The Vintage SSB Net

This group looks like a lot of fun.  I like how they record the entire session and put it on the web.  

http://www.vintagessb.net/index.htm

You should listen to their "preamble."  It describes the purpose of the net and the group's belief system.  Very well done.  These are our people!  I will request a full transcript of this important and inspirational document. 

Here is a link to a reading of the net preamble:

http://vintagessb.net/wimpy/WB9KGZ%20Pat%20Sturgeon%20Bay,%20Wi.%20Net%20Control%20Pre-amble%20via%20N9RK%20Rick%201.26.19.mp3

"Smoke and flame may occur at any time!" 

DON'T BE A VIOLATOR! NO MODERN RIGS!  

HT-37/2B QSO with K6ZA (three short videos)

On January 23, 2019 on 20 meters I talked to Barry K6ZA.  He is near San Francisco.  I was running my Hallicrafters HT-37 with my Drake 2B.  I was really pleased to discover that the guy I was talking to loves these two pieces of gear as much as I do.  

Barry said he wished I could record his voice coming out of the HT-37.   My iPhone came to the rescue.  

The Secret Life of Machines -- Radio

We had this on fhe blog three years ago, but it is so good that it deserves a second posting. 
Thanks to our old friend Stephen Walters for reminding us of this gem.  There is so much soul in these old machines. Thanks Stephen. 

Godzilla, an SP-600, a D-104, and a Turner SSB+2 Transistorized Mic

We were in a restaurant last week and this trailer played on a TV that was all the way across the room.  The SP-600 caught my eye.  I once had one of those, but chickened out when I read about the horrors of black-beauty cap replacement.   There is also a D-104 in the trailer (several of those are with me now).  And the girl is transmitting with a Turner SSB+2 Transistorized mic -- I have one of those also. 

Thomas K4SWL over at The SWLing Post  notes that the SP-600 Tuning Dial appears to have been modified.  I'm thinking the wanted it to look like some sort of transmitter output meter. 

I think I can also see some sort of Collins antenna tuner.   

Any ideas on whose shack this all comes from?   It looks like a real ham shack.  

From the trailer, it appears that the ham gear somehow helped us establish contact with Godzilla, who then went on to save the planet.  I hope.  ONCE AGAIN, HAM RADIO SAVES THE DAY! 

The ham radio stuff is in the first minute or so of the trailer. 

Rescued at Sea! Saved by an S-38!

Just click on the ad to enlarge it. 

Another cartoon relayed via the Facebook page of Jeff Murray K1NSS.   

Sure, there was a rescue at sea, but what about all the casualties caused by the AC/DC "widow-maker" S-38 power supply? 

When Hams Wore Neckties, and AM Transmitters Were in the Living Room

Jeff Murray K1NSS had this on his Facebook page.  Great stuff.  But I felt like yelling out, "Stay in the basement OM!  Stick with your haywire rig!" 

A Homebrew HRO Dial by DL6WD, Homebrew Hero

Take a look at that beautiful rig in the bottom of the cover pictures. (A closer shot appears below.)  That is an HRO dial, right?  Or is it?  

No, it is not.  In the picture we see the homebrew receiver designed and built during the 1960s by Rudolf Fishcer, DL6WD.  It is magnificent in every respect.  Because I have been working with the HRO dial and gearbox given to me by Armand WA1UQO, the tuning dial on this receiver caught my attention. 

Here is what DL6WD says about this part of his project:  "The main tuning gear was built around a BC-221 tuning capacitor and reduction gear. The counter dial and tuning knob are the result of four weeks of labor, The counter dial reads in tens of kHz, where the main tuning knob has a calibration of 200 Hz per division, from an HRO inspiration."  The counter is in the little window to the upper left of the tuning knob. The window to the upper right is a phase-lock indicator. (See below.)

By the way, by the time DL6WD got finished with this all solid state receiver it weighed in at 52 pounds.  Rudolf noted that "excessive shielding pays in electrical performance, but not in weight!" 

DL6WD earns the title "Homebrew Hero."