[ARC5] SCR-274-N transmitter mod and novice ops

[Mike Morrow]

>As a novice, I was rockbound and it was a great incentive to upgrade
>and use a VFO controlled rig. Since I was a teenager on a tight budget
>I thought the best course of action was to pick up a Command set...

I had a T-18/ARC-5 that was missing the top and bottom covers which I converted to 80m. 

>When my ticket arrived I went on the air with it but it had a chirpy
>signal and I found it tricky to tune.

I used a coversion article from somewhere that installed a buffer stage in place of the cal crystal between the master oscillator and the PA.  The result was a pretty decent signal, but I got the worst shock of my life after my arm contacted the exposed plate cap of one of the 1625 tubes one night.

>I eventually bought a Heathkit HG-10 VFO and used it with a Knightkit T60.

I wound up using my Dad's (W5WRR/SK) old Elmac AF-67, which came with two crystal sockets on the front panel and supported multi-band operation.

The novice bands, even up through the late 1970s, were wonderful.  I miss the enthusiasm of the novices that could be found there.  There was still some magic to radio for young folks.

I began messing around with radio gear in 1964 after hearing the BBC on my Dad's Drake 2A receiver.  I started my interest in military sets with the few odds and ends that my Dad got from USAF MARS.  The annual Surplus issue of 73 magazine and the monthly surplus columns by Gordon White in CQ magazine were always eagerly awaited.  I didn't actually get my ham ticket (WN5WGJ) until I was motivated by a desire to join US Navy-Marine Corps MARS in 1968 while still in high school.  Later, I used the AF-67 (in CW mode) and a MARS R-105/ARR-15 with a clandestine longwire antenna strung out my fourth floor dorm room at Georgia Tech to check in to a few Georgia MARS nets.

Mike / KK5F
(Ex-NAVMARCORMARS N0LTD, before that became a ham call)