Ebay Impulse Buy

[ka8ncr]

My first rig was a loaner Heath HW-7. I made a ton of contacts with that thing over the six months I had it, despite it putting out just a couple watts, its propensity to be stone deaf and dealing with the direct conversion receiver on 40 meters at night. Not fun!

But I found one on Flea-Bay and plunked in a paltry bid, not expecting to win with high rollers who pay top dollar for anything in a green and gray crinkle finish. Well, I won.

So, next week I'll take a couple hours to re-live being 15 years old. Still have those old headphones I used with it and the key; it'll be fun.

[KG4CGC]

:clap:

[NQ6U]

No provision of image rejection on that DC receiver, eh? Funny, I've reading up about that stuff in the Handbook recently, trying to see if it would be possible to put together a 2m SSB/CW rig* for less than they go for on eBay. Seems like it might not only be possible, it might actually be much easier than I ever expected thanks to some really cool chips that take care of a lot of the little fiddly bits.

*We get 2m tropo ducting to Hawaii in the late summer here.

[WØTKX]

Yea, we get ducting to Kansas here. So there. :neener:

[W3WN]

My first rig was a loaner Heath HW-7. I made a ton of contacts with that thing over the six months I had it, despite it putting out just a couple watts, its propensity to be stone deaf and dealing with the direct conversion receiver on 40 meters at night. Not fun!

But I found one on Flea-Bay and plunked in a paltry bid, not expecting to win with high rollers who pay top dollar for anything in a green and gray crinkle finish. Well, I won.

So, next week I'll take a couple hours to re-live being 15 years old. Still have those old headphones I used with it and the key; it'll be fun.Every now and then, you sneak one through. Congrats!

I just won an auction for a Telex hand held AM Aircraft radio. Only $21!

Why did I want it? Because it was built for them by Ten-Tec, and uses the same case and battery pack as the T-T 2591 2 meter HT... and spare battery packs for that rig are almost as rare as hen's teeth. Go figure!

[X-Rated]

For a while, I was looking for an Isuzu Impulse on Ebay but they all seemed to be too far away to buy.

[KG4CGC]

We get 2m ducting into Mechanicsville VA but the only person who ever responds is a UT who is standing by.
I once monitored about 30 seconds of 2m DX out of the 0 call district at my QTH. Before we could finish establishing the contact it was gone. I heard about 3 of them chatting and then "poof!"

[N8YX]

Get a hot spring or early summer day with a capping inversion in place and you'll get ducting. Lots of it...

[KC2UGV]

Congrats on the win there :)

[X-Rated]

Ebay coupon. (http://www.groupon.com/deals/ebay/?affiliate_id=EBAYDEAL&utm_source=EBAY&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=OTHER7) Save $8 here on groupon.

[ka8ncr]

The rig arrived and it was *just* as I remembered it! Mostly deaf, persnickety and requiring a certain amount of cleverness when operating in order to be heard and keep the QSO.

It took several tries before I remembered that after a call that the stations were zero beating to my signal, and I wasn't hearing them. Sure enough, moving up (DC receivers, gotta love 'em), there they were. Just had to remember to jump back down. I worked a few MO QSO Party participants with my awesome 3 watts on 40 meters. My father's recommended solution to that 30 years ago was to use transmit crystals and switch in the crystal for TX, and then the receiver could be moved around to avoid QRM without chasing each other up the band. That did work beautifully, and I still have a collection of crystals -- 7.125, 7.120, 7.115, 7.110, etc. Not exactly a current selection.

If I had to pick a QRP rig for something other than nostalgia, I would have gone with the HW-8 or HW-9. Those are fairly rare, although I did recently see a complete HW-8 unassembled kit on Ebay going for nearly $300. That would have been a fun thing to build out, although assembled rigs are more like $150. A lesson in how to cut your money in half by following the instructions.

Next stop for me and my hearing impaired friend is Field Day, where I'll use it to make the requisite 5 contacts using alternative energy for the bonus points. Not sure what that will be, but given the ridiculous amount of common mode hum this thing suffers through with many linear DC supplies (I think Heath called their accessory supply "very low impedance"), it'll probably be battery. It was drawing 372 ma on transmit, so I won't need a lot of whatever it is.

I'm pleased to have picked this up. Brought back a lot of memories just looking at it, and now I know why I only averaged a contact or two per day. I spent yesterday evening mulling over a way to replace the MOSFET detector and put in a better one with its own RF front end. I think it can be done with a couple trace slices and neatly put inside the box and restored later if I so desire.

But for now...back to prowling 7.030. QRU, anybody, anybody, anybody hear me?

[KC9ECI]

7.120, .115 and .110 are usually pretty busy with SKCC guys. Get yourself a number and go to town. http://www.skccgroup.com/contacts.html

[ka8ncr]

You're going to get me motivated to go into my parent's attic and find those buggers, aincha. I should probably do it, that's where the headphones are that I used to use.