[SCCC] Kalifornia Kilowatts...

[Steve Harrison]

I wonder whether there's a statute-of-limitations when it comes to
"serious goo" on the amateur bands?? 8-)

I ran a 4-1000 for a few years from my parent's house in Palos Verdes.
But I doubt it actually produced even half of what most Alphas will do
today; the plate voltage was only around 3700 dropping to maybe 2800
under load of about 700 mils, and ran from my bedroom's 120V wall outlet
   8-O  I've since then reflected just how lucky I (and by extension, my
parents and brothers) were that I never catastropically-overheated those
wall outlets... It did produce sufficient goo that the ends of my 80m
inverted vee, which were merely wrapped around the wooden trim on the
garage window, burned the wood, I eventually found out years later when
I took down the inv vee for the last time. If I held down the key longer
than a few seconds, it would eventually blow the 15 amp circuit breaker
downstairs and outside the garage door; so I got adept at quick-tuning 
8-) That amp was sufficient that it made me a "big gun" on the Southern
California Nets, RN6 and PAN on 80m while traffic-handling; I was
sometimes the only NCS that everybody could hear (and that could hear
everybody else, including the guys in the Kentucky Slow Net, on the same
frequency at the same time as SCN of 3600 kHz back then, thanks to my
location overlooking the whole LA basin up on the hill near where W6AM
had his rhombic farm). I experimented with several surplus plate
transformers in several different power supply chassis (none of which
had covers), most of which were already 20-years old by the time I got
them; and my rectifires were, first, 866As, and later a pair of 872s. I
may have "graduated" to some of the first 1N4007 solid state diodes by
the time I left California in '81, I don't remember now. My filter caps
were 4 or 8 uF, 4000-volt oil-filled and you can bet they all contained
PCBs, since they were of similar vintage as the transformers, from the
late-30s through 50's. Fortunately, we did not have any pets at that
time to snoop around the power supplies, which always sat on the rug
near my desk.

Nowhere near "Kalifornia KW" status; but the next thing to it for a
young teenager  8-D

Steve, K0XP


On 7/2/2024 6:51 PM, Dino Darling wrote:
> I'd love to hear the Goo stories from the 60's, 70's and 80's!
>
> I heard rumor there was a prominent radio operator around the corner from Knott's Berry Farm that has some suds on reserve. If memory serves, a single 4-1000 was mentioned. I would think it would take at least two to make legend status. It was before my time but my curiosity still reigns.
>
> Some people look down on QRO amplifiers. I see it more as another way to make gain...if you lack the room for a 100'+ boom or a rotating stack.
>
> If anyone has stories they want to share, you have a captive audience. Just change the names to protect the innocent. 😁
>
> Dino - KX6D
>
> ________________________________
> From: Glenn Rattmann
>
> ...Phil was known for using some serious Goo in those days; meaning "more" than Bud.  ;-)
>
> 73,
> Glenn K6NA
>
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