[Milsurplus] Re: Conelrad

[gl4d21a at juno.com]

It appears no one else will admit to being old enough to have operated a Ham ststion during the Conelrad era.  The requirement was to monitor, how was left to the individual.  Most hams I know simply had a broadcast radio or TV running in the background.  The expectation was that any real alert would cause such a ruckus that it would be obvious something was afoot, no matter what ststion the radio was on.  

Conelrad came along while I was in college, and one of my first paid design jobs was a complete Conelrad receiver.  The decoder was no problem, but I got a real appreciation of how AA5 designers were able to consistently wring good performance out of very few parts.  I could never get my receiver to exhibit the sensitivity an off-the shelf consumer radio had.  The final product, indeed, was a modified consumer radio.  By replacing the 50L6 with a 35L6, twelve volts for a 12SN7 filament became available which was used for a decoder and relay driver.  Ah, yes, designing with fire bottles.  Life was good.


Many years ago, I found a Conelrad receiver at a State Auction.  I *think* it was an Elamc.  I played with it some, it wasn't a spectacular receiver, and finally let it go at a swapfest.

73,
George
W5VPQ


___________________________________________________________________
Try Juno Platinum for Free! Then, only $9.95/month!
Unlimited Internet Access with 250MB of Email Storage.
Visit http://www.juno.com/value to sign up today!