Beginnings
Beginnings: Early QTHs & Rigs 1970 - 1982
THE MAGIC OF RADIO — USING OLD GEAR, A BOX OF CRYSTALS, & WIRES IN THE TREES
At least we had large trees...
Beginnings is a relative term in this case. Here I include a few early photos and facts, but the real photographic record of various rigs in various shacks, in our two homes (and a year in an apartment), got rolling 7-9 years after my first license, after school, finishing college and more importantly, after I got married. So, there are only a couple really early shots.
Much of what is on this site, is offered for hams of similar vintage, to promote the "Hey! I had one of those..." kind of remembrances. Much of what is here was first gathered in suitable form for webpages,10+ years ago. Start with the pictures first, then read what's written later (if you choose to).
This is pretty much "the beginning," a shot of me at 16 years old at my novice station. It consisted of a Heathkit DX-40 with a good assortment of crystals, and a Hammarlund HQ-129-X. 75 watts maximum power and crystal-control of the transmit frequency was the rule in those days for Novices, and I used a straight key and really enjoyed it. I had inverted vee antennas, and later a 14AVQ, but never had a yagi or other directional array. Back then, I hadn't adopted the bow-and-arrow with fishing line approach to erecting tree-supported wire antennas, so they were either put up by throwing a wrench tied to a rope over a branch, or climbing up to the support point! The inverted vees I used were for 80M and 40M, and I spent much of my time on those bands, even after upgrading to General, six months later and to Advanced, six months after that. The logbook is right on the desk, contains even unanswered CQs logged as required back then.
After using the DX-40 for a few days on 80M AM after upgrading to General, I bought a Heathkit HW-100 from WA3KZX. Joe was the ham who taught me the code and theory, and gave the Novice test to both me, and my friend and neighbor Mark, (later WN3OYA..It was kind of him to sell me a sideband rig, but Joe straightened car frames after accidents for a living, and his powerful hands were not well-suited to electronic construction. The screws were never in the case for long, with a long series of what seemed like continual problems. I have no pictures of that rig. The next station was real boatanchor equipment, which I wish I'd been able to hang onto, especially the beautiful NC-303, shown above. This came from K3GUW, a ham who lived right on the edge of the downtown "city" portion of Wilmington, Delaware. The B&W 5100B and matching sideband adapter had their own issues, and when I'd saved enough money from my part-time job, I bought and built a Heathkit HW-101.
The HW-101 was built in a few days of dedicated, but enjoyable construction. I used the classic muffin tin approach to parts separation, as suggested by Heathkit, with a Simpson 260 handy and a 25 watt Weller. When I fired up the rig when I finished, it didn't work. The first problem was that I'd wired the filament supply wrong in the power supply, only supplying 6.3 volts, when they required twice that, by virtue of the series/parallel circuit. The second issue was a lead of a transistor touching the case of the VFO, so there was no signal from the VFO, hence a dead rig. I had some difficulty stuffing the parts into the VFO enclosure, so I decided to look there first and I found that problem pretty quickly. The final problem was a bad oscillator crystal for 40M,right out of the box. All in all, not bad for my first large construction project. It was a big upgrade from the B&W and National station above. And what did the finished rig look like? Pretty much like this pristine example that now graces my shack, given to me by a generous local ham. He wanted the rig to end up in the hands of "someone who would appreciate, enjoy and use it." Roger on all three. This is nearly identical to the one I built, with the exception of the lack of a CW filter, which I got later from a donor rig provided by another local ham. The HW-101 that I built was only in use for a short time before I made a deal on a set of Drake twins, the B-Line in those days, when Collins was unaffordable by most teenage hams.
This shot was taken in 1974, at Field Day, with me at the helm of my own Drake B-Line. I had driven from Delaware down to Nokesville, Virginia. I just followed directions to get there, and had never been in any part of Northern Virginia previously. The site had been found by Bill, WB4MRI, through a contact his mother had through her work as a school teacher. Bill (who went by Will in those days), and Phil, WB4SGV (later and still KT3Y) setup up some great antennas, including a V beam for 20M and a 135-foot flattop, used on 80M and 40M. They also hung a TA-33 in a tree, from an overhanging branch. Fast forward to 1987, when Diane and I bought our second house in Northern Virginia, with a Nokesville address. It was about 10 miles from the Field Day site, which we never did locate again when we attempted to find it around 2010. Too much had changed in the area, but we did get close. Other hams present who went on to contesting fame (I was the odd man out in this group), included John, WA2LQZ (later, and still K1AR), Steve, WA2ICU (later, and still N2IC). We used the call WA3LXK/4, which was the Maryland call of Chris, WB2AEH, who later become W2PA. Chris and I have re-established contact, in the 2000s, and he went on to several, increasingly ambitious and successful Field Days contests in the years following the 1974 outing.
While not technically a QTH, since there was never any radio gear in this treehouse, I still can call it a shack! This was my haven just out in back of my parent's home in the suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware. In fact, this would have been easily just out in back of what became my first radio shack, but it had been taken down by the time the radio shack was extablished.
This treehouse featured carpeting, paneling (all scraps), and was "essentially waterproof," although not entirely. Access was via a chain ladder, which could be pulled up inside after entry. In the winter, occasionally I would drag an extension cord out from the house, and use a hair dryer to warm things up inside. I appreciate my Dad's work to provide it for me, including plexiglass windows, and a metal roof.
Great memories...
Two watercolor paintings from by my mother-in-law (top) and my father-in-law (bottom).
Both are accomplished artists, and these are great mementos.
These were done before our "red period."
Here is our first, single-family home in Dale City, Virginia. Note the Rohn 25 tower in the left end of the house. It was expedient, and not over-engineered, with a drive in base, house bracket, and one guy wire to the NW, which is where the most serious winds came from. It started as a 30 footer, with a pair of 144-11 Cushcraft yagis for 2M FM, then a Mosley TA-33 was added, and it 1978 when we moved in, that was quite enough to work EU all day, and JAs every evening. Later, desiring better 20M performance in particular, I added one more section to raise it to 40 feet, and purchased a TH6-DXX, NOS, for $125, and replaced the TA-33. I first replaced all the hardware with stainless steel, and that same antenna is still in use at W4ACM, my cousin Art's station, on the eastern shore of Virginia. I had a good run in Dale City, with a 3- element 40M wire beam aimed west, and an inverted vee for 160M, which was half in my yard, and half in the yard of my next-door neighbor. I used it extensively to talk with friends almost nightly during the years we lived there, following the expansion of the band the the revision of the power limits.
Here is a closer view of the antenna, Ham IV rotator, and now, single 11 element Cushcraft 2M FM yagi. Back then, a 24 foot boom seemed enormous, and this antenna actually got me heard on 20M. The location was moderately high up, relatively speaking, and I got out pretty well, with what is a pretty modest antenna farm. Of course, back in those days, conditions were good!
This station appears elsewhere on this website, but it's also relevant here, as the final and best configuration of equipment that I had in my last shack in the Dale City home. As you look at the picture of the house above, this shack was located in the small bedroom on the front of the house, to the right. I had moved from the larger, back bedroom, to make room for our growing son, then a toddler. I repainted the room, paneled one wall, and had my own, window-mounted AC unit. As you can see, I had a Collins S/Line, and a more modern Kenwood TS-940S and Alpha 76CA along with tuners and other accessories. I still have both operating desks shown, the silver tuner over the S/Line, The T-Match on the right of the 940, and antenna switches sitting on the Alpha. Pretty much everything else has been moved on. I do have a nice S/Line, but not quite of the modern vintage of the station shown here. I was very fortunate to have what I consider to be a very competent station on a small lot, during a period of time that many take a hiatus from the hobby. That may have been the wiser choice, but one which I never made as our family grew up.
Collins S/Line, take 1. 75S-3B (later converted to C with Collins kit), 32S-3A with tuners and 2M rig.
Next over, the TS-940S and Alpha 76CA with homebrew T-match and accessories.