[ARC5] Field Day musings...

[Geoff]

>
>> My most memorable FD was back in the early 60s up in Humboldt Co.  Had a 
>> converted Command Set transmitter on the bottom of 80 meters and a  DAQ 
>> navy receiver (nearly a cubic yard of aluminum) and with a dipole hanging 
>> from a couple of redwood trees on Kneeland Mountain I worked all states 
>> and all of Canada with that set up.  The Command set had been reduced to 
>> one 1625 in the PA and ran full Break In with a decoupled VFO cathode and 
>> ran the final with a 200 Ohm resistor in the cathode for a kinda pseudo 
>> AB1 scheme.  Got about 10 watts or so out, but with a great antenna I 
>> could work anything that I could hear on the band.  Ah those were the 
>> days indeed.
>>
>>
>> Bob. KE6F
>>
>    I love hearing these stories.  I never got to a field day until was an 
> adult. I heard plenty of signals on Saturday and none at all on Sunday.
>    I suppose the kids now find things to be fascinated with but I wonder 
> if its anything like radio was for us. people don't seem to understand 
> that ham radio works all on its own, while cell phones and computers need 
> a vast system of equipment and networks to connect. We don't even need the 
> power company and field day is one of the demonstrations of that. My 
> antediluvian RCA receiver on 25 feet of wire hung over the rafters in the 
> garage will hear Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, 
> all over South and Central America, not to mention all those non-DX 
> stations (and I mean hams, not broadcast). I wonder what it would do with 
> a decent antenna.  To me this is still absolute magic.
> --
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles
> WB6KBL
> dickburk at ix.netcom.com


 Most of those old consumer grade radios, as well as many military, will 
fold up from overload on a big antenna. They were designed for a 20-40' wire 
from a house to tree, military whip, etc.

My various consoles such as a RCA 811K, Zenith 12S265, 15U271 and  12S471, 
Scott 800B, Philco 38-690, and others do just fine with various 30-40' 
wires, including in the attic and under 3rd story eaves. That was after 
spending considerable time eliminating offensive home electronics noises.

The R-388, 51J4,  for instance fold up on a real antenna and I havent 
bothered modifying the antenna coils and RF amp

I got my first taste of SWL and ham AM at my maternal grandmothers around 
1952-3 listening to a black dial 30's Zenith table model (might have been a 
6S229 going by photos). My parents had no interest in SW and only had a 
AM/FM RCA table model.

Carl