The Beginning of MY Radio Life...

 

Unlike Pete (see below), I don't have any cool pictures of me in front of an early station.   But in the picture above,  there I am, at the Thanksgiving table in 1973 age 15.  I was on the air by this date, on CW as WN2QHL.  Armed with a Lafayette HA-600A and a DX-40, I was tearing up the ham bands, especially 40 meters.  Look at the tension in my face, the grip of my fist... I just wanted to finish that turkey and get on the air!  But no, I had to have Thanksgiving dinner. 

I recently realised that I have been a ham for more than 50 years. Is there an HCWA?    

This and the recent movie from India led me to think about the timeline of my early radio days: 

-- Christmas 1972.  Santa brings me a Lafayette HA-600A general coverage receiver.  With jeweled movements.  Age:  14

-- April 27, 1973.  Novice Ticket becomes effective.  WN2QHL.  Age 14. 

-- July 19, 1973.  First contact (with Elmer WN2NEC).  Age 14.

-- February 1 and 2 1973.  A grumpy old-timer calls -- during the Novice Roundup! -- to tell me that I'm putting harmonics onto the 20 meter band.  I get scared and go off the air.  Geez!  I probably just needed to retune the tank circuit.  Age 15. 

-- February 23, 1974.  I go back on the air with a DX-100.  Age 15. 

-- March 5, 1974.  I take the General Class exam at the FCC office in New York City. I pass. Age 15. 

-- April 11, 1974.  I buy the Drake 2-B from WN2NEC. This revolutionizes my radio life.  Fifteen meter contacts become possible.   Age 15. 

-- April 13, 1974.  I work ZL2ACP on 15 meter CW.  I wake up my parents to tell them.  Age 15. 

-- April 21, 1974.  END OF NOVICE OPERATION.  Apparently we were still working under a one year limitation on Novice operation.  Could the expiration date have been marked on the license? 

At this point the FCC screwed up and sent me a Technician License instead of a General Class License.  My father got on the phone to Gettysburg and straightened this out.  Thanks Dad.  So I was only a Technician for a few weeks. 

-- April 9, 1974.  General Class License effective.  I become WB2QHL,  a man of substance.  Age 15. 

-- May-June 1974.  I acquire a Heathkit HW-32A 20 meter SSB transceiver from the Crystal Radio Club.  But I have to build the power supply from an old TV.  Somehow, I survive. Age 15. 

-- June 11, 1974.  First contact with the HW-32A.  Age 15.   

-- November 9, 1974.  Last contact with the HW-32A . Age 16. 

-- March 15, 1975.  First contact with my Hallicrafters HT-37. Age 16. 

Above is my only photo of my teenage ham radio station.  I can date it via the QSL card above the map. I still have that card.  I worked W7RUK on March 25, 1975.  That contact was on 20 SSB, but when this picture was taken I was on CW (the key is plugged in, not the microphone).   

-- June 1976   I graduate from High School.  Age 17.  

-- I was active and on the air through the summer of 1976. 

-- July 1976 -- QST article on the Herring Aid 5 receiver.  I try to build it and fail.  Age 17. 

-- October 1976 -- I depart for Army Basic Training. 

There is someone else who needs honorable mention here:  My sister Trish.  Here she is, next to me at the Thanksgiving table in 1973.  Trish helped me keep my ham radio log book.  Thanks Trish! 

Pete Juliano, Field Day, 1959.  With a DX-100B and (gasp!) a QF-1. 

How to Fix the Spur Problem in my 17 Meter SSB Transmitter?

 

I built the transmitter almost 20 years ago.  It is in the larger box, which originally housed a Heathkit DX-40.  There is a lot of soul in that old machine.  Details on this construction project are here: https://soldersmoke.blogspot.com/2021/12/junk-box-sideband-from-azores-2004-qst.html  (The smaller box is a Barebones Superhet receiver set up for 17 meters.) 

In the 2004 QST article I discuss a problem I had with "spotting" or "netting."  This is something of a lost art, something that you had to do back in the pre-transceiver days, when running a separate transmitter and receiver.  This was how you got the transmitter on the receiver's frequency.  Essentially you would turn on the carrier oscillator and the VFO and let a little signal get out, enough to allow you to tune the VFO until you heard zero beat on the receiver.  My problem was that around one particular frequency, I would hear several zero-beats.  This made netting the receiver and the transmitter hard to do.  

Important note:  This is really just a problem with the "netting" or "spotting" procedure -- the problematic spur does not show up in any significant way in the output of the transmitter.  I can't see it on my TinySA.  But it is strong enough to be heard in the unmuted receiver sitting right next to the transmitter. And that creates the netting problem. 

In the QST article, I said that I noticed that the problem seemed to be centered around 18.116 MHz.  As I approached this frequency, the tones -- desired and unwanted -- seemed to converge. That was an important clue.  In the article I said I thought that I could eliminate the problem with just one trimmer cap to ground in the carrier oscillator, but looking back I don't think that this really fixed the problem. 

I recently took a fresh look at it.  Exactly which frequencies were causing the unwanted signals that appeared in my receiver? 

I used an Excel Spread sheet to find the culprits. 

The first column shows the carrier oscillator and its harmonics.  The second column shows the VFO when tuned for a signal at 18.11668 MHz (23.2927-5.17602), along with its harmonics.  Check out the 10th harmonic of the carrier oscillator and the third harmonic of the VFO: 69.8781-51.7602 = 18.1179.   Those two harmonics would produce the problem I had been experiencing. 

I turned to one of Wes Hayward's programs for confirmation.  Spurtune08 came in the EMRFD software package. Here is what I saw when I plugged in the above frequencies:    

You can see the little spur off to the left of the main signal.  In the program, as I tune the 23 MHz VFO frequency, the spur moves closer to the main frequency as I approach 18.116 MHz, just as it does in the real rig.   Note that I have only turned on the 10th harmonic of the carrier oscillator and the 3rd harmonic of the VFO.  Spurtune08 is very useful.  Thanks Wes! 

So, what is to be done?   For now, I am just restricting my operations on 17 meters to above 18.120 MHz.  (I worked several DX stations with it on December 27.)  But obviously I need to fix this. This rig needs an exorcism.  I think I only need to get rid of one of the harmonics, and the 10th harmonic of  the carrier oscillator seems easier to kill.  I'm thinking of putting the carrier oscillator in an Altoids box, and then adding some filters to knock down the 10th harmonic. 

Here is the G3YCC schematic that inspired this rig.  I used G3YCC's carrier oscillator and balanced modulator circuits, just using a 5.176 MHz crystal and changing the tank circuit in the collector: 

How would you folks knock down that 10th harmonic? 

Did You Contact My Novice Station WN2QHL in 1973-1974? Please Check My List and Let Me Know

Yesterday I went through my novice logs from 1973-1974.  I was in Congers, NY and my call was WN2QHL. Please take a look at the callsigns from my log and let me know if we had a contact.  I will then let you have more details from my log. 

Novice Contacts 1973-1974 from WN2QHL

WN2NEC

WN2RTH

WA4DCL

WN4CBB

WN9LLX

WN1RWX

WN4ETR

WB2CSO

WN8QHM

WN8ONA

WN4KID

WN8PMF

WN2INN

WN2ECU

WN4DSO

WN3UCL

WN4KBL

WB4WDQ

WN0IHH

WN9MNW

WN8ODW

WA8VCH

VE1BAD

WN8NIJ

WN8MYJ

WA3TKP

WN2GMQ

WN8LDI

WN5JZP

WN5JXZ

WN2PNQ

WN2HKY

WB2PPP

WN4EIS

WN4DNV

WA8WIK

WN3TPJ

WN1RRR  WN1RPR?

W2MJR

WN2SHL

WN3TZR

W1DUQ

WN2ROW

WN2SLA

WA3HNZ

WN2JXT

W2HAG

WA2CDE

WN8ORL

WN4FYL

WN1PXM

WN2FPQ

WN4ZFF/3

WN3VDU

WN8QPJ/8

WN3TBW

WN4BWT/4 OR BWJ

W9MZO/9

WN1SLG

WN0KTR

W9KCT

WN3VKH

K1BXZ

W1AW

WA2QNX

K2BBU

K1BXZ

WN2ROZ

W1TRS

VE3FMF

WN3UPO

K1OOL

WN2RNJ

WN2KWK

WA2CDE

WN2JDE

WN3UQO

WN2IZY

W3CNN

WN2NNA

WB2EVS

VE2AJQ

WN1SBE

WN4ZIN

WA2JXM

WA3TVE/3 OR JVE OR UE

WASQWF

WA3JRU

W3ABT

WA2IWX

WN3FLK

WN1RZW

WN3TBW

WB2PYM

WN1RXM

WN2ERU

WB8HHN

WN2LVV

WB8JBM/8

WN2TEO

K4LDR

WN2EHE  Friend of KD2E Dave

K8MFO

WN2NAE

W3IN

WN3SZX

WA1EOT

W2MUM

WA2UOO

WB2RKK

W4KFL

WN2NEC

WN4EJJ

WN1SCL

WN2NQL

WA1RXJ

WA2YAS

WN2QHN

WN8POK

WB2ABJ

WN1QKD

WN2SDO

WN1SRT

WN2KOH

WN8DOB

WN1SQM

WN2SXT

W2HN

WA1RFF

WN2VNA

WN1RME

WB4YNY

WB8ALE

WN4AQM

WN4DMO

WN3USU

WN8NXE

W2HAG

WA1KLB

WB2NDL

WN2JXG

WN1RIP

WN2LKN

WA3IYA

WB9LJS

WN2RPL

K1BOM

WN4GOC

WN8QGO

WN8OPB

WN8OOE

WN2SAM

WN4FXN

WB2SXD/2

WN2IQM

WN3VUU OR UUU?

WN8PGD

WN8PIU

WN8OGY

WN8OWD

WN8OHP

WN9JOI

WN2GMQ

WN3VUR UR UUR

WN2LOC

WN2SAM

WN2TJQ

WA43PM

WA4YDR

WN9LDS OR LOS

WN9LSR

WN3UDR

WN1RGU

WA1RYL

WN2LBO

WN1RIM

WN2TAG

WN2TLQ

WN8ODP

WN2TBB OR JBB   now Dave KD2E 

WN4CRZ             First QSO with DX-100

WN4HKG

WA6TLH/HK6         FIRST DX  40 METERS   Feb 23 1974

WN2JHP

WN2TAS OR JAS

WN8QXR

W4DRJ

WN4GBX

WN4DAQ

WB8KUQ

WN4BPN

WN2SAM

WN8OVW

VE3GXX

WN0JOZ

WN6CPQ

WA4CNL

WN0LLT

WN0KUU OR KVU OR KUV

WN8QIN

WN4HLQ

K0IEU

WA1DWL

WN4GUF

VE1IC

WN4FOM

K2AVX

WA9AKY

VE2DJB

WN4EDQ

WN8PLH

WN2TPD

WN1SZS

WN4HRC

WA0WTV

VE3HEF

WN3UOO

K2IY

W4AHN

WN8OIF

WN9NYO

VE3AFX

K1PNB

K5EQX

WB6ALD

WB6LUS

WN0LQE

WA1POJ

WA5RFT

WN8NYU OR V

WN4GUF

K1BXZ

WN5GTE

WB5GDN

WB5GEN

WN2TJQ

WN2JXT

WN4CQX

WA1ASU/1

WN2IOJ

WN4GMY

WN2RUZ

WB8PRJ

WN4BTL

WB8MOI

VE3AGY

W8JEI

WN3VUZ

WA2CME

WN5KYK

WA1JUY

WN2NIL

K3DHD/9

WN4CTJ OR CWJ OR WUJ OR CVJ Gadsden AL.

WP4DRE/5

WN2GMQ

WN1SIP

WN9MOS

WN9OCO

WN2UAC

WN8NPY

WB5DIZ

WN2JHD

WN2RYH

WN2RXL

WB8OFU

WN8RTU

WN8MTW

WN8PIY

WA8JPC

K1OOL

WB2MYV

WN4CNE

WN4DXW

WN2PHE

WN8MYJ

WM2TTQ

WN4AYX

WN4ECB

WNOJGT

W4UHF

WN4FPU

WN8QCV OR U

WN8PCV

WN2STZ

WN2KLX

WN2FUN

WN2SLF

WN8RTZ/9

WN9MLY

WA7SCG

KP4USN

WN2UMV

WA6ARG

WA4BPS

WN9MAO

WN5HRI OR 4

WN2PWM

KZ5VV

ZL2ACP

WA6UUR OR VVR JACK IN Pasadena

KN5KSX

YU1NFT

YU2QZE

WA7STW

WN8RIK/4

WN2UMU

WN2PNQ

WN2QCE

YU2QZ

WN2TJQ