Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017 — I’ve had plenty to write for publication here, but other duties have kept me busy to say the least! The XYL and her BFFs are in Myrtle Beach this week playing hide-and-go-seek with one of a variety of hurricanes. Seriously, they’re having a great time, and I’m left here in landlocked Kentucky watching a near-endless stream of “Myrtle Beach Time” TV commercials.
Well, my son and I showed her the day she left … I grilled steaks, burgers and smoke sausages … enough to get us through half the week. Who am I kidding … the one thing better than steaks on my grill are steaks served where someone else does the cleaning up. Let’s get to the ham radio stuff, shall we?
MCELROY S-600 SUPERSTREAM KEY. Confession time: I bought another McElroy S-600. Well, not just one but three of them. The first two were in fair condition at a fair (i.e. affordable) price. The most recent one — (No. 3) — was in the best condition by far, which was exactly what prompted my interest in buying it.
However, I’m also forced to admit I haven’t put it on the air yet. I’m doing 99 percent of my operating from my corner here in our home library, and the roll-around laptop “desk” I use isn’t really very stable for use with a bug.
One point of interest in regard to the S-600s …without realizing it, the three of them represent the three different bases that were available — one key has a base without mounting holes, the other has a base with two holes, and the most recent one has three mounting holes. It was sheer luck, trust me, I never intended to wind up with one of each style of base, much less three S-600 keys!
HEIL CLASSIC. I’m a sucker for what appears to be a good deal … this blog is literally packed with evidence to support that conclusion (as is my attic, hi hi).
Browsing eBay, I ran across a Heil Classic mic with an incredible low Buy It Now price. The mic had just been listed, and I quickly snapped it up. The mic is in perfect shape but doesn’t have the mic flag, which improves its look in my book. I ordered the appropriate cable to use it with my IC-756PROII and dug out a boom mount out from under one of the tables in the shack. What I did NOT find with the mic boom was the mount … I’ll probably look again, but I can always get another.
RETRO RADIO. Another eBay find is this throwback to my childhood — a rocking Toshiba 8 Transistor (and 2 diodes) AM radio.
I grew up with this radio, it was always on my father’s workbench in our basement. He refinished furniture, upholstered chairs, repaired/reglued whatever made of wood that might be broken. My earliest memories are me watching him work in his workshop, a flourescent light over head and a Viceroy cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he sanded, chiseled, painted, or glued whatever he was working on while wisps of smoke circled overhead.
We listened to Clear Channel AM stations (back when Clear Channel was a designation of a 50,000-watt station on a clear frequency and not a corporation name), mostly WHAS 840 in Louisville or WLW 700 in Cincinnati. And of course, we listened to the Cincinnati Reds baseball games every summer.
Marty Breneman and Joe Nuxhall were like members of the family. And when there wasn’t a Reds game on, it was University of Kentucky basketball. I guess I picked up my love of radio from my Dad, who enjoyed those game broadcasts. He could work in the basement all evening and never miss the action.
Well, my father died in 1987, still listening to the Toshiba 8 transistor radio in his workshop. I wanted to get that radio, but so many little things began to disappear from Daddy’s house after he died, and the Toshiba was one of them. I figure my next older brother took it, he would be the only one who would understand the sentimental value it had to our father. I never saw it again.
And over the years, I’ve wanted to pick one up on eBay, but the ones I saw were too pricey. Apparently the Toshiba is quite the collectible radio.
A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE TOSHIBA 8TM-294. The Toshiba model 8TM-294 was first manufactured in 1959 (the year I was born) and it sold in a deluxe box with a real leather case and a number of accessories, include earphone, etc., along with a carrying case for the accessories.
The example I picked up on eBay was sold by a drug store in Washington state on Dec. 26, 1960 … makes me wonder if it was post-Christmas sale that prompted the eBay seller’s grandfather to pick it up.
The radio at the time was NOT an inexpensive purchase (after all, it had EIGHT transistors!). The retail price in Toshiba ads of the day show it selling for $47.95 “attractively gift boxed.”
The radio I have came with all the goodies — the original presentation box that doubled as a display for the radio (with instructions on how to display it best); the 
instruction manual; two string tags, one that highlights its manufacture by Toshiba, the second tag is a small replica of the LIFE magazine cover making sure people know the radio was advertised in the magazine; and a small leather case for the ear plug and extra batteries that apparently could attach to the radio’s carrying case strap; and the warranty card. And the last “accessory” was a Channel Master pamphlet advertising their AM receivers (including some “all-transistor” models).
The eBay seller said the radio was purchased new by his grandfather. Its in very nice condition, though when I got it, the radio wouldn’t play. It was clear that the last set of batteries the radio used had leaked on some of the battery contacts, so I had to clean them up before the radio came to life.
The memories were swirling in my brain this evening, listening to a sports show on this 57 year old radio. The only thing missing now was a chance to hear the “The Big Red Machine” and Charlie Hustle and the gang in action, with play by play with “the old left-hander” at the mic.
I’ll have more ham radio related (and Morse key) stuff coming soon. Please excuse my nostalgic meanderings, regular programming will resume shortly!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z SK …. dit dit ….