On 15 with HT-37 and Drake 2B

W7FE's Shack and Hex Beam

After I replaced the 6U8 first mixer tube on the trusty Drake 2-B I tuned around a bit on 15 meters.  IZ4NIC was loud, all the way from Bologna.  I gave him a call and we had a nice QSO in Italian.  then I talked to F4GBU.  I was using my 40 meter dipole, but I thought I might do better with my 17 meter dipole (it is higher up in the trees).  I called CQ 15 and got into a very nice QSO with Jim, W0JLG in Wichita.  Jim has a very impressive collection of Boatanchors.  We were soon joined by Stu, W7FE.  Stu was using a Central Electronics 100v from the early 1960s.  Wow, the three of us had a nice long contact. 

The QSO was a real trip down memory lane for me:  My sister Trish is visiting us.  We had been talking about how when we were kids she would come into the shack to watch me try to talk to people... with the very same HT-37 and Drake 2B.  I was 15 and she was 10.   That was 39 years ago!  Here we were again, sitting in front of the same old rig.   It was a lot of fun.

Stu has some great info on his very impressive radio shack.  You guys will really enjoy a visit to his QRZ.com site:  http://www.qrz.com/db/W7FE   

And check out his switching system for all those rigs: http://www.qsl.net/w7fe/ 

Wow,  his site makes me want o move out to the shed and put up a hex beam! 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20