[Hallicrafters] SHORTWAVE SETUP - SOUTH AFRICA

[Jim Welsh]

My interest is SWL began when I first started using the Stuart Warner in my
parents' lounge in Lusaka, Zambia. Heard about the assassination of JFK
through it.

Soon after my father, who was involved in the telecommunications side of
Northern Rhodesia's (the country became Zambia in 1964) civil aviation,
brought home a HQ120 which opened up the world. As kids we played with xtal
sets and early home brew transistor receivers. Burn marks from our soldering
attempts must have annoyed my mother who went crazy about marks on the
furniture.

I took the HQ120 to university with me in the 1970's. The dipole antenna
strung out between the trees in the hall of residence was a source of all
sorts of comments at the University of Rhodeisa. Remember that Ian Smith's
Rhodesia and Kenneth Kaunda's Zambia fell out politically and the two
countries were technically at war as "freedom fighters" (aka "terrorists")
used Zambia as a base from which their attacks on Rhodeisa could be
organised and launched; my "listening post"  was regarded with a certain
amount off suspicion. An American friend of mine (on a year's exchange from
St Paul, Minn) and I used to spend hours listening to Radio New York
Worldwide (sadly gone) and VOA. Much beer and popcorn in my room - liquor
was not allowed in the residence - the other students' comments were
probably more about being left out of that part of the party!

Later, my father reclaimed the HQ120 and sold it!

Afyer university and my early ddays in teaching, various transistor and
solid-state receivers - mainly feeble. But I was courting and then raising a
daughter, so SWL wasn't my main concern!

Now I listen to an RC818 every morning: a local FM classic music station,
the BBC, Radio Australia, and a quick troll of the 20m and 40m amateur
bands. Many ZS's work USA stations and, when the ethers allow, the US
signals come in strong. The RC818 is a good "refeerence" receiver and it
responds well to the E-W oriented 20m dipole strung under the eaves of our
tin roof. [The antenna needs height, but this would involve pole/masts, and
I haven't the time to fiddle about.]

In my "study", and connected to a N-S oriented dipole (ditto, needs
elevation) are:
Hallicrafters SX28 - beautiful and great for DX work;
Kenwood R600 - very sensitive and stable;
Trio 9R-59DS (Works well. Have just rebuilt the xtal calibrating circuit but
1MHz and 455KHz xtals are not obtainable in South Africa. Am using an "odd"
3.579MHz to get it going);
Pilot Radio G-576B (Beautiful in its original glory, great cabinet,
non-original knobs but looks impressive and the sound is wonderful);
Two x SONY 7600 - one is placed in the kitchen and used to wean my family
off junk FM;
Two x Barlow Wadley XCR 30 (One with the FM receiver built into the handle,
this part not a great success, but the SW section magnificent.);
A Hitachi WorldSpace receiver (has its own yagi) which plays the channel
"Upcountry" constantly. Not used for DX but the music is great and it also
allows, via WRN channel, for me to listen to Prairie Home Companion every
Sunday afternoon.

Elsewhere. An Akai SW car radio (transistor). Now in my boat so that if the
fishing is bad - we trail our boat 700 km to St Lucia Lake on the coast - at
least I can listen to BBC and VOA. Spare time at home spent often "working
on the boat"  -  accompanied by music and news from this source.

So, that's my connection with SWL. Not so much pure "vintage", but a lot of
fun.

Jim Welsh
Johannesburg
South Africa (Not Johannesburg, California!)