[ADXA] Speaking of tube type mobiles.

Sun Aug 18 19:19:37 EDT 2019

When I was in college, I had a Heathkit HW-12A and Heath mobile power supply that I built from kits.  I had a 75M mobile antenna of some kind - not sure I ever knew what brand it was because someone gave it to me.  I worked a YV5 on 75M SSB with this rig from the dorm parking lot - the sole DX with the HW-12.  

I put my Drake TR-3 in the car (66 Impala) before graduating and going into the Air Force.  I got a set of Hustler antennas and worked a lot of DX, some on CW.  The car had an automatic transmission, though.  I used a home brew power supply with a transformer that was wound in Tulsa.  I went to Tulsa and got it and my dad helped me bend some aluminum for the case.  The pass transistors were from Burstein-Applebee and cost about 88  cents each.  It had 3 in each leg but would run on 2.  I kept a bunch of spares so when the second one blew, I just bolted in two more and hooked them up. I think I had tabs that would slide over the transistor pins so they didn’t have to be soldered.  I remember doing this repair on the side of the road.  

I still have the HW-12A.  I have worked CW using a manual transmission - had a Ford Ranger with a 5-speed stick from 1992 thru 2018 and occasionally had a mobile rig in it.  I had a Kenwood TS-120S, an Icom IC-706, and others in it at times.  I also worked mobile CW for a brief time with a bug but found that dits speeded up when turning one direction, and slowed down when turning in the other direction.  

I got out the bug and practiced with it some this afternoon.  I’m not going to try it mobile, but I got a Drake 2NT and 2B and plan to participate in some Novice Rig Night activities.   Crystal controlled!  I even ground some crystals to get them into the right range.  

73,
Dennis, W5RZ

> On Aug 17, 2019, at 10:11 PM, David Norris via ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> I had an FT 101E mobile in my car in college. It was in a 1967 Sting Ray roadster and I set the rig in the hold behind the seats centered to where I could reach back and tune the rig. I had a hustler that was on a home brew mount bolted to the rear of the frame (due to the fiberglass body). It worked DX pretty well too. The coolest and fastest mobile of its time. A tube final rig in a classic car in the early 80’s.  And there was one other ADXA member that could work CW mobile and drive a stick... 
> 
> 73 
> 
> David A. Norris, K5UZ
> Director, Delta Division
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Aug 17, 2019, at 3:49 PM, Jay Bromley <jayw5jay at cox.net> wrote:
>> 
>> I am fairly sure with the Galaxy he was running SSB.
>>  
>> The old cars with old tube base stations are stuck in my mind, hi.
>>  
>> 73 de jay..
>>  
>> From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of WB5JJJ
>> Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2019 11:36 AM
>> To: ADXA at mailman.qth.net
>> Subject: [ADXA] Speaking of tube type mobiles.
>>  
>> How many of you have ever been guilty of this teenage indulgence?  This all happened probably 10 years before I got my license.  I knew all about Amateur Radio, but had too many other things on my mind back then to study and learn CW, to get a license. 
>>  
>> Back in my early Navy days (~1967), I was stationed in Maryland going to a school.  A classmate had a Galaxy (I think) tube rig in the floorboard on the passenger side of his car.  And what looked like a huge whip on the rear bumper, and I remember he was on 14Mhz and working the world at night.  Some things just stick to memory cells.  Now, I don't remember if he was running SSB or AM, but some of you old timers might chime in on the technology of the day. 
>>  
>> The radio was aglow in white light from the filaments and when he transmitted there was a loud kerchunk from the T/R relays, then a couple of the tubes got cherry red and the engine revved up bit.  In the summer, with the windows down (no A/C), my legs got hot from not only the tubes, but probably a lot of stray RF. 
>>  
>> Now the fun part.  He would park in front of the base movie theater and when he talked, the neon would modulate with his voice.  He was lighting up neon for about 10' either side of his antenna, which was within a couple feet of the bottom row of neon. 
>>  
>> Don't know what the other folks on base though of the light display, but we sure enjoyed the light show. 
>>  
>> George - WB5JJJ
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