G3GIQ - 50 YEARS of HAM RADIO
My first shack was a tiny one, in my bedroom, in a small terrace house. I had acquired an AR88 and I used a 10 day leave from the RAF to construct a 25 W transmitter - yes you've guessed Wilcox-Gay VFO-6V6-807. The antenna was a 20m dipole in the loft as ten was dead most of 1950 and there was no 15 metre band then! I was, of course, only interested in DX. Regrettably I have no pictures from that time, the first ones I have were taken in 1952 at our new QTH next to a park.
THE SHACKS
My shack 1953 T1131
In 1952 I built a transmitter based on a T1131 which I had worked on in the RAF. It ran 150W input to two TZ-40 tubes, modulated by another pair. The two lower chassis are power supplies, each weighing about 200lb. The whole rig weighed in at about 600lb, and sat on my bedroom floor - my parents were saints, and obviously, they liked to live dangerously!! I built it from memory, and of course had to modify the RF and exciter decks. These, the modulator, power supplies, and cabinet were all bought from separate surplus suppliers.
I was surprised to see the picture of an similar, but somewhat earlier version of the original transmitter in QST for November 2001, and felt that it merited inclusion here.
My shack 1964
In 1964, the Panda explorer replaced the big cabinet, but aesthetically the station lost out. Note the home-brew 2 metre TX at the top. There are now two AR88's, I modified the "D" version for SSB, with a product detector and an external switchable bandwidth crystal lattice filter using FT241 crystals.
On to 1967 - in a new shack. The prime mover was a KW2000A By
that time I was without a beam and I soon discovered that working DX was
becoming difficult. So I raised my sights and put up a 3 ele tribander - a Moseley
Mustang - it made a big difference. Never being satisfied, I then bought
the very fine SB200 kit and built the amplifier. In those days it made me
almost "top of the pile". Nowadays I'd be relatively
uncompetitive.
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By 1979, the equipment had changed, the transceiver was the TS820 with external VFO, and there was a brand new TL922. . Note the trusty AR88, even as late as that
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This is in the early 80's, an R820 has joined the TS820 for split operation. The S36 on the top shelf was a Hallicrafter's masterpiece tuning from 20-143 MHZ - a pre-war design using acorn tubes.
And in 2000 - A new shack with the same TL922 and the same tubes, now 21 years old! The MLA2500 is converted for 50MHz. The main rig is my faithful TS950SD, I have tried them all, but I have yet to be convinced that I should change. Also in use is an IC-756 mainly for 50 MHz. As a result of advice (?) from G3VKW I had acquired a Collins KWM-2 and 30L1.