[Elecraft] Craziest / most rewarding QSOs

[Ken]

The one that comes to mind was via OSCAR III in 1970.  Just married, we 
lived in an apartment, not ideal for sat comms.  My 2 meter rig was a 
WW2 AM aircraft transmitter with an 832 (dual tetrode) push pull as the 
final.  Of course, not designed for CW. mode conversion did not look 
easy.  I broke the cathode lead and put the key in the line with 300 
volts across the key (I'm sure the younger semiconductor generation 
would be shocked!)  It probably had a significant backwave from the 
driver signal but OSCAR didn't hear that.

Antenna?  I C-clamped a board to the outside window sill with a bracket, 
a 10' piece of conduit, and a simple dipole on the top, all fed with 
RG-174 which was thin enough to close the window on.   I saw the 
landlord looking at it one day, but he never said anything.

The setup worked!  I had a QSO with a VE2 as well as a local friend.

Ken WA8JXM