ISSUE # 101 JUNE/JULY 1992

Scanned and prepared by Grant/NQ5T
 
 

Hallicrafters Founder Dead at Age 93

William J. Halligan, ex-W9AC, founder and retired chairman of the Hallicrafters Co., died July 14th in Miami Beach, Florida.  "Wireless Willie", as he was affectionately known, got his first ham ticket as a teenager and later worked as a commercial and military radio operator during World War I on the Battleship Illinois.

He attended West Point, but dropped out to become a newspaper reporter.  After leaving journalism, he sold equipment for a radio supply company in Boston.  Halligan started Hallicrafters in 1933 as a supplier of amateur shortwave radios and developed it into a major manufacturer of electronic equipment for the home, industry, the military and aerospace.

During World War II, Hallicrafters made shortwave radios for the military, and after the war, home television sets and peacetime radar.  Hallicrafters continued to be a major supplier of ham radio gear during the fifties and sixties which he sold through Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogues.  His firm was acquired by Northrop Corp. in 1960 and he continued on as president and chairman of Hallicrafters until 1967.

Most AM'ers and vintage radio collectors are familiar with the Hallicrafters SX-series receivers and HT-series transmitters, many of which are still heard on the air today.  Before WWII, the "Big Three" manufacturers of amateur receivers were Hallicrafters, National and Hammarlund.  The best quality receivers were produced by National, but many hams couldn't afford them.  National custom manufactured their own components at the factory and turned out a superb product.  Hallicrafters receivers were a little less stable and lacked the fine craftsmanship of the National products, but the prices were more affordable and Hallicrafters probably offered the average ham more radio for his money than National.  Hallicrafters was able to do this by using off-the-shelf broadcast receiver components and adapting them to the best shortwave circuit design possible within the limitations of these components.

Survivors include two sons, William Jr., and Jack, 10 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

-W5YI REPORT

 


HERE is that high-powered rig you have always wanted to own …

 



 
 

Fire Destroys Everything at WA1HLR

Tim Smith, WA1HLR reported that a recent brush fire destroyed his home and nearly all his belongings, including his ham station and his collection of tubes and parts.  He also lost several automobiles, but his antenna system was undamaged, except for the feedlines leading to the house.

At the time of the fire, Tim was at work in Rochester, New York.  A friend was staying over at Tim's QTH to keep an eye on the place.  He smelled smoke, and when he went to investigate, he discovered that the woods were on fire and the house was about to be engulfed.  Just as he attempted to call the fire department, the phone line went dead, so he had no choice but to quickly evacuate.

Arson is suspected, and Tim mentioned that he had recently had some hassles with nearby residents over a TVI problem although the problem had been solved.  Tim says he plans to eventually rebuild, although he will probably remain on the road with his work during the coming months.

 



 


We Need Articles, Articles and Articles for Publication!





This is to remind our readers that we continue to suffer a severe shortage of articles for publication.  Recently, manuscripts have slowed to a trickle.  This month, we had to delay publication until enough material accumulated to fill this issue.  In years past, we got a lot more material even though the number of subscribers was but a fraction of the number today.

It looks like for the foreseeable future, due to the shortage of articles submitted for publication and the shortage of time on the part of the editor/publisher (remember, AM/PX is a spare-time endeavor), publication will continue to be somewhat sporadic.  In any case, a nominal year's subscription will bring you twelve full issues, even if it takes longer than a calendar year to get them out.  Publication will become more regular if we receive more articles to publish.

In addition to articles, please send pictures of you and your station for the "Meet The AM'ers" feature.  We are particularly interested in "how to" articles concerning homebrew AM equipment, modifications, restoration techniques, etc.  We welcome technical articles regardless of whether circuits are tube or solid state.

 



 
 

Scrounging Taken to its Ultimate

by Donald Chester, K4KYV



Many of us in AM acquire a lot of our equipment by "scrounging".  We scavenge through fleamarket offerings, other hams' junkboxes, the junk collections of deceased hams (if you are lucky enough to find the stuff before it is thrown out by surviving family members upon the advice of well-meaning appliance operator hams), surplus stores, and even broadcast stations that are increasingly replacing tube type transmitters and studio equipment with solid state.

I owe my large collection of vintage parts to my longtime commitment to "real" amateur radio, homebrewing, extending back when I first got on the air as a Novice in 1959, plus the fact that I have always been an avid trash-picker since childhood.  In the late sixties and early seventies, most hams had been persuaded to abandon AM and homebrew transmitters as affordable (cheap, low quality) commercially built SSB equipment appeared and the manufacturers were eager to build a market for their new product.  At large hamfests one could find plenty of transmitting air variables, oil-filled filter capacitors, transformers of every description, and large transmitting triodes, as well as all kinds of meters, tube sockets, knobs, etc., and most of this stuff went for scrap-metal prices.  Kilowatt size modulation transformers could be had for $5 to $30.  Large, fully assembled rack and panel kilowatt AM transmitters often went for less than $100.  I even remember a mint Collins KW-1 at the Cincinnati "Stag" Hamfest priced to sell for $500.  I didn't buy it because the price seemed too high. The prevailing fad at that time was to "get rid of the boat anchors."  While others were busy cleaning out their shacks, I had already noticed the sharply declining availability of new parts.  I decided to go to as many hamfests as I could and bring back as many goodies as I could haul, while the stuff was going cheap.  Their loss, my gain, I thought.  I knew the stuff would one day become scarce.  The only way I could survive with my hobby would be to create my own stockpile of building material.

My philosophy is that it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.  I probably will never use more than 10 to 25 percent of my total collection, but the variety of stuff I have available assures me of a substantial number of components on hand for any conceivable future project.  The stuff I decide I don't need is still useful as trading material, to help other hams with their projects, and for swapping for things I need but don't have.

In over 32 years of amateur radio, I have purchased new only one expensive piece of equipment.  In 1980 I bought 13 brand new sections of Rohn 25 tower and all the associated hardware and put up a 127-foot base-insulated vertical with 120 quarter wave radials for 160.  Even so, that antenna still has some scrounged parts; the base insulator was salvaged undamaged from a fallen AM broadcast tower, and the "Johnny ball" guy strain insulators are hamfest bargains.  The #10 copperweld wire for the 110-foot high dipole supported by the same tower was given to me by a friend who acquired a large roll of old open-wire telegraph line that used to run along side an abandoned railway.  16,000 feet of #12 bare soft drawn copper wire for the ground radial system was purchased for the cost of the copper by the pound, thanks to the friend whose father owned a factory in Rhode Island where they manufactured insulated electrical cable.  I hauled the wire home on four large wooden spools, in an old Toyota with the rear seat temporarily removed.  The total cost of the entire antenna system was $1600 in 1980 dollars.  That was about the same as the cost of a new transceiver and matching linear.  I think my antenna was a far wiser investment, since today the transceiver would be long out of style and possibly down for repair waiting for some non-available part.  My signal is certainly much better using the deluxe antenna system and homebrew junkbox KW AM transmitter, than it would have been using the $1600 transceiver and linear connected to a 25 foot high dipole strung between a couple of trees.  I don't worry a bit about the trade-in value of my antenna system for next year's model.

It is sometimes useful to employ a "shotgun" approach to collecting, particularly for acquiring a matching set of components or exact replacements for making a restoration job truly authentic.  Whenever you seek exactly identical parts, you may be surprised at the minor differences that show up in what, at first glance, looks like identical components. Sometimes the differences are as subtle as differences in mould markings or as pronounced as drastic differences in the physical appearance of nominally "identical" parts.  These differences sometimes reflect different production runs by the same manufacturer or different vendors who supplied the manufacturer at various times while the piece of equipment was in production, or it may be a case of deliberate revision by the manufacturer.  In any case, even subtle differences can stick out like a sore thumb when the "wrong" style component is mounted beside the original parts.  At a fleamarket or classified ad sale, it is rare that randomly purchased components will be identical if differences exist.  Sometimes you are not even aware of differences until you are ready to install the component.  When faced with this problem, the solution is to collect a large number of nominally identical components, and pick through these to come up with a matching set.  If you don't find what you need, you keep on collecting until your matching set is completed.  This can take months or even years, and you may end up with many times the number of non-matching parts than you actually needed to begin with, but these extras can be resold for at least what you paid for them or they can serve as emergency replacements or as trading material to someone who is less picky.  I have used the "shotgun" approach for National Velvet Vernier dials (which come in at least three distinct versions), metal nameplates (which differ by manufacturer), and old style pushbutton light switches (which come in many different styles).

Accumulating a large collection of parts and equipment has an obvious drawback: the stuff requires storage room, and like accumulating snow, it takes on weight.  I originally stored my collection in vacant rooms in the house, but as my family situation changed, the radio stuff had to be moved.  I initially solved the problem by laying down a floor in the loft over the dining room.  This provided several hundred square feet of storage space.  All the stuff that would not fit into the radio room was crammed into the loft.  This had serious drawbacks, though.  The "shack" soon became so full that there was no room left to build new rigs or to add extra equipment.  The loft was extremely hot in the summer, and it was often unbearable to try to dig through and find something.  Some of the items stored there actually deteriorated due to long term exposure to the hot environment.  The greatest inconvenience was that things were piled on top and in front of other things, so that some items were all but inaccessible for use.  Nevertheless, more items were crammed into the space over a period of ten years, armload at a time. Then the catastrophe struck.

I first began to notice a small crack in the plaster in the dining room ceiling.  This was not unusual in a 140-year-old house, and the crack was repaired.  But soon the crack widened again, and a second crack appeared.  The ceiling began to noticeably sag, and it was then that I became concerned.  I took up some of the boards from the floor above, and found three cracked ceiling joists, and the rest of them were substantially warped.  Ten years of severe overload on a ceiling that was never designed to hold up a load in the first place had taken its toll, and the ceiling was about to collapse!  This alone would have been catastrophic enough, but the old ceiling is filled with electrical wiring, and when it collapsed, it would have possibly caught fire as the old wiring with its brittle insulation was stretched beyond its limit.  The problem was temporarily solved by the installation of a support post under the worst spot, but I knew I was going to either have to kick the rest of the family out of the house or get rid of my radio stuff, or else build additional storage space.  I decided the latter was the only acceptable solution, although it would be expensive to have an addition built, and time consuming to do the job myself.  Actually, I had long before realized that more space was needed, and I had been contemplating this for several years.

Like finding parts to build an AM transmitter, the solution to my dilemma was to scrounge.  I had noticed an old one-room schoolhouse located about a quarter mile away that hid been used as a church for several years, until they replaced it with a new building.  They continued to use the old building as a Sunday-school room.  I noticed that they had not replaced a piece of roofing tin that had blown off, suggesting that the building was no longer in use.  About the time I had discovered my ceiling problem, I happened to run into a prominent member of the church, and asked about the old building.  He replied that the man was supposed to come THAT DAY to bulldoze it down to make room for the new Sunday-school rooms they were going to build.   He didn't show, and they had been unable to contact him by phone.  I replied that I would be willing to have the building moved if they would give it to me.  This was a Friday afternoon.  The next day, I had the house-mover look at the building and the site where I wanted it relocated (about 35 feet from my house).  He stated that he could move it for an affordable price.  That Sunday the church members discussed my offer and accepted it.  They were delighted that the old building, which still had sentimental value to some of the members, would not be destroyed.

Within a couple of weeks the building was moved to my property, and set on steel I-beams blocked up with stacked railway ties.  I had to build the foundation under the building that was already set in place, since the church wanted the building moved immediately so they could get on with the construction of their new building.  I dug the 24 by 32 foot trench for the footing in the heat of August, 1990, when the dry earth was nearly as hard as concrete.  The traditional pick and shovel simply would not work, and there was not enough room to get a backhoe in the proper position to do the job. I ended up doing the digging myself, using a roto-tiller with the outer tines removed.  The garden tiller was used to loosen up the dirt which was then shoveled out by hand.  The concrete footing was poured once the trench was completed and steel reinforcement bars installed.  The foundation was constructed with cement blocks.  The work went slowly, since I had never done any masonry work before.  The foundation was completed after several months of laying a few blocks at a time, in the evenings after work before dark, and on weekends.  It was not until the following spring that the building was lowered down on the new foundation, and several more months of repair work were required to get the 60-year old building in useable condition.

The 1930's era one-room schoolhouse moved to K4KYV's QTH.  The building is presently being renovated to serve as the ham shack, workshop, parts storage area, and publication facility for The AM Press/Exchange.  A unique example of a rapidly disappearing form of American architecture has been preserved.
 


Link to picture of schoolhouse

Finally, last summer, almost a year after the building was moved, the loft over my dining room was emptied.  It took over ten pickup truckloads to move everything.  I was amazed at the quantity of stuff I had managed to cram in that loft!  No wonder the ceiling almost collapsed.  The repair work to the dining room ceiling is still in progress.  The sagging joists have been replaced with stronger laminated veneer beams, but the drywall over the dining room is still due for repair.  I plan to put the floor back down in the loft and use it for LIGHT, and mostly non-radio, storage.

Meanwhile, the old school building, which measures 24 by 32 feet, with a 12 foot high ceiling, was soon filled up with piles of radio parts and equipment on the floor, and the existing radio room had not begun to be emptied!  768 feet of floor space was not enough, but there is 12 feet of wall space to go up vertically.  The only thing missing was shelves.  I built several sets using scrap lumber that was already around the property, and several more were built using heavy plywood and shelf brackets.  That took care of about half the stuff on the floor, but considering the stuff still in the radio room in the house, I needed many more shelves.  The task of building them would take a lot of non-existent time and money.

Once again, scrounging and scavenging came to the rescue.  I spotted a tractor repair shop that dated back before WWII and had been out of business for years, was being renovated for a new business.  There were dozens of wooden and metal shelves being removed from the building.  I stopped to inquire, and the new owners sold me all the shelves I wanted for $1.00 a set!  I hauled home several truckloads, all for a grand total of twelve dollars.  The owners even gave me a truckload of the little cardboard trays that had been used to organize small parts.

With the scavenged shelves in place, most of the stuff is off the floor and there is plenty of room for the items that have not been moved yet, including my complete ham station and workshop facilities.  Propane gas heat and electricity have been installed in the old school building which promises to become a first-class "radio shack".  The only thing now holding up the job is time; I have decided to complete the dining room ceiling first.

This has so far been a major time-consuming project, and my family life, job and even this publication have suffered from the resulting demands on my time.  But to have built from scratch, using new material, a similar size building, similarly rugged in construction, would have cost many times the five to six thousand dollars I estimate to have already spent on the entire project so far, and I would never have had time to do the work myself.  Many AM'ers boast about the transmitter components and even broadcast transmitters they have scavenged up before the material went to the landfill, but only a few of us can claim that our entire ham shack, workshop and storage facilities were scrounged up for the asking - stuff that someone else didn't want.  This has to be the ultimate case of trash-picking!

 



 
 

Urgent Help Wanted





One of our readers wrote to say he needs some help getting back on the air.  John Makara, ex-W8NDQ, has been studying hard for several years for the General Class license.  At age 81 he is rusty on the code and finds it difficult to get out of his house.  He is looking for someone who is willing to come to his house and work on the code with him, as well as someone who is able to come give him the FCC exam.  John's license expired during WWII while he was in the 11th Army Air Force, L31 Outpost.  If someone is able to help, please contact John at [deleted .. Ed.]

 



 
 

AMPLITUDE MODULATION HAS WON

How Amplitude Modulation Abundance Was Indispensable To The Amateur Service Discoveries Which Produced The U.S. Army's Popular "OE254" Antenna System

By George A. H. Bonadio, W2WLR, 373 Bast Avenue, Watertown NY 13601-3829



Both Military and Commercial

We are seeing that another real value of the Radio Amateur Service AM continuation has been perfectly demonstrated in producing a military communications improvement.  The Bonadio Space Dimension Antenna, recently described in this publication, directly inspired the U.S.Army's OE254 (oh-eee-too-five-for) antenna.

The OE254 has a center support with three elements spreading upwards and three elements spreading downwards.  You can see it as the only antenna on the new Battalion Buildings in nearby Fort Drum.  The OE254's operate on 30 to 88 MHz, a spectrum of several thousand voice channels.

We can observe that others, commercial companies, also made use of the merits of my 2D (2 dimensional) and 3D (3 dimensional) antennas.  One company made a lesser two element 90 deg. separation of the 3D 90 deg. separation in a ground plane version, which I included in my patents.  Not infringing, they called it an Omega, for CB use, and claimed a + 4 dB gain. I have one here.

We can see a less effective variation in the popular scanner antennas mounted on a chimney, at least one per thousand houses.  These have a doublet vertical plus two more elements fanned out, plus three small elements as large butterflies attached.  All of these somewhat broadens the signal acceptance by lowering the natural reactances.  My patents covered the ultimate 90 deg. isolations.

You could have seen my Bonadio Square Diagonal (2D) and Bonadio Space Dimension (3D) antennas as they were first described in two 1969 issues of Ham Radio magazine.  These stories were in April and October issues, each beginning on page 28.  In the April p.29 photo I am standing on my ranch house chimney.  The editors box displays his dilemma.  In the October p.29, of the continuation story, the photo shows the chimney and the antenna, with the center at 22 feet above ground.  Elements were CB stainless steel 9' whips.
 

Comparative Evaluations

The Fig. 7 caption should have explained that the 10 foot sized Bonadio Space Dimension Antenna was compared with the 57 foot sized Bonadio Square Diagonal only on ground wave.  Even horizontally the smaller 3D antenna was better above 21 MHz, and vertically was better than the larger antenna down to 10 MHz.  A 28 dB difference in the available patterns, is shown, on the small antenna on 29 MHz.  Meanwhile these larger Square Diagonal Antennas were usually better than equal element doublets by + 3 dB to + 6 dB, due to frequent choice of the better pattern.  Both of these systems, in their favorable patterns, do even better than this in their very low angle radiation.  The presumption is that multiple dimensional oblique waves are not neutralized at very low angles as they are from single polarization verticals or horizontals.

The Military advantages, over simple vertical antennas, are several.  From HQ out to moving vehicles, the "picket fencing" of signal strength is greatly reduced, being best, of course, at 90deg., not 60 deg., separation.  Also we see the pattern is flattened away from high angles and concentrated at very low angles, for more ground range.  The sloping of the elements away from either vertical or horizontal greatly reduces the ability of the flat earth reflections, at low angles, to duplicate the 3D radiation of the three oblique waves.

Thus, I did observe the common loss of very low angles from both vertically and horizontally launched waves is substantially avoided.  Hence, we have, on skip, at distances of over 5,000 miles, these low angles reducing the loss per hop, and also fewer number of hops, for total loss reductions which frequently exceed what other beam gains can approach.  This discovery is important Worldwide.
 

Our U.S. Army Used Them In The Gulf War

You could have seen some OE254's on TV or in the Press photos.  In the Gulf War I saw it stacked out on the sand, twice, and in a Press photo high up on a pole in the sand.

The nearby public emergency team, at Fort Drum, that does help in civilian trips to hospitals, was enjoying a short documentary exposure on the local TV.  The GI mentioned that he would radio on his "OE254" into the particular hospital that he needed to take a case into.  Apparently he could quickly choose any civilian, governmental or military frequency without a problem of an antenna mismatch, because of the great broadness of his portable OE254.
 

Referenced to the F.C.C.

I see a significance in all this to do with AM.  In my comments on proposals to further restrict AM before the F.C.C. I made reference to this development.  However, because of the need for brevity in such comments, I included very few details.  Starting in 1953, I experimented on antennas which, in three places, I hung wire over five neighborly pieces of land.  By 1959 I had my first B2D version up and switching patterns.
 

Indispensability of These Discoveries

It was only through actual many thousands of pattern switches, on six amateur bands, under seasonal, hourly and sun spot cycle differences, with the comparisons between transmitting and receiving ratios, that I learned of the novelties of what I was discovering.  I wore out four antenna relays at the centers of the antennas.

There is absolutely no way in which I could have done this, if there had been no abundance of Amplitude Modulated Carriers.  Single Sideband Signals cannot be used because of their continuous tremendous rates of change of strength from the voice variations.

Thus, we see, if were to disappear from the Amateur Radio Service, then future unpredictable Amateur developments would also be imperiled.
 

Was Your AM Signal One Which I Used?

If you operated with AM between 1953 and 19 70, you may have actually been of help to me in making, then, some of my many tests, with thousands of signals which I did not call.  Thereby, without knowing it, you may have helped in the development of the U.S.Army's OE254.  We are interdependent. We do need to work together for the good of all of us.
 

PICON: Public Interest, Convenience Or Necessity

Thus, Amplitude Modulation, including a full carrier, has been indispensable to several useful improvements.  I believe that it is not in the Public Interest,  Convenience or Necessity (PICON) that AM operations be cut back or otherwise reduced in any way.
 

Among The Best Of Operators

In comparison it is unfortunate to notice that, while there never has been a significant percentage of AM operators who had available significantly overpowered transmitters, for 25 years, monthly advertising, in full page ads, were placed in several popular amateur magazines, for SSB operators to buy grossly overpowered SSB amplifiers which were guaranteed to run very cool at their rated powers, implying that even higher output was usable.  Only effective ads, which are expensive, continue monthly for 25 years.  The probability is high that the total of overpowered SSB stations, today, far exceeds the total of all the AM stations.  And probably 90 % of these AM stations are not up to their legal PEP limit.
 

AM Does Not Want To Go Away

It is interesting to notice that most fast aircraft and space vehicles can not use SSB because of severe Doppler Shift effects, so they use AM.

No, AM is not dead, nor is it dying.  In fact, I have on the air, now, some improvements that, in combination, makes my AM signal noticeably more readable in lightning static, interference or in plain weakness of level, with no significant distortion.  It is, also, "very clear" and "clean" in ideal reception.  I expect to publish these techniques later.
 

Did Any Amateur Make A Profit?

Also, no. I did not receive any royalties for the Military or other uses of my techniques, from my patents.  I believe that my ultimate 3D 90 deg.  was so good, over their old vertical standards, that the Military accepted a poorer 60 deg. separation.  With that difference I would have had to go to court, with $100,000, to prove that my clear 90 deg. benefits were in effect, the same patented "unobvious,  new and useful" advantages that they are partially obtaining, at 60 deg.

I believe that I could have won a typical triple-damages case and still not recovered my $100,000 costs.  This is because patents disfavor 98% of the private inventors.
 

Along The Grapevine

The latest rumor, that I hear, is that the OE254 is to be replaced by a "better version" soon. Ideally this would be my 3D 90 deg. separation, with much wider frequency coverage - virtually unlimited - and usable in 4 switchable patterns, one vertical and three horizontal figure 8's, at 60 deg. apart.  All of these the Military could have had cheaper and sooner, if they had approached me, the original inventor and the patentee, in the 1970's.
 

There Was A Better Way

Sadly, and very unfortunately, three Army accidents with the OE254 have been fatal.  These were due to design errors that, because of my experiences, I would not have allowed, and did not have in mine.  If the Military would have first contacted me, just as a consultant, those particular accidents would not have happened.  I do not know of any other antenna engineer to have patented more than the five wholly different antennas as I had.
 

The FCC's BC Antenna Computer

Another, commercially, unfortunate error was blamed upon a computer.  I had seen the continuing problem of AM Broadcast Band stations with too poor ground waves and incoming evening skywaves, of other stations, ruining their night coverage.  I recommended my (patented) top half of my Bonadio Space Dimension (B3D) antenna, as an improvement of + 4 dB in the day and, if with 100% of the stations on that channel using it, over a +10 db of clearer local coverage at night.

The FCC engineering office, instead of trying one, for, say, $1,000, asked the FCC computer. Unfortunately that computer was designed for one dimensional antennas.  It said that this three dimensional antenna was actually only as long as its vertical height.  Therefore my "Box Corner Antenna" (B3D) was not worth testing.  My explanation, to the FCC, of their oversight, was not answered by the "engineer" who used the computer.
 

Not In My Back Yard

A trade journal paper was trying out several patented antenna types to accomplish the same, more AM BCB ground wave and less sky wave.  I submitted my BBCA, to their engineers, but they took two full years to test the others and had no money to try mine.  Then that editor started a "Great Ideas" contest.  I submitted my BBCA in the second month and some time later was advised that the contest" had been" discontinued.
 

An Amateur Viewpoint

It would be difficult to spend $5,000 to install a temporary test Bonadio Box Corner three element antenna upon a present BC antenna, over its ground plane.  View the bottom lines of a cubical box, standing on one corner, and having the far opposite corner at the highest point.  You can do this with a cubic box on your table, as you balance the box with one finger lightly on the top corner.  These bottom three edges, of the box, are then replaced by three equal wires and fed at the bottom against the ground plane.

Temporary ropes, from the top of the present tower, to external short poles, support the thin copper-clad steel three elements.  A "pi" tank tuner converts the 50 ohm feed line down to about 10 ohms.  Voltages are quite low and currents high.  A relay can switch between the two tuners for the two antennas.  Neither antenna, when switched off from the line, and opened, will interfere with the other signal, for comparison purposes.
 

We Did It Again

Yes, again, we see that Amplitude Modulation, in the Radio Amateur Service, is providing two much needed services to large numbers of the population in the Public Interest, Convenience Or Necessity, (PICON); one to the military and one to the AM broadcast users.  This indicates that the policy is correct in not reducing Amplitude Modulation operations.
 

Three Of The Bonadio Family Of Multi-Dimensional Antennas

 



 
 

Seen on Packet

From: K6ZSR
To: ARRL ALLUS
Re: Dear ARRL

Dear ARRL:

I think the times are right for you to issue a formal STATE OF THE HOBBY.

Personally, I think that since the 1950s, the hobbyists are becoming more and more polarized towards buying foreign appliance rigs and having no or little compassion for any hobbyist who uses a mode other than appliance-generated SSB.

It seems to me that the general trend is to efficiency rather than just having fun and learning more about this fantastic hobby.

At this station I operate the following modes: SSB, AM, AMTOR, FM, packet, fast scan television, and slow scan television.

It bothers me when just the other day I was deliberately jammed when using AM on a frequency that was completely unoccupied.  Why?  I don't know!

Is it because it was not SSB?  I don't know ...but I figure that this hobby is so much fun that I feel after being a ham for 35 years that I want to operate every facet of this hobby and enjoy myself.

I want to be part of the ham community that encourages others to come along and be a part of this experience.  I do not want to become part of the mode of the jammers, and people who sit on one frequency, on just SSB and criticize with prejudice, other hams day after day.  (Just listen to 40 meters in SoCal.)

Is this the hobby?

ARRL, will you please issue a STATE OF THE HOBBY so that new hams coming in will know what your slogan "ENTIRELY FOR THE RADIO AMATEUR" means?  Thank you for listening.

Mike Ferraro, K6ZSR Life Member

(REPRINTED FROM JUNE 30 1992 WESTLINK REPORT)

 



 

EXCHANGE

WANTED: Tech manual/copy for T973/FRT-24A transmitter, or leads to same. W6RNC,

FOR SALE: SB-301 rcvr mint, CW filter for SB series rigs, Collins T-shirt large new, EQW-29 capacitor substitution box, HW-12 (75 M. monobander), Heath catalogues from 1980's, Heath manuals on early test gear, HM-11 SWR meter, IT-28 cap checker, IC102 sig generator, EF-1 VTVM course, pole type glass insulator, HG-lOB VFO, A-7 Heath audio amp, Cantenna dummy load, spare meter for Heath SB rcvr, SSB filter for Heath SB rigs, spare parts for HX-10, SB-610 monitor scope, 1981 Handbook, Ameco 6-metre converter - mint, knobs for heath SB series rigs. WANTED: Service bulletins for KWM2-A. Marty Drift

WANTED: Cabinet for 32V3, Millen 37001 connectors, Diawa CN-720B. Lloyd Cabral, AA6T

HISTORIC A.M. TRANSMITTER for sale: 250 watt RCA/homebrew used by WSM in Nashville (Grand Ol’ Opry) for remote broadcast use late 1930's through 1950's.  Uses pair of 808's in final, modulated by pair of 811's.  It is in operating condx on 160 and 75 metres and will work 40 m. if you make a set of plug-in coils for it.  It's in a 7 ft. Bud cabinet and weighs nearly 500 lbs. so I cannot ship.  This xmtr, is ONE OF A KIND and sounds good on the air - ask K4KYV. Includes original WSM engineers' notes and documentation and spare tubes.  $500 firm. Will consider attractive trade.  ALSO FOR SALE OR TRADE: Collins 75A3 in beautiful condx and fully functional with 6 khz and 3.1 khz filters and manual, $325 obo. Very nice Drake R4C with 6 khz AM, 3 khz SSB and 500 Hz CW filters and 160 metres too, $225 incl. Manual. WANTED: Kenwood R-1000 (or similar) rcvr. in exc. condx. with manual. Mike Carroll

FOR SALE: 3” RCA Scope W033A (1960) $50.  General Radio VTVM 726A $25.  BC?610 coils 14-18 mc, 5.7-8 mc, 2-3.4 me $10 each.  Fixed Vac. capacitors 20,000 v 55 mmf, 12 mmf (I measure 40), 60 mmf $5 each.  (1) 250TH $20.  For $10 each: (4) 814 new, (4) 872A, (1) 810, (2) 80 new.  For $5 each: 807, 811, 812, 815, 829B, 837, 1632, 2X2, 2C39B, hy75, 310A, T40 w/loose base, HY615.  All items plus shipping. Don Olsen

WANTED: Clean working RANGER 2. Bill Wolf, KA2EEV

FOR SALE: BC-348Q w/28 volt pwr supply and reprint manual, $75 plus shipping. W2YIB, Art

COLLINS KW-1 TRANSMITTER FOR SALE.  With extra parts 5 manual.  Good condition.  All offers considered! Call Greg (714) 921?7222 for info or write w/SASE for photos.  Greg Kordes

FOR SALE: Exact reproduction overlays now available to replace your worn or damaged drum markings for the Collins 75A-2, 75A-3, 75A-4, KWS--1, 51J4.  Also available are the replacement film for the 32V series rectangular dial and the circular plate overlay for the early 75A series receivers.  Write or call for details.  Original color markings and exact background color.  Limited quantity. Postpaid $10.00.  David Knepper

FOR SALE: Hallicrafters SX1199 [sic] clean and operational $125 + UPS.  29 amp Variac $40.  B&W Linear L1000A mint $300 + shipping.  Power meter Microwave Devices with matching coupler 1 KW range $45.  Tubes 813 $20 ea. 12AT7 and 12AU7 99 cents ea. no limit inquire on others.  Levy