair of Taylor T-200's modulated by Taylor 203Z's; Johnson 500 / SX-101A; Globe King 400B / BC-1004; and Finally, BC-610 with SX28  CU 160m morn & 75m wkends.
73  W8TOW
w1guh
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« Reply #105 on: October 11, 2006, 07:43:56 PM »

I used to think the jammers on 40 M were airplanes

I finally remembered my reaction to jammers.  To me, they sounded like a wind band playing a sustained chord.  So I thought, Oh, that's the "band" that the "band" switch and "band" spread were referring to.
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VE7 Kilohertz
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« Reply #106 on: October 11, 2006, 11:10:37 PM »

1995 I wrote my Basic and Advanced.....same day. I figured I had paid for 2 hours parking I might as well get my money's worth and write 'em both.  Grin

First rig was an ICOM 745, with a Yaesu FL-2200B ( I think) amplifier. Can't remember the model but it was a pair of 572B's. Fed a small full power Mosely MP-33.

Fun fun fun.

Paul
VE7KHz
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WA2ROC
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« Reply #107 on: December 15, 2009, 08:53:32 AM »

The first novice rig here (1960, WV2ROC)  was a Heath DX-20 and a National NC-60 "Special"  I have yet to figure out what was so "special" about that receiver!

I traded it for a brand new in the case BC-342 (yes, it really was brand new)  and started hearing some of the folks that answered my CQ's.

First AM rig was a Lafayette KT-390 Starflite and a Lafayette VFO.  That wasn't working out too well so I built a Heath HG-10 VFO which allowed me to minimize the frequency drift.

I also had a Lafayette HE-50A 10 meter transceiver (AM of course) that I used "bicycle mobile" with a 12 volt battery in a trailer behind the bike and a CB whip bolted to it.

Those were the days!

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Dick Pettit WA2ROC 
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flintstone mop
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« Reply #108 on: December 15, 2009, 11:31:26 AM »

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


Nothing wrong with that station. Lottsa AM power there.

I was licensed in 1987 so got into SSB and a nice (still have it) Kenwood TS440.
Then discovered the nice sound and playtime of A.M. and I modified a T368 and used an R390A for my ears.
I have been through many Bcast Tx's and came back around to a RA250, then stepped into a modern SDR Flex1000.

Fred
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Fred KC4MOP
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« Reply #109 on: December 15, 2009, 11:59:56 AM »

Can't remember my first rig exactly.  That was 1972.  It was either a DX35 or a hb 20 w. xtal controlled cw rig that operated on 40 and 80 m.  All my stuff was flea market, even my rx, a solid state (amazingly) Allied Radio A2515 gen cov. rx.
photo here http://www.universal-radio.com/USED/UT57lrg.jpg

My TR switch was a knife switch on a porcelain base.  My key was a WW2 surplus Vibro Lighning Bug which I fixed up and put into service.  I got that bug (which I still have along with the Allied rx) at the Peoria Hamfest in 1972.  All my purchases were with my money.  My parents took me to hamfests (I was 15) but the deal was any radio stuff had to be paid for by me.  So I saved money from a paper route.  I never had a fancy station but it was all mine.  A few years later I added a halicrafters HA5 VFO and a T-60.  The VFO was a big deal.   I was no longer rock bound.   I became a pretty damn good cw op too because I couldn't afford to operate phone.  I was fast with that bug.  I tried using an electronic keyer but the T-60 key voltage destroyed it.  I didn't know back then that a little IC chip keyer could not key around 100 v.!   You had to watch it around the bug contacts or it would bite  Grin

Rob
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« Reply #110 on: December 15, 2009, 12:48:06 PM »

My first rx was a Hallicrafters S-38 and a home brewed 6L6 xmtr built on sticks.  See pics -- the rx is one I just got on eBay -- works fine but needs some DeOx.  The xmtr is a commercial version of the one I built.  Mine looked a lot crappier than the pic.  That was back in 1952.  I soon graduated to a Hammarlund SP-100 and an Eldico TR-1.

Al


* S 38 FRONT.jpg (50.94 KB, 640x480 - viewed 1018 times.)

* MY FIRST XMTR(ALMOST)`.JPG (31.09 KB, 700x525 - viewed 1075 times.)
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W1AEX
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« Reply #111 on: December 15, 2009, 01:42:21 PM »

Back in the mid-60's my first SWL receiver was a "Utica 4-Band Receptor" which looked very much like an old Lafayette HE-40 minus the s-meter. I used to listen to the NY Marine Radio Operator routing calls to all the boats at sea because it seemed like a dangerous thing to do. I later upgraded to a Lafayette HE-10 which was a cheap knock-off of the S-38 series but sported a real s-meter.

As a new ham in 1973 (WB1AEX) my first rig was a Heath HW-16 that had no covers on the top or bottom, but it worked just fine and had full break-in capability. I moved on to a Kenwood TS-520 after I "grew up" and got a job. In the late 70's I stopped growing up and bought a Johnson Viking One filled with mouse turds that was sitting in a barn. It's all been downhill since then...

Rob W1AEX


* he40.jpg (5.94 KB, 200x105 - viewed 1025 times.)

* he10.jpg (5.63 KB, 200x118 - viewed 975 times.)

* hw16.jpg (4.03 KB, 200x105 - viewed 1016 times.)
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W3GMS
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« Reply #112 on: December 15, 2009, 02:35:07 PM »

Well for me it all started in 1964.  Did not have a Ham ticket, but did have an SWL call, WPE3GJF that was issued by Popular Electronics!  To get a SWL call you had to send in QSL cards from stations you heard and got cards from.  I even had some QSL cards printed with WPE3GJF on them!!  For that effort I used a Silvertone Console Radio that I found on a Good Will drive in Cub Scouts.  It did not work but somehow I got it working.

In 1966 I was licensed as WN3GMS.  My first receiver was a Heathkit GR-64 and the first real transmitter was a DX-60A.  I built both the receiver and transmitter.  Antenna switch was a C&K DPDT AC toggle switch.  I was on 80 CW with 2 XTALS, 3.724 and 3.739.  Upgraded to General a few months after getting my Novice ticket.  I then built the HG-10 to go with the DX-60A and bought a used HR-10 from maybe Warren, WA1GUD--not positive that was from him.  Was so anxious to get on AM phone with the DX-60A I tried to grind my 3.739 XTAL up to 3.868 but it crapped out around 3.820!  So thats about when the HG-10 got built.  Had a terrible hum on the DX-60A when on phone and finally gave up and built an 807 plate modulator for it.  I used a JT-30 mike with the setup and finally after hearing Bacon on, WB2YPE ordered a Sure Versadyne like he had!  The NAAM (National Association of Amplitude Modulation) was the AM organization at the time and the frequency was 3.868.  Bill, W3DUG was "king pin" within the NAAM back in those days.
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« Reply #113 on: December 15, 2009, 02:44:21 PM »

Just before High School I had a "turbocharged" EICO 710 grid dip oscillator modified as a trx Shocked, with a Lafayette SupeReGen receiver.

After working on the farms for the summer I had enough cash for an EICO 720. The local TV shop down the street provided me with good used tubes at rock-bottom prices. The owner later hired me to check tubes and do soldering after school and deducted electronics parts from my paycheck. Needless to say, I had minimal "bring-home" pay. Tongue

Antenna was a longwire slingshotted out the second floor bedroom window into a Sycamore tree. Grin

Phil - AC0OB
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WD8BIL
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« Reply #114 on: December 15, 2009, 02:54:25 PM »

Viking 1 with 4 crystals, an S-38C with a Q multiplier and a Hygain 18V vertical on 40M.
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W1GFH
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« Reply #115 on: December 15, 2009, 03:13:51 PM »

First actual functioning "rig" of my own was a used National NCX-3 bought at Deerfield in the late 1970s.

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W2XR
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« Reply #116 on: December 15, 2009, 04:06:36 PM »

As WN2OGS (WN2 Oily, Greasy, and Slimey), my first rig in 1970 was a used Heathkit Mohawk receiver, and a used Heathkit Apache transmitter loaded up to 75 watts DC input. And no, as a Novice, I never used the VFO in the transmitter, although admittedly the temptation was always there. My first telegraph key was an E.F. Johnson knock-off of the J-38 mounted on a piece of 1/4-inch thick diamond plate I cut with a hacksaw; later I bought a used Vibroplex "Champion" bug once my CW speed started coming up. With the Vibroplex and a pair of Trimm headphones, I felt like a real ham!

I still have that same Apache transmitter; I will have had it for 40 years next month. I added the SB-10 SSB adaptor once I passed my General in May of 1970. I could never part with my Apache for sentimental reasons, although I did part with the Mohawk and the SB-10 years ago. I absolutely loved that equipment; so much so that many years later, I purchased another pristine Mohawk and SB-10, so I have recreated my original Novice (and later, General-class) station. A recent picture of that equipment is shown below.

My Dad loaned me the $180.00 to purchase the Mohawk & Apache from a local ham, with the proviso that as soon as I was old enough to get a job, I pay him back in a reasonable period of time. And I did.

73,

Bruce


* Vintage Heathkit Station of 8-8-09.jpg (400.48 KB, 1280x960 - viewed 1373 times.)
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« Reply #117 on: December 15, 2009, 04:10:48 PM »

Clegg 99'er
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Ed/KB1HYS
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« Reply #118 on: December 15, 2009, 06:08:02 PM »

Not a ham rig, but I got a Lafayette Amsat 25 (or something like that) from my grandfather when I was 10 or so.  It was pretty cool to me, probably where I developed my appreciation for vacuum tubes. I was an SWL too and heard the jammers thinking they were airplanes.  

First Amatuer Station was a valiant and S-85. Still have both.
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73 de Ed/KB1HYS
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N3DRB The Derb
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« Reply #119 on: December 15, 2009, 06:14:01 PM »

transmitter? I honestly have no idea. Tongue

Bruce: I ran the exact same TX setup on both slopbucket and am for about a year. Never had a Mohawk tho. those phasing adapters sound quite pleasing to the ear on slopbucket compared to filter rigs.
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Carl WA1KPD
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« Reply #120 on: December 15, 2009, 08:36:20 PM »

And no, as a Novice, I never used the VFO in the transmitter,

Is there a statue of limitations?
Waiting in the late 60s for my Advanced to arrive in the mail I used the HX-20 I had bought for the occasion once on cw as a Novice. I quit the QSO early when the other station told me "Ur xtal has a bad drift Hi Hi"
Carl
/KPD
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Carl

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CW is just a narrower version of AM


« Reply #121 on: December 15, 2009, 10:26:18 PM »

First actual functioning "rig" of my own was a used National NCX-3 bought at Deerfield in the late 1970s.



When I went to college in 1975 I had an NCX-3 in the 66 Chevy Belair - I used it to phone patch back to the folks via my Elmer Ed, WB2ASK with his giant SSB signal. The NCX-3 had a hot receiver and lots of talk power on SSB. It drifted a little and was useless on AM or CW. It fit easily in the center hanging from the dash with plenty of room for a passenger. I used a grounded tapped base load inside the trunk to a 102 inch CB whip on 75M. HIGH VOLTAGE!

MIke WU2D
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KF1Z
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Are FETs supposed to glow like that?


« Reply #122 on: December 15, 2009, 11:24:11 PM »

My first "real" AM rig was a Class-E transmitter...
The Modulator was built into the cabinet from an NCX-5.

 Grin



* ncx_pwm.jpg (39.9 KB, 636x334 - viewed 1082 times.)
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KX5JT
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« Reply #123 on: December 15, 2009, 11:51:52 PM »

My first rig....


* ft-101E.jpg (61.82 KB, 648x434 - viewed 1093 times.)
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AMI#1684
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« Reply #124 on: December 16, 2009, 11:23:53 AM »

Got it as a kit , and wired the tube sockets backwards...
Got Norm, k2klv, to fix her up for me...

klc


* Regen.jpg (39.29 KB, 529x445 - viewed 1131 times.)
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