[TenTec] Power Mite Odyssey

[David McClafferty]

John, this story is too good to just be buried in the
archives. You should at least publish it on the web.
If you don't have a site you can start one for free. I
have one on qsl.net <http://www.qsl.net/ve1adh> 
You should at least add it to qrz.com under your call.

73, Dave, VE1ADH
 
 --- johnwiseman at davidbowie.com wrote: > Thought some
of you Ten Tec QRP fans might enjoy
> this story -
> 
> Back in '69 and '70, my dad used to go to the local
> radio store in
> Peoria to get crystals for his police radio. While
> there, I fell in
> love with a Midland 11-500 SW/AM table radio. That
> radio got me
> going into the hobby of radio, and later,
> electronics in general.
> After discovering "hams" on both of our radios, I
> started to
> investigate that hobby. "Too expensive", said Dad.
> "Too weird",
> said Mom. But I found an ad in the back of one of
> the ARRL
> publications that Dad bought me at the radio store
> for a Ten Tec
> Power Mite.
> 
> Man, I loved the looks of that radio. Simple,
> elegant lines. It
> didn't do phone, but hey, I could live with that for
> a while. After
> all, the price was right. So I sent away for the
> catalog. Even
> today, I still have the booklet with the torn out
> coupon missing.
> But it never happened. Unfortunately, I had no
> Elmer. I had no idea
> what the theory questions were asking for, and I was
> unable to learn
> more than a few morse characters from the series of
> vinyl records
> that Dad had bought me during his latest trip to the
> radio store.
> Eventually, motorcycles and girls came on the scene,
> and the ham
> radio dream got put on hold for a while. About 15
> years, actually.
> 
> Fast forward to 2003. After being fairly inactive
> for several years,
> I started getting into QRP homebrewing. What a
> thrill it was to work
> stations with a radio of my own design and
> construction! Then the
> nostalgia bug hit. I still had my original Midland,
> but it hadn't
> worked in years. Changing all the electrolytics,
> realigning the
> tuned inputs, and changing the dial lights brought
> the old radio back
> to life, in full splendor.
> 
> At the same time, I had been looking on Ebay for
> some parts for my
> son's minibike. Glancing around in the amateur radio
> section, I saw
> a new listing for a mint Ten Tec Power Mite 2. There
> were 6 days
> left in the auction, but I decided right then that
> this radio was
> meant to live in my shack. 6 days later, after a
> final flurry of
> last-second bidding, it was mine for $142.50.
> 
> It was in better shape than I hoped for when it
> finally came, in it's
> original box, with the original manual and
> schematic. Like an
> episode from the Twilight Zone, I thought for a
> moment that I was 15
> years old again. Over the next few days, I cleaned
> it up, fixed a
> few crusted over switches and aligned the oscillator
> with my scope
> and frequency counter. Hey, this thing might just
> work after all. I
> even got it putting out a whole 1 watt peak power on
> 40 meters. Then
> reality hit me. I had never used a direct conversion
> receiver
> before! What's a "zero beat"? Receive on the upper
> sideband? Hey,
> I'm a superhet guy...
> 
> So I practiced zeroing in on strong signals, and
> again tuned the
> oscillator so I could hear the receiver and
> transmitter oscillator on
> a close-by Icom rig. It seemed to me that this thing
> was alive. But
> I turned it on at night, and Whoaaaa, baby! Every SW
> station on 40
> meters came blaring through. I could hardly hear any
> CW. Obviously,
> this receiver is not of the quality of even my first
> homebrew. OK,
> daytime might be the ticket here.
> 
> And of course on Saturday afternoon, things were
> much better. The
> band was fairly active with lots of east coast
> stations on, so I
> figured it's now or never. I started calling CQ.
> After the 2nd try,
> I was stunned to hear W2BVH return to me. I was so
> floored that this
> thing had actually worked, that my code copy speed
> instantly lost
> over 5wpm, and I barely got his call! He patiently
> explained to me
> that other than a 100 Hz. random frequency shift,
> all else was well.
> Thanks Lenny for putting up with my nervous fist on
> a straight key!
> 
> After tuning around a bit I came across a very
> interesting sounding
> CW signal that had quite a bit of chirp in it. I got
> the call as
> NX2ND, and looked it up. Interesting - a WWII
> submarine now a
> permanent museum, and with all restored original
> radio equipment. I
> had to work this one on the little Power Mite, so I
> called him when
> he finished his current QSO. Again, success! He came
> right back to
> me and I found it quite appropriate that our two
> aging radios were
> managing to do quite well together.
> 
> But what a thrill! So many years later, to actually
> get my Power
> Mite, and to successfully put it on the air has been
> one of the
> highlights of my radio days. But as I thought about
> it, I realized
> that there was NO WAY that I could have used this
> radio as a kid! I
> never would have figured out the nuances of direct
> conversion, or how
> to tune the oscillator. It's probably just as well
> that I never did
> mow enough lawns to afford it back in '70.
> 
> But I finally have it, and now it resides in a place
> of honor in my
> shack, right next to my fully restored, original
> Midland radio. Life
> is good.
> 
> Who says you can never go home again?
> 
> john
> KE3QG
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec 

______________________________________________________________________ 
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca