Blast from the past!

Well, here I am actually using the Acos microphone!

This photo was taken by Barry G3WIS back in the early 70's. You can see some weird stuff in there like my crystal calibrator and Cossor oscilloscope. My Hallicrafters SX24 and (at the right) my 160m transmitter. On the shelf you can see my 2m transmitter and on top of the receiver, my 2m converter (which tuned 2 - 4Mhz) Note the headphones, GPO type, awful to use!

My shack then was the outhouse a joined on brick building and concrete floor with a leaky roof! My brother uses this a garage now!

Acos Microphone

Gosh...I've finally found a picture of my bestest microphone!

This little beauty was a crystal / ceramic microphone with superb quality. I bought one and used it for years on 160m with my home brew rig. It was lovely to hold and made of diecast...I loved it! Then one night I was having a long QSO with Neil G3ZPL and I decided to hang my microphone on the flexible lamp and use it 'hands free', the heat from the lamp destroyed the insert in my pride and joy!!

After that I had to use a plastic mic that was not a patch on my banana beauty!

Then, one day I was looking in a shop window in Radcliffe when I spotted another Acos the same as the other but black. The shop was closed, so I asked Kath, my girlfriend to call in and buy it for me. She did...

The second mic somehow didn't perform the same...a bit low in output and quality not good, such a pity.

I had some great fun and good contacts with my original microphone on both 160m and later 2m.

4m Transverter

Tonight was the 4m Tuesday night contest and this time I was determined to try to hear something on this band. My Yaesu FT817 does not cover 4m, so I thought I might try to get my transverter running again after years of being in the loft packed away.

My Yaesu FT101E is still running fine after it's service, so I hunted around to find the necessary leads to connect the transverter to the FT101E. The only lead I didn't have was a connection from the antenna (which is BNC) to the UHF input on the transverter. A trip to Maplin was in order to purchase a BNC socket connector. I also bought a cheap CB type SWR Meter, I needed it so that I see if my transverter put out any RF!

The contest started at 8.00pm and guess what? It still worked! Heard loads of stations, but although my SWR meter tells me that RF is present, nobody could hear me!!!

Managed to work Ross G6GVI, he could hear me OK, but why could other stations who were quite strong not hear a trace?

I measured the power out of the tranverter at about 3w, so really I put it down to my vertical and a very poor SWR.

I am amazed that the transverter still works, it is also a 6m transverter as well and this also works fine!

Spring!

At last...its Spring!!

Gosh...what an awful Winter we have had this year...snow, snow, snow. A gorgeous morning today, but clouded later.

Been planning my new antenna array, thinking about a 5ele 2m yagi, 10 ele 70cm yagi and maybe a 3 ele 50mhz yagi. All this with a (cheapish) rotator monted on the side of the house next to my shack. looking forward to going to the NRSA rally at Blackpool so that I can collect all the bits.

Spring is sprung

Grass is riz

Wonder wher dem birdies iz?

Shakespeare

So what has this blog got to do Shakespeare?

Well, today we had to give a presentation to members of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). Although my knowledge of the man and his work is a bit sparce, I was totally fascinated by todays visit. I probably learned more about Shakespeare and how it can be used to inspire young people and communities than I ever would have thought. During the presentation we used a video clip of one of our children in school using digital technology that was truely amazing!

I still don't understand Shakespeare, but my English teachers at Hayward School certainly did and above is a picture of my old English teachers Mr Hanley and Mr Worthington taking group to Stratford-upon-Avon back in 1970.

Stand up for Shakespeare!

FT101E Revival!

My Yaesu FT101E has sat in the loft now for the last three years gathering dust. I decided a few weeks ago to bring this wonderful rig back to reality again and try to use it again. I bought it down from the loft and plugged it in only to find that it didn't work!!

The switches were noisy and no output from the transmitter, so tonight I spent some time getting it up and running again.

Nothing a squirt of WD40 can't cure!

Even managed to cure the sticky drive mechanism. This rig is superb, built like a brick toilet and still calibrated even after three or more years of neglect! I bought FT101E in 1980, the year my daughter was born, cost £380...a lot of money then...but 30 years on it still performs!

Plasma!

Does anyone still use CRTs?
I'm amazed at the transformation of CRT to Plasma and LED technology. Now you can mount a huge 42" plus plasma tv on your wall in High Definition, flat as a panacake!
CRTs are dead and buried, but how I remember these beasts, 25Kv on the final anode and i've had many a belt from this when changing a CRT in a television. Setting up the static and dynamic convergence, purity, scan coils ... gosh, what memories.

I was moved by the programme on TV called J.L.B. (John Logie Baird) This man was a genious, he actually used CRTs for true 3D television and nobody listened, particularly the BBC.

The CRT was a milestone in analogue technology and should never be forgotten!