Cq Qrl?

[Brian Ellis]

I see Fred H is a ham SM6JNA (ex. YO2ARU)

I used to be, many former lives ago, GM3GUC and ZC4BN. My Tx was a low-powered 807 o/p (10 W) with clamp modulation, driven by a two-stage 12AX7 Colpitts VFO/buffer into a 6V6 driver on the 160 and 80 m bands and my Rx was an ex-army R107 (fantastic in its day). I also played around with the 450 MHz band with a two-valve (acorn valves) transceiver using a fairly unstable transmission line tuning circuit. The same circuit acted as a receiver in a superregenerative mode. I made two of them and used to get quite good line-of-sight results. My brother took one to the top of Ben Lomond, while I stayed at home and we managed a brief 2 way contact over a line of sight distance of ~100 km, pretty well a Dx record for those days (~1949).

Any others?

[GuchiGuh]

Wow, are you speaking english?


I got an old Trucky Radio I picked up for free....never actually used it, never brought it over myself to purchase an antenna for it. Just sitting there collecting dust.

[Fred H]

Hi! I am excited to find other HAMs here. And I am 59+ 40dB excited to find YOU, Brian, as HAM.
I always appreciated your knowledge about video, and now this. God, what I am glad.
I built my YO2ARU rigs by myself. First a CW TX with a 6K7 tube as oscillator and 2x PL36 TV tubes, LW antenna. You can understand, that days and those places We haven’t had any possibilities to buy transceivers. Not even the simplest Heatkit. No components etc, but I built my rig around TV line output tubes PL36 and later PL500 driven by some very common single pentodes like EL80 or the double ECL86. I don’t remember exactly.
Later I’ve get 2 sets of crystals from ON5BT (he is silent-key for a long time ago God bless his memory) 2 carriers for 7 MHz and 4 adequate filters for SSB. Then I built my second transceiver. Get the WAC diploma.
I’ve got my YO license 1964 and lost it 1974 by emigration.
A short time I was QRV from a friend in 4X4, there I was living one year.
1978 I’ve got the Swedish SM6JNA and I started with an UNIDEN 2020 transceiver and a Hy-Gain 4 band GP. 150W input. I still have them but I have new hobbies. My wife says that SW is obsolete this time when I can QSO via the Internet. I don’t think so, but unfortunately haven’t much time for this. I am just visiting the monthly HAM meetings. Just in these occasions I noticed that the average age of the HAMs is quite high. Young people have no patience to learn CW.

So, I am glad to meet you on this QRG.
I am no longer in possession of my old YO logbook, but if you have yours, please check if we’ve had QSO before. I am sure I’ve had QSO with Scotland, GM, but I’m afraid I don’t have you in my SM log. I will check it for ZC4BN anyway.

Vy best 73!
Fred H
SM6JNA

[Fred H]

@Brian,
Sorry, I checked my log database on CD but couldn't find any ZC4 QSO and I found only GM3SYO and GM3VTO. Maybe these sound known for you. I've had QSO with them 1978. Of course you moved to ZC before I've got my YO license.
My old rig is now here, under my desk but it would be difficult for me to set it up now, but often I plan to do so. Maybe we could have some QSO, sometimes in the future.
Hope your health is not sensitive for radiation.

73!s

Fred

[Brian Ellis]

Fred
I got my GM3 licence in 1948 (I think) and was active until I went into the army in 1951 and thereafter intermittently until 1954, when I moved from Scotland. In those days we had to have 1 year on CW before we were licensed for AM. The ZC4 licence was when I was on active service on this island 1952/53. So I haven't "hammed" for over 50 years! I've absolutely no record of my logs nor anything else, other than what's in my memory.

--... ...--

[Fred H]

Brian,
As I said I am also non active. I didn't "hammed" since 1998, but I always logged my QSOs. Long time I hunted QSLs and new countries. After the DXCC diploma I ended it. 100W output is not enough today.
I am just going, sometimes, to those local HAM meetings just to talk with old friends in company of a cup of coffee.
But, I am QRV on the Internet, with my wireless-1Mbps Internet connection.
My ISP has a wireless network in my area, at 11 GHz and the server is situated about 3 Km from my house. The antennas are seeing each other. Not bad, but I plan to go over to ADSL.
Soon I'll be able to connect with 8 Mbps DSL. In the present it is only 0,5 Mbps, but safer than the wlan, even if I could say "once wireless always wireless". But, it is not true today.

Regards,
..-. .-. . -..

... -.-

[GuchiGuh]

... --- ...

iz dat right?

[Jon P. Inghram]

Yes, you got SOS right. Got a little Radio Shack 2 meter HT I use to listen to storm chasers when the weather gets bad here, and a MFJ-418 code tutor, really ought to get a license one of these days I suppose.

[Fred H]

Short Wave radio is very fun. It was.
Now a lot of stations purchase high power final amplifiers, up to and over 1 KW.
They are shouting just CQ DX CQ DX (=general call to any long distance contacts) but they don’t hear the voice of a weak signal of a poor guy who are sitting with his 50-100 W transmitter on a coral reef, somewhere in the Pacific. It’s not funny any more. Let them shout and listen their own voice.
The CW (telegraphy) is not far away from this phenomenon. But, with telegraphy (CW) is still easy to make rare contacts. The bandwidth is so small that even weak signals can be heard.
I never liked 2 m radio. I am interested only about short wave from 160 m up to 10 meters band, different modes.
It is very sorry that more and more less young people really are interested in Short Wave radio (HAM radio)

Fred,
SM6JNA

[GuchiGuh]

--. ..- -.-. .... .. --. ..- .... .. -. - .... . .... --- ..- ... . .-.-.-

[Fred H]

[GuchiGuh]

do you understand it just by reading it, or do you look up each letter in a book?

[Fred H]

No, no I am not looking in any book, but it is not common for me to read dashes and dots to translate. I use to listen and I associate the sound with letters.
So, the "A" for me is "di dat" not ". -"
I am not a high speed reader though. up to 100 wpm (Word per minute) is the highest prefered speed.
When I got my A-licence the examination limit was 60 wps with a maximum of 5% error.
With higher speed, over 100 wps I receive (read) erronouse.
There are people who reads Morse just by listening and at the same time talking with another person. I can't do that.
To receive morse, by listening, is the same as with e.g. swimming. Once you lernd it you can't forget it, just improve the quality by training.

Fred

[Brian Ellis]

Uh???

In the 1940s the ham licence speed was 12 wpm (Tx and Rx). I have a 2nd class marine operator's licence at 20 wpm (1st class was 25 wpm).

100 wpm is about a normal deliberate speaking speed (e.g. a public speaker). How can you write down faster than 30 wpm? Shorthand doesn't work with morse code and, in any case, few shorthand writers can go faster than 80 wpm.

I know Ted Macelroe (sp?) held the fastest Tx record at ~120 with a finely tuned bug key, but he couldn't Rx it faster than about 50.

Are you sure you have your speeds right?

I agree that it is aural and not visual.

Your last sentence is wrong too: over 50 years of non-use, I've all but forgotten it, to the extent I had to look up what ..- was in GG's message (remembered the rest though)

[Fred H]

Grrr, I was wrong.
Here in Sweden we counted in char/min. It means that 100 CPM = 20 WPM * 5.
5 is the number of characters/word.
The standard word is PARIS.
The HAM license speed for my first B-class in YO was 8 wpm= 40 cpm
To come up to A-class for SM the speed was really 12 wpm= 60 cpm.
Sorry for the mistake.

I am "only" 68 years old so, hopefully I have all the time to forget the Morse. At the moment I remember every chr. but my speed is more less than it was before.

Fred