Here's a few more operating shack snapshots. One advantage to having
a decent collection of these vintage sets and a large radio room is
the ability to set up with different gear as often as desired!
It's a little like living within a large Ham used equipment store circa
1965 or thereabouts. If you hear me on the air, you can never tell
what rig I might be using on any given day!
Here's a little setup that is a heck of a lot of fun to operate
on 80 and 40. The Hallicrafters S40B paired with the Knight T-60
transmitter is entirely useful on CW, and even on the weekend 75
and 40 meter AM nets when band conditions aren't too crowded.
While not very visible in the photograph, the microphone illustrated
is a Shure 444 with a chrome Hammarlund logo on the base. Presumably
supplied with Hammarlund commerical FM gear in the early 60's. When
using this setup, crystal control of the transmitter is provided, as
my VFO's are generally busy connected to other rigs.
The east operating bench for 1996 included capabilities for AM, CW and
SSB operation. The Hammarlund HQ170 paired with a Johnson viking II was
usually parked on 160 meters. The Hallicrafters HA-5 VFO tickled the
Viking, and a HA-1 TO keyer provided vintage keying on CW. A Drake
2B with 2BQ Q-multiplier/speaker cabled to a Gonset GSB-100 served
for SSB use on 80 through 10. While the small Drake receiver looks out
of place next to a typical boatanchor transmitter, it provides a high
level of performance on SSB and CW, with passband tuning and variable
selectivity very useful on the crowded bands.
Here's the high-end AM setup for 1996. The Collins 32V3 transmitter and
75A3 receiver provide solid Collins performance on 80 through 10. The
pair of military R-390A receivers connected in diversity mode with
separate receiving antennas for each receiver present the near-ultimate
SWL reception setup. A Waters 334 dummy load/wattmeter between the
Collins pair and the 390A's seems to be a shack accessory that is missing
in a number of modern-day boatanchor shacks, judging from the number of
tuner-uppers heard on the bands.
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Comments are always welcome!
This page last updated December 26, 1998.