According to Nick Kennedy, WA5BDU, we live in the “golden age” of home brewing in amateur radio. Nick explains how this golden age is possible, what he does with a former AT&T longlines microwave site, and highlights his amateur radio journey, with Eric, 4Z1UG, on QSO Today. Show Notes: http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/wa5bdu Podcast Link: http://goo.gl/89mB6o iTunes Store: http://goo.gl/CvLNmV Stitcher: http://goo.gl/uhf1XZ
I STARED WITH An 1N914, an indutcor, maybe a capacitor, and a Longwire in My Parent's basement window well. Scratched "Top Secret" on the top of it with something sharp, then built a Kinght Kit Star Roamer which got HF. CURIOUS WIRING ON THE BAND SELECTOR ROTARY SWITCH...sent a aerogram to Holland. It was bleue. Sold the tube ting at a garage sale. Longwire to a tree from shack beneath Zenith B&W TV...MINNESOTA. Dad taught me Ohm's law and p=v^^2/R. Old house had fuses and we got a new service entry. One time he was replacing the kitchen light fixture with the wrong breaker OFF. Told him to put the screwdriver across the wires, and sure enough we found the CORRECT breaker. All copper. Aluminum hydrosopanner, left a bit of Cu in the Al.
My first crystal set was also a 1N914 detector. Being in Los Angeles area, there was plenty of AM radio signal in the air. That's how it started for me.