Friday night, July 17, 2015, 10 p.m. — Well, its been a busy day that’s had me working on a number of things wearing a number of hats — journalist, painter, car detailer, housekeeper, webmaster, and archaelogist. So where do I start? How about the beginning?
Got up and chased down the sheriff to ask him about some papers his office served on someone who is a possible suspect in a case he’s investigating. That went nowhere, but enjoyed my chat with the sheriff and his chief deputy.
One of the chores I have wanted to get done was to get the bathroom painted — or at least half of it so I could put up our “real” shower rod and the proper curtain. We’ve had to make do with one of those spring-loaded things that were just a pain in the posterior. I vowed a couple of days ago to get the painting done — at least to get that rod back up. I have 2-1/2 walls painted, which took care of the areas over the tub, doorway and closet. My son and I put up the shower rod and I took a much-needed shower.
Speaking of my son, he has his first date (with a young lady rather than a PC or game system) tomorrow night and he asked for help cleaning up his car (which used to be my car, a 1996 Suzuki Sidekick with 225,000 miles). I hadn’t cleaned ANY of it in the past half a dozen years, and being a journalist, the thing was like one of those Febreeze commercials — it smelled like a fast food burger wrapper (on a good day, at least). The console was coated with years of spilled high-octane coffee, tea and soda (those of you with wives will understand that my wife NEVER rode in my car, my car was just for work — by design). My son did a good job vacuuming the carpets (the first time that’s been done since at least 2004), and left me with the crap — I had to clean the console and ashtray of the gunk and grime, and try to dissolve said gunk from around about $3 in change that had congealed into one mass in the ashtray.
As housekeeper, I worked to help my son clean up our library … there’s a chair by my desk that winds up being the catch-all for my stuff, and it was time to clean it out. Didn’t take long, thankfully.
As for archaeology, I found the matching PS-7 power supply that goes with the Drake TR-7. Both the transceiver and power supply were shipped in separate boxes, both of which languished for three-plus years in the barn. The transceiver I recently unboxed (well, “unboxed” implies there was a box left …. it was mostly packing tape and the remains of what once was cardboard). But the rig and power supply were both well wrapped and protected, so neither were worse for wear. Sad to say, the PS-7 had been sitting on a cabinet in the barn and I really didn’t realize what it was until today!
I spent part of last night doing research on the TR-7 … since its been on my kitchen table this week, I’ve been salivating to get it on the air. And my research reminded me of one fact — I don’t remember the particulars about this TR-7, meaning options — I had no idea if it had any filters, the noise blanker, the digital display (an option on the early TR-7s, later a standard feature), or if it had the AUX-7 board or the all-transmit mod. All I can remember is that it was “a deal” …woefully short of specifics, eh?? That’s my memory for you …
So it was nice to find the PS-7 and bring it in. That thing is a monster … but you know it won’t wimp out on you running full power on AM or RTTY. Even though I don’t have room to move it into the shack (table still full), I did hook it up on the kitchen table and saw it come to life!
Oh wow, I think I’m going to LOVE this rig … even the damn white noise without an antenna connected sounds pleasing to the ear. So far I know it has the noise blanker option and at least the 500 Hz CW filter. I did not test transmit, so I don’t know if it has the MARS mod or not. Doesn’t matter to me if it does. It may even have the AUX-7 board, I didn’t open it up to check.
I’m missing a microphone for it, though I probably can wire one of my many D-104s to work with it. My next move — maybe tomorrow — is to make room to move the rig into the shack so I can get an antenna on it.
I’ll tell you, there’s part of me that wants to hunt now for the MS-7 speaker and the RV-7 VFO to go with it. Love the look of the complete station … guess that was the trend from the 50s through the 80s to have all the matching accessories. I have two complete Tempo 2020 stations — rig, VFO and matching speaker. I only have one setup, and it just about fills a 4-foot shelf!
The TR-7 station will take a lot of space as well, and the accessories — especially a working RV-7 — ain’t exactly cheap. I want to operate this rig a while before I commit, but I’m liking it a lot already!
Oh, as my son was cleaning out his car, he found the remains of a USPS Priority Mail box and a bug wrapped in bubblewrap. This bug is a bit of a mongrel … the base looks like a homebrew one made of a piece of steel; the upper parts are manufactured, but not sure of the maker. I’m not convinced they are Vibroplex parts, but I could be wrong. The keying lever uses the “bent-lug” design … and the upper parts are chrome plated. The knurling on the adjustment screws and lock nuts isn’t Vibroplex … I’m thinking the upper parts are from a Speed-X key, though it has a Vibroplex style damper. Hmmm.
I can’t find a charged battery for my camera, so pics will have to wait until the next entry. Til then GL es GD DX … de KY4Z 73 73 … SK CL … dit dit