Required Reading

[kl7aj]

I don't know how many of you took advantage of ARRL's offer of a reprint of QST issue #1, bundled with the 2005 Handbook. Very cool little item. Should be required reading by every new ham who wants to gripe about how hard it is to get on the air! The message that comes through isn't how clever these early hams were, but rather how DETERMINED they were. You had to really want to do it....something our "instantized" culture has forgotten.

Another interesting point is that, as experimental as radio was, there was already a passionate determination to do public service...hence the RELAY part of the league! These boys were serious!

Just a note,

Eric

[W7DJM]

I haven't read "no 1" but I've sure as heck read some old books--early attempts at "vhf" and all, and I was a junior high school student at the time two of the locals were fiddling around with varactor triplers to get old Motorola FM units up to 432, and experimenting with homebrew helical beams to hear (the? one of the?) first OSCAR.

(I never DID understand how a parametric amplifier for UHF works, and most people don't even know what they were.)

I built my first transmitter, and of course in those days it was (one) crystal control, 75w input.

Anyone that thinks things are so hard today needs to go find an old elmer that still has an old receiver--S-40B, S-38, AR-3, whatever, or even something way better--the dial calibration just wasn't there. Can you spell WWV and "crystal calibrator?"

[KC0NBW]

Quote[/b] (kl7aj @ May 23 2005,13:16)]I don't know how many of you took advantage of ARRL's offer of a reprint of QST issue #1, bundled with the 2005 Handbook. #Very cool little item. # Should be required reading by every new ham who wants to gripe about how hard it is to get on the air! #The message that comes through isn't how clever these early hams were, but rather how DETERMINED they were. #You had to really want to do it....something our "instantized" culture has forgotten.

# #Another interesting point is that, as experimental as radio was, there was already a passionate determination to do public service...hence the RELAY part of the league! #These boys were serious!

Just a note,

Eric
do they mention the whiners complaining that ''morse code is too hard'' even back then ? # #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif



just a joke, don't get all bent out of shape now ! #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

kl7aj, this was not directed at you

[WA5KRP]

I've got the Dec. 1915 reprint. Sure was a different world back then. It must have been a thrilling experience to make contact with just about anywhere.

Rotary spark gaps. Ugh.


WA5KRP
Texas

[al2n]

Oldest one I have read is from 1929.

Letters to the editor in that issue had guys complaining about the 'bozos' on phone with thier poorly modulated signals. The word stupid was even used.

I love the plans in the old issues for building stuff. Some tube designs I would like to play with for sure.

Then there was the letter to the editor in later issue (from the late 50's or early 60's I believe) expounding the virtues of 11 meters. No QRM from the kilowats, channelized ease, everyone on equal footing with 4 watts output. If the writer had only known what the future would bring....

[N8CPA]

In '79, between the the time I took my Novice test and when I got my license, one of my Elmers gave me a bunch of various old magazines--QST, 73, CQ, etc. In one of them from '78, there was a brief blurb about the 20th anniversary of Citzens Band, using the words, "If anyone feels like celebrating." Operation on the "new" band became legal on Sept 11, 1958.

[KC0NBW]

Quote[/b] (N8CPA @ May 24 2005,04:25)]In '79, between the the time I took my Novice test and when I got my license, one of my Elmers gave me a bunch of various old #magazines--QST, 73, CQ, etc. #In one of them from '78, there was a brief blurb about the 20th anniversary of Citzens Band, using the words, "If anyone feels like celebrating." # Operation on the "new" band became legal on Sept 11, 1958.
and the first ''leenyer'' was available a week before that ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[KC0NBW]

Quote[/b] (al2n @ May 23 2005,22:08)]Oldest one I have read is from 1929.

Letters to the editor in that issue had guys complaining about the 'bozos' on phone with thier poorly modulated signals. #The word stupid was even used.

I love the plans in the old issues for building stuff. #Some tube designs I would like to play with for sure.

Then there was the letter to the editor in later issue (from the late 50's or early 60's I believe) expounding the virtues of 11 meters. #No QRM from the kilowats, channelized ease, everyone on equal footing with 4 watts output. #If the writer had only known what the future would bring....
a letter to the editor talking about 4 watts output in the late 50s,early 60s?

not likely, at that time they were allowed 5 watts max input to the final, the 4 watts out did not occur until the release of the 40 channel radios in the 70s ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[kb2vxa]

Hi guys,

Hmmm, one of my first reads was one of the many books on electricity and electronics from the local library, Things A Boy Can Do With Electricity dated 1927. My favorite subject was the spark coil from a fliver, do any of you know what that was? How about a Geissler tube? Now in 1957 flivers were long gone and spark coils with them, but before I gave up on trying to substitute one from a Buick my uncle came through and another gave me a couple of Geissler tubes. Oh, that one gave me a crystal radio kit and my adventures in radio took off with the addition of a little high voltage. Marconi supplied the designs but unfortunately I never figured out how to make the coherer work, the book barely mentioned the decoherer half of it. Nothing like learning RF theory from the beginning and building from those early design schematics.

You think those early hams were determined? You haven't seen an 8 year old kid scrounging behind the local radio shop for junk and making it into a workable shortwave receiver. You haven't seen an 8 year old kid hiding things from his mother determined to keep his room clean. (;->) Sheesh, I spent so much time in the trees rearanging my long wire antenna I got to know the birds by name!

That was just the beginning, all along I followed in Scotty's footsteps. Maybe you remember the Star Trek episode when Kirk couldn't get his CE to take shore leave, he was more interested in catching up on his reading, tech manuals of course. I still read them, still understand the schematics even if I get lost in the maze sometimes, but darn if I can fix these newfangled warp engines. Then too I can't fit myself into a Jeffreys tube any more, 75 years stuck in a transporter pattern buffer will do that to you. Now I leave that to guys like Geordie, he's a bit slimmer and with that visor (that looks like a chromed air filter for a Holly) he can see those things that look like fly poop on the board to me.

Now you have come to know me a little better maybe you'll think twice about comparing NCTs to CBers and maybe, just maybe think thrice about comparing CBers to mongoloid idiots. Uh huh, that was one of my stops along the way from spark on a bread board to IC-706Mk2G. Yeah, the neighbors had to briefly put up with crapped up TV while I perfected the rotary spark gap.

Oh, I'm not immune to the temptation to flame the hell out of some of the guys over on one of the scanner/SWL sites, they make CBers look like Einstein or Hawking. I just remember that besides spending time at the library I spent plenty hanging around under those funny looking antennas scattered around my home town. Thanks Sid, thanks Pixie, I'll remember you always. Now I return the favor, pass along what I have learned whenever the opportunity arises. Then rather often I come across a blank, and guess what? That's right, there's always an elmer to fill it in. All the knowlege in the world doesn't mean a thing if you don't pass it on.

Speaking of which, the most useful bit I have ever heard and here passed along to you is this.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Now THAT is required reading.

[ac3p]

If it was a tube final, that 5 watts in might get you 1.5 or maybe 2 watts out.

[KC0NBW]

Quote[/b] (ac3p @ May 24 2005,05:43)]If it was a tube final, that 5 watts in might get you 1.5 or maybe 2 watts out.
only if the wind was from the right direction ! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[KF0RT]

Fun stuff... If you enjoy this sorta reading, the ARRL has all back issues of QST on CD-ROM, starting with #1. The downside is that most of the CD's were produced in the late 90's and aren't that great. Not PDF, but TIFF, with a pretty cheesey viewer and the indexing isn't great. But, it's all there and mostly readable. They really need to do this project from scratch using today's technology.

73, Rob

[kl7aj]

Quote[/b] (W7DJM @ May 23 2005,19:08)]I haven't read "no 1" #but I've sure as heck read some old books--early attempts at "vhf" and all, and I was a junior high school student at the time two of the locals were fiddling around with varactor triplers #to get old Motorola FM units up to 432, and experimenting with homebrew helical beams to hear (the? one of the?) first OSCAR.

(I never DID understand how a parametric amplifier for UHF works, #and most people don't even know what they were.)

I built my first transmitter, and of course in those days it was (one) crystal control, 75w input.

Anyone that thinks things are so hard today needs to go find an old elmer that still has an old receiver--S-40B, S-38, AR-3, whatever, or even something way better--the dial calibration just wasn't there. # Can you spell WWV and "crystal calibrator?"
A parametric amplifier works by varying the value (parameter) of a component in sync with an r.f. oscillator ("pump") Usually the component of choice is a varacter diode, but there have been parametric amplifiers made with pumped saturable reactors, as well. (overdriven toroids!) Probably the most bizarre part of parametric amplifier is the fact that the input port and the output port are usually the SAME PORT! The amplified and unamplified signals are separated with a simple ferrite circulator in most cases. Parametric multipliers are similar, but they have an additional "idler" stage which runs at the second harmonic, but then pumps its signal back into the varactor amplifier, mixing with the fundamental , to create a THIRD harmonic. Very clever...wish I'd thought of it myself, but I'm not that smart!

Eric

[W0LPQ]

Have not messed with Parametric Amps since I left Myrtle Beach AFB, SC in 1965. Our AN/TRC-66 Microwave stuff, made by General Instrument in NY had them. Real easy to set up if you had the test equipment. As I remember the I/O ports were not the same, they were 270 degrees out. Neat stuff tho..! The stuff ran around 7.3 KMc.. (7.3 Gigs for the younger guys).

Thanks for the reminder and to Eric for the refresher..!

73

Bill, W0LPQ

[ac3p]

Quote[/b] ]Rotary spark gaps. #Ugh

Ah the raucous buzz! The smell of ozone! The flickering light!

Hams in those days must have felt power at their fingertips as they pounded out CQ the the straight key.

I had similar a feeling when I would key down the old Hallicrafters HT-32 with its pair of 6146s and the lights in the house would dim. But that was just CW.

Rotary spark must have been something akin to Dr. Frankenstein's lab.

[kb2vxa]

Hi again,

I'll skip by those who compare the efficiency of tubes to solid state without the slightest understanding of the class C amplifier. Hmmmm.......

Now HERE's a man after my own heart in my younger days.

"Ah the raucous buzz! The smell of ozone! The flickering light!"

During the day my neighbors watched in wonder the explosions and smoke clouds in the back yard, by night they watched the flickering lights behind my bedroom shades. Good thing they never noticed the flashes on the TV screen were in sync.

"Hams in those days must have felt power at their fingertips as they pounded out CQ the the straight key."

Only if the knob fell off and the relay was shorted.

"I had similar a feeling when I would key down the old Hallicrafters HT-32 with its pair of 6146s and the lights in the house would dim. But that was just CW."

I have the feeling the wiring in the house needed the attention of a qualified electrician.

"Rotary spark must have been something akin to Dr. Frankenstein's lab."

That's what the musical buzz in the film was only it powered the primary of that huge Tesla coil. Funny how Flash Gordon's space ship had that same buzz, could be Dale in QSO with Dr. Arcov plotting Ming's destruction while Flash dodged those death rays.

(I spelled it right, you read it wrong, hi.)

Oh, as for that feeling of raw power, the key at the coastal station in Tuckerton NJ controlled a 200KW alternator. On the other hand the power plant burned coal by the truck load, RF for long distance, smoke signals for local work. (;->) One last thought, it was at the end of Radio Road, appropriately named and still the only way to get to Mystic Isle.

[al2n]

Quote[/b] ]a letter to the editor talking about 4 watts output in the late 50s,early 60s?

not likely, at that time they were allowed 5 watts max input to the final, the 4 watts out did not occur until the release of the 40 channel radios in the 70s ! #


I will have to dig out the mag and read the exact wording that was used. The "equal footing" in power was what the writer was happy about.

You get the drift though.

I really liked the one that had a Ham Hearse. #Nice black Hearse that was turned into a rather nice mobile shack. Back was full of fun toys. #No need to turn on the heater in that thing for sure.

[kb2vxa]

Hi again,

"I really liked the one that had a Ham Hearse. Nice black Hearse that was turned into a rather nice mobile shack."

The WA1HLR Cadaverlac is blue and has a "dog log" continuous helical load 80M antenna on the roof. The "piss weak mobile" can sometimes be heard on 3885 AM.

[WA2ZDY]

I feel a special pride having been brought into ham radio by old timers who were on the air when King Spark ruled the ether. And as such, even though I'm only 43, I know from first hand accounts what the rotary gap (run with Mom's Maytag washer motor!), leyden jars, flivver coils, cat whiskers, etc, are.

Ham radio back then was romantic. That's how I think of it. It was certainly magical and mystical. And yes, those guys had to fight for every hundred feet of range to the DX down the block.

The old Q streets are good. I have a 1927 and a few from the 30s. Ham radio in the 20s - to me anyway - does not bear much resemblence to the ham radio of today. By the 30s a corner had been turned and things in those mags seem "familiar."

Best thing to read? 200 Meters And Down by CB DeSoto. Find it, read it, understand it, and you will be on the way to knowing what ham radio is REALLY about.