[ARC5] What's on your "A" List?

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi,

I haven't posted here very much but I have enjoyed and learned a lot
here. I have a few pieces that are here to use. I have some of the
technical info about the pieces I have and I see no need to modify them
very much if at all to incorporate them into an operational ham radio
station. I have a RAK-7 (would like to get a RAL), an LM, a BC-221, an
R-23, and a BC-453. The R-23 has been seriously modified AND damaged
(repaired) with the BC-453 more mildly modified. I'm using both LF
receivers in the Q5er type role. The frequency meters are only slightly
modded to include AC power supplies. The RAK is original with spares and
has provenance in the experimental work done for the Navy's ELF system.
All are fired up and used. None are hacked up beyond recognition. I
wouldn't mind a few more pieces and I look under the tables at hamfests
but I have to keep an eye on how much room I have and how much of it I
could actually put on the air.

I am in personal awe of how well these have survived over all those
years. Visitors are informed of their age while watching them work. Then
I point at my "pretty" receiver with the microcontroller and proprietary
firmware and proprietary integrated circuits and of course, my
computers. I ask my visitors where they suppose the fancy new junk will
be in 60 years <evil grin>. In some of them...I can see the lights come
on. They all display some degree of awe.

I do admire the collections other people have and especially the
collectors who have put in so much effort to build them into a 'display'
that resembles their intended purpose - a bomber radio installation. If
it turns on and works on the air so much the better. I think my approach
gets as much attention from my visitors when they hear voices and morse
code from the far corners of the earth on 60 to 80 year old radios
(don't forget the SW-3 that lives here). Maybe those radios will set a
few hooks, too.

With that in mind I am approaching the local schools to see if something
can be done for kids there who might be interested. I'm old enough that
I have been in "pass the torch" mode for a number of years already. That
project is near the top of my A list.

73,

Bill  KU8H