K7JEB AM Log: 06 May 2006 - 22 May 2006 Disaster strikes at K7JEB! My main Internet computer bit the dust with a bad mother board on Monday, May 15. It wasn't apparent that it was a mother-board problem at first, resulting in a couple of fruitless trial-and-error trips to Fry's electronics before throwing in the towel and seeking expert help. A week later, and $$$ poorer, I am back on the air with a new motherboard, AMD processor, memory, and disk drive. My "expert" was supposed to make a backup of the disk he removed, but instead backed-up the disk he left in the machine. Fortunately, I retained the disk he removed, so, with some hardware/software mongering, I should eventually be whole again. In the meantime, I have been on-line with a woefully inadequate Pentium-II machine with barely enough memory and disk space to function and running that paleolithic operating system, Windows 98. And now that I have recovered this AM Log, we can get started and leave the computer unpleasantness behind. The end of a shortwave era is noted by Rich, KC9GQ: Pioneer shortwave broadcaster HCJB in Quito, Ecuador will cease its English-language service except for instructional programs teaching the language. HCJB began broadcasting from Ecuador as "The Voice of the Andes" in 1931 and provided many of us with our first exposure to the DX possibilities of HF. Bill, W7XH recalls hearing them testing on the air in the thirties as HC1JB, just above the 80-meter amateur band, and being able to work the engineer on duty with a two-way contact. Ken, K6CJA, advises he bottomed-out on the T/R relay problem in the little Ameritron AL-80B amplifier he uses on SSB and as backup for his "real" AM rigs. He elected to do a mod that replaces the dinky stock relay with a nice, hefty Potter-Brumfield unit that makes a satisfying "thump" when keyed-up. Ken's Corvette Saga continues with mechanical work on his pristine, fun-to-drive, 1968 fastback. This time it is brake work. Ken is no shadetree mechanic, however, having practiced the craft professionally as a second job to his avionics career at Lockheed. George, W8QBG, expounds on the various techniques of vacuum-tube rejuvenation, but advises that when it's in the cards for a particular firebottle, there's not anything one can do to bring it back to life. Also, just about all of the efforts one expends only count toward a temporary life extension. K7BDY's Gates BC-1G makes it out to the QTH of Dick, W6OOQ, and John, WA6JUS, goes over to have a look at the 'heavy metal'. The BC-1G is currently on 160 and no word out of 'OOQ about moving it to the higher bands. Tom, AE8O, out in Rio Rancho, NM, continues to have evaporative-cooler ("swamp cooler") problems -- this time burning up the impellor-drive motor which was accompanied by a loud humming sound. Growing up in the Southwest instilled in me a stoic acceptance of ongoing swamp-cooler travails, a philosophical insight I attempted to convey to AE8O as another reminder that he isn't in Michigan any more. A few more episodes like this and Tom will grow the same, thick, mental hide the rest of us desert dwellers have acquired. His XYL has mended enough from her surgery to go back to work which, according to Tom, is not exactly a joyous prospect for her. 40 meters continues to taunt the 7293 AM noontime net/roundtable with poor/good/bad/bad/so-so/bad/OK propagation. Pondering the effect of this global force of Nature on my amateur-radio lifestyle leads me to start paying more attention to things like sunspot numbers and the A and K indices. Not that I understand this whole ionospheric propagation dice game, but I am beginning to notice some correlations. I had hoped that, by staying on the lower bands, I wouldn't catch the DX fever, one symptom of which is the slavish reading of propagation forecasts, but this era of the quiet sun has forced it upon me. AE8O continues to bewail the egregious sins of E-Bay, the latest being a selling price of $700 for a Johnson Viking Valiant in average condition. I have to agree with him on this one -- if this continues, cheap and easy boatanchor rigs will be a thing of the past. We are letting free-market economics kill the golden goose of BA hollow-state radio. (On the other hand, isn't it great to be able to unload those old, vacuum-tube junkers on the unwashed masses for a handsome profit). AE8O, still playing the used-junk market, advises he picked up some very nice, old, sturdy tables from a surplus place in Los Alamos, NM, presumably from the Lab there. One wonders if the cigarette stains on the edges were left there by Edward Teller or Klaus Fuchs way back in the mythic years of the mid-forties. In any case, the tables proved to be ideal for holding piled-up ham rigs. Ted, WA6TJN, researches the circuitry of the Kenwood T-599 with the idea of modifying his TS-520 to speak AM, or perhaps to speak it more clearly. Another late-night QSO with K6LGL and his Globe King 400 on 3885. Skip has certainly done all the right things to the GK-400 -- excellent audio from that vintage rig. Also in on the call, Tony, WA6LZH, in Oakland CA with a Gonset GSB-100 + Amplifier and NC-300. Tony followed up by e-mail with a very nice picture of Faust Gonsett's masterpiece. And I tried to cajole him into supplying a few more pix for a webpage on Arizona-AM. Mickey, WA6FIZ, showed up on 7293 with a "new" Hammarlund SP-200 receiver, or, actually, the military version thereof, the BC-779. Sounded very pleased with the box, although he did mention that the IF selectivity needed some more work to cope with SSBers crowding in on "our" AM frequency. Ken, K6CJA and Don, W6BCN also use this model receiver and like it a lot. George, W8QBG, announces that he is in the preliminary design phase for a new transmitter that will use a 4-1000A as the final amplifier and solicits comments about appropriate modulator tubes, given that he has a multi-tap mod transformer. I suggest 3-500Z's, although triode-connected 813's, 810's, and 304TL's are also mentioned. Preliminary design for George is doing the mechanical-layout stuff, trying to cram 1000 lbs of transmitter into a 500-lb enclosure. George plans to drive the 4-1000 directly with a SSB transceiver in CW mode, but receive on a conventional, vacuum-tube boatanchor. Somewhat later, George informs us that he has bottomed-out on 304TL's as the modulators. W1ZD is bringing his sweep generator around to operational, but not without some difficulties in getting one of the two Exar XR-2206 IC's to give him a controllable sawtooth waveform. Ongoing, but things like this cast doubt whether this IC fad will continue. Jim, K7SC, shows up on the 2-meter AM net/roundtable in Phoenix with another blast-from-the-past radio, a Hallicrafters SR-34 with about 8 watts output. Sounds good, and further inquiry reveals the SR-34 to be capable of 6-meter operation. The next day, Jim calls me up and we make contact on 50.4 MHz. Jim and I both wonder how long ago our respective, previous 6-meter AM operations took place. I come up with 1963 and Jim thinks it's been about that for him. We wonder out loud about getting some kind of net operation on 50.4 going in Phoenix. Both of our 6-meter antenna situations are tremendously sub-par, but regular operations could improve that. A picture of the SR-34 can be found here: More 2-meter AM stuff: George, W8QBG, finally gets the xtal oscillator to settle down in his Clegg 22er, but the frequency is still about 6 kc high. I suggest that future crystal orders still use the Gonset Communicator correlation, but with a somewhat lower final frequency. This cut-and-try approach could become expensive with sealed xtals, however. Tom, AE8O, wonders aloud on 7293 whether it would be worthwhile to continue to spend money getting his Kenwood all-mode 2-meter transceiver (a TS-751A) repaired given the scarcity of 2-meter AM and SSB activity in the Albuquerque area. He comments that back in his native Michigan, there were well-established AM and SSB calling and working frequencies on 2 meters that provided activity on those modes pretty much around the clock. Ernie, W7CCC, mentions that he has a collection of old broadcast microphones from the 30's, 40's and 50's. He also comments that it is disquieting to find hams he has known listed in the Silent Key column in QST. I've had that same experience with some good friends myself. On 7293, Ken, K6CJA, continues to prepare for the next sunspot maximum and advises his 10-meter beam is just about ready to go up. He also signs off on AM activities for a week's worth of camping at the top of Baker Grade, concerned a bit about the ever-increasing gasoline prices. Things one hears on the 3870 West Coast AMI Net: George, WA6HCX, announces the latest AMI Barbeque for June 10 at his QTH in Santa Ynez. I volunteer to do my not-so-famous cut-and-past job on electronic maps (Google, Mapquest, etc) and e-mail them to George for distribution. George's e-mail address is OK in QRZ if you want to contact him. The "Southern Moss", er, those fine gentlemen from Texas, graciously relinquish 3870 for the 5/10 edition of the net, allowing me to hear W5VXE over in Los Alamos and WA8ULG up near Flagstaff, both with good signals and fine audio. WA6JUS, John in San Diego, is becoming a sheet-metal mechanic in his efforts to shield his audio subsystems more fully in preparation to getting the "Big Mamu" on 40 and 20 meters. Wayne, W6IRD, is heading out to Dayton. Back on 7293 AM, Tom, AE8O, reveals a hidden talent as a guitar player with a definite affinity for the hot licks of rockabilly. Who knew? Says he plays along with the music he gets over satellite radio. This leads into a fairly long discussion about the hidden vice back in the 50's and 60's of listening to country music "when country wasn't cool". Mine was getting the 'Louisiana Hayride' live and direct from KWKH in Shreveport via ionospheric propagation in my boyhood hometown of El Paso, Texas. For some reason, country music somehow sounds better, perhaps more exotic, when bounced off the E and F layers a couple of times. At the behest of the ARRL, I "write" Senator McCain a letter encouraging him to put language into S.2686 directing the FCC to enforce Part 15 requirements on the BPL operators. Full text of the letter can be found on . We hear a long-lost callsign on 3855 -- AA7MH (aka K7HS), Shep, from up in the Bradshaw mountains, on with a Collins 32V3. He's a bit too close to me for good signals on short skip, but others copy him well around Arizona on his sloper and windom antennas. It's also good to hear AL0F on from Arivaca, AZ rather than his being a part of the "World's Most Dangerous Profession" (as seen on the Discovery Channel special on Alaska crab boats and the men who risk their lives for the "seafood lover in you"). Tim advises he has become gainfully employed by Cox Cable as a technician/driver/warehouseman and is finding the work quite enjoyable, but, unfortunately, not at quite the same pay scale as an Alaska fisherman. Given Tim's abilities and tenacity, this writer predicts it won't be too long before he'll be moving and shaking things at our favorite Cable TV/Internet provider. The things one hears on 160 meters! A chance monitoring of 1885 brings the news that Joe, W7ISJ, has tied the marital knot once again, giving hope to all of us long-time bachelors. Didn't catch the name for the XYL, but it was NOT K0VY, the lady we heard on from Joe's QTH a couple of months ago. Also on 160 AM - K7JWA with an Icom 756 driving an amp and sounding good. The thing to remember about rice boxes is that a rising level of AM activity, no matter what its source, floats all boatanchors. There doesn't seem to be anything George, W8QBG, won't tackle. The latest exploit involved a dead TV. George advises that if it turns out to be the flyback, it's going to be gutted for parts and then RIP'ed in the dumpster. WA6JUS reports that, although he will mike a foreign-music festival featuring sitars and other exotica, he much prefers American music and generally needs a dose of it to cleanse his sonic palette after such an assignment. Heard W0OGH trying out the ISB capabilities of one of his TMC transmitters the other day. Interesting. Is it just me? I made a real lid of myself on the AMI net on the 17th of May by trying and trying to check in, thinking I wasn't being heard by K6IRD. Did I miss her acknowledgement? Things are not well on 2 meters at K7JEB. I'm getting a constant S9 noise level on 144.45, and all up and down the band. It sounds like a power-line arc, but strangely, I'm only hearing it on 2 meters. Once I get untangled from the computer fubar, it will be time to get out the DF equipment. W6OOQ has his first 160-meter QSO using the Gates BC-1G he obtained from Martin, K7BDY with... K7BDY. Kind of like talking to oneself, ham-radio style. Max, K7CAX, advises he is definitely going to the Show Low hamfest on June 3rd and wonders if he will see any other AM'ers up there. Ken, K6CJA, puts up a 6-meter J-pole antenna and is looking for contacts on 50.4 AM from Hesperia. Some interest is expressed in getting a net in the Phoenix area on that frequency with AM, but nothing definite right now. I appreciate all the advice and commiseration given me during my computer disaster. Hopefully things will stabilize in the software realm now that the hardware is functioning once again. I still don't have access to my e-mail files and have to scuttle around with floppy discs and CD-ROM's, but it's coming. Jim, K7JEB, 22 May 2006