Electronic Toys and Their Influence on Us

Mike WU2D recently put out this interesting video.  I vaguely remember the springs on the Radio Shack kits -- I also remember (bitterly) not being able to get their shortwave receiver to work.   I really wanted to tune in HCJB and Radio Moscow.  This probably led me to ask Santa for a Lafayette HA-600A receiver in 1973 or so. 

An earlier influence was the little intercom kits.  I think they worked over the AC lines?   We took some of them to the beach bungalows we had in Lavallette NJ.  With them we were able to speak clearly to similar units in nearby bunalows.  Wow, that was cool. That got me interested in radio. 

Cassette tape recorders were another early influence. I still have a recording I made with a tape recorder I got for Christmas, probably in 1972.  I used this recorder to practice CW for the ham exam. 

I managed to escape the CB madness.   But I came close to falling into the groovy psycho stuff of the early 1970s.  I remember the Transcendental Meditation gizmos.  I never built one, but if I had I may have been better off with CB. 

I kind of wish I had followed the example of the Woz and Jobs by making telephone blue boxes.  This could have led me to riches.  But as Jean Shepherd used to say, young men often come to a fork in the road: one path leads to wealth, the other to ham radio flea markets.  I got on the second path.  

Thanks Mike! 

 

Listen to me talking to Jean Shepherd in 1976. I was 18 years-old.

Wow, here is a blast from the past.  I recently read a good article about Shepherd by A. David Wunsch in the Spring 2022 issue of the AWA Journal. David correctly focused on Shep's obsession with the Heising modulator, and the very negative impact ("Your mother should take you to a doctor!") that this had on his dating life. 

I was telling my wife about this article, and I commented that I had once spoken to Shep during an early morning call-in show on WMCA New York.  I told her that someone had sent me a recording of this brief conversation. 

The call took place in 1976.  Shep was appaearing as a guest on the late-night radio show of Long John Nebel and Candy Jones.   I was 18 years old. My callsign was WB2QHL.  The recording was sent to me by Matt KC8COM in 2006. Thanks Matt!  In 2008 I played the recording during SolderSmoke Podcast #90.  But I think this call merits a post on the SoldedSmoke blog, so here it is.  You can jump forward to about 3 minutes, 49 seconds.   

http://soldersmoke.com/JeanShepherd1976WMCA.mp3

One side note.  I told my wife that some time after the broadcast, I was once again up early in the morning, kind of absent-mindedly getting ready for work when I heard Shepherd talking on WMCA to some guy about ham radio.  It took me a moment to realize that this was a re-run, and that that guy was me!  

When I first listened to this I didn't realize that later in the recording (around 9:30) another fellow calls in an asks Shep about why he uses CW.  Shep is kind of short with him and ends up advising him to "go back to CB." I should note that in my conversation with Shep earlier in the program,  I told him that I was usually on "40 sideband."  He was nice to me, but said that he was mostly on 20 CW. 

Here is a good Wikipedia article on Long John Nebel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_Nebel

And here's one on his wife and WMCA co-host Candy Jones: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Jones

Listen to this great contact with KA1BWO on 10 meter AM -- 1800 miles with 4 watts AM

Joe KA1BWO is a well-known AM operator who moved West to Idaho several years ago. We had a very nice contact on 10 meter AM on January 14, 2024.  See the video above. 

I was using an old CB rig that I had converted to legitimacy on 10 meters using the mod developed by Jerry K5JC:  

http://www.jcoffman.net/WB5RUA/10_meter_AM_conversion_w_Photos.html

I was running 4 watts on AM to a Hex beam. The signal path was over 1800 miles from Virginia to Idaho.

1000 Mile QSO with KC5U using Modified CB Rigs (video)

Eldon KC5U saw my blog posts about Jerry K5JC’s mods to the PLL02 CB rigs.

Here is the mod: http://www.jcoffman.net/WB5RUA/10_meter_AM_conversion_w_Photos.html

Eldon did the mod and we have been trying to make contact. We did so today. It was very cool. I was on my GE rig; Eldon was running a JC Penny! (See video above.) 1054 miles. Thanks Eldon. And thanks Jerry!

SolderSmoke Podcast 182: Bears! MMM Update, On Pete's Bench, 160 AM Dreams, MAILBAG

N6QW Selfie

SolderSmoke Podcast #182 is available

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke182.mp3

Travelogue:  In Shenandoah with BEARS!

Michigan Mighty Mite Update and a Generous Offer (with conditions).

BENCH REPORT:

-- Pete's Ten Tec Conversion using LTSpice

-- Pete's Simple-ceiver

-- My CB to 10 conversion plans

DREAMS OF 160 METER AM:   KB3SII, N2CQR, N6QW Building for Top Band

Raspberry Pi Nightmares

Homebrew to Homebrew (HB2HB) Contacts

Elser Mathes Cup -- We have some competition!

QST, "The Radio Art,"  and The Channelization of HF Bands

WA5BDU Nick Kennedy on QSO Today  Podcast

Ed Walker of "The Big Broadcast" was a ham:  N3HFT

MAILBAG:  A Letter from Turkey: Tubes and R-390s

Si5351:  G4GXO says give it a go!

CB to 10 Conversion? The Radio Gods Seem Ambivilent

A lot of trouble can begin with a 5 dollar purchase, as I found out after I bought a nickel bag of CB at a hamfest. 

The embarrassing little Good Buddy appliance has been hidden away in my junkbox for a while.  I pulled it out after watching Pete's videos about the conversion of his Ten-Tec Model 150A commercial rig.  I thought perhaps I could use a little DDS or PLL board to bring that CB rig onto 10 or maybe even 12 meters.  

The first thing I noticed when I opened it up was the smell -- there was a very strong chemical electronic smell.  It was as if components and wires and adhesives and PC boards had been venting inside that case for several decades.  This wasn't that pleasant electronics smell that you get from a Drake 2B or a DX-100.  No, this was different.  It gave me a bit of headache.  That's a bad sign.   I began to wonder if the Radio Gods might be sending me a message. 

But then I found this very cool conversion site:
http://www.jcoffman.net/WB5RUA/10_meter_AM_conversion_w_Photos.html

Wow, a few snips, a few jumper wires on the PLL board, and a few coil tweaks and that thing would be on 10 meter AM.  I also learned that the "Cybernet" board that was stinking up my shack was VERY common in CB rigs, so there is a lot of info about it on the internet.  This thing seemed to be crying out for a quick and easy conversion to ham-dom.  

So I don't know which way to go with this one.  I'm getting contradictory signals from the Radio Gods.  What do you guys think?  Garbage can or workbench?