Hi.

John's message made me think back to my early days, some 30 years 
ago.  And, my activities as an SWL go back further than that--about 35 
years.  I had all tube gear--a couple of Hallicrafters receivers (the S20R 
Sky Champion, and a Hallicrafters S108).  I came on the air with a Heath 
HW16 with the HG10B VFO (Ok, I ewas spoiled with the VFO!), and a little 
while later bought a Heath DX40, a VF1 VFO, and a Heath HR10B receiver.

The VF1 walked all over the band, and the HR10B is probably one of the most 
worthless receivers I've ever owned.  I used the Hallicrafters receivers 
because they could hear a lot better.  I took the antenna off the HR10B, 
and set it on the bbottom shelf.  When I would work CW, I would tune it to 
my operating frequency and use it as a rather overcomplicated side tone 
oscillator!

I finally graduated to the Heath TX1 Apache with the SB10 sideband 
adapter.  Now there was a beautiful transmitter, if a little cumbersome to 
tune.  I bought it, thinking I would like to play a little AM with it, but 
in the end, only used it on SSB and CW.

During that time I started buying solid state equipment, which was a dream 
to operate, although the nuisance of having to plunk down another $100 for 
a power supply was a pain.  Also, during that time I bought a Heath HW8, 
still in kit form.  I was going to put it together with my father, but I 
went away to college, and he got laid off from work, and in his boredom, he 
built the thing while I was at school.

When I think about how equipment has changed since I started, it is mind 
boggling.  Radios like the Icom 706 MkII G weren't even possible in that 
time period.  Even the worst of the radios being produced today would 
outperform the stuff I was using at the beginning.  My receivers had images 
almost as strong as the fundamental signals, the transmitters and receivers 
drifted all over the place, there were no CW filters, at least until I 
bought a MFJ audio filter, I had to mess with crystal calibrators and 
dials, and through all of that the message still got through.  And, I 
enjoyed it.

73, de Lou K2LKK



Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
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