Spotted on a picnic bench in Falls Church, Virginia. Billy's eighth grade science course is focused on physics, so we took this as a good sign. 
On this site you start out with a 360 degree image of the Earth's night sky. You move around using the mouse and you can zoom in and out. (I've zoomed in a bit on Orion in the image above.) Then the fun begins: You can look at the sky in different frequency ranges -- from radio to gamma ray. Very nice: http://www.chromoscope.net/
"Stars" by M.C. Escher
Harv: Wow, that's a beautiful 2-B OM. I give it a 10. If you compare it to mine, it's a 20! I checked our collection point for 2-B serial numbers and see that we have a couple that may be rivals in the title "Senior 2-B." Thanks for pointing out that they started at #2000.
What makes a radio a 10 out of 10?
Good question. A real 10 to me means the radio is flawless, clean, not repainted and the best example possible based upon age and general appearance.
Here is one of my Drake 2B Communication Receivers with the matching Speaker/Q Multiplier.
This one has the S/N 2532 which, places the production of this radio close to early Spring 1961. The radio is not flawless. It has very minor metal edge dings in the paint.
I have the original Owners Manual and lots of special notes. At best my pictured radio above is a 9.5.
In my collection is also; S/N 4226 which was built near the end of 1961. I rate S/N 4226 as a 9.8 radio.
I’m impressed with the AVG recovery, general receiver sensitivity and the combination selectivity afforded by the Q-Multiplier.
I believe the Drake web site is spot on with the dating of the production runs for Drake equipment.
From talking to other Hams, it looks like the 2B started with S/N 2000 on their first full run of production in early April 1961.
It would be interesting to see if others find radios with a serial number less than mine still out there pulling duty.
I’m sure some pilot radios are out there in private collections. Let me know if someone finds an earlier serial number.
Keep up the great work Bill!!!
ENJOY
HARV -=WA3EIB=-
Albuquerque, NM.
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When I heard of the terrible floods in Vermont, I thought immediately of OM Michael, AA1TJ (aka Comrade Mikhail, the Chief Designer) and his underground hamshack. I heard this morning that Michael is high and dry, up at his mountain top lair (the TV transmitter). Here is an update on the Sputnik project:
We have battened down the hatches and are enjoying a quiet evening at home as Hurricane Irene approaches. The radar image from Norfolk Virginia describes the current situation quite well. You can see the eye about 150 km south-east of us. We currently have moderate rain and wind. I don't think it is going to be bad for us. Best wishes for all those under this storm.
We may have had Fabio Bonucci's rigs on the blog before, but they are so nice I thought it would be OK to feature them again. Bravo Fabio!
Podcast listeners will recall that this year's April 1 edition featured a story about my (supposed) efforts to cure long-standing audio problems by "chemically tailoring" home-made microphone elements. I asked for listener suggestions on which kitchen ingredients I should add to the mix. Very few listeners fell for it. But now -- as often happens -- somebody out there has completed the project that we were using as our annual hoax. Check it out. Very interesting:
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