W8JI on Straight Key Night January 2010
my 48th year of amateur radio
HQ-120
Globe Scout 65A
rock-bound radio
My early equipment was all homebrew, mostly built from old radios collected from a local landfill. Among the amateurs contributing to my pursuit of Amateur Radio were:
W8IQC, Fred Mahaney on Hanson Street in what is now Northwood, Ohio. Fred had a Viking Ranger transmitter, SX-99, and pair of 813's. I remember Fred's windmill tower he towed home, and his potent 160 mobile signal. Fred took me to radio meetings of the TMRA around 1962. At that time, there was considerable mobile activity on 160 meters.
K8LRJ Scotty. Scotty lived on Anderson Street just behind Fred. Scotty gave me a code practice oscillator to learn CW.
K8KYB, Connie Morgillo. Connie gave me tube sockets and other parts to build rigs.
My first rig was a 6L6 used in a Colpitts oscillator. I later added a 6AG7 oscillator. It was built on a peg board chassis covered with aluminum foil. I later upgraded it to a 807 PA.
My receiver was a gutted and rebuilt Zenith radio from the dump. I added a BFO, narrowed tuning range to just 80 and 40 meters, and added a few more IF stages.
A few months later, I was loaned a DX-60 Heathkit by WA8CTN, Vince. Vince was a sailor on lake freighters. He lived by the WSPD-TV tower near Bay Shore Road. I had the DX-60 for a very short time after I became a General.
The first "commercial transmitter" I actually owned was a Globe Scout 65A purchased used from World Radio Laboratories. The Globe Scout was a gift from my father for passing my General. It arrived via the Railway Express office on the ground floor of New York Central's Central Union Terminal at 415 Emerald Ave. in Toledo, Ohio.
I used this rig with a Heathkit VF-1 purchased from Jim McCormack, W8WTW. Jim lived near the river in east Toledo.
This is my restored Globe Scout 65A. I still use it on the air.
Click here for more Globe Scout restoration pictures.
I have the following Boat Anchors in my "collection", plus a few more now:
| Collins 75A4 | Heathkit HR-10 |
| Drake R4C's and T4XC's (several sets) | Heathkit HG-10 |
| Drake 2B and 2BQ | Heathkit HO-10 |
| Globe Scout 65A | Heathkit Keyer |
| Globe Scout 680 | Heathkit VF-1 |
| Hammarlund HQ-180 with clock | Heathkit Apache |
| Hammarlund HQ-120 | Heathkit Marauder HX-10 |
| Hallicrafters TO keyer | Heathkit Mohawk |
| Hallicrafters S-38 | Heathkit Warrior |
| Hallicrafters SX-85 | National HRO-60 |
| Hallicrafters SX-99 | National NC-300 |
| Hallicrafters SX-117 | National NC-303 |
| Heathkit DX-60B | Viking Ranger II |
| Heathkit DX-60 | Viking Valiant |
| Heathkit DX-100 | Viking 6N2 |
as well as various Command sets, broadcast radios, and homebrew amateur equipment
Since
Sept 19, 2004