[NJARC] Weird homebrew from tonight's NJARC auction

[JOE CRO]

Hello John,
                I too, thought the strange homebrew receiver was 
interesting, and was glad to see it get into the proper hands that would 
appreciate it. The construction technique looked very good, and a lot of 
thought went into the receiver before it was made.

I'm curious if you know what the total bandcoverage is?

Conlerad equipment was made mandatory sometime during the 1950's in case of 
civil emergency or in case the "mushrooms strating sprouting".

I'm jealous. You'll be the only one I know of with a true "Conelrad 
equipped" Hamshack!

In case you need a 2D21, let me know. I have a few in my "stash" I can let 
you have.

The very best of luck with it. I think it's a kewl addition to anyone's 
Hamshack or Listening Post.

Best Regards,
                     Joe Cro N3IBX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "john ruccolo" <jr6v6gt at yahoo.com>
To: "New Jersey Antique Radio Club" <njarc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2007 2:04 AM
Subject: [NJARC] Weird homebrew from tonight's NJARC auction


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> _______________________________________________
> Hi Folks,
>
> I test fired that weird homebrew receiver that I got
> at the auction tonight. Actually, it's a pretty basic
> 5-tube AA -- well, mostly AA -- 12BE6/BA6/AV6 plus
> 12A6 output and 5Y3 rectifer. It is exceptionally well
> made, however.
>
> Here's where it gets really interesting -- at the
> other end of the chassis is another miniature tube --
> a 2D21 thyratron (kinda like a tube SCR). I thought
> "hmmmm...." With that BIG red light and a threshold
> control that fires the 2D21 (and the light) I can only
> think of one thing: CONELRAD.
>
> For those of you who don't know, CONELRAD stands for
> CONtrol of ELectromagnetic RADiation, a Cold-War era
> US Govt. thing. Those Civil Defense marks at 640 and
> 1240 on so many 1950's and early 60's radios were for
> CONELRAD. The idea was that if the Russians decided to
> drop some H-bombs on us, people would tune to one of
> those two frequncies for news and information, and
> maybe the latest Elvis record. Seriously, the idea was
> that other stations would go off the air, so the
> Russians couldn't use broadcast stations for homing in
> on targets.
>
> I don't remember the details, but I believe it was a
> requirement during some part of the 1950's for Ham
> radio operators to have a CONELRAD alarm. Basically, a
> receiver that was tuned to 640 or 1240, and lit up a
> warning light to alert the ham operator that something
> was happening. In fact, Heathkit sold a CONELRAD alarm
> kit (which is *very* rare today). I think this
> receiver was built for that purpose.
>
> It also has a signal tracer function. The guy got a
> little carried away -- he's got two headphone jacks
> wired in parallel (so more than one person could
> listen in?), and he's got both 1/4-inch and RCA jacks
> in parallel for audio input for the tracer. I think
> one or the other would have sufficed. ;-)
>
> Still, a very well-made and unusual homebrew.
>
> Regards,
>
> JR
>
>
>
>
>
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