Lunch box QSO

[w2amr]

Last Friday I had a nice chat with WB2ODD on 6 meters AM. I was using my Heath HW-29A Sixer and Argonne AR-54 mic. Now that was fun.
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[WZ7U]

Nice looking rig George, especially the Argonne AR-54 mic. That green makes it pop! Love it!

[KG4CGC]

This is awesome. I wish my skill set was of your caliber.

[w2amr]

This is awesome. I wish my skill set was of your caliber.Thanks Charles. I get lucky once in a while.

[w2amr]

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Nice looking rig George, especially the Argonne AR-54 mic. That green makes it pop! Love it! The paint is Rust-oleum American accents ,2X ultra cover. Meadow green. It's a bit darker than the original color, but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

[kb2vxa]

Ah yes, a Benton Harbor Lunchbox and Green Hornet mic. It had to be a day when the band was dead or nearly so, those regen receivers pulled in the whole band at once. Those crystal mics on Atlas desk stands with holes drilled in the base for an SPST NO spring return toggle switch made excellent CB base station mics.

Only one small mistake, really inconsequential, IIRC the original paint was a flat, non-reflective green. That reminds me of a HUGE mistake I pointed out rather loudly so more than my friend heard clustered around a table at a hamfester. This guy was selling two not so perfectly restored Johnson Valiants he put SO much effort into, one had the cover off showing a spotless interior like brand new. Speaking loud enough to be heard by the crowd I asked why $400 each just to make him go through his spiel about restoration, yadda yadda yaa... Then came the punch line that nearly got ME punched, "I'll give you $40 for both of them." WHAAAA??? "You ruined them, E. F. Johnson never sprayed any of their products with clear lacquer!" I had blended in the crowd across the field by the time he crawled under the table, got up and looked around. To quote Bugs Bunny's famous tag line, "Ain't I a stinkah?" <cue The Merry Go Round Broke Down> Thedadadada thedadadada thedadadada... That's all folks!

[W3WN]

Last Friday I had a nice chat with WB2ODD on 6 meters AM. I was using my Heath HW-29A Sixer and Argonne AR-54 mic. Now that was fun.
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”Impressive! Most impressive!”

Did you restore the Sixer, use it as acquired, was the original builder? Inquiring minds etc etc etc.

A few years ago, I picked up a Twoer (in poor condition) off of eBay, intending to strip it down and rebuild it. Then I found one in pretty good condition at a hamfest, then another... I now have four. Still plan to rebuild at least one of them.

Meanwhile, I was given a ‘sister’ rig at a hamfest. Outer case in untouched... no one cut a hole in it to access the crystal socket. Just not sure yet what I’m going to do with the actual rig, outside of salvaging some parts. Anyone want a CB’er?

[koØm]

I had one of those but it was "Stol-sold" without my permission, I will not go into the story but, I am waiting for a relative of mine to kick the bucket so that I can desecrate her grave - often!

She might outlive me, who knows then she would add additional insult to injury by desecrating my grave.

[kb2vxa]

The crystal cartridge that came with the Green Hornet mic and many others like the Turner 250 hand mic and Laughingyet (Lafayette) cheap knockoff of the RCA 77BX that had two facing each other was pretty much "the universal crystal cartridge". Just about every electronics house of the day stocked them, even in the 1972 movie Sleeper Woody Allen stuck one in his mouth and pretended to be a robot. They were like cockroaches in New York, they were everywhere!

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[WZ7U]

Wonder what else he put in his mouth...

[N8YX]

Never owned a Lunchbox but a number of Clegg and Lafayette sets were active in the area in the 70s and 80s.

6M AM for me these days is a TS-660 or an FT-90x/FT-980 driving an FTV-901R, and from the car an IC-7000. It was (and is) a fun band. Hopefully I'll get to scare up another AM QSO there.

Good work on the restoration, George!

[kb2vxa]

"Wonder what else he put in his mouth... "
Around that time it was mostly Mia Farrow, but later it was jail bait Soon-Yi Previn and The Lawyer Bait Kids.

The only times I even heard 6M AM were twice during exceptionally strong and long lasting openings. It seems like it took exceptional magic to bring dusty AM rigs, mostly Collins out of the woodwork. I tried going back with my Icom 706Mk2G to no avail, maybe the purists didn't like the sound of carrier inserted SSB, or maybe I didn't have it adjusted right, I don't know. Now If I had a late run Johnson Valiant II rest assured it would have been tuned up right! With plate modulated angel music there's little room for error doing AM Gangsta shit.

[WZ7U]

I'm told the llg especially doesn't do well over about 25 watts carrier on AM. I don't know personally, I suppose I could find some cbers around here to help me out with a good buddy radio check. :doh:

[kb2vxa]

Neither the Mark, nor any other 100W SSB rig can do well with more than 25W resting carrier, and that's pushing the envelope. Rule No. 1 of AM Gangsta shit is "Thou shalt not send a shitty signal or misfortune shall fall upon you." Theoretically, and everything is theoretical without a monitor scope and an old Handbook that shows waveforms, when AF gain without processing is set for 100W PEP SSB, with 25W resting carrier it should expand to 100W PEP "AM". It should be without processing because it fills in the waveform making it effectively louder on the air, but filled in modulation cannot be tracked with a meter, not even a peak reading one because there are no peaks. You can't see peaks and valleys with a scope either, and when readability is high it's a bit hard on the ears too. Put another way, when you're coming in 5 & 9 he'll tell you turn the processing off.

Until I got the Mark my only mode was FM, I was a newbie on the 2M repeaters and my 6M rig was a re-tuned GE 100W Mastr 2 Low Band commercial rig good for 90W on 6. The Mark opened the door to more bands and modes, it opened the world on 6M SSB, but I wasn't going to sit on my thumbs waiting for a Heathkit HO-10 scope that couldn't come soon enough. It would have been nice to see what my faux AM signal looked like, that would have given me a good idea what it sounded like. The meter put me in the ball park, but the only place you can hit a home run from is the batter's box.

CBers with good buddy radiddio checks are good for a face palm, if it doesn't sound like a cheese grater mic with a roger beep it's not loud enough.

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