[Milsurplus] BC-348

[howard holden]

I don't chime in often on these things, but I too am the proud owner of a BC-348Q. My dad bought it I guess in the early 50's and it's my first memory of anything electronic. 

Dad had little money in those days, and he "hacked" the thing up - built in an AC supply, made the requisite audio output ground mod, then put an octal socket on the front removable panel for power takeoff, and mounted a six pin socket behind the front panel in the upper left for a seeing-eye tube. in the early 60's my Dad, brother, and I all learned CW copying W1AW on that receiver. I made my first Novice QSO (and many others) with that receiver. Time moved on, and the -348 eventually was relegated to the back of the bench. 

When Dad passed away about 6 years ago I decided to take a whack at the thing. Opened it up, and saw what looked like a nightmare wiring job. Then I recalled one of Dad's first soldering irons, one you heated on the stove (!!!) and slowly realized this was probably Dad's first attempt at anything electronic. I decided to do only what was necessary to get her up and going again, with some safety in mind. I replaced all the .01 caps, several open/broken resistors, resoldered and judiciously added some insulation on a few of Dad's less glamorous solder joints but left his wiring in place, cleaned the tuning cap and pots, and the old girl came to life. Granted it's no contest receiver, but it does nearly daily duty on 80 and 40 CW, and often brings a lump to my throat. 

Pristine it ain't, but it's a very large part of MY radio history. Would I trade it for an unhacked one and lose that link? Not in this life or the next. There is a place for all those "hack" jobs, right alongside the museum queens.

My $0.02

Howie WB2AWQ
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