K2AS Ham Radio

When I started in ham radio, in 1971, and got my novice license, it was a great thrill for many reasons. It was 20 some years before the internet hit the mainstream, but an FCC license meant your name and address was obtainable by some means, and firms and companies involved in amateur radio who were looking for ways to reach potential customers would send out flyers, brochures, catalogs, samples to newly licensed hams. So among other things, I started to get many samples of QSL cards. I can’t remember how many, but it was a lot. Then I had to decide which ones I would like to order with my call sign. I was already on the air, so I needed to move it along. I picked a fairly plain one out, but I was able to get it printed in several different colors. It was pretty cool when I got the order in the mail. Now I was able to participate in the world of QSLing. Of course in those days, I was strictly operating in the novice bands, and a large percentage of my contacts were other n...

I finally had a chance to work on my antenna. I received a new telescopic pole from them, and I had to disassemble to old one and completely rebuild it. It took me the better part of a day, and it was a bit above freezing with no snow on the ground. Unfortunately I was unable to finish before dark. Then we got 2-3 inches of snow that night with some mixed precipitation mixed in. The antenna was laying on the ground, with the guys ropes loose and only attached to the antenna, and they were a bit frozen in the snow. After a day or two, I figured it may not get any better for weeks, so I went out and tried to finish the task. One thing I wanted to change was the fact that I was using a DX Engineering radial plate that was designed for Hustler type verticals and others. It interfered with the radial plate on the bottom of the DX Commander, and I didn’t want to remove the DX Engineering one, as all the radial wires wouldn’t reach the new one. Plus, the DX Commander depends...

There are very many facets of ham radio. Different modes among them. There are various voice modes, SSB, AM, FM. There are dozens of digital modes, RTTY, PSK31, FT8, etc. One that stands as very unique is CW, or Continuous Wave. That by itself isn’t very descriptive, as it is really a moniker for morse code over radio. Morse Code was part of the requirement to obtain a FCC Amateur Radio license for decades. It started to be phased out in the 1990s and then eliminated as a requirement for all classes of licenses in the early 2000s in the USA. It had been a barrier to many people, and there was an uptick in licensed hams when it was eliminated as a requirement. Despite that, probably a significant number of current hams know morse code, and still use it regularly. The main reason, it is fun. I would contend that many more hams would operate and continually stay active in the hobby if they tried CW. But many people feel it is too difficult to learn. In 1971 when I decided I...

After I got the HQ-110 going, I did some decluttering on my shack and workbench. In the process of using a couple of coax switches to get various rigs and antennas easily selectable, I fired up my TS-520. I hadn’t had it on in several months, and I checked it out. I bought it new in 1975 at the Hamburg Hamfest from Amateur Electronic Supply. I had sold my HW-101 earlier that morning in the flea market. Unfortunately they didn’t have any left at the hamfest, so it had to be shipped. Not sure why, but I was home the day it arrived by UPS. I still remember the anticipation of the UPS truck to arrive. It was my main rig for 21.5 years, until I purchased a Yaesu FT-920 in 1997. It got some steady use for a couple years, then very sporadic or little use until it was replaced. I never sold it, as I have always had regret selling equipment, which is why I keep my rigs a long time. It was not a high-end radio, pretty much a basic, just above entry level. It has zero QRM red...

I finally got my HQ-110 aligned, so I swapped some cables around, got my Versa-TR switch wired up to the HQ-110 and my homebrew novice xmtr, let them both warm up and started listening on 40 meters. The xmtr is xtal controlled, and I only have two usable crystals, 7.030 and 7.040 MHz. I also only can use my straight key as I don’t have any external keyer. The first thing I noticed was the audio quality on the HQ-110. Hard to describe, but it has a presence. The CW signals sound very pure. I do have a Hammarlund external speaker, which is pretty beat up on the outside, but sounds good. The HQ-110 was the more entry level receiver in the early 1960s. It will receive SSB, but takes a little more effort to tune in. No AGC or S-Meter function in CW/SSB, and I believe one IF amplifier stage was sacrificed to receive CW/SSB. So one might need to play with sensitivity control (RF Gain). There is a Q-Multiplier in the 110. The one in my original HQ-110 that I used in 1971 neve...

I purchased DX Commander Classic 40 thru 10 (can work on 6 and 2 meters as well) antenna in November to replace my aging Hustler 5-BTV trap vertical. I liked the concept, a lightweight vertical antenna that has 1/4 wave elements for most of the bands. But it hasn’t worked out well so far, and I’m not optimistic it will in the long run. If you are unfamiliar with the antenna, it is based on the concept of a fan dipole, one feed point with multiple resonant elements. With a vertical, the feed point is the base, and 1/4 wave wire elements run vertically around an approximately 10 meter telescopic fiberglass mast. For 15 meters, it uses the 40 meter element, and it supposedly will work on 6 and 2 meters as well. It is supported by only 3 guy ropes, attached only a few feet from the bottom. It is very light, and easily put up by one person. I watched many videos by the designer, Callum, M0MCX, on his YouTube channel. It went up OK, and was working fine. I was a bit concer...

(This is an update from my Nov. 30, 2022 post) I have been working on this off and on the last few weeks. Got the used transformer and it was not pretty, but checked it and it worked. Lead lengths were also good, but they were very corroded. I needed to clean each up before I tried to solder them anywhere. I tried a couple of chemical solutions without much luck, so had to resort to filing them clean. Someone had added solid state diodes and just cut two pins off the 5U4. I replaced the 5U4 socket, installed the new electrolytic cap from Hayseed Hamfest, and wired it all back together. I installed a NOS 5U4GA. I also added a 3 wire power cord and added a fuse. It looked like all voltages were OK, so eventually powered it up slowly. The radio came to life, but could not hear any stations, and overall volume was low. Though it had kind of worked before the transformer melted down, I didn’t know if all tubes were good, or maybe were damaged. So I took an offer from Ned W2N...