Well, now there's a posting that brought back memories. Actually, Lucas was not the worst. The absolute pits was the Spanish outfit that made the famous or infamous Motoplat CDI ignition systems. Gre
Hi: There is a fairly simple explanation of the various reciever specs in late model ARRL Handbooks. After you go through that, pull a few mid to top end reciever tests from QST and compare them, and
Looking around the shack I see three Omni VI's, two option 3's and a +, with a red dot; along with five 705 mikes with red dots, two 253's with orange dots, three 238's with orange dots, and a KR I d
May I observe that tonight's AES price for an FT-1000 D is $4199. Less a mike. Of course, there are the various stripped down versions of the D, but by the time you get through optioning them up you
Well, the hallicrafters (small h) I can tell you about. Mid to late 1930's technology, quite nice for the time. Heavy, of course. The main dial was usually within 20 to 50 kc (kHz) and it had what wo
This question has come up many times and always reminds me of my old professor deponing "If you don't like the VSWR, change the length of the transmission line." Essentially, the indicated SWR change
Sorry Carl, I have trimmed many a stub in my time, but the coax "matchboxes" I mentioned were just so much RG8. At the time they were popular, surplus RG8 was free for hauling off at most military ba
Well, I have never used a paper radio - but I have owned one each of the three radios the ARRL labs supposedly ranked so highly. Whatever their ranking on paper, I chose to dispose of mine rather qui
Rob, I don't know about Illinois, but around here whenever a ham gets a new toy we all get together for a "rig shootout." Everybody's top dog radio gets to strut its stuff against the new pup. So alm
Well, my AC ammeter is not really accurate at very low currents, but I leave the 50 A Astron that powers my shack on full time - and with the rigs off the meter deflection is about the same as a nigh
Hi Max: I could give you a long discourse, but first, before you get numbers fever pick up the latest, or next to latest, ARRL Handbook. There is a section on reciever specs that bears close scrutiny
Hi: It should be clearly understood that everyone's bird dog is the best. Even the dog that won't hunt. And any statement that seems to imply that anyone else's bird dog is "better" is a slap in the
Actually, all it takes is an encoder, a box, a knob, and a cable. TenTec offered the 301 as a kit, less cable, after the completed remote knob was discontinued. I bought several and still have them.
The encoders in the three kits I still have were quite different physically from the ones in the factory 301 s I have, or in the Omni's. The kit encoders were very similar to a Clarostat 2 Watt poten
The factory 301's had an encoder with wire leads, and a terminal strip. The leads from the encoder and the leads from the DB-25 were connected there. As far as I can tell the original cable was the s
A "buzzing relay" impulse noise source sounds like someone else had some experience with an old fashioned doorbell buzzer to me. The one I learned code on sure put out plenty of racket with only a co
Yes, the RST system does use the c for chirp and k for key clicks. And I do use those when the occasion warrents. But the system does not provide for what to me is the most annoying keying artifact o
Well, practically speaking, even a "pure carrier" takes up at least some spectrum. We used to say, by rule of thumb, that CW occupies 2 times the keying speed. 40 cycles, Hz, for 20 WPM, etc.. Most o
Most solid state transmitters emit a signifgant amount of "phase noise." You can clearly see these spurious emissions on the ARRL labs spectral purity pictures. Since they are transmitted over a wide