[SignalOne] SignalOne Digest, Vol 82, Issue 1

Mon Mar 23 23:58:03 EDT 2015

My thanks to Mr Kipton Moravec for posting the obituary of Dr Gene 
Chenette to this list. I knew Gene while I was a student at the Univ of 
Florida, where he was an EE professor for many years.  I was his last 
graduate student before he retired in 1993.

It became immediately obvious to me that Gene was a giant of a man when 
it came to radio design. He impressed me so much that I stayed in 
contact with him over the years. How many of us had teachers that we 
ever contacted after graduation? Gene was one of those rare ones. I 
spoke with him several times in December, the last time being the 
Thursday before his passing.  I received a Christmas card from him the 
day before I read his obituary.  A few weeks earlier he had entered the 
CQWW CW contest with his brand new Flex 6300, and was so proud.

Gene gave me his personal CX7 many years ago.  It has been on Fred's 
registry for a while (#00162). You can see a photo of it in the 
background on my QRZ.com page (under k8ki).  It works.

I have had many conversations with Gene regarding his work at ECI on the 
Signal One. I have saved them all, along with all the details. Gene only 
claimed to have done system-level work on the CX7, a monumental 
achievement (broadband tuning, dual-VFO sub-receiver, solid state, 
MOSFETs, 7400 logic chips) considering that the design started in 1968. 
But Gene was really good at component-level design, and I never 
understood why he didn't take credit there. Gene also introduced me to 
Harold Johnson, W4ZCB, a terrific engineer who managed the CX7 
production, and later introduced hipersil transformers to Dick Ehrhorn's 
line of Alpha amplifiers.

The CX7 was far ahead of its time; too far actually. It had the first 
MOSFETs ever produced, but they failed easily and varied widely in 
performance. I didn't know 7400 logic chips were available in 1969, 
until I had to fix the automatic keyer -  but who else had an onboard 
keyer in 1969? I didn't understand the dual VFOs at first. It hit me 
when I bought an Orion, which was the very next rig to have two full 
VFOs and a sub-receiver - 34 years later.  How about the ceramic triode 
amplifier tube - even today's linear amps don't all have ceramic output 
tubes. These ideas, and many others, found their way into the CX7 by way 
of Gene Chenette.

I'll miss Gene, and treasure  CX7/00162.

I might also ask Fred if he might consider sorting the CX7 units in the 
registry separately from the A and B units. The original CX7 was built 
by ECI in 1969 and had the fingerprints of Dick Ehrhorn, Gene Chenette, 
and Harold Johnson on them.  The A and B units were built elsewhere 
without their involvement.  In my mind, the CX7 was the real jewel.

Bob DePierre, k8ki

On 3/23/2015 1:08 PM, signalone-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>     1. FS: MILSPEC 1030CI (Icom 781 Conversion) (W4NJ)
>     2. Ham Operator in Porto/Portugal (Ulrich Graf)
>     3. SK Eugene R. Chenette, Ph.D N5YJ (Kipton Moravec)
>     4. CW Filter/ Advice on cap replacement (Ka9p--- via SignalOne)
>     5. Greetings from K5OG - Fred (Fred)
>     6. Re: Greetings from K5OG - Fred (Fred Rosenthal)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 08:23:25 -0400
> From: W4NJ <w4nj at tampabay.rr.com>
> To: signalone at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [SignalOne] FS: MILSPEC 1030CI (Icom 781 Conversion)
> Message-ID: <6D8F9AD4-F8BC-47FE-BE3C-E7FA0F2209AE at tampabay.rr.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset=us-ascii
>
> Hi Group,
>
>     Well, I thought my XYL would be composing this email after I became a SK many years from now but no, alas, I am saving her the chore.
>
>     I am selling my MEGA-RARE Signal One MS1030C Icom IC-781 Conversion Serial #0111579 and offering it here to the group before I put it on eBay.  PICS, etc may be found here.  I have the original manual and the original S/O shipping box along with the radio's inner support foam cradles.
>
>     It is in as near new physical condition as can be. Non-smokimng shack. Electrically, the only caveat I have is that the Notch Micro-Switch is intermittent so I will declare that it is non-functional and call it full disclose. Everything else works as it should. It can be replaced with the matching button if someone wishes to find one off a donor IC-781.
>
> Asking $15,000 plus a little help on the shipping. Will ship Internationally. Payment must be by wire-transfer. Pick-up is encouraged. No PayPal. Sorry! Guarnteed to not be DOA but all sales are final so please check with your XYL or lie about what you paid for it.
>
> Please email me if you have any questions.
>
> Vy 73, Cliff - W4NJ - From near The House of The Mouse - Disneyworld,
> Florida
>
> Visit my Shack: http://collins-21.com/w4nj/w4nj_my_shack.html
>
> SHARE THE FUN: JOIN THE COLLINS COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION TODAY !
>   http://www.collinsradio.org/membership/
>
> NETS: Tues & Thur: 3.805 MHz-2000 Central + Fri: 3.895 MHz-2000 Pacific
>   SUNDAYS: 14.263 MHz-2000 UTC  +  AM Net: 29.050 MHz-1200 Central
>   1st Wednesday AM Net 3.880 MHz-2000 local (ET, CT, MT, PT)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2014 14:32:56 +0100
> From: Ulrich Graf <dk4sx.ug at googlemail.com>
> To: "Signal/One List" <signalone at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [SignalOne] Ham Operator in Porto/Portugal
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAMGfKfxpMvzaYmag7t11ijfqtQy_6dwiLfHk6M8WJsPf6t=deQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Hello Signal/One friends,
>
> some time ago I had several very nice and informative contacts with a ham
> friend in Portugal/Porto. Unfortunately I lost his email address. Does
> anybody eventually know amateur operators in Porto I could contact? The
> mentioned ham used a Signal/One Milspec 1030 and we were discussing some
> technical problems.
>
> Vy 73, Uli, DK4SX
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 12:09:45 -0600
> From: Kipton Moravec <kip at kdream.com>
> To: Signal/One List <signalone at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [SignalOne] SK Eugene R. Chenette, Ph.D N5YJ
> Message-ID: <548DD269.8050401 at kdream.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> Thought this may be of interest to this group. Gene was a member of the
> Plano Amateur Radio Klub. I knew him and liked him, but I did not know
> his connection to Signal One until his obituary. The subject never came up.
>
>
>
> Eugene R. Chenette, Ph.D
> 1928-07-14 2014-12-07
>
> Dr. Eugene Richard Chenette of Allen, Texas died peacefully early
> Sunday, December 7, 2014 at the Medical Center of McKinney surrounded by
> loving family; his wife Helen, his daughter Karen and his "little
> sister" Mary Dohlman. He is survived by the love of his life, his wife
> of 63 years, 9 months, and 4 days, Helen Chenette, their daughter Karen
> Chenette, and four grandchildren, Gavin Wright of Gainesville Florida,
> Roy Schmidt of Colorado Springs Colorado, Luke and Alexandra Chenette of
> Plano, Texas, his brother Louis Chenette (Emily) of Indianapolis
> Indiana, his 'sisters' Mary Dohlman, Nancy Smith (Gary) and their Mom
> (his aunt Gertrude Ontjes) and a huge list of very loved nephews,
> nieces, cousins, 2nd cousins, first cousins once removed, etc. He is
> preceded in death by his daughter Maria Chenette, his sister Louise
> Bogart (Howard), his mother Freda Chestnut and father Eugene D. Chenette.
>
> He was born in Waverly, Iowa on July 14, 1928 to Eugene Dow Chenette and
> Freda Ontjes Chenette. He enjoyed his childhood in Charles City, Iowa.
> He graduated from Nashua, Iowa High School in 1946 and then attended
> Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He taught school in Stillwater,
> Minnesota where he, after being properly vetted by her uncle Lyman
> Kleinfelter and her mother Femicha, married Helen Marie Anderson. He
> entered the US Air Force and was on active duty for four years during
> the Korean conflict. On leaving the Air Force, he entered the University
> of Minnesota where he completed Bachelor, Master and Ph.D degrees in
> electrical engineering. He taught electrical engineering for a time at
> the University of Minnesota, and was consultant to firms like Bell Labs,
> (etc.) then joined the Engineering faculty at the University of Florida
> in Gainesville where he became a Professor then Department Chair of the
> Department of Electrical Engineering and Assoc. Dean of the College of
> Engineering. He also spent a couple of years at National Science
> Foundation.
>
> In 1990, they moved to Niceville Florida / Eglin Air Force Base to teach
> in the University of Florida graduate engineering programs and where his
> research with Donald Snyder led to innovations in super high-speed
> photography and holography. They moved to Plano in 2001 to be closer to
> their new grandchildren, Luke and Alexandra. His Ph.D. dissertation was
> on noise in junction transistors, an important contribution to
> understanding the physics of semiconductors.
>
> He was a pioneer, leader and innovator in the emerging field of
> transistors, integrated circuits and digital devices. He earned his
> first "ham" radio license in 1948 and avidly pursued this hobby for more
> than 65 years, most recently forming the Aspen Ham Shack with his ham
> friends.
>
> In 1969, he and Dick Ehrhorn became friends and designed, manufactured
> and marketed the SIGNAL-ONE, a new "state of the art" multi-band
> transceiver and are considered by many to be the finest American made
> communications transceiver ever built.
>
> In the past few months he has excitedly mastered his new Flex Radio and
> related software. He was active in Kiwanis in Gainesville Florida,
> Niceville, Florida and the Dallas, Texas area. He loved the fellowship
> and the service and outreach and its mission of improving the world one
> child and one community at a time. He loved reaching out to young people
> and helping them learn; often stopping them on the street or while out
> with his family to dinner and teaching them about proper shoe knots. He
> was always very active in his church communities, improving them one or
> sometimes two at a time. In Gainesville he ran the radio broadcast and
> sound system for the Sunday services, and in Niceville and Plano he and
> Helen were lay Eucharistic ministers. Sensing a need, they founded Prime
> Timers at Christ Church Plano.
>
> The family will receive friends at a visitation and viewing at Allen
> Family Funeral Options in Plano on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 from
> 6:00 ??? 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be at Christ Church Plano, 4550
> Legacy Dr., Plano, Texas 75074 on Thursday December 11, 2014 at
> 11:30a.m. Committal will be at Dallas - Ft. Worth National Cemetery on
> December 17, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers donations may be made
> to the Retina Foundation of the Southwest http://retinafoundation.org/
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2015 18:25:07 -0500
> From: Ka9p--- via SignalOne <signalone at mailman.qth.net>
> To: signalone at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [SignalOne] CW Filter/ Advice on cap replacement
> Message-ID: <99185.5ecf4f61.41d73153 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Greetings to the group if anyone is still around and Happy New Year.
>   
> Couple of questions.
>   
> 1) Anyone have a cw filter for sale, or a source, perhaps, or have made a
> ladder filter?  I would buy a parts radio to get one, if available.
>   
> 2) My radio has bad hum on receive, note appears to be pure DC on transmit
> - is there possibly one or two likely cap suspects I could change without
> doing  an entire recap - which I will eventually do, but would like to be
> able to  listen comfortably.
>   
> Thanks!
>   
> Scott
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:01:41 -0500
> From: Fred <fred at k5og.com>
> To: signalone at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [SignalOne] Greetings from K5OG - Fred
> Message-ID: <551046F5.7030201 at k5og.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Hello Signal One collectors!
> Sorry about the long delay in updating the Signal One Registry.
> Sometimes life gets in the way of our hobbies and I've been having email
> and ISP problems as well.  Finally back up!  And had to go skiing a few
> times.  HI HI
> For numerous reasons I have been "out of the picture" for a while now.
> Nothing particularly bad, just things interfering with amateur radio.
>
> I have actually been back on the bench working on a Signal One I've had
> for a very long time.  The owner (who I will contact again this week)
> probably thinks I stole his radio. :-))  And I've got all updates I have
> added to the Registry.
>
> Some milestones have been reached. There are now 315 radios in the
> Registry and 200 CX7s.  And sadly there have been several S1 owners who
> are now SK.
>
> If I failed to answer an email you sent me please contact me again.  I
> promise I will answer.
>
> And please check the Registry for any updates or corrections you might
> have.  I am waiting on an email from another collector with some updates.
>
> It's great  to be back at it and I look forward to hearing from my
> fellow collectors and getting ALL of my Signal Ones totally repaired.
>
> 73 de
> Fred
> K5OG
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:07:53 -0700
> From: Fred Rosenthal <ametronav at gmail.com>
> To: Fred <fred at k5og.com>,	<signalone at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [SignalOne] Greetings from K5OG - Fred
> Message-ID: <D135A489.15BFEE%ametronav at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Hi Fred,
>
> I have one segment of the Red digit that flickers every few weeks. Not sure
> if it's the LED display or something that is driving it.  Also, not all my
> yellow digits have the same exact color.
>
> I have a CX11.  Do you think I should just replace the red and three yellow?
> How hard is it to get into the radio and replace the digits? And what is the
> cost?
>
> Thanks for your help.
> --
>
> Thank You for Considering Ametron for your Pro-Audio/Video Sales & Rental
> needs.
>
> FRED ROSENTHAL
> AMETRON
> 1546 NORTH ARGYLE AVENUE
> HOLLYWOOD, CA  90028
> TEL:  323-466-4321   FAX:  323-871-0127
> WEB:   www.ametron.com   E-MAIL:  info at ametron.com
>
>
>> From: Fred <fred at k5og.com>
>> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 12:01:41 -0500
>> To: <signalone at mailman.qth.net>
>> Subject: [SignalOne] Greetings from K5OG - Fred
>>
>>
>>
>> This list is for discussions regarding collecting, repair, use and sale of
>> Signal/One radios and accessories.
>>
>> Documentation on Signal/One radios can be found at http://www.hamanuals.com
>> and several other sites on the Web.
>>
>> .
>> Hello Signal One collectors!
>> Sorry about the long delay in updating the Signal One Registry.
>> Sometimes life gets in the way of our hobbies and I've been having email
>> and ISP problems as well.  Finally back up!  And had to go skiing a few
>> times.  HI HI
>> For numerous reasons I have been "out of the picture" for a while now.
>> Nothing particularly bad, just things interfering with amateur radio.
>>
>> I have actually been back on the bench working on a Signal One I've had
>> for a very long time.  The owner (who I will contact again this week)
>> probably thinks I stole his radio. :-))  And I've got all updates I have
>> added to the Registry.
>>
>> Some milestones have been reached. There are now 315 radios in the
>> Registry and 200 CX7s.  And sadly there have been several S1 owners who
>> are now SK.
>>
>> If I failed to answer an email you sent me please contact me again.  I
>> promise I will answer.
>>
>> And please check the Registry for any updates or corrections you might
>> have.  I am waiting on an email from another collector with some updates.
>>
>> It's great  to be back at it and I look forward to hearing from my
>> fellow collectors and getting ALL of my Signal Ones totally repaired.
>>
>> 73 de
>> Fred
>> K5OG
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
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>>
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>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>
>
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>
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> ------------------------------
>
> End of SignalOne Digest, Vol 82, Issue 1
> ****************************************
>