QRP, 1941 StyleTom “Nick” Nickel—KC9KEP bignick@execpc.com

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If any of you have happened to visit mywebsite, http://www.bignick.net/

Morgan_Radio/Radio.htm, you know thatI have a real fondness for “hollow state”radio gear from the 1940s. I’m not sure justhow I came by that addiction, but I am def-initely hooked. My latest “binge” hap-pened when I came across a 1941 ARRLHandbook. It was chock full of really neatold receivers just dying to be built. So, Istarted with enthusiasm and so far havecompleted several of the receivers and atransmitter.

The most ambitious of my 1941receivers is a seven tube superhetrodyne,touted as being capable of “single signalreception.” The first version of the receiv-er appeared in the October 1938 issue ofQST magazine, followed by a “modern-ized” version in the November 1940 issue.Both articles were written by GeorgeGrammer, W1DF, a famous QST author ofyesteryear with many articles to his credit.The receiver was then published repeated-ly for several years in the ARRL Handbookissues starting in 1941. This new “modern-ized” version featured the followingupgrades over its predecessor: increase ingain (fivefold), lessened interactionbetween controls, higher order of stability,calibrated dial with direct frequency read-out, AGC, volume control, and internalvoltage regulation. According to theauthor, the cost to build in 1941 was about$30. This translates to roughly $460 in2011 dollars, still not a bad price for aClass A receiver.

Truth be known, I did not give the arti-cle title: “Single Signal Receiver” muchattention in terms of what the title is tellingthe reader. My assumption was that a sin-gle-signal-receiver must be a good receiv-er with good selectivity—which is true.But, Single-Signal-Receiver means muchmore than a “good” receiver. It indicates afiltering system that features selectivity sonarrow that it virtually eliminates audio-frequency image response in CW recep-tion. The usual receiver of the day was notcapable of eliminating this audio imageand so was vulnerable to more interfer-ence. Another advantage of single-signalreception is that the background noise isgreatly reduced because a narrower part of

the RF spectrum is being detected andamplified. So, how can this be accom-plished? Insert a DSP and use digital filter-ing? Not in 1941! A crystal filter could beinserted into the IF strip with similarresults, but there is a much cheaper methodfor accomplishing this improvement. TheIF amplifier can be made regenerative inorder to greatly boost the IF signal at reso-nance and narrow its bandwidth by thesimple addition of one feedback compo-nent. Some of you who have been hams fora while may remember the “Q Multipliers”of the 1950s and 1960s. Well, this receiveremploys exactly the same principle. Thedifference is remarkable.

In this article, I’ll share some of myexperiences and construction practicesused in building this receiver and a com-panion 1941 QRP transmitter. However,the article is not intended as a step-by-stepconstruction description. For that, you willneed to consult the original articles. If youdo decide to attempt a similar project,please remember that tube equipment con-tains some potentially deadly voltages andrequires some safety equipment for heavyduty cutting and drilling

Receiver OverviewFigure 1 shows the front panel of my

receiver and Figure 2 shows a top view.Notice that the power supply is separatefrom the receiver itself, connecting via anoctal plug on the rear. The front panel andchassis are both made from 0.090" sheetaluminum. The U-shaped chassis is 7" x11" x 2" and the front panel is 7" x 12".The front panel is identical to the originaldesign, with two exceptions. The originalhad the AGC and B+ switches attached tothe dial face. I couldn’t bring myself to

drill holes in the antique National ACNdial face so I placed those switches on thefront panel. The receiver chassis is alsoquite similar to the original version.Luckily, the article describing the receiverhad a photo looking almost directly downon the chassis. So, I made a full size copyof the photo and attached it to the chassisas a template. I did make a few trivialchanges from the ARRL layout. I mounteda speaker output transformer under thechassis. By moving the gas regulator tubea bit inboard, I was able to fit a 3" x 5"speaker right on to the chassis. Note thatham radios are generally not designed thisway because the speaker can transferacoustic vibration to the radio chassis. Ifyou are unfortunate enough to have used amicrophonic 6F6 output tube, you canwind up with acoustic feedback in the out-put section. But, this method worked finefor me.

Those of you who are only familiarwith current day equipment may be won-dering about the function of some of thefront panel controls. RF Tune is used topeak the front end of the receiver, a com-mon technique of the day. Band Set is akind of coarse frequency control thatplaced the HF oscillator in its proper fre-quency range for each band. Because theBand Set control affects receiver calibra-tion, careful resetting of this control isrequired. I made resetting easier by printingRF Tune and Band Set settings for eachband on the dial face. The best approachwould be to have a 100 kHz crystal oscilla-tor as an accessory. Ham stations of the dayoften used these oscillators as a referencesince harmonics of the oscillator signal fallon the edges of all ham bands in use then.With the reference oscillator on and main

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dial tuned to a band edge, it would only benecessary to change the Band Set slightlyuntil the reference signal could be heard.Finally, the Regeneration control providespositive feedback in the mixer stage. Thoseof you who have tried regenerativereceivers know that large changes in fre-quency usually require adjustment of thiscontrol to achieve the proper amount ofsuch feedback. In this case, we want justenough feedback to increase gain withoutcausing self oscillation in the mixer. Someof you may be wondering where the bandswitch is on this receiver. There isn’t one.Rather, band switching requires changingtwo plug-in coils, one for the mixer and asecond in the HF oscillator. You can seethem in Figure 2.

The receiver schematic, which showsseveral other features of the receiver, isshown in Figure 3. Note that there is no RFamplifier ahead of the 6SA7 mixer. The

regeneration gain in the mixer probablymade a separate amplifier unnecessary.Regeneration also had the effect of sharp-ening the front end selectivity to somedegree, which would have been usefulsince L1 and L2 provided the only selec-tivity present in the receiver front end.Also, the most popular ham bands at thattime were 160, 80 and 40 meters whereexternal noise made an RF amplifier lessnecessary. Many hams used crystal-con-trolled receiving converters with preampli-fiers for the higher bands, making theirreceiver into a tunable IF/detector. Thevariable local oscillator was then able tooperate at lower frequencies, making sta-bility much easier. The converter alsoimproved image response in the higherbands because of the double frequencyconversion. The schematic also gives you abetter idea of the band switching mecha-nism. L1, L2 and L3 are all wound on the

coil form labeled Mixer in Figure 2.Similarly, L4 and L5 are wound on theOscillator coil form. The single signalselectivity is provided by further regenera-tion in the 6SK7 IF Amplifier. Because thiscircuit operates at a fixed frequency, theamount of regeneration does not need to bechanged continuously. Rather, it is setwhen the IF is tuned up and is not changedunless the operator decides to changebandwidth for some reason. Operators whoonly used the receiver for CW probablynever changed it at all. Operators interest-ed in both CW and Phone operation wouldprobably have to have two settings for thedifferent bandwidths involved, and mostlikely one of the two settings would be abit suboptimal. Finally, notice that the 6C5BFO is tunable, unlike most present dayreceivers. The low IF made tunability withstability possible and operators used it as asignal separation tool. Tunability also pro-vided a clever way to turn the BFO on andoff. I just bent the corner of one rotor plateon the BFO tuning capacitor. Then, tuningthe BFO so that the capacitor was fullymeshed grounded the stator plates andstopped the oscillator. You may also noticethat the schematic required a small capaci-tor connecting the BFO to the 6SQ7 diodeplates. In my case, I just inserted a wirefrom the BFO into the IF transformer andstray capacitance did the rest.

Construction NotesBuilding a pseudo-antique radio is not

altogether the same experience as buildinga piece of modern equipment. Let’s talkabout some of the differences.

The first problem is finding the parts.

Figure 1—Front of the 1941 Superhet Figure 2—A Top View from the rear.

Figure 3—Receiver schematic (with kind permission of ARRL).

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There are some companies on the web thatcater to people who are trying to restoreold radios. I was very lucky to find two ofthe required vintage IF transformers fromwww.oldradioparts.com and the third onefrom eBay. eBay frequently features oldradio parts, but often times at a premiumprice. Radio Daze (www.radiodaze.com) isalso useful. I bought a “kit” of single-strand hook-up wire with cloth covers inseveral colors from this firm. It can benicely formed, stays where you place it andprovides a nice vintage touch. It’s alsohandy to use for coding circuit functional-ity: green for filaments, black for ground,red for B+, etc. Finally, for tubes and otherparts there is Antique Electronics Supply(www.tubesandmore.com). Hamfests arealso a great source of parts, especially fortubes and sockets. Most tubes will likelybe used but still test as being good. I havehad good luck using them. Plug-in coilforms can be tough to find, so I am alwayson the lookout for them. If possible, findcoil forms with different pin placements ornumbers of pins. By using two differentforms within a coil set, you can’t plug acoil into the wrong spot. (This is “poka-yoke” engineering done back in 1941!)They will probably be used but you canunwind any old wire and reheat the solderin the pins to remove the wire completely.While the solder is still molten, blowthrough the opposite end of the coil formand solder will come flying out. Thisleaves the pin open for the new wires. Hotsoap and water and an old toothbrush fin-ishes the cleaning job. Other old platedcomponents such as tuning capacitors,tube sockets and switches can be cleanedup nicely using Tarn-X from Walgreens. Aword of caution, don’t immerse compo-

nents in Tarn-X longer than required toremove tarnish. The acid will eventuallydissolve the component.

A second major difference is that theheavier, larger components are likely torequire permanent mounting and that caus-es a bit more planning before wiring up theparts. For instance, a transistor might besupported by its wire leads but a tuberequires making a hole in a chassis andmounting a tube socket. Before that hole ismade, you need to make sure that theplacement won’t cause some awkwardwiring of later components. When I needto wire a section of circuit that is complex(such as the AGC circuit) I'll take the timeto draw it out several ways to see how Imight best fit components before actuallysoldering and cutting wire leads. A tech-nique that I used in this set was to layoutthe components by making a computerdrawing of the various parts, but deliber-ately not including the wires. Then, Iwould print the computer layout, and use apencil to draw in the wires and look forvarious ways to re-orient the componentsmost efficiently. Another construction helpis to label the tube sockets underneath thechassis in order to help you wire the set. Ihave goofed up by wiring to the wrongtube on other projects! Once you are sureof your layout, get out the Greenlee punch-es and make holes for the tube sockets.But the old adage certainly applies here -measure (and plan) twice, cut once.

The older components sometimes causespecial wiring problems. A case in point iswiring of the band change coils. When thecoils are correctly wound, I carefully evenout the turns spacing if need be, and placefour beads of Duco cement along the coil.Two applications will hold the windings

securely in place. The band change coilsalso contain “tickler coils” that are tuned byrotating the tickler coil with respect to thecoil form axis. The tickler coils are “scram-ble-wound” upon a 1/2" wooden cylinderthat is diagonally cut so that it can beremoved after a coil is wound. Before usingthe cylinder, I placed one wrap of waxedpaper around it. After the coil is wound butstill on the arbor, I apply a coat of Ducocement to the coil in order to hold the wind-ings in place. The waxed paper keeps thecement from adhering to the coil arborwhen removing the coil from the arbor. Iused a heavy gauge wire to support thetickler coils inside the plug-in coil forms.To attach the tickler to the large gaugewire, I flipped a coil form upside down andinserted the heavy wire into a pair of theempty coil pins. This provides the properspacing for the support wire and a handyholder for your work. Figure 4 is the endresult, showing how the tickler coil ismounted inside of the coil form.

I’ll make a final point about wiring ingeneral. Keeping the wire at right anglesmakes a pretty layout but it is not the bestthing for the performance of high frequen-cy circuits. So, I compromise by usingright angles for audio and power wiringand short direct runs elsewhere. For theright angle wiring I sometimes strip andbend the wire into shape before placing itinto the chassis. I have not had any result-ing issues that I’m aware of by wiring theradio as I did. Figure 5 is the result.

Initial adjustment and tuning of thisreceiver is not too different from any mod-ern superhetrodyne with one exception.Mixer regeneration, IF regeneration and IFtuning are all interrelated to some degree!Thus, initial adjustment requires quite a bitof reiteration. I found it easier to first alignthe receiver without IF regeneration pre-sent. This just requires temporarily remov-ing C15. Then, align the receiver IF with-out the band changing coils plugged intothe receiver. Finally, install the coils andpeak everything one more time. Nowyou’re ready to attach C15 and retune theIF amplifier.

Although the original article used asmall variable capacitor for C15, I found a1 pF fixed mica capacitor to be sufficient.As long as the IF amplifier can be driveninto oscillation with the IF gain controlR16 comfortably below maximum, thenC15 is sufficient. If not, increase C15 to 2

Figure 5—Bottom view of the wiredchassis.

Figure 4—Inside a band change coil.

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pF and try again. Now remove the bandchange coils and retune the IF. A few iter-ations should get it right. You will knowthe amount of regeneration is just rightwhen a tuning across a CW signal pro-duces a loud response on only one side ofzero beat and the signal does not “ring”between dots and dashes. You may alsoneed to retune your BFO somewhat as thehigher selectivity and IF retuning maychange frequency relationships. When thereceiver is retuned correctly, the differencewill be readily apparent with the audioimage down as much as 40 dB.

Now for the Transmitter!Once I got my 1941 receiver working,

I obviously needed a 1941 transmitter tomatch it. I thought it might be fun to see ifI could find a 1941 QRP transmitter, ifthere was such a thing. It’s true that QRP ispopular now and it is certainly amazingwhat can be done these days with a fleapower transmitter and some antenna wire.But, what was QRP communication likeseventy years ago? What kind of QRPequipment did hams use back in 1941 inthe beginning of World War II and was iteffective? That’s exactly what I chose tofind out and hope you enjoy my experienceas I share it with you.

A search through the QST archives pro-

duced just the right thing. In late 1940, R.T. Lawrance, W8LCO was rebuilding his“big rig” and getting tired of being off theair. He wanted to build an interim replace-ment fairly quickly so that his progress onhis main transmitter would not be inter-rupted for too long. So, he came up with“A Pee-Wee Transmitter” and it appearedin the January 1941 QST. He made thecomment in the article that the little rigwas so much fun there was little progressoccurring on his rebuilding project. AllQRPers know that feeling, don’t we?

Figure 6 is W8LCO’s schematic and asyou can see, it has some major safety prob-lems by today’s standards because of theAC/DC design. Because non-polarizedplugs were in widespread use in that day, itwould have been quite simple to rotate theAC power plug and reinsert it in an ACreceptacle in a manner that would place thehot AC line voltage lead onto the entirechassis—and onto the operator’s key aswell! So, I made several changes in hisschematic for safety’s sake and producedthe version you see in Figure 7. I felt thatwas OK since the general design and trans-mit power didn’t change. Changes included:

· Using a 3-prong AC line cord andconnecting the green safety groundlead to the chassis

· Adding an AC line fuse· Adding a Triad N51-X isolation trans-

former· Moving the DC blocking capacitor to

a location prior to the output PI filter· Adding a 2.5 mH RF choke from

antenna output to ground to bleed offany B+ in the PI filter

The transmitter was simple enough tobuild but did contain some clever ideas.The 117L7 diode section was intended as ahalf wave power supply rectifier for inex-pensive AC/DC receivers of the day andthe tetrode section was used as the outputaudio amplifier. The amplifier was sup-posed to be able to handle up to six wattsof input power and the diode section couldhandle that amount of power and a bitmore. Construction techniques for thetransmitter were similar to that of the com-panion receiver. One technique is worthmentioning. I used B&W 3016 coil stockfor the transmitter tank coil and found thatit was a bit tricky to solder on the wire tapsin the coil. Inserting strips of aluminumfoil between windings directed the solderto the one winding of interest and madelife a lot easier.

So, how did it come out? Figures 8 and9 show front and rear views of Pee-Wee.Figure 10 shows the few componentsunderneath the chassis. Without the addedisolation transformer, the chassis undersidemust have looked almost empty.

The transmitter is infinitely simpler tooperate than the receiver. All that need bedone is to insure that the transmitter isoscillating on the correct frequency andnull and peak the output PI filter. This isfurther discussed in the following sectionon using the transmitter.

Figure 6—Original Pee-Wee schematic (with kind permission of ARRL).

Figure 7—Modified Pee-Wee schematic.

Figure 8—Pee -Wee’s front panel.

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Operating the 1941 QRP StationAs you might expect, QRP operations

in 1941 were considerably different fromtoday.

Let’s start with the receiver, whoseoperation is considerably more complexthan the transmitter. How do you tune in acontact? Just select the desired band andtune the digital display to the desired fre-quency, right? Not in 1941! The processwas a bit more involved, to say the least.

Our first step is to turn on the AC powerin order to apply 6.3 VAC to light the tubefilaments so that they can warm-up. 1941technology was not “instant-on”! Besidesthe time required for the filaments to warmup, tubes were notorious for drifting untilthey stabilized. While the local oscillator(6J5) is reaching thermal stability, it willcontinue to drift in frequency. You couldchoose to “follow” the drift by repeatedlyreadjusting the fine tuning, but it’s easier towait until the receiver is stable before mak-ing any serious communication —the waitcan take at least an hour or so. I understandthat some old-time operators would leavethe set in standby mode (B+ turned off)almost all the time and let the filamentsstay warm for quicker stabilization.

Next step: we have to select a specificset of coils for each band that we’d like toreceive. The radio sports coil sets for 160,80, 40, 20 and 10 meters. Here is when theuse of different coil forms within a setkeeps Murphy from messing things up.

Next, we want to adjust the Band Setcapacitor. This capacitor can be thought ofas coarse tuning. It can shift the entire band

right off of the calibrated dial scale, so itmust be adjusted correctly. What I havedone in order to make this job a bit easieris to have printed right onto the NationalACN dial face, where the Band Set capac-itor is to be set for each band. But, this con-trol is rather touchy and only a coarseapproximation of setting it can be achievedby eye.

A much better way is to use a knowncalibrated frequency source such as a crys-tal calibrator or even a crystal controlledtransmitter to “spot” a known frequency onthe National ACN dial (C3). Many tubetransmitters actually have a “spot” settingthat will allow the transmitter’s oscillatorto run without sending any power to theantenna and causing unnecessary QRM.Our flea-powered QRP rig does not havesuch a setting, but routing the transmitteroutput to a dummy load works just as well.

In order to start receiving signals, sev-eral more things must be done. It’s notsequentially critical, but we can turn on theB+ at this point. The VR-105 gas regulatortube will immediately glow a purplish-bluecolor, indicating that the onboard voltageregulation is functioning.

The RF Gain control can be brought upto approximately three o'clock as well asthe audio volume control. And, I’d alsosuggest turning the BFO control to themiddle of its range. This also turns theBFO on. With antenna connected, I’dexpect to hear some background noise inthe speaker. At this point, use of a calibra-tor or your transmitter as a calibrator willinsure that the band set capacitor is set cor-

rectly. For example if the transmitter iscrystal bound at 7050 MHz, set the tuningdial as close to 7050 MHz as possible andthen rotate the Band Set capacitor until thetransmitter’s signal peaks at the 7050 MHzsetting on the dial. Assuming that theNational dial face is correctly marked, allother frequencies for the 40 meter bandwill likely be correct as well.

RF Tune is the last control to adjust andis used for front-end optimization. Thiscontrol tunes quite broadly at lower fre-quency bands and much more sharply athigher frequency bands. If you want thefront end to tune more sharply, you canadvance the RF regeneration control. Moreregeneration will make each peak muchsharper and give the radio more volume.One caveat: when the regeneration isadvanced, RF Tune will need to be slightlytouched up and re-peaked. But, this opera-tion is fairly simple and only affects theoverall volume if not correctly set.Because RF Tune provides the only fre-quency selectivity prior to convertingincoming signals to the IF, this control pro-vides an equal response at both the desiredfrequency and the image frequency.Because the LO always operates above thedesired frequency, the correct setting of thetwo is the lower frequency setting wherethe RF Tune capacitor is closer to fullmesh.

Finally, we can tune for a signal.Assuming we are interested in SSB or CWsignals, AVC should be turned off as theBFO may activate the AVC circuit, causinga reduction in RF gain.

Figure 9—Rear view of Pee-Wee. Figure 10—Bottom view of Pee-Wee.

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ARRL’s recommended method forSSB is to tune with the BFO in “off” posi-tion. Tune for maximum signal strength,which should be the center of the SSBsideband signal, and reduce the RF Gain toa point at which the SSB signal is justapparent. The reason for doing this is thatthe BFO can be overwhelmed and properdemodulation will not occur. Productdetectors made this phenomenon less like-ly. Now, switch on the BFO (C21) andadjust it for a natural sounding voice. Onthe lower bands (160, 80, 40), tune to thehigher side of the operating frequencybecause convention is to transmit in lowerside band (LSB) in those bands. The oppo-site is true of the higher frequencies. CWreception is quite similar. Start by tuningwith the BFO off, find the center of a trans-mission, and adjust the BFO for the CWpitch that suites you best. Because IFregeneration is used, one should be able toreceive CW on one side of the carrier only.For AM operation, the BFO is switched tothe “off” position by rotating the BFO con-trol to the ‘off” position and the AVC maybe used if desired.

Perhaps it’s a lot to manage, but it’sreally quite intuitive after you work withthe receiver for a while. Even so, there area lot of settings to change when changingbands and that was one reason why hamsof the day often spent most of their time ona single band for long periods. However,when properly adjusted my 1941 SingleSignal Receiver compares quite nicely inperformance with my modern ICOMIC730. It just requires more “tweaking” toget to the same place. I can just imaginesomeone excitedly poring over theseadjustments in 1941!

By contrast, setting up the transmitteris fairly straightforward. Being rock-bound, tuning the transmitter to a desiredfrequency just means choosing a crystal. Itis necessary to tune the final pi-network,but that is fairly easy. Attach a dummy loador antenna and turn on the power.

Select one of the coil switch settings,such as in the middle. This next stepshould be done rapidly as to avoid damag-ing the vacuum tube. When you first holdthe key down, the indicator lamp will comeon at almost full brilliance and the 117L7may glow red. This means that the tube isnot oscillating and will overheat rapidly.Sweeping the plate-tune capacitor throughits range should yield a spot where the

lamp goes out or nearly goes out. Thisindicates that the oscillator is oscillatingand it is the plate-tune setting that we want.If the lamp does not go out, unkey thetransmitter and try another coil switchposition. Give the tube a short rest to cooldown and try tuning again. If you have apower meter that you can put in line withthe antenna, you’ll see that the outputpower will peak when the indicator lamp isminimized. I’ve found that using myhomebrew antenna matcher helps maxi-mize power output as well. (I’m using anend-fed wire antenna.) The last step is tooptimize power output by adjusting theload capacitor.

This is again an iterative effort ofadjusting the load capacitor and then theplate tuning capacitor as the two controlsinteract. At this point, keying a short textsequence and monitoring the transmissionin the receiver is a good idea as some set-tings of the transmitter controls can causechirping. It’s also a good idea to check har-monics of the transmitted signal to makesure you haven’t inadvertently set the plateand loading controls to one of the harmon-ic frequencies as this is possible. Once youhave good settings for each band of opera-tion, you can log these settings and returnthe controls to that position. Then, just a bitof fine tuning will optimize things and youcan start looking for a QSO.

Once you are in a QSO using a separatereceiver and transmitter, two tasks must bemanaged in tandem when switching fromreceive to transmit and vice versa. Eachswitchover requires changing the antennabetween the two pieces of equipment, andusually changing receiver gain. Whentransmitting, receiver gain must bereduced in order to monitor your CWtransmission without overloading from thetransmitter and then gain must beincreased once the transmission is over.Additionally, you may need to short circuitthe antenna connection to the receiverwhile transmitting in order to prevent thetransmitter from overloading the receiver.Doing all these tasks manually can makeyou feel like the proverbial one-armedpaper hanger. Most hams used externalrelays to allow all the necessary switchingto happen with the operation of a singletoggle switch. Some hams muted theirreceiver on transmit and had an additionalvery simple, low gain receiver available todo the necessary monitoring. In my case, I

simply used a manual antenna switch andturned down the receiver gain. It was a bitcumbersome but worked for my purposes.

My first QRP QSOIt seemed like it took quite a while to

get to this last phase but I must admit, itwas a lot of fun and a lot of learning toboot!

Out of my haphazard collection of FT-243 crystals, I selected a 7049 MHz totransmit with. 7049 MHz falls within thenow defunct Novice and currentTechnician band, so I deemed it a “safe”place to operate.

I used my end-fed wire antenna and itwas the middle of a Sunday afternoon.After careful adjustment to insure that Iwas operating at a full 2 watts of power, Istarted sending

“CQ CQ CQ DE KC9KEP KC9KEPK.” I made sure to send my call sign veryslowly, especially on the second iteration.Being a CW neophyte, I didn’t want some-one to come back at me at 35 WPM! I lis-tened and heard nothing. Just static. So, Itried again. I know from personal experi-ence that when someone else is CQing, itmay take me a few times for me to under-stand their call sign correctly and get myreceiver dialed in, so I tried again. Stillnothing.

I tried a third time and still receivednothing. So, I started looking through mycrystals for another appropriate frequency.But, as I was sorting through my crystalsand listening out of the corner of my ear, Iheard a faint but clearly familiar string ofbeeps: “KC9KEP DE KA9HJZ KA9HJZK.” What a hoot! Someone actually heardme!

I have to admit, I got excited and it wasprobably not my best QSO. But I was ableto identify another operator slightly over100 miles away. And by using only 2 wattsof RF power. That’s less than a nightlight!

In summary, this project was a bit of anadventure for me. And, it gives one anappreciation for the fine engineering thatwas being done with the humble equip-ment available seventy years ago alongwith the thrill of making a QSO with min-imal equipment. I hope it inspires someoneelse to break out the soldering pencil andtry your hand at constructing a similartube-era project.

—73, KC9KEP●●