[NCDXA] [PVRC] Fwd: Top 10 Early 60's Ham Transceivers

[Thomas Valenti]

Thank you, Phil..

You know you are getting old when you enjoy this kind of nostalgia.

In the fall of 1967 I transferred from public schools to Calvert Hall
College High School in Towson, MD - a Christian Brother's school. There I
met my still friend and partner in operating crime Bob Venanzi, ND3D. I
already had my general ticket, so I was allowed to use the Hallicrafters
SR-150 along with a Johnson Thunderbolt amp attached to a three-element
tribander. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. And oh, the glow of the
mercury vapor rectifiers in the Thunderbolt. It was magic not
repeated until the first time I keyed a transmitter at W3LPL. BTW, I still
have a picture of Brother Gerald in my shack.

A year later I toiled for many months slinging hamburger's at Gino's to
come up with the money ($325, I think) to buy a used Swan 350. Actually, I
didn't sling that many burgers, because I always got stuck with the job
everyone hated - working the register and dealing with customers.
Apparently, our managers figured out that I was one of the very few kids
who would not steal money from the register (very easy to do in those
days). 40% of what was then the legal limit into a low random wire fed with
a L-tuner. Life was good.

Later, at Calvert Hall Brother Gerald sold the SR-150 and we got an NCX-5.
It was really nice, and it was amazing how accurate the mechanical counter
digital readout dial was. Maybe the prettiest radio ever built.

Many years later, I bought an old TR-4 and used it a bit before selling it
along with a bunch of other vintage gear to help buy my K3. The
strangest quirk about the TR4 was the microphone jack. It was something
non-standard as I recall. And the 6JB6 sweep tubes for this transceiver
have gotten scarce. The lucky buyer of my TR4 also got a complete NOS set
of spares that I had overpaid for on ebay.

So, I had personal experience with 4 of the 10 transceivers featured. At
one time or another, I believe that I was in the shack of someone who had
each of these radios except for the KWM-2 (I only knew one ham with enough
money for one of those and I was never in his schack) and the SBE-33.

Didn't K3ZO say that once upon time he had an SR-150 mounted in a
Chevrolet Corvair? I am sure there was not room for a girl in the
passenger seat with that radio in that car. Apparently, Fred had his
priorities in order.

Tom K3AJ

On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 9:04 PM Phillip Barsky via PVRC <
pvrc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> Folks.  Well done video going over top ten xcvrs from the sixties. Great
> nostalgia .
> Recommend watching it.
> Passed along from old friend from sixties WA2QQH
>
> Enjoy
> 73 Phil K3EW
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From:* Marty Hyman <kidpix13 at yahoo.com>
> *Date:* July 29, 2020 at 8:17:47 PM EDT
> *To:* Phil Barsky <phillipbarsky at gmail.com>, Philip Schlesinger <
> philham711 at gmail.com>, Phillip Barsky <phillipbarsky at yahoo.com>
> *Subject:* *Top 10 Early 60's Ham Transceivers*
>
> 
> The good old days! Watch this...
>
> https://youtu.be/doRoYeBqgHM
>
>
> .......
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> PVRC mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/pvrc
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:PVRC at mailman.qth.net
> Message delivered to tomk3aj at gmail.com
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.rickmurphy.net/pipermail/ncdxa/attachments/20200730/631d2489/attachment-0001.html>