[ARC5] Inspired Hack Job

[Kenneth G. Gordon]

On 6 Mar 2013 at 8:42, Bob Macklin wrote:

> Ken,
> 
> In 1960 would a ham be satisfied with the way you have it working now?

Oh, yes! It works quite well from the standpoint of 1960. 

As I said here more than once, I am especially impressed by the sensitivity 
of this thing. "Amazed" , might be a better word, in fact.
 
> We wen't as fussy then!

Correct. 

I, at least, didn't know any better. In fact, I think most hams of the time were 
in the same boat.

In 1957 and 1958, in fact, I was quite happy with an S-38D I had borrowed 
from a friend. I made my first DX contact on that, a "G-5" in Britain on 20 
meters on January 1.

I made many, many contacts and ragchews while using an S-41G, and this 
on 20 meters. The entire band on that receiver was less than 1/4" wide on 
the dial. If you breathed heavily in the same room, it would wobble off 
frequency, and heaven help you if you happened to bump the table.

When my Mom bought me a BC-348 from one of my Elmers, I thought I had 
died and gone to heaven.

Another of my Elmer's had an SX-100. That thing was so unstable it was 
almost unusable on SSB or CW, yet he used it for years and was quite 
happy with it.

Ken W7EKB