Topband: Nostalgic "openings"

[Charlie Cunningham]

Hi, Carl

Well, you have good taste in radios and music!  Don't thing it was Ike
Turners' rendition of "Rocket 88" that the 
DJs were playing in the bars and "boogie joints" that I frequented. It was a
good up-tempo song to dance to before I got to be so crippled!

There surely were a lot of surplus radios around in the years following WW
II! I still have some - probably mostly out of F6F Hellcats etc.

Don't envy you with that weatherup there! Here I  North Carolina we don't
usually get so much snow. Our problem here is more often freezing rain and
ice storms. Really destructive!

Stay warm and have a good day up there, Carl!

73,
Charlie, K4OTV


-----Original Message-----
From: Carl [mailto:km1h at jeremy.mv.com] 
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 10:58 AM
To: Charlie Cunningham; 'James Rodenkirch'; 'Top Band Contesting'
Cc: 'Mike Waters'
Subject: Re: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"

The HQ-129X was my fourth radio, bought with my own money working several 
part time jobs which also paid for the other gear and cars.

I started with a HB regen out of a 53 Popular Mechanics, then a BC-454 and 
455 that I bandspreaded, and followed by a SX-25 which was a real dog that I

got my money back on.

Rocket 88 was by Ike Turner and his group with a cover by Bill Haley. Im 
listening to the original now.

About 8" of heavy wet snow and then freezing yesterday means I'll have to 
walk the Beverages soon and check for damage, smack ice off branches, 
etc....little to no melting for several days forcast.

Carl
KM1H


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charlie Cunningham" <charlie-cunningham at nc.rr.com>
To: "'Carl'" <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>; "'James Rodenkirch'" 
<rodenkirch_llc at msn.com>; "'Top Band Contesting'" <topband at contesting.com>
Cc: "'Mike Waters'" <mikewate at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 12:02 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"


> Hi, Carl
>
> Well I never could have afforded anything as fancy or expensive as a 
> Viking
> 1 or HQ-129 in those days.  My first ham receiver was a 4-tube Heathkit
> AR-3, equipped with the QF-1 Q Multiplier and I added a homebrew  outboard
> tunable RF stage with plug-in coils. With the QF-1 and the RF-stage it was

> a
> workable CW receiver and I worked a lot of stuff with it! Later I had a
> borrowed BC-348 receiver that my dad borrowed from a friend where he 
> worked
> at Western Electric in Burlington, NC. Sort of broad IF, but a decent
> receiver. Later I eventually graduated to a National NC-109 receiver that
> had an adjustable "crystal filter".
>
> My cars wereolder also, and ins more recent years I used to dance to an 
> old
> R&B "boogie-woogie" song about "My Rocket-88"  :-)
> 73,
> Charlie, K4OTV
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl [mailto:km1h at jeremy.mv.com]
> Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 8:19 PM
> To: Charlie Cunningham; 'James Rodenkirch'; 'Top Band Contesting'
> Cc: Mike Waters
> Subject: Re: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"
>
> I was lucky as the Johnson 122 VFO was part of the second hand V-I 
> package,
> I have another set of those here and even work topband DX CW with it and
> several different receivers including a HQ-129X with a QF-1 and BC-453 as 
> I
> had then and do today.
> The big difference is I no longer use a Vibroplex bug, just my trusty old 
> KC
>
> Keyer.
>
> Its amazing how quiet those old radios are when the bandwidth is narrowed.
> No phase noise or hash from multiple conversions.
>
> I also built the W2EWL SSB exciter in late 58 with its BC-456 beginnings 
> and
>
> 1625 finals and used only on 20M mobile once I got it debugged with 
> letters
> and phone calls to the author Tony Vitale, W2EWL.
> I had sold my customized and hotrodded 49 Ford 2 dr and "upgraded" to a 49
> Olds 88 coupe with a 56 Olds engine, 55 Dual Range Hydro and converted to
> 12V.
>
> Carl
> KM1H
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Charlie Cunningham" <charlie-cunningham at nc.rr.com>
> To: "'James Rodenkirch'" <rodenkirch_llc at msn.com>; "'Carl'"
> <km1h at jeremy.mv.com>; "'Top Band Contesting'" <topband at contesting.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 6:48 PM
> Subject: RE: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"
>
>
>> That Heathkit VF-1 freed a lot of us from being "rock-bound" back in the
>> old
>> days!
>>
>> 73,
>> Charlie,K4OTV
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of James
>> Rodenkirch
>> Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 6:17 PM
>> To: Carl; Top Band Contesting
>> Cc: Charlie Cunningham
>> Subject: Re: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"
>>
>> I had a Viking I as well, Carl....after a couple of months with xtals,
>> purchased a Heathkit VFO kit, put it togwether and was in HOG heaven.
>> Decided to employ a relay so when I hit the VFO transmit switch I keyed
>> the
>> Viking I....installed the relay on the back of the Heathkit VFO cabinet -
>> when I switched that VFO "on," I believe my signal sounded like a drunk
>> canary for a brief period of time 'cuz that AC relay sure shook the VFO
>> cabinet up!  Hi Hi DANG....Great memories of my time back in Central
>> Wisconsin in the late 50s!
>>
>>> From: km1h at jeremy.mv.com
>>> To: rodenkirch_llc at msn.com; topband at contesting.com
>>> CC: charlie-cunningham at nc.rr.com
>>> Subject: Re: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"
>>> Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2014 17:42:29 -0500
>>>
>>> I first tried 160 in 1957-58 with a DX-100 and Viking I, all AM from
>>> LINY.
>>> First SSB contact was in 58 with a CE-10A and homebrew coils, all of 8
>>> watts or so.
>>>
>>> It wasnt until 1967 at my first home in NH that I tried 160 CW and
>>> worked some DX with a CE-100V that had the optional 160 kit and a
>>> 75A4; I still have both. I was already into 80/75 and 40 DX plus
>>> contests and with 8 acres a couple of Beverages. I met Stew Perry
>>> several times as he was a regular at National and hamfests and taught
>>> me a lot about the band and really "listening". I owe him a lot. The
>> antenna then was a dipole between a 100'
>>> and 120' tower with the ends bent down at an angle and it also held
>>> the 80M dipole as a full horizontal using the same coax.
>>>
>>> Carl
>>> KM1H
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "James Rodenkirch" <rodenkirch_llc at msn.com>
>>> To: "Top Band Contesting" <topband at contesting.com>
>>> Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 3:19 PM
>>> Subject: Topband: Nostalgic "openings"
>>>
>>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > By the bye, the e-mail from Don, WD8DSB, reminded me of an old Globe
>>> > Scout double side band rig I owned YEARS ago:
>>> > Globe Sidebander DSB-100:  transmitter.
>>> > It's ad appeared in  MAY 58 QST;  price $119.95 kit, $139.95 wired;
>>> > 40 watts AM, 50 watts CW, 100 watts DSB; bandswitching 80 thru 10
>>> > meters;
>>> > 6CL6 crystal oscillator, 6CL6 buffer/doubler, pair 6DQ6A final
>>> > amplifier;
>>> > 12AX7 speech amplifier, 12AX7 driver, 6AQ5 modulator, 6AL5 speech
>>> > clipper, 5U4GB rectifier; weight 30 lbs.
>>> > Go here for a pic:
>>> > https://www.google.com/search?q=globe+sidebander+dsb-100&tbm=isch&so
>>> > urce=iu&imgil=sU-DHOHX30gNzM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-
>>> > tbn3.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcTD2FiUvvky-Ujm-w
>>> > JiMEew4QzUvbI0CQgbZHBu3ikMSaLp2Otg%253B640%253B428%253BjgUGacNNUJMas
>>> > M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.oldtuberadio.com%25252Fglobe-side
>>> > banderdsb-100%25252F&sa=X&ei=SuHaUsa_MqPuyAGt6IHYCQ&ved=0CDoQ9QEwAg&
>>> > biw=1511&bih=714&dpr=0.9#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=sU-DHOHX30gNzM%253A%
>>> > 3BjgUGacNNUJMasM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.oldtuberadio.com%252Fwp-co
>>> > ntent%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F04%252FGLOBE-SIDEBANDER-DSB-100.jpg%3
>>> > Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.oldtuberadio.com%252Fglobe-sidebanderdsb-100
>>> > %252F%3B640%3B428 Sigh.....good memories of WRL and Heathkit....Jim
>>> > Rodenkirch K9JWV _________________ Topband Reflector Archives -
>>> > http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > -----
>>> > No virus found in this message.
>>> > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> > Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3681/7013 - Release Date:
>>> > 01/18/14
>>> >
>>>
>>
>> _________________
>> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>>
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 2014.0.4259 / Virus Database: 3681/7014 - Release Date: 01/18/14
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>
> _________________
> Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
>
>
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> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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