Today I had a great ragchew on 40 meters CW with a John in Beaver Falls, Pa. His call and QTH sound familiar, and I think we've QSO'd a year or two back.
I was running my Heathkit HW-16, which is the rig I use about 90 percent of the time on CW. He gave me a 599, and I gave him a 579, though his signal improved to 599 on the next transmission. You can imagine my surprise when he told me he was using an MFJ QRP rig and running 2 watts to a dipole at 20 feet!
His rig was drifting a little bit, but that wasn't a problem. Or course, my old Hot Water rig may have been drifting too, but it had been on for more than an hour and it's pretty stable once it's hot. His 2 watts sounded loud today, I guess the band was good.
Another QSO (or two) fired up next door to us, and I had to kick in my Radio Shack DSP filter to cut the QRM. The filter is funny. It did a fine job of eliminating the nearby sigs, but when his signal came through the bandpass, I could hear the nearby signals too. His signal was loudest of course, since the filter was narrowed down on his frequency. It was a quirk I had not observed before.
We chatted for nearly an hour and I had to go. It has me thinking of firing up my Heathkit HW-8 for some 40-meter QRP.
Speaking of 40 meters, I noticed some time back that the digital folks have “invaded” the bottom end of the old Novice band. Right around 7.100-7.110 you'll find digital guys running full bore. Heck, that was my old stomping grounds — and it still is.
I hang out a lot in the Novice subbands, mostly because my CW isn't at the speed that I feel like I can “run with the big dogs.” And I'm showing my age here, but I'm embarrassed to hear 5 wpm CW in the General and Extra Class CW subbands. I can run 15 wpm if I use my Bencher paddles. Since I've adopted semi-automatic keys — “bugs” — as my standard key, I've back off the speed until I get my fist a little better. I didn't flubb up too much today, though I did misfire an extra half-dit or two. That's my fault, my wrist action gets lazy and I don't pay attention and don't break off my dits cleanly.
HISTORY OF RADIO. I won a bid for some interesting magazines recently — I bought a bunch of Short Wave Craft magazines from the 1930s. These things are absolute jewels! Talk about Mr. Chumley's WayBack Machine! This is the real deal!
Back in the 1930s, the code requirement was 10 wpm. There was no requirement for crystal operation for beginners, as there was with the later Novice ticket. The emphasis in the 30s was on improving the quality of the signal, i.e., getting rid of direct AC plate supplies, which created terribly sounding CW!
I've had a blast reading these magazines. I've got some QST magazines from the same era, and let me tell you, Short Wave Craft was probably eating QST's lunch — at least for the hobbyists who weren't as well-versed in electronic theory. QST was then — as is now — a high-minded technical journal. Short Wave Craft was aimed at the common home experimenter.
The magazine had something for everyone. Each issue had projects for the new shortwave listener, as well as more complex projects for the experienced hand. Hams had plenty of projects to tinker with too.
Short Wave Craft also had it's own radio club. Publisher Hugo Gernsback began coupling clubs with his publications some 20 years earlier. The club for Short Wave Craft readers was The Short Wave League. Membership was free, but according to Gernsback's editorial copy, membership had its priviledges.
The staff of Short Wave Craft (like QST and other publications) also published books and how-to guides. In order to buy the books, you had to be a member of The Short Wave League. Thankfully, Gernsback included a membership application with each advertisement for “league” publications, so there was little chance of being denied a purchase (though the ads say without membership your order would be returned!).
Short Wave Craft had its own awards and contests. The top dog was the Short Wave Scout trophy, presented to the SWL who could submit the greatest number of stations heard or verified.
You have to give Gernsback his due, he was quite an entrepreneur and a publishing guru. He founded dozens of magazines; if he saw a niche market, BOOM, it had a Gernsback publication to cover it.
If you haven't guessed, I'm very fond of Short Wave Craft; it's style is dramatically different than QST, and it's written and designed for the “average Joe.” In fact, I'm convinced I could pull any of these projects off its pages and be reasonablly assured of success.
But of course, many of SW Craft's projects were 1, 2 and 3 tube designs. One letter to the editor — a ham, no less — critized the magazine for running the same batch of receiver circuits every few months, claiming the only difference was the name, parts layout, and some minor changes in the value of some parts.
The magazine focused on the many uses of the shortwave frequencies, including aviation, navigation, medical and commecial communications. For example, one article shows how a shortwave relay was used to broadcast President McKinley's inaugeration. Another details how shortwave communications make it possible to make a phone call to Japan (and remember, this is 1935).
In addition to his publishing emprie, Gernsback had his own electronic parts warehouse and was a skilled inventor in his own right. He coined the term “television,” and he is often considered the father of modern science fiction.
I'll have to write more about Gernsback, what a fascinating man! He died in 1967.
KEYS? DID SOMEONE MENTION KEYS? I've been busy with my assorted keys, and getting new ones every day or so. Well, maybe not THAT often, but my kids seem to think every UPS truck has a morse code key for me.
I did get a box of goodies this week. I got a box with three keys, all homebrewed.
The first is an iambic keyer made from two Ameco K-1s, the Japanese ball-bearing key. They are mounted base-to-base and set on their side. The key is mounted with angle brackets, and the code knobs were replaced by red homebrewed paddles. The key sits on a heavy base. It was wired up fine, and I've spent some time adjusting it, and it's an interesting key, to say the least! The builder did a fine job painting it up too. After I adjusted the thing, it actuall works quite well. If you closed you eyes, you'd never realize you were using two straight keys bolted together!
The second key is a homebrew iambic that doesn't impress me. I need to work on it as one of the stops was broken off in shipping. I think it was crazy glued on. The paddles are made of what looks to be radio shack perf board. It's an attractive key, just not very snazzy. I'll up load some pics later.
The third key is built in an old MFJ something-or-other case. It's a single lever paddle keyer. I've not tried it, but the action does not impress me. It needs some adjustment, because the fishing weights that were hot glued inside all bounced loose in transit. Sounded like a bowl of marbles in china vase when I picked up the box. I wasn't sure what was in the box, but I was sure it was busted. Luckily nothing much was broken, just the weights rattling around free inside the MFJ enclosure. The key has no electronics, so nothing got beaten up too bad.
IN OTHER KEY NEWS. I received in the mail my dot post with new contact screw and contact. My old Presentation key is nearly ready to assemble! Woo hoo!
The missing piece I need — but can't justify the expense — is the gold plate. The one that came with it was a mess — it had big splotches where the gold plating was just flat gone. The thin plating just wasn't salvagable.
I took some very fine grit sandpaper tonight and basically sanded the gold plating off. When I was done, I had a smooth brass plate. I took some rubbing compound and worked the plate over for about an hour. By the time I was done — and after polishing with some Flitz — I had a nicely polished brass plate. It's not a mirror shine, more like a satin finish, which looks fine to me.
I almost re-assembled the key tonight, but I think I'm going to spray the plate with a clear coat first. I don't want to polish it again. It came out really nice. I'll spray it tomorrow and put it back together tomorrow night. I'll have photos of course!
That's all for now. 73 and CU AGN … de KY4Z SK …. dit dit …