[QCWA] What was your first station?

[Art (K5FNQ)]

That is it - same type of one I used with my rig - I have always 
wondered how much loss would be in one of those?

Art K5FNQ


On 9/1/2016 18:25, Joe wrote:
> Mine you all wont believe. 1975
>
> 40 meter inverted Vee antenna, apex at 20 feet ends at 4 feet.
>
> Transmitter, Heathkit DX-40 with two crystals, (Custom Ground ) 7105 & 
> 7115 was what they started as.
>
> I was at this time also an avid telescope maker, so I had all the 
> grinding grits to make a telescope mirror. So I took apart these two 
> crystals and custom ground them slightly moving them up in frequency 
> till they ended up where I needed them.  This may seem strange and 
> also common thing to do in those days. BUT I did it for a totally 
> different reason.
>
> The Heath was a gift, from a local ham, sadly I can not remember who.
>
> The coax came in from the antenna, and went to an old knife switch, 
> not a coax switch but a knife switch like one of these.
>
> http://www.eham.net/data/classifieds/images/304821.jpg
>
> the antenna being the center common set, transmitter at the left and 
> receiver at the right.
>
> Now receiver, you would NOT believe what it was. It was a cheap 
> generic like buy from a Monkey wards catalog etc. an all band radio,
>
> Ya know one like this,
> http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/371620752085-0-1/s-l1000.jpg
>
> Look how big 40meters was he he he.
>
> Plus, this was AM ONLY, no SSB or CW, or BFO, even, So while 99.999% 
> of you were listening to morse code as having beeps or tones.
>
> I was listening to on and off noise. Most times. Yes I was able to 
> learn and copy code with no tones.
>
> I'm betting it was a major reason why I love the AU mode on 2 meters 
> when signals bounce off an aurora on that band it sounds like this.
>
> https://youtu.be/3Bl0aeQpu0g?t=58s
>
> But sometimes when conditions were just right, I had perfect audio 
> tones to listen to on those two crystals.
>
> Remember I ground them some to change their frequency? Reason was, In 
> those days international broadcasts were also in that part of 40 
> meters, and actualy every afternoon from ohhhh 3 PM Central USA time 
> till way past midnight there were strong broadcast stations on those 
> two frequencies.
>
> Now I did not grind those crystals to get AWAY from the broadcast 
> stations.
>
> I USED THEM!!!
>
> I slid up about 800 Hz higher. Soooo, when I cqed, people heard my 
> signal OK, even with the station there. but what was neat. on my end 
> with that terrible reciever, in AM only, I heard stations answering me 
> as tones. Their signal heteryodyned with the boradcast signal and 
> produced a tone in my AM reeciever.
>
> I worked 38 states towards my WAS with that setup.
>
> Joe at that time WN9SBD  now WB9SBD
> Sig
> The Original Rolling Ball Clock
> Idle Tyme
> Idle-Tyme.com
> http://www.idle-tyme.com
> On 9/1/2016 5:50 PM, Kevin Berlen wrote:
>> DX40 transmitter, ARC-5 receiver, 40m dipole. One crystal for 7133. 
>> Novice call WN9QBR.
>>
>>
>> Kevin Berlen
>> Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S®6 active, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone
>> -------- Original message --------From: Bill Leggett 
>> <weleggett at gmail.com> Date: 9/1/16  4:08 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: 
>> qcwa at mailman.qth.net Subject: [QCWA]  What was your first station?
>> Novice, 1964, HR-10 & DX-35, 135ft end fed wire XTALs for 80m, first 
>> call
>> WN8OYT Garfield heights, Ohio
>>
>> --Bill N8AAM
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-- 
K5FNQ - Art Mouton k5fnq(at)lusfiber.net (or (at)arrl.net) ARRL, QCWA, 
CW OPS, Louisiana Contest Club, DXCC Honor Roll (Mixed & CW), 
Digital/RTTY DXCC, 5BDXCC, DXCC 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40, 80 Meters