[Elecraft] K3: NOT an analog radio.

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Ah, but there was something magic about those years that modern times have
lost. 

We were on the "frontier" of communications back then, when many people
never even thought of making a phone call more than a dozen miles away (it
took an operator to make calls farther and often we had to wait for her to
call back once the circuit was completed). The idea of a kid building
something that could communicate with another state, much less another
country, was astounding to most people (including me!) 

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----

  Guy,

OK, I got my license in 1955 and had a garbage receiver (NC-54) and on 
my teenage allowance could not afford anything like the Johnson Ranger, 
so I built my first transmitter from a 1955 ARRL handbook design.  A 
6CL6 and a 6146 design that was "TVI-proofed" by using all shielded 
wiring under the chassis, and enclosing both the oscillator section and 
the RF AMP section inside their own Bud enclosures.

Nostalgia has prompted me several times to re-create that transmitter, 
but practicality has prevented that.  Many parts are no longer available 
(except at a horribly inflated price), and I do realize that the 
nostalgia is a fleeting thing.  I have as much fun with today's solid 
state gear as I did with that old 6146 transmitter.

I just sold off my HW-101 that had been cluttering the attic since 
1989.  Time to be more practical than clinging on to nostalgia that may 
never be recovered - the memories are great, but I prefer to live in the 
future, not the past.  YMMV.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 10/9/2010 9:41 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV wrote:
> Yur welcome and enjoy all of your stuff.
>
> I run back to my Johnson Ranger, Johnson Courier amp, and 75A3 when I
> have analog withdrawal symptoms (often enough).   I also have a Yaesu
> FT101ZD that was a gift that I'll probably never sell.  When I get
> homesick for a real RF gain control and S-meter that's on an AGC
> control bus, I fire up the 75A3.  That STILL is really smooth audio.
> But it can't hear the Russian 100 watt crowd on the monster 40m quad
> out at NY4A.
>
> A Ranger and a 75A3 was the first ham rig I ever saw in Columbus, Ohio
> in 1956. That was "hard sky" back then.  Highest sunspot cycle in my
> lifetime, and 11 meters was a ham band.
>
> I used to drool over Valiants.  Wanted one so bad I could just spit.
> Settled for a beat-up used Ranger.  When I started making money, I
> built a Heath SB300 and SB400. Souped those up and used them at W4BVV
> in the 70's alongside Collins rigs.  S-line was something else I
> drooled mightily over.  Saw my first S line at the ARRL convention in
> Wash DC in 1959.  They also had an old spark transmitter that they
> fired up intermittently for two days -- had FCC permission.  When you
> left the room after watching that with the lights out, you felt like
> you had SEEN radio.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
> On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 4:14 PM, Ralph Parker<ve7xf at dccnet.com>  wrote:
>>> This ain't your daddy's analog radio...
>> A frightening article, especially for a guy who still uses his Valiant
and
>> NC-303!
>>
>> But seriously, folks, it was very informative, and gave me something to
>> think about while being dragged into the 21st century.
>> Tnx, Guy.
>>
>> VE7XF
>>
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