[TowerTalk] MY 1st Rig

[Leeson]

Ah the memories! I saw my first ham radio setup when I was 4 years old, 
and still recall the thrill of learning that those beeps and dits were 
from people all over the world. That led to a life in radio. Ten years 
later I got my first job fixing radios and TVs in a local radio shop.

My first rig in 1952 (I was 15) was an NC-173 RX my dad bought me, with 
some homebuilt 6L6 TX rigs and then a couple of ARC-5 transmitters from 
what we called "Sam's Surminus" on Melrose in LA. I recall they had very 
a big box on the sidewalk that was full of prop pitches. Henry Radio, a 
bike trip away, was in its prime then, and I drooled over their 
showrooms full of Collins gear that was way beyond a high-school kids means.

My first big antenna was a 4-el 10m Yagi from the W6SAI book, but made 
with a 2x4 wooden boom and copper tubing I lugged home from the junkyard 
on my bicycle (not driving yet then). The tower was made of wood 2x2s, 
nailed together; I didn't own a climbing belt, just used rope. 10m was 
hot in those days, and I assumed it would always be that way.

The local library gave me a complete set of QST from 1927 to 1950's that 
they didn't want, and I devoured every article and ad. The local West LA 
club was full of helpful folks.

Thanks to the ARRL Radio Amateur's Handbook, The Radio Handbook, and the 
local encouragement, by 1954 I had designed and built an all-band 
VFO/6146 exciter and a KW amp that used the 4E27A/5-125 tubes removed 
from a TV station transmitter (6,000 volts!). They were distributed to 
us kids in the Southern California DX Club by W6YY, and had to be baked 
in the kitchen oven to reactivate the cathodes. Chassis holes for tube 
sockets were made by drilling a bunch of small holes in a circle, then 
filing the edges. At first the amp had no cover, but somehow I never got 
zapped before neighborhood TVI complaints caused me to enclose it. 
Transmitting on my 40m rooftop ground plane still lit the light in my 
closet. By then I was using a surplus BC-779 receiver with the audio 
output tubes hanging out the back to keep it from drifting from their heat.

Sadly, all that radio gear was later lost in my parents' moves while I 
was away, but I have treasured photos of the BC-779/VFO/KW rig from 
Pacifico Radio Club Field Days in 1954-56 (we had the high US score one 
year - it didn't occur to us then that older folks had to work while we 
spent 365 days a year concentrating on FD).

Hard to believe that's some 70 years ago! Many satisfying radio 
adventures since, to this day.

Dave Leeson, W6NL/HC8L