[Boatanchors] A good idea ---- Lamenting about the down hill spiral

[Bob Macklin]

I got my Novice/Tech ticket in 1957. I guess I got spoiled by the activity
at that time. My first rig was a S-38 (the one with the real BFO) that had
been RE-KITTED by a M/SGT in our squadron. The first thing I did was
reassemble it and I did get it working. By that time I really knew that
receiver.

I was a S/SGT in a SAC Wing at that time.

The transmitter I used with it was a 6AG7/807 MOPA rig out of a 1950's
vintage ARRL Handbook. The handbook was also a donation to my ham radio
experience. It seemed at the time hams were supposed to by a new handbook
every year even though they did not change much year to year.

In the mid 60's I became an apartment dweller. I could not have a HF antenna
but I was able to put up a 2M ground plane.

I had a National NC-109 at the time so I built a Nuvistor 2M converter for
it. Then I built a 2M AM Tx using a 829 for the final. I was living in
Silicon Valley at the time. I was able to operate 2M AM every night. We had
a pretty good group.

One day one of my technicians asked if I was interested in TTY? He gave me a
Model 15 TTY machine and that was my first venture into the digital world.
We ran 2M AM RTTY almost every evening and weekend.

What I liked about ham radio in those days was the building your own stuff
and then operating it. Then came the improvements.

It was not APPLIANCE OPERATING.

I just don't see that kind of stuff anymore. I find homebrewing easier with
tube gear easier than with solid state except to the acquisition of parts
these days.

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa,
"Real Radios Glow in the Dark"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Liles" <james.liles at comcast.net>
To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 9:54 AM
Subject: [Boatanchors] A good idea ---- Lamenting about the down hill spiral


Hi all:
Rather than being whimsical about the times when we put a Regency converter,
Johnson adventurer ,dynamotor, and straight key on the passengers seat of
the ford and miraculously carried on a QSO without hitting a tree or driving
over the neighbors hog, take a moment and share those home brew days with
the rest of us.  I was licensed in 1953 and was lucky enough to experience
the 1957 solar cycle.  Let's hear about the mods that are being applied to
the radio's where you can touch a discrete component.  What have you built
recently.  As time goes by, we have a tendency to lament the days of old
when we were young and a whole world of experiences lay ahead.  They still
do, they are simply different.  They are not gone, we have simply stopped
doing those things that we found to be exciting.  The folks that are coming
later than us are trapped in a world that is moving so rapidly that they
can't and don't have the time and luxury to slow down and enjoy those
special times.  Guess we can forgive the appliance operators, they were born
a generation or two too late.  We were lucky!             Kindest Regards
Jim K9AXN
_______________________________________________