2007 ARRL Straight Key Night
01/02/2007 |
K5BZH
This was my second time to participate in Straight Key Night and it proved to be as much fun as the time before (2006).
I worked 15 stations, 11 states. For a key I used a British WT-8 tank key from the World War 2 era. For a rig I used my Heath SB-1400 and a dipole antenna.
My most interesting QSO was with K5KW in Oklahoma, he was one of the first group of novices when the license was approved in 1951. Don was using a homebrew transmitter constructed from a 1950 QST article. Don was running a whopping 8 watts out of the 6L6 rig. He was crystal controlled and worked more stations than I did.
I listened to others, copying the mail can be fun, and it is sort of a convenient technique to provide some insight of the other operator prior to calling them.
In reading the mail, I noted some making comments that some of the signals they heard on SKN, the chirps, key clicks, squalls, and drift reminded them of the good old days. Im not sure to what good old days they are referring, but I started out in 1955 and frankly, I dont remember things being quiet like that. I rather think what they might be hearing is vintage rigs in need of some attention.
I do recall being able to identify Japanese stations in the sixties prior to hearing a call being sent due to their pronounced chirps. I did work one station in SKN that I thought I had lost due to fading and what happened was he had simply drifted out of the bandpass of my receiver. Upon realizing this, I corrected and we maintained contact for 8 minutes and during that period his VFO drifted down 600 Hertz in frequency. Rigs of yesteryear were nowhere close to being as stable as a synthesized radio of today; however, moving 600 cycles in 8 minutes was not typical of the vacuum tube era either. Key clicks, our shaping wasnt as good years back, but you know, I hear a lot of the very recent vintage radios with terrible key clicks.
Let me wish all of you a great 2007 and may it prove to be one that brings fond memories for many years to come.
73, Jim -- K5BZH
I worked 15 stations, 11 states. For a key I used a British WT-8 tank key from the World War 2 era. For a rig I used my Heath SB-1400 and a dipole antenna.
My most interesting QSO was with K5KW in Oklahoma, he was one of the first group of novices when the license was approved in 1951. Don was using a homebrew transmitter constructed from a 1950 QST article. Don was running a whopping 8 watts out of the 6L6 rig. He was crystal controlled and worked more stations than I did.
I listened to others, copying the mail can be fun, and it is sort of a convenient technique to provide some insight of the other operator prior to calling them.
In reading the mail, I noted some making comments that some of the signals they heard on SKN, the chirps, key clicks, squalls, and drift reminded them of the good old days. Im not sure to what good old days they are referring, but I started out in 1955 and frankly, I dont remember things being quiet like that. I rather think what they might be hearing is vintage rigs in need of some attention.
I do recall being able to identify Japanese stations in the sixties prior to hearing a call being sent due to their pronounced chirps. I did work one station in SKN that I thought I had lost due to fading and what happened was he had simply drifted out of the bandpass of my receiver. Upon realizing this, I corrected and we maintained contact for 8 minutes and during that period his VFO drifted down 600 Hertz in frequency. Rigs of yesteryear were nowhere close to being as stable as a synthesized radio of today; however, moving 600 cycles in 8 minutes was not typical of the vacuum tube era either. Key clicks, our shaping wasnt as good years back, but you know, I hear a lot of the very recent vintage radios with terrible key clicks.
Let me wish all of you a great 2007 and may it prove to be one that brings fond memories for many years to come.
73, Jim -- K5BZH
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