[AMRadio] W5OMR travels

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 4:40 PM, Larry Szendrei <ne1s at securespeed.us> wrote:

> On 3/20/13 1:57 PM, Todd, KA1KAQ wrote:
>
>> I still recall my visit some years ago fondly, Larry.
>>
>>  I had also thought of you, and your visit, when I was writing that last
> post. I almost mentioned you along with Geoff and Jim, but you and I had
> met each other long before we both were listmembers, or at least before we
> realized the other was a listmember, so it didn't quite fit.
>

Yep, I was just throwing in my agreement that a visit to NE1S is well worth
the trip! I can't even recall when we first met, but I also have fond
memories of riding to the AM Dinner from Hosstraders in the back seat of
your old Falcon listening to you chat with the 'convoy' on the Multi-Elmac.
You are one of the few people I've met to whom radio and electronics seems
natural, or intuitive. My friend Ray/KC1BT a retired BC engineer is
another. Still very impressed by the time you picked up that unmarked
homebrew receiver, looked at it and figured out what it needed for tubes
and power, and had it working in 15-20 minutes with only one or two
re-adjustments. It made quite an impression!


> Geoff didn't get a proper demonstration of the Meissner rcvr; it has
> developed a problem recently with poor sensitivity/low volume. Still
> usable, but not "strapping" like you heard it. It's next to get attention
> after I complete the project presently occupying the bench.
>

That was the first Meissner I'd heard working and it was amazing for its
age. And very buzzardly with its black wrinkle finish.


>
> Congrats on the new harmonic, Todd, and I'll look forward to seeing you at
> NEARfest, and maybe catching you on the air before then. I heard you fixed
> the KW-1; what was the problem?
>

TNX Larry. The biggest problem with the transmitter has been the new
harmonic - she keeps me well-occupied and runs me ragged to the point that
by the time Jen relieves me, I'm too beat to work on anything beyond food
or sleep! But it's a wonderful thing. Beyond that, the transmitter had a
problem of the filaments dropping out after a few minutes on the air. The
4-250s, 810s, etc would go dark. When the guys were down for Shelby we
tried to figure it out to no avail. We assumed there was a loose connection
on one of the terminal strips or somewhere else since it's been apart so
much, but nope. Finally in October Joe/WA2PJP came down to pick up a tired
Gates BC1-T which we stripped down in my driveway. By the time we were done
there wasn't much time left to troubleshoot, but we finally managed to
locate the problem, after checking everything else in line: the filament
switch. Found a couple NOS OEM Cutler Hammer switches online, got one
installed 2 weekends ago.

Had another issue of the plates going cherry read on key up and running
away. That ended up being a grid short problem, something the 4-250s are
known for. Slapped in that set of new 4-400s I got at Dayton in 2007,
neutralized, and voila! She's making RF again.

Now I just need to find the time (and energy) to get on the air. And static
season is lurking, of course.

~ Todd/KAQ