Early photos of my station
This is the earliest photo I can find of a station.
A
Hammarlund HQ-140X receiver plus a DB-23 pre-selector, a Johnson Viking Ranger
which I built from a kit as the exciter. A homebuilt KW amplifier is to
the left, it used a pair of Eimac 4-400A's. This amplifier used plug in
coils, what a trip. I actually cut my Vibroplex key in half to convert it
into a paddle for the electronic keyer. I use an old lawn chair, today I
can not imagine how uncomfortable that must have been.
As I recall, I purchased my first Collins receiver, a 75A-3, was I impressed. Also, a Gonset GSB-100 SSB transmitter. This was about 1958 when SSB was really relatively new. No photos, shucks.
In the early 60's or so the station changed a bit.
This
is Fred Laun, W9SZR operating my station which he did frequently. The equipment
has changed, a Collins 75S-3 is the receiver and a Central Electronics 200V is
the exciter. Fred brought his Hallicrafters SR-150 transceiver over as
well. We had some great times and did a lot of contests together.
Fred was a stickler for obeying the rules, thus in contests he insisted that I
remove one of the 4-400A's tubes from the amplifier.
Early antenna photos
My early antennas were built from several Gotham beams that I purchased. If memory serves me correct a 3 el 20 meter beam was around $30 or so. The antennas were unacceptable mechanically. Shown in the photo below is the result of the rebuild. A hombrewed 3 element 20 meter after the W6SAI design. On the chimney are 4 element beams for 10 and 15 meters. They never worked well for some reason. Nice long booms but ineffective.
In the early 60's I built the tower up to 60' and added a Hy-Gain 20/40. This was 3 elements on 20 and 2 shortened on 40 with a 24' boom. I have no memory where this antenna went or when. That in my mind is awful. I do recall putting it up. It had a 3 el 15 stacked about 10' above it which played well.
What bothers me is that I don't see any notes in my log about this antenna!
In the fall of 1972, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corp.(AMSAT) launched the OSCAR 6 satellite. This was a huge leap in communications for amateur radio. This satellite was quite small in physical size but offered a significant opportunities for amateurs to communicate but also build equipment and antennas. It took the community by surprise in some respects, not many had the proper equipment to generate a proper uplink on 146 MHz. I was fortunate to have built equipment for terrestrial communications on 144MHz. One of the many interesting aspects of communicating via satellite was the antenna systems. Because the satellite is spinning there can be a great deal of fading in the uplink signal it receives and the signal received on earth. To minimize this circular polarization is used. I built crossed yagi antennas which when connected properly will generate a circularly polarized signal.
Shown above is one of my early homebuilt antennas, a wooden boom and aluminum clothesline wire for the elements. I seem to recall having nearly 800 contacts using this antenna.