Hi All! Wow! What Great Memories!!  I had my hands on one of the
215s/think that was a many crystal Icom 2m portadraggies.  Meanwhile,
I Had one of the twelve crystal pairs DrakeTR22 2m Portables, 1watt,
but what transmit audio, and what a receiver!!  Also had one of the
6channel drakes and one of the kenwood portadraggies, but the
12channel drake was my favorite of the ones I used.  Graduated to an
Icom IC2at, interesting story re the 2ats,
While in Broken Arrow/Tulsa, OK, Ron Gammel, who's call was,
N 5, W X,/Phonetically "Nasty5Weather, (What a call for running
weather nets, which he did sometimes,)  But I Digress, or is it
Dyergress?
Anyway, Ron was chief engineer for Tulsa's channel6, tv, and one day
while up on their tower, whose height was somewhere between 600 and
1,000 feet above concrete, somehow his 2at came off his belt, and fell
to the concrete!!!  Smash????? no, not hardly!  It needed a
crystal/not sure which one, but just that, and some dents in the case
was the total damage!!! He used that radio for a long time afterword!
***(Imagine what would have been the dammage report if his HT had been
the Tempo S1?  Great but plastic cased HT, (Also tuned freq with thumb
wheels, had a built in whip antenna, and as your battery level
decreased, you'd hear a ringing sound, something like what you used to
hear in peanut tube portable radios, so, you knew when your battery
was running down.)
{I had some s1s, and a couple of 2ats, one of which was on my belt as
I walked across the field in front of our local ham store, where,
earlier that same morning, unbeknownst to me, some digging had been
done, and I slipped, not to ceremoniously into a sholder deep hole
which was waste deep in water!!!  Well, some quick action by helpful
hams with a hair dryer, some spray cleaner, and that 2at lived to
fight again! Although my cane travel teacher would not have been too
pleased with me,/take an unprotected step, even in an area you know
very well?????? and all kinds of things can happen!  ***One last
parting shot on the subject of heavy talkies,  Have any of you ever
experienced one of the old Galvin 1piece, 5watt, 1channel/3885AM hts?
They used peanut tubes, had a pull up antenna with a screw on cap,/I
think when you pulled up the ant, you turned on the radio, but not
sure, as it's been since the late fifties since I experienced one.
They were in a tall metal, sort of squareish case, with a rubber
covered push to talk button on the side. The unit resembled a really
big, telephone hand set.
If I remember correctly, they were used as far back as WW II, and the
Galvin company, became Motorola, although I may have some of the
details a little confused.  One of my elmers, who's radio I became
acquainted with, had contacted someone late at night from a hotel room
in middle america/Chicago I think, and the other fellow was either in
NYC or on the west coast, this was a winter time contact, and although
the little or rather large Galvins were only 5watts out, I never knew
this particular fellow to prevaricate or even stretch logging stuff at
all, so have no reason to doubt the story!!!
That radio was and is one of the reasons I am still so interested in
portable qrp operation on HF even today!!!
Sure was a different radio than my Yaesu FT817!!
******With all my rambling, you'd think I was running mobile in a Nash
Rambler!!!  Oh Well, enough of this!!!
I'm south bound and down!!! 73s, 88s, and I'll see you later!!!  *What
a way to sign off a note/epistle to the Blind Hams List!!!
Danny Dyer, Wb4idu.

On 5/18/14, John Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I use an Ic2AT even now and for the right deal wouldn't turn down more of
> them.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Albert Sanchez" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2014 4:45 AM
> Subject: Re: The Heavy Talkie
>
>
>> Anyone remember the Drake TR22? I carried one around for several years
>> then
>> got a Icom 2AT.
>> Albert, WA7FXB
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Lou Kolb" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2014 10:16 PM
>> Subject: Re: The Heavy Talkie
>>
>>
>>> I've heard of the HT-200s but have never seen one. The first portable
>>> 2-meter rig I ever saw was the Motorola p33. You certainly couldn't call
>>> that an HT. it was a converted commercial rig and, though heavy, was
>>> quite
>>> rugged. Lou
>>> Lou Kolb
>>> Voice-over Artist:
>>> Radio/TV Ads, Video narrations
>>> Messages On-hold:
>>> www.loukolb.com
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Mike Duke, K5XU" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2014 6:42 PM
>>> Subject: The Heavy Talkie
>>>
>>>
>>>> Dave, what a great story.
>>>>
>>>> When I first got on 2 meters in 1974, probably the most popular rig
>>>> that was born on 2 meter FM rather than converted from commercial
>>>> service was the Regency HR2. By the time I got on, it was up to the
>>>> HR2B model, which held 12 pairs of crystals.
>>>>
>>>> One of the accessories that could be bought for the HR2 series was what
>>>> we call a Go Box today.  The ox contained a battery, a place to mount
>>>> the radio, a rubber duck antenna, and a shoulder strap. This
>>>> combination weighed in at somewhere around 10 pounds, maybe 12.
>>>>
>>>> After seeing that setup at our local hamfest, a friend went home, and
>>>> built a similar setup for his Genave 30 watt rig.
>>>>
>>>> And, speaking of Heavy Talkie, does anybody else here remember toting a
>>>> Motorola HT200, AKA brick bat?
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Mike Duke, K5XU
>