AC5JH Waves in Ether

 

Howdy and welcome to my Ham Radio Digs. Here, I hope you will find something of interest. The areas of Amateur Radio that I find most satisfying are CW Operation, QRP activities and generally, tinkering around. This is my first attempt at a web page so it may be kinda rough around the edges. Look around, I hope you find something you enjoy and maybe, feel a little pang of nostalgia as you do.

My first ham radio call was WN5NWK. It was the mid 60's, tubes still ruled the airways and our transmitters were separate from our receivers. Late into the night, the soft glow of tubes, the smell of the components heating up and sounds from all over the world gave ham radio a "texture" and adventure all its own. The handbook had plenty of building projects to aid in understanding radio theory. Parts were usually just an old TV set and a short order form, from the Allied or Lafayette Catalog away. There was lots of "homebrewing" going on in those days. All these things make up my memory of ham radio from those great days. I did not stay with it and let my license drop until 1996. Chatting on two meters and homebrewing antennas seemed to all that most people were interested in. Over the first few years, I discovered FISTS CW CLUB, QRP-L, Glowbugs and BA's. The thrill is back, there is adventure again and life is good in ham radio.

My interest in QRP began several years ago. It was always exciting to work stations running low power. Often times, I mentioned these contacts on the local club's 2-meter repeater. Eventually, I came to understand more about low power operation until today, I am an avid QRO'er. To the left is a picture of my Tuna Tin2 transmitter. This is a project that Norcal QRP Club sponsored a few years ago as a tribute to the late Doug DeMaw. This little rig of mine, puts 250mW of very nice signal into the ether. I used it for the entire month of June in 2000, including Field Day contacts. Some great operating stories are mine to enjoy as a result.

 

 

 

 

The rig at the right has been my main rig for a couple of months, now. It is a push/pull oscillator using a 6A6 tube and runs about 4 watts. I am currently using it to WAS With only a few xtals in my arsenal, sometimes the QSO rate is kinda slow. When I describe the rig I am transmitting with, the QSO always seem to turn into a rag chew and a lot of reminiscing about the rigs and days gone by.

To the left is the power supply for the 6a6 rig. Both of these little beauties were build and given to me by a ham friend of mine in Baton Rouge, LA. Wes, W5DPM build this rig from plans in a 1935 Radio Handbook. This style of building is called "breadboard" construction. Many rigs of this type have gotten novices and others on the air with am minimal investment those paid great dividends in hours of operation. It puts out about 4 watts of nice clean signal in to the ether. Not only has this rig been a joy to operate, it is the critter that has given me GLOWBUG.

 

Who remembers the AC-1 Back in the mid 60's, I held a Novice license. In those days, the ARRL publications had a catalog section in the back of them. One thing that seemed to always be there was an ad for the Ameco AC-1. I had one in my shack, it was built by a friend on mine who never got his license. He gave it to me, and I regret to say that I never hooked a wire to it and I no longer have it in my possession. I had built a Heathkit DX60a transmitter. It's funny though, today, when I think about my shack (my operating table was an old door on saw horses) the main thing that I visualize is that little AC-1 sitting there. I suppose that is why one of my homebrew projects is to find and refurbish the real thing or build as exact a replica as I can.

 

This picture was borrowed from the web site of. Joe Tyburczy, W1GFH He had dedicated an entire site to this great little rig. It includes pictures, stories and construction plans. You can take a look at it if you like, just go to:

http://www.qsl.net/wb1gfh/ameco.html

 

If you need information on a tube and don't have a tube manual, check this out: http://hereford.ampr.org/cgi-bin/tube

 

If you have an interest in Morse Code and using it as an operating mode, you will want to check out, .

The International Morse Preservation Society http://www.fists.org/

 

 

Hopefully, as time allows, I will be able to add more projects and adventures to this page. I intend to document the building or rebuilding of the AC-1 plus a few other nostalgia driven projects. Stay tunes and all comments are welcome. If you have links related to the content of this page or would like to link to your ham radio web site, please contact me. My email address is AC5JH@AOL.COM

 

Thanks for coming by 73,

Tom

 

 

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