K2AS Ham Radio

This is about the days when 2 meter FM started to take hold. It isn’t about the pioneering days of FM operation, that was a bit before my time. When I started in ham radio, late 1971, it seemed like most of the activity I heard about on 2 meters was CW and AM. Heathkit Lunchboxes and Gonset civil defense transceivers were popular. After I received my general, in 1972-73, there seemed to be quite a bit of advertising done in the ham publications for 2 meter FM rigs. Drake TR-22, VHF Engineering, Standard and others started to show up in magazines. My elmer, Ed WB2FLA, somehow got a hold of a Motorola Handie-talkie AKA “Radio-Fone” that had a crystal for 146.94. At the time, a good band plan was not yet in place, and 146.94 was a popular simplex frequency. It had a phone type handset for the speaker and microphone. Ed let me borrow it a couple of times, and I clearly recall listening to W2ZS, Larry, who lived in Webster on Five Mile Line Road just north of Plank ...

While recalling my Novice days in the 1970s for the 3 part post recently appearing here, my recent reboot of my novice equipment, and thinking about the current new ham experience, I had a thought. More hams should acquire and operate a novice type station. Whether you were a novice once, or are a more recent ham, you might be surprised how fun it might be. There is tons of vintage ham gear for sale. On eBay, QRZ.com, and in hundreds of hamfest flea markets that occur all around the country. Some hams have tons of old gear, and often it needs to be sold off for various reasons. Is this equipment outdated, needs maintenance, or restoring? Probably, but this just adds to the fun (usually). Many new hams start off these days with a $35 Baofeng HT. And that is where it ends for many. But there is no reason newer hams can’t buy some vintage equipment and have a experience similar to what a novice had in the 50s, 60s or 70s. The biggest deterrent for some people would likely b...

A while back, I was working on one of my old radios, and came across a reference to “Electric Radio” magazine. It was referring to an article about a device I was interested in. So I looked up the website, and the article was not available on the web, but they had back issues available, so I ordered the issue I was interested in. I received the issue and was happy to get the information I was looking for, but read the whole issue and enjoyed it. Other projects ensued, and I found other references to the magazine. So I decided I might just as well subscribe, as it covers an area of ham radio I was interested in. Then I purchased an HQ-100A that was the subject of two Electric Radio articles back in 2021, and I ended up ordering a few more older issues. It is obviously a small outfit and probably a labor of love, but here is what is said about the magazine inside each front cover – “Electric Radio™ is all about the restoration, maintenance, and continued use of...