W3BN - The Reading (PA) Radio Club

Radio
Official Web Page
K3BN
Licensed since May 22, 1962

FORMER LICENSES GRANTED

K3SWL - TECHNICIAN CLASS

Former Member and Net Control of the Salvation SATERN NET.

AK1EV – Air Force MARS CALL Fairbanks, Alaska

while stationed at Eielson AFB, AK.

I joined the Artic Amateur Radio Club KL7KC

Attended monthly meetings held at the University of Alaska in College, AK.

AFA3SWL – Air Force MARS CALL Dayton, OH

while stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio.

KC3QS – ADVANCE CLASS

W2VHF – EXTRA CLASS LICENSE

K3BN – EXTRA CLASS LICENSE

I joined the Reading Radio Club in 1965 and got on the TVI committee.

Participated in Transmitter hunts.

Participated in the club’s 2 meter AM and 6 meter AM radio nets.

Became the Reading Radio Club’s Webmaster for 30 years ending in 2020.

EQUIPMENT Alaska

I started with the basic Heathkit HW-30, a two meter AM Transceiver. It was assembled in my USAF barracks on Eielson AFB. My antenna was a colinear and mounted on the barracks roof allowing me to check into the Air Force MARS Radio Net. The Net Control was located off base in the village of North Pole, AK.

I filed the required paperwork in order to gain permission to operate an Amateur Radio station on base. Interference from such a radio was a possibility so the permit contained information on who owned the radio, it’s location on the base and what period and times it was expected to be in use. I used the radio when I was on duty to check into the local radio net.

The monthly meeting of the Arctic Amateur Radio Club - KL7KC was held in a classroom of the University of Alaska located in the town of College, AK.

Net participation awarded credit points which was used to ‘buy’ equipment that had been declared surplus and as such was available for ‘purchase’ by MARS members. I acquired new vacuum tube sockets as well as power relays and components. I got a rescue transceiver called a URC-4 which I modified from 121.5 and 243.0 Mcs to Amateur Radio frequency of 145.35 Mcs Simplex. I also acquired a tunable Receiver called a BC-639A less power supply which was tunable from 100 to 156 Mcs on AM. It worked fine after I built a power supply to provide the 6 volts and 350 volts required. The RX had the crystal modification circuit board in the first stage Oscillator position. That modification prevented the frequency from drifting. Just minimal peaking was required, now. Another piece of equipment was a like new BC-733 Localizer Receiver. It had four crystals for four Glideslope frequencies. I followed the conversion directions and converted it to a crystal controlled Control Tower receiver. It worked so well, that it received signals on 455 Mcs, the IF frequency of just about every radio nearby. A Ham from the radio maintenance shop gave me a Target Transmitter using an acorn vacuum tube. It had output from low VHF up through the high UHF frequencies. A soldier spy would set one up and the bombers would receive the frequency of the transmitter and would use the signal to bomb the factory next to the Target Transmitter.

I was assigned to WPAFB near Dayton, OH in January 1964 and joined the Dayton Amateur Radio Club in 1964. Meetings were held on base and civilians and military attended. The popular part of the meeting was the award to the Novice who goofed up and was caught by a club member. The embarrassed club member had to hold on to the Purple Shaft Award for that meeting. Usually the infraction was an Out of band operation, a swear word that slipped through, a silly mistake or an infraction like saying 73’s instead of just 73.

I joined the USAF MARS Club and was assigned the call of AFA3SWL and I checked into the Friday evening net from my 1964 VW Beetle using my Heathkit Twoer and its associated vibrator supply, after driving to a nearby hill overlooking Dayton. I was contacted by a Dayton club member who had an ARC-3 transmitter for me. I was ecstatic since the Twoer was 5 watts output and the ARC-3 was 25 to 35 watts. After modifying it to 6 volts filament string and the B+ that it required, it worked well, except for the presence of harmonics which appeared on all nearby televisions, much to my and everyone’s dismay.

Upon my return to civilian life, I joined the local radio nets on 2 and 6 meters. I used Vanguard modules to build my transmitter. A frequency module and an audio module was built into an open chassis along with a receiver module. I bought crystals for them and used the IF output from the Receiver module and ran it to a 6 volt car radio tuned to the proper output frequency which allowed me to hear the stations. The transmitter module had an output of 5 watts. With the vibrator removed from the car radio and the installation of a jumper, provided 6 volts AC to the radio which worked fine.

A radio store in Allentown called Federated Radio carried Ameco nuvistor converters so I bought one which covered 2 meters. I fed the output to a radio I got from MSgt Beasly in AK. It covered Broadcast frequencies up to 30 Mcs.

My radio station was located in the Playhouse above one of the two car garages. My antenna was a two meter, eleven element beam by Cushcraft. Located on a ten foot aluminum pole, it was turned by hand when reached through an open window.

I built an audio intercom found in Popular Electronics using two CK-722 transistors and 4 inch speakers on each end. It was unusable during a rain storm so I upgraded it to actual candlestick telephones acquired from the Oley telephone company. Wires ran from the radio room to the telephone on the shelf in the back porch. Mom used it to call me for lunch during the summer before my military stint. It worked fine and had a buzzer which sounded when the receiver was lifted. Battery operated. When we had a bad ice storm, the wires between the house and radio room stretched until they laid on the ground. I picked up the unit at the house and the buzzer rang indicating it still worked. Amazing. Mom humored me and used the telephone to call me for lunch.