quarter century wireless association inc., founded in 1947 ...quarter century wireless association,...

20
Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA https://www.qcwa.org Published Monthly April 2020 Vol. 69, No. 4 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ® Facebook - Like Us Twitter - Follow Us LinkedIn - Shared An impressive exit for the Collins KWM-380 Photo courtesy of RigReference.com

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Page 1: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina StApopka FL 32703-1558 USA

httpswwwqcwaorg Published Monthly April 2020 Vol 69 No 4

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc Founded in 1947

reg

Facebook - Like Us Twitter - Follow Us LinkedIn - Shared

An impressiveexit for the

Collins KWM-380

Photo courtesy of RigReferencecom

This monthrsquos coverOverview of the Collins KWM-380 amateur transceiver

The Collins KWM-380 was the last amateur radio product de-veloped by Rockwell Collins in 1978 at least Collins exited theham radio marketplace on a high note with the KWM-380 It wasa very nice solid state transceiver with a built-in AC power supplydual VFO to allow splitting the receive and transmit frequenciesto facilitate working DX stations and speaker It became availablein 1979 and was available until 1983 Art Collins was still alive andaffiliated with the company when the KWM-380 was released forsale but Rockwell International who had purchased Collins wasfully in charge of the company It is somewhat surprising that anamateur radio transceiver project was done at this time Of courseit was a lightly modified version of a transceiver they made for gov-ernment and military use so the actual costs of engineering theKWM-380 after Collins completed the HF-380 program were fairlylow

The radio included a quite good general coverage receiver cov-ering 160 to 300 MHz with full sensitivity and performance and500 kHz to 160 MHz with reduced performance The LED digitalreadout reads tens of and units of MHz hundreds tens and unitsof kHz 100 Hz and the nearest 10 Hz with seven digits Unlikethe Heathkit SB-104 where flicker of the 100 Hz digit is often anissue Collins seems to have solved the issue of flicker of the 100and 10 Hz digits they appear quite stable on both KWM-380s Iown - Continued on Page 18

JournalQCWA

httpswwwqcwaorg bull April 2020 bull Volume 69 Number 4

R E P O R T SPresidentrsquos Report ndash Ken Oelke VE6AFO 4Chapter Reports 9

Collins KWM-380 2No More Magic 5Radio Manufacturing Engineers 8Signal One CX-7 14My Road to Ham Radio 16

QSO with QCWA 6Member Supplies Link 7 Standing Committees 8Silent Keys and New Members Link 8Classified Ads 19

F E A T U R E S

D E P A R T M E N T S

2 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Business Office Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc co Roberta Cohen Office Manager

1972 Martina StApopka FL 32703-1558e-mail omqcwaorg

EditorDesigner Amber Pelletier K1AMP 310 Fairfield Lane Venus TX 76084 USA Phone 469-612-3135 e-mail journalqcwaorgProofreaders Ron Fish KX1W Pete Varounis NL7XM

Mark Wintersole W5NZHoward Cunningham WD5DBC

QCWA Net ManagerDoug Gordon W6KE5674 El Camino Real Ste KCarlsbad CA 92008-7130e-mail dmgordonpacbellnet

QCWA On The Webhttpswwwqcwaorg

QCWA International NetsSSB - Sunday at 2000Z on 14347

CW - Wednesday at 800 PM local (Eastern Time)on 7035 then QSY to 80m on 3535 following 40m

D-Star NetsNets are held Sundays at 1700 Eastern on

httpwwwopenquadnetfbclid=IwAR0BWvWnR-RaWZ2E2Z70YhEqJrTR9zseP2jtuTv4MwJNkraNe

SpG_DwP4o4kQCWA JOURNAL is now published monthly and is avail-able on the QCWA Members Only website Membership inQCWA including a subscription to the electronic Journalis available to individuals who qualify worldwide at the fol-lowing rates $25 for one year $40 for two years $55 forthree years and $500 for Life Membership The fees arelisted in US Dollars

Please send change of address to Quarter Century Wire-less Association Inc co Roberta Cohen WA2FRW 1972Martina Street Apopka FL 32703-1558 USA

Contents of this Journal are copy2019 Quarter Century Wire-less Association IncDISCLAIMER Opinions expressed by the authors of arti-cles contributed to the Journal do not represent the officialposition of the Officers or Directors of the Quarter CenturyWireless Association Inc

reg

Past PresidentsJohn DiBlasi W2FX (SK) 1947 - 1964 Earl R Thomas W2MM (SK) 1965 - 1968 Clarence Seid W2KW (SK) 1969 - 1971 Barry Goldwater K7UGA (SK) 1972 - 1973 Frank A Gunther W2ALS (SK) 1974 - 1977 Harry S Gartsman W6ATC (SK) 1978 - 1981 Stuart Meyer W2GHK (SK) 1982 - 1985 Leland Smith W5KL (SK) 1986 - 1989 Harry Dannals W2HD 1989 - 1994 Lew McCoy W1ICP (SK) 1994 - 1996John Kelleher W4ZC (SK) 1996 - 1998Gary R Harrison KOslashBC 1998 - 2002Croft Taylor VE3CT (SK) 2002 - 2004John B Johnston W3BE 2004 - 2008Robert A Bob Roske NOslashUF 2008 - 2012

Executive AdministratorGMOffice ManagerRalph Barber W2ZM (SK) 1955 - 1964 Gus Gironda W2JE (SK) 1965 - 1973 Ethel Smith K4LMB (SK) 1974 - 1976 Ted Heithecker W5EJ (SK) 1976 - 1991Jim Walsh W7LVN (SK) 1991 - 2003Charles Walbridge K1IGD 2003 - 2012Jim LaPorta N1CC (SK) 2012Ken Simpson W8EK 2012 - 2014Tom Loughney AJ4XM 2015 - 2016Roberta Cohen WA2FRW 2016-Current

3 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

The Quarter Century Wireless Association InceJournal

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Incand the eJournal in no way warrant the products described or reviewed herein The eJournal does

not assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts

To join or renew your current membership withQuarter Century Wireless Association Inc clickthe following link for the up-to-date applicationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembership-application-

form-uspdf

To view the Chapters on the Air visithttpswwwqcwaorgchapters_on_the-airphp

PRESIDENT Ken Oelke VE6AFO 729 Harvest Hills Drive NE Calgary AB T3K 4R3 Canada Phone 403-226-5840 e-mail Presqcwaorg

VICE PRESIDENTMark Wintersole W5NZ6481 Eastwood Glen DriveMontgomery AL 36117-4713Phone 334-244-7994e-mail W5NZqcwaorg

SECRETARYJim Perry KJ3P PO Box 73Schwenksville PA 19473-0073Phone 610-287-5630e-mail kj3pqcwaorg

TREASURER Charles Tropp N2SO2380 Mohansic AveYorktown Heights NY 10598e-mail treasurerqcwaorg

DIRECTORS Joe Ayala K4JGA516 El Dorado WayCasselberry FL 32707-5009Phone 407-255-5922e-mail k4jgaqcwaorg

Jeffrey ldquoJeffrdquo Beals WA4AWPO Box 1584Loxahatchee FL 33470Phone 561-252-6707e-mail WA4AWqcwaorg

Carole Perry WB2MGP28 Keune CtStaten Island NY 10304e-mail WB2MGPqcwaorg

Pete Varounis NL7XMPO Box 3026Easton PA 18043-3026e-mail NL7XMqcwaorg

Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC 5537 Ann Peake DrFairfax VA 22032-3001 Phone 703-359-9211 e-mail WD5DBCqcwaorg

Ken Simpson W8EK 8400 NW 115 Avenue Ocala FL 34482-1098 Phone 352-732-8400 e-mail W8EKqcwaorg

OFFICE MANAGERRoberta Cohen WA2FRW1972 Martina StreetApopka FL 32703-1558e-mail omqcwaorg

PRESIDENTS EMERITIHarry J Dannals W2HD 751 Hillsdale Drive Apt 210 Charlottesville VA 22901-3301 Phone 434-974-7388 e-mail W2HDqcwaorg

Robert A Bob Roske NOslashUF993 Hassan St SEHutchinson MN 55350-3214Phone 320-587-3890e-mail n0ufmediacombbnet

EDITORAmber Pelletier K1AMP310 Fairfield LaneVenus TX 76084 Phone 469-612-3135e-mail Editorqcwaorg

SChOLARShIP ChAIRMANGlen Reid K5FX1305 Carlotta Lane Austin TX 78733-1532Phone 512-263-5700e-mail scholarshipqcwaorg

hISTORIANJeffrey ldquoJeffrdquo Beals WA4AWPO Box 1584Loxahatchee FL 33470Phone 561-252-6707e-mail Historianqcwaorg

CALLSIGN hISTORIANPete Varounis NL7XMPO Box 3026Easton PA 18043-3026e-mail NL7XMqcwaorg

CERTIFICATE CUSTODIANVic Culver W4VIC1020 Lyndhurst PlaceVirginia Beach VA 23464-1289e-mail certificatecustodianqcwaorg

ACTIVITIES MANAGERRichard (Rich) Ferch VE3KIPO Box 1291 86 Richland Dr Richmond ON Canada K0A 2Z0Phone 613-838-8876e-mail ActivitiesManagerqcwaorg

SILENT KEY ADMINISTRATORRon Fish KX1WPO Box 4Circleville NY 10919-0004e-mail skqcwaorg

QCWA Officers and Board of Directors

reg

Greetings from the Great White North

The 74th Orlando HamCationSM held on the weekend of February 7-9 is now in the history book Though thiscomes two months after HamCationSM I wish to thank the HamCationSM organizing committee the Orlando AmateurRadio Club (OARC) and General Chair Michael Cauley W4MCA along with OARC President John Knott N4JTKalong with the many volunteers A job well done This year HamCationSM presented the second annual CarolePerry Educator of the Year Award to Melissa Pore KM4CZN

We did have our sights set on Dayton (Xenia) Hamventionreg unfortunately the organizing committee had to makea heart breaking announcement that the event had to be cancelled General Chair and QCWA member Jack GerbsWB8SCT and Assistant General Chair and QCWA member Rick Allnut WS8G worked so hard to make this thebest ever event and now a disappointing cancellation of this wonderful event we all enjoy going to

As well I invited past QCWA Scholarship Award recipients which would have attended Dayton Hamventionreg tomeet up with them My goal was to have them join us at the Saturday QCWA Forum to give a brief overview of theirgoals and achievements post-receiving a QCWA Scholarship As well the Annual Membersrsquo Meeting was to be heldin conjunction with the Forum This too had to be cancelled and will be scheduled at a different venue Stay tunedfor more details

And speaking of the Scholarship Program we are celebrating 42 years since the scholarship program began withan idea from one of the Board members in 1978 This year we are offering 23 scholarships at $2000 each for atotal amount of $46000 If you are aware of a young licensed Amateur Radio operator seeking post-secondary ed-ucation send them to this link httpwwwqcwaorgscholarship-programhtm for information on applying for a QCWAScholarship Application deadline is April 15 2020

Further to the Scholarship Program each student applying for a QCWA Scholarship requires a recommendationletter from a QCWA member Why does QCWA request this It is one way for you to get to know a young licensedamateur radio operator who is studying for their future goals in life Remember when you went to post-secondaryeducation to further your education Please consider reaching out to these students who are applying for our schol-arships In one of my earlier reports I reached out to our members asking to please contact me if you are willing tointerview these students This can be done several ways e-mail telephone or using VOIP methods like SkypeEchoLink or any other ways I have not mentioned And I might add a recommendation letter is very easy to writefor we have a template on our Website to make this easy ldquoSPONSORS Please use this form to recommend ascholarship applicantrdquo

The 2020 QCWA QSO Party is now history in our logbooks I hope everyone found time to make a few contactsand better yet at least submit your logs to Bob Buus W2OD for the possible winning of a nice QSO Party certificateYou still have time to submit your paper logs to Robert (Bob) Buus W2OD 8 Donner Street Holmdel NJ 07733-2004 or digital logs also accepted in Cabrillo format to ltw2odaolcomgt I trust everyone had fun

April is for Amateur Radio Day which is always held on April 18th the day the International Amateur Radio Union(IARU) was founded in 1925 On April 18th there will be many IARU Member Societies on the air with specific callsigns representing their Society Some Societies actually apply for a special event call sign usually ending with thesuffix lsquoIARUrsquo The theme for 2020 is ldquoCelebrating Amateur Radiorsquos Contribution to Societyrdquo Some very inter-esting QSL cards will surely glaze the ham shack wall For more information visit httpswwwiaruorgon-the-airworld-amateur-radio-day

Until next monthhellip47 amp 73Ken Oelke VE6AFO PresidentQuarter Century Wireless Association IncPresidentqcwaorg

4

PresidentFrom the

Ken Oelke VE6AFO

April 2020

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

5 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

How often have we been told that we donrsquot really appreciate what we have until itrsquos gone Sadly that seemsto be exactly what happened to MAGIC communications (QCWA Journal Vol 68 Issue 4 Page 6)

At the time of the previous article it was noted that there was no regulation of Magnetically Augmented Ge-ographic Integrated Connections (MAGIC) communications but that we expected some sort of regulation tobe forthcoming Regrettably that regulation came both much more rapidly and in a far more comprehensivefashion than we ever could have imagined

First a bit of a technical explanation is in order MAGIC communications are possible when the signal froman eXtreme Magnetic Telecommunications Remote (XMTR) connects to the Earthrsquos magnetic field This signalis then recovered by a Radically Constructed Veritable Reader (RCVR) Together these two units are in manyways analogous to the radio transmitters and receivers with which we as Amateur Radio Operators are famil-iar

With the control of Functionally Relative Extreme Quality (FREQ) multiple simultaneous conversations werepossible At first FREQ was controlled by the use of an eXtreme Technical Adaption Logic (XTAL) Soon themore easily adjustable Veritable Functional Ozonescope (VFO) was developed

At the same time some of the more innovative individuals in the MAGIC ranks began to combine their XMTRand RCVR units to form an eXtended Communications Variable Remote (XCVR) This allowed greatly simplifiedoperation when compared to stations using a separate XMTR and RCVR

Even as these technical innovations were taking place there were others who were drawn to the operatingaspects of MAGIC Some derived the greatest pleasure from simply conversing with other MAGIC operatorscalling their operations Remote Audible aGreeable Communications Having Enjoyable Worth IN Groups(Ragchewing) Others were interested in communicating with people found in as many Different eXtreme (DX)locations as possible

In short order it became evident that the nature of MAGIC was unlike the radio communications which we ashams employ MAGIC was unaffected by such things as radio propagation and noise Virtually any MAGIC op-erator could at any time communicate with any other MAGIC operator On the surface this seemed like a greatadvantage for MAGIC

Quickly though problems began to arise First what would happen if more than one operator wanted to con-verse with the same station Was there really any place for operator skill in making DX connections Similarlywas there any reward for technical proficiency Was it possible for one person to construct a MAGIC stationthat was superior to others As it turned out it was the answer to that last question which was the beginningof the end for MAGIC

It was fairly quickly determined that only a very small amount of modulation needed to be applied to theEarthrsquos magnetic field in order to affect world-wide communications Once that modulation was accomplishedthere seemed that no further improvement in the quality communications gained by increasing the amount ofmodulation applied to the magnetic fields At least that was the case during orderly communications betweentwo or more stations but therein some of the darker aspects of human nature began to assert themselves

While the vast majority of MAGIC operators were content to communicate in an orderly fashion there wereinevitably some individuals who always wanted to be first to get through on any given MAGIC circuit and thoseindividuals quickly began to increase the amount of modulation which they applied to the magnetic field In thecase of MAGIC that resulted in those stations getting through and totally overriding any and all other stationsSoon other operators felt the need to apply more and more modulation to the magnetic fields This resulted inSuperfluous Large Area Transmission Troubles Engulfing Regions (SPLATTER) and also a host of other un-desirable effects

More and more operators decided that they could only communicate if they also increased their magneticmodulations levels The final result was an outright magnetic power struggle in which large numbers of MAGICoperators were modulating the Earthrsquos magnetic field at levels far in excess of what should have been neces-sary to carry out their desired communications This trend was called Quintessential Reference Operation(QRO)

There was one stalwart band of operators resisting this tactic instead relying on timing operating savvy andother efficiencies in order to communicate They took upon themselves the name of Quality Reasonable People(QRP) Unfortunately while the QRP operators were a respected part of the MAGIC community their efforts

No More MAGIC The Demise of An Innovation

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

QSO with QCWA GuidelinesAll submissions to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc including

letters and articles are eligible to be included in the QCWA eJournalspace permitting at the discretion of the Editor Please limit letters to 200words or less and submitted letters should include the submitterrsquos name

and call sign Send your entries for QSO with QCWA to Journalqcwaorg We readevery letter received but we can only publish a few each month We

reserve the right to edit your letter for length clarity style punctuation grammar libel and taste We regret that all submissions cannot be

published Also the publishers of QCWA assume no responsibility forstatements made by correspondents

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc was founded December 5 1947 as a non-

commercial association of radio amateurs organized for the promotionof interest in Amateur Radio commu-nication and experimentation for theestablishment and advancement of

the radio art and of the public welfare

QCWA is NY non-profit corporationqualified as a tax exempt organiza-

tion pursuant to 26 USCsect501(c)(3)(IRS) which allows donors to deducttheir contributions for tax purposes

Its affairs are governed by a Presi-dent Vice President Secretary

Treasurer and a Board of Directorswhose voting members are elected

every three years by the generalmembership

In order to qualify for membership inQCWA one must have demonstrableproof of having been first licensed asan Amateur Radio operator at least

25 years prior to application for membership and must be currently licensed Membership inquiries andgeneral correspondence should beaddressed to the Office Manager

Membership applications andor renewals should be filed on line ormailed with your payment to the

business office Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc Roberta Cohen WA2FRW

1972 Martina Street Apopka FL 32703

E-Mail omqcwaorg

QCWA Vision StatementThe Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc celebrates AmateurRadio operators achieving 25 years in

Amateur Radio and develops resources toassist young Amateur Radio operators infurthering their education through the

QCWA Scholarship Program

QSO With QCWA

6 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Ive been looking for that new HT just out You know the one Its the all bandall mode self-contained battery 1000-watt shirt pocket selling for $2550 andmanufactured by that new Amateur Radio company April F Ool If you knowwho is selling them please let me know - Submitted by Avery Finn KOslashhLA

Just finished reading the February 2020 Journal Just wanted to send a quicknote to tell you how much I enjoyed the two articles by George J Misic KE8RNBoth brought back some great memories and itrsquos always interesting to readabout the history of Amateur Radio equipment and technology Please passalong my appreciation to George for the great articles - Submitted by AlanSines W3AL

turned out to be far too little too late to prevent the unfolding disasterWith more and more magnetic modulation being applied to the Earthrsquos

magnetic field it was soon discovered that the entire field was becomingunstable Mariners and aviators were the first to notice this trend as theirmagnetic compasses began to quiver and sometimes even gyrate wildlywith the onslaught of MAGIC signals

It was then that the Interpolated Trial Users (ITU) an international bodyformed under the auspices of the Underlying Navigators (UN) took controlof the situation The ITU with the backing of the UN quickly moved to solvethe navigational problems by banning virtually all MAGIC communicationsEven this action was too little and too late to prevent a noticeable and trou-bling shift in the Earthrsquos magnetic field Ever since that time it seems thatthe Earthrsquos magnetic north pole has continued shifting Real news articlesverify this among others

httpswwwnytimescom20190207opinionnorth-pole-gpshtmlbullhttpswwwsciencealertcomnavigation-systems-finally-caught-up-bullwith-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

So sadly as of this writing all MAGIC operation has been shut downAs the song says ldquoThe MAGIC is Gonerdquo - Submitted by Paul WalcottWD8h QCWA Life Member 21248

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 2: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

This monthrsquos coverOverview of the Collins KWM-380 amateur transceiver

The Collins KWM-380 was the last amateur radio product de-veloped by Rockwell Collins in 1978 at least Collins exited theham radio marketplace on a high note with the KWM-380 It wasa very nice solid state transceiver with a built-in AC power supplydual VFO to allow splitting the receive and transmit frequenciesto facilitate working DX stations and speaker It became availablein 1979 and was available until 1983 Art Collins was still alive andaffiliated with the company when the KWM-380 was released forsale but Rockwell International who had purchased Collins wasfully in charge of the company It is somewhat surprising that anamateur radio transceiver project was done at this time Of courseit was a lightly modified version of a transceiver they made for gov-ernment and military use so the actual costs of engineering theKWM-380 after Collins completed the HF-380 program were fairlylow

The radio included a quite good general coverage receiver cov-ering 160 to 300 MHz with full sensitivity and performance and500 kHz to 160 MHz with reduced performance The LED digitalreadout reads tens of and units of MHz hundreds tens and unitsof kHz 100 Hz and the nearest 10 Hz with seven digits Unlikethe Heathkit SB-104 where flicker of the 100 Hz digit is often anissue Collins seems to have solved the issue of flicker of the 100and 10 Hz digits they appear quite stable on both KWM-380s Iown - Continued on Page 18

JournalQCWA

httpswwwqcwaorg bull April 2020 bull Volume 69 Number 4

R E P O R T SPresidentrsquos Report ndash Ken Oelke VE6AFO 4Chapter Reports 9

Collins KWM-380 2No More Magic 5Radio Manufacturing Engineers 8Signal One CX-7 14My Road to Ham Radio 16

QSO with QCWA 6Member Supplies Link 7 Standing Committees 8Silent Keys and New Members Link 8Classified Ads 19

F E A T U R E S

D E P A R T M E N T S

2 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Business Office Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc co Roberta Cohen Office Manager

1972 Martina StApopka FL 32703-1558e-mail omqcwaorg

EditorDesigner Amber Pelletier K1AMP 310 Fairfield Lane Venus TX 76084 USA Phone 469-612-3135 e-mail journalqcwaorgProofreaders Ron Fish KX1W Pete Varounis NL7XM

Mark Wintersole W5NZHoward Cunningham WD5DBC

QCWA Net ManagerDoug Gordon W6KE5674 El Camino Real Ste KCarlsbad CA 92008-7130e-mail dmgordonpacbellnet

QCWA On The Webhttpswwwqcwaorg

QCWA International NetsSSB - Sunday at 2000Z on 14347

CW - Wednesday at 800 PM local (Eastern Time)on 7035 then QSY to 80m on 3535 following 40m

D-Star NetsNets are held Sundays at 1700 Eastern on

httpwwwopenquadnetfbclid=IwAR0BWvWnR-RaWZ2E2Z70YhEqJrTR9zseP2jtuTv4MwJNkraNe

SpG_DwP4o4kQCWA JOURNAL is now published monthly and is avail-able on the QCWA Members Only website Membership inQCWA including a subscription to the electronic Journalis available to individuals who qualify worldwide at the fol-lowing rates $25 for one year $40 for two years $55 forthree years and $500 for Life Membership The fees arelisted in US Dollars

Please send change of address to Quarter Century Wire-less Association Inc co Roberta Cohen WA2FRW 1972Martina Street Apopka FL 32703-1558 USA

Contents of this Journal are copy2019 Quarter Century Wire-less Association IncDISCLAIMER Opinions expressed by the authors of arti-cles contributed to the Journal do not represent the officialposition of the Officers or Directors of the Quarter CenturyWireless Association Inc

reg

Past PresidentsJohn DiBlasi W2FX (SK) 1947 - 1964 Earl R Thomas W2MM (SK) 1965 - 1968 Clarence Seid W2KW (SK) 1969 - 1971 Barry Goldwater K7UGA (SK) 1972 - 1973 Frank A Gunther W2ALS (SK) 1974 - 1977 Harry S Gartsman W6ATC (SK) 1978 - 1981 Stuart Meyer W2GHK (SK) 1982 - 1985 Leland Smith W5KL (SK) 1986 - 1989 Harry Dannals W2HD 1989 - 1994 Lew McCoy W1ICP (SK) 1994 - 1996John Kelleher W4ZC (SK) 1996 - 1998Gary R Harrison KOslashBC 1998 - 2002Croft Taylor VE3CT (SK) 2002 - 2004John B Johnston W3BE 2004 - 2008Robert A Bob Roske NOslashUF 2008 - 2012

Executive AdministratorGMOffice ManagerRalph Barber W2ZM (SK) 1955 - 1964 Gus Gironda W2JE (SK) 1965 - 1973 Ethel Smith K4LMB (SK) 1974 - 1976 Ted Heithecker W5EJ (SK) 1976 - 1991Jim Walsh W7LVN (SK) 1991 - 2003Charles Walbridge K1IGD 2003 - 2012Jim LaPorta N1CC (SK) 2012Ken Simpson W8EK 2012 - 2014Tom Loughney AJ4XM 2015 - 2016Roberta Cohen WA2FRW 2016-Current

3 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

The Quarter Century Wireless Association InceJournal

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Incand the eJournal in no way warrant the products described or reviewed herein The eJournal does

not assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts

To join or renew your current membership withQuarter Century Wireless Association Inc clickthe following link for the up-to-date applicationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembership-application-

form-uspdf

To view the Chapters on the Air visithttpswwwqcwaorgchapters_on_the-airphp

PRESIDENT Ken Oelke VE6AFO 729 Harvest Hills Drive NE Calgary AB T3K 4R3 Canada Phone 403-226-5840 e-mail Presqcwaorg

VICE PRESIDENTMark Wintersole W5NZ6481 Eastwood Glen DriveMontgomery AL 36117-4713Phone 334-244-7994e-mail W5NZqcwaorg

SECRETARYJim Perry KJ3P PO Box 73Schwenksville PA 19473-0073Phone 610-287-5630e-mail kj3pqcwaorg

TREASURER Charles Tropp N2SO2380 Mohansic AveYorktown Heights NY 10598e-mail treasurerqcwaorg

DIRECTORS Joe Ayala K4JGA516 El Dorado WayCasselberry FL 32707-5009Phone 407-255-5922e-mail k4jgaqcwaorg

Jeffrey ldquoJeffrdquo Beals WA4AWPO Box 1584Loxahatchee FL 33470Phone 561-252-6707e-mail WA4AWqcwaorg

Carole Perry WB2MGP28 Keune CtStaten Island NY 10304e-mail WB2MGPqcwaorg

Pete Varounis NL7XMPO Box 3026Easton PA 18043-3026e-mail NL7XMqcwaorg

Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC 5537 Ann Peake DrFairfax VA 22032-3001 Phone 703-359-9211 e-mail WD5DBCqcwaorg

Ken Simpson W8EK 8400 NW 115 Avenue Ocala FL 34482-1098 Phone 352-732-8400 e-mail W8EKqcwaorg

OFFICE MANAGERRoberta Cohen WA2FRW1972 Martina StreetApopka FL 32703-1558e-mail omqcwaorg

PRESIDENTS EMERITIHarry J Dannals W2HD 751 Hillsdale Drive Apt 210 Charlottesville VA 22901-3301 Phone 434-974-7388 e-mail W2HDqcwaorg

Robert A Bob Roske NOslashUF993 Hassan St SEHutchinson MN 55350-3214Phone 320-587-3890e-mail n0ufmediacombbnet

EDITORAmber Pelletier K1AMP310 Fairfield LaneVenus TX 76084 Phone 469-612-3135e-mail Editorqcwaorg

SChOLARShIP ChAIRMANGlen Reid K5FX1305 Carlotta Lane Austin TX 78733-1532Phone 512-263-5700e-mail scholarshipqcwaorg

hISTORIANJeffrey ldquoJeffrdquo Beals WA4AWPO Box 1584Loxahatchee FL 33470Phone 561-252-6707e-mail Historianqcwaorg

CALLSIGN hISTORIANPete Varounis NL7XMPO Box 3026Easton PA 18043-3026e-mail NL7XMqcwaorg

CERTIFICATE CUSTODIANVic Culver W4VIC1020 Lyndhurst PlaceVirginia Beach VA 23464-1289e-mail certificatecustodianqcwaorg

ACTIVITIES MANAGERRichard (Rich) Ferch VE3KIPO Box 1291 86 Richland Dr Richmond ON Canada K0A 2Z0Phone 613-838-8876e-mail ActivitiesManagerqcwaorg

SILENT KEY ADMINISTRATORRon Fish KX1WPO Box 4Circleville NY 10919-0004e-mail skqcwaorg

QCWA Officers and Board of Directors

reg

Greetings from the Great White North

The 74th Orlando HamCationSM held on the weekend of February 7-9 is now in the history book Though thiscomes two months after HamCationSM I wish to thank the HamCationSM organizing committee the Orlando AmateurRadio Club (OARC) and General Chair Michael Cauley W4MCA along with OARC President John Knott N4JTKalong with the many volunteers A job well done This year HamCationSM presented the second annual CarolePerry Educator of the Year Award to Melissa Pore KM4CZN

We did have our sights set on Dayton (Xenia) Hamventionreg unfortunately the organizing committee had to makea heart breaking announcement that the event had to be cancelled General Chair and QCWA member Jack GerbsWB8SCT and Assistant General Chair and QCWA member Rick Allnut WS8G worked so hard to make this thebest ever event and now a disappointing cancellation of this wonderful event we all enjoy going to

As well I invited past QCWA Scholarship Award recipients which would have attended Dayton Hamventionreg tomeet up with them My goal was to have them join us at the Saturday QCWA Forum to give a brief overview of theirgoals and achievements post-receiving a QCWA Scholarship As well the Annual Membersrsquo Meeting was to be heldin conjunction with the Forum This too had to be cancelled and will be scheduled at a different venue Stay tunedfor more details

And speaking of the Scholarship Program we are celebrating 42 years since the scholarship program began withan idea from one of the Board members in 1978 This year we are offering 23 scholarships at $2000 each for atotal amount of $46000 If you are aware of a young licensed Amateur Radio operator seeking post-secondary ed-ucation send them to this link httpwwwqcwaorgscholarship-programhtm for information on applying for a QCWAScholarship Application deadline is April 15 2020

Further to the Scholarship Program each student applying for a QCWA Scholarship requires a recommendationletter from a QCWA member Why does QCWA request this It is one way for you to get to know a young licensedamateur radio operator who is studying for their future goals in life Remember when you went to post-secondaryeducation to further your education Please consider reaching out to these students who are applying for our schol-arships In one of my earlier reports I reached out to our members asking to please contact me if you are willing tointerview these students This can be done several ways e-mail telephone or using VOIP methods like SkypeEchoLink or any other ways I have not mentioned And I might add a recommendation letter is very easy to writefor we have a template on our Website to make this easy ldquoSPONSORS Please use this form to recommend ascholarship applicantrdquo

The 2020 QCWA QSO Party is now history in our logbooks I hope everyone found time to make a few contactsand better yet at least submit your logs to Bob Buus W2OD for the possible winning of a nice QSO Party certificateYou still have time to submit your paper logs to Robert (Bob) Buus W2OD 8 Donner Street Holmdel NJ 07733-2004 or digital logs also accepted in Cabrillo format to ltw2odaolcomgt I trust everyone had fun

April is for Amateur Radio Day which is always held on April 18th the day the International Amateur Radio Union(IARU) was founded in 1925 On April 18th there will be many IARU Member Societies on the air with specific callsigns representing their Society Some Societies actually apply for a special event call sign usually ending with thesuffix lsquoIARUrsquo The theme for 2020 is ldquoCelebrating Amateur Radiorsquos Contribution to Societyrdquo Some very inter-esting QSL cards will surely glaze the ham shack wall For more information visit httpswwwiaruorgon-the-airworld-amateur-radio-day

Until next monthhellip47 amp 73Ken Oelke VE6AFO PresidentQuarter Century Wireless Association IncPresidentqcwaorg

4

PresidentFrom the

Ken Oelke VE6AFO

April 2020

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

5 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

How often have we been told that we donrsquot really appreciate what we have until itrsquos gone Sadly that seemsto be exactly what happened to MAGIC communications (QCWA Journal Vol 68 Issue 4 Page 6)

At the time of the previous article it was noted that there was no regulation of Magnetically Augmented Ge-ographic Integrated Connections (MAGIC) communications but that we expected some sort of regulation tobe forthcoming Regrettably that regulation came both much more rapidly and in a far more comprehensivefashion than we ever could have imagined

First a bit of a technical explanation is in order MAGIC communications are possible when the signal froman eXtreme Magnetic Telecommunications Remote (XMTR) connects to the Earthrsquos magnetic field This signalis then recovered by a Radically Constructed Veritable Reader (RCVR) Together these two units are in manyways analogous to the radio transmitters and receivers with which we as Amateur Radio Operators are famil-iar

With the control of Functionally Relative Extreme Quality (FREQ) multiple simultaneous conversations werepossible At first FREQ was controlled by the use of an eXtreme Technical Adaption Logic (XTAL) Soon themore easily adjustable Veritable Functional Ozonescope (VFO) was developed

At the same time some of the more innovative individuals in the MAGIC ranks began to combine their XMTRand RCVR units to form an eXtended Communications Variable Remote (XCVR) This allowed greatly simplifiedoperation when compared to stations using a separate XMTR and RCVR

Even as these technical innovations were taking place there were others who were drawn to the operatingaspects of MAGIC Some derived the greatest pleasure from simply conversing with other MAGIC operatorscalling their operations Remote Audible aGreeable Communications Having Enjoyable Worth IN Groups(Ragchewing) Others were interested in communicating with people found in as many Different eXtreme (DX)locations as possible

In short order it became evident that the nature of MAGIC was unlike the radio communications which we ashams employ MAGIC was unaffected by such things as radio propagation and noise Virtually any MAGIC op-erator could at any time communicate with any other MAGIC operator On the surface this seemed like a greatadvantage for MAGIC

Quickly though problems began to arise First what would happen if more than one operator wanted to con-verse with the same station Was there really any place for operator skill in making DX connections Similarlywas there any reward for technical proficiency Was it possible for one person to construct a MAGIC stationthat was superior to others As it turned out it was the answer to that last question which was the beginningof the end for MAGIC

It was fairly quickly determined that only a very small amount of modulation needed to be applied to theEarthrsquos magnetic field in order to affect world-wide communications Once that modulation was accomplishedthere seemed that no further improvement in the quality communications gained by increasing the amount ofmodulation applied to the magnetic fields At least that was the case during orderly communications betweentwo or more stations but therein some of the darker aspects of human nature began to assert themselves

While the vast majority of MAGIC operators were content to communicate in an orderly fashion there wereinevitably some individuals who always wanted to be first to get through on any given MAGIC circuit and thoseindividuals quickly began to increase the amount of modulation which they applied to the magnetic field In thecase of MAGIC that resulted in those stations getting through and totally overriding any and all other stationsSoon other operators felt the need to apply more and more modulation to the magnetic fields This resulted inSuperfluous Large Area Transmission Troubles Engulfing Regions (SPLATTER) and also a host of other un-desirable effects

More and more operators decided that they could only communicate if they also increased their magneticmodulations levels The final result was an outright magnetic power struggle in which large numbers of MAGICoperators were modulating the Earthrsquos magnetic field at levels far in excess of what should have been neces-sary to carry out their desired communications This trend was called Quintessential Reference Operation(QRO)

There was one stalwart band of operators resisting this tactic instead relying on timing operating savvy andother efficiencies in order to communicate They took upon themselves the name of Quality Reasonable People(QRP) Unfortunately while the QRP operators were a respected part of the MAGIC community their efforts

No More MAGIC The Demise of An Innovation

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

QSO with QCWA GuidelinesAll submissions to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc including

letters and articles are eligible to be included in the QCWA eJournalspace permitting at the discretion of the Editor Please limit letters to 200words or less and submitted letters should include the submitterrsquos name

and call sign Send your entries for QSO with QCWA to Journalqcwaorg We readevery letter received but we can only publish a few each month We

reserve the right to edit your letter for length clarity style punctuation grammar libel and taste We regret that all submissions cannot be

published Also the publishers of QCWA assume no responsibility forstatements made by correspondents

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc was founded December 5 1947 as a non-

commercial association of radio amateurs organized for the promotionof interest in Amateur Radio commu-nication and experimentation for theestablishment and advancement of

the radio art and of the public welfare

QCWA is NY non-profit corporationqualified as a tax exempt organiza-

tion pursuant to 26 USCsect501(c)(3)(IRS) which allows donors to deducttheir contributions for tax purposes

Its affairs are governed by a Presi-dent Vice President Secretary

Treasurer and a Board of Directorswhose voting members are elected

every three years by the generalmembership

In order to qualify for membership inQCWA one must have demonstrableproof of having been first licensed asan Amateur Radio operator at least

25 years prior to application for membership and must be currently licensed Membership inquiries andgeneral correspondence should beaddressed to the Office Manager

Membership applications andor renewals should be filed on line ormailed with your payment to the

business office Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc Roberta Cohen WA2FRW

1972 Martina Street Apopka FL 32703

E-Mail omqcwaorg

QCWA Vision StatementThe Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc celebrates AmateurRadio operators achieving 25 years in

Amateur Radio and develops resources toassist young Amateur Radio operators infurthering their education through the

QCWA Scholarship Program

QSO With QCWA

6 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Ive been looking for that new HT just out You know the one Its the all bandall mode self-contained battery 1000-watt shirt pocket selling for $2550 andmanufactured by that new Amateur Radio company April F Ool If you knowwho is selling them please let me know - Submitted by Avery Finn KOslashhLA

Just finished reading the February 2020 Journal Just wanted to send a quicknote to tell you how much I enjoyed the two articles by George J Misic KE8RNBoth brought back some great memories and itrsquos always interesting to readabout the history of Amateur Radio equipment and technology Please passalong my appreciation to George for the great articles - Submitted by AlanSines W3AL

turned out to be far too little too late to prevent the unfolding disasterWith more and more magnetic modulation being applied to the Earthrsquos

magnetic field it was soon discovered that the entire field was becomingunstable Mariners and aviators were the first to notice this trend as theirmagnetic compasses began to quiver and sometimes even gyrate wildlywith the onslaught of MAGIC signals

It was then that the Interpolated Trial Users (ITU) an international bodyformed under the auspices of the Underlying Navigators (UN) took controlof the situation The ITU with the backing of the UN quickly moved to solvethe navigational problems by banning virtually all MAGIC communicationsEven this action was too little and too late to prevent a noticeable and trou-bling shift in the Earthrsquos magnetic field Ever since that time it seems thatthe Earthrsquos magnetic north pole has continued shifting Real news articlesverify this among others

httpswwwnytimescom20190207opinionnorth-pole-gpshtmlbullhttpswwwsciencealertcomnavigation-systems-finally-caught-up-bullwith-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

So sadly as of this writing all MAGIC operation has been shut downAs the song says ldquoThe MAGIC is Gonerdquo - Submitted by Paul WalcottWD8h QCWA Life Member 21248

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 3: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

Past PresidentsJohn DiBlasi W2FX (SK) 1947 - 1964 Earl R Thomas W2MM (SK) 1965 - 1968 Clarence Seid W2KW (SK) 1969 - 1971 Barry Goldwater K7UGA (SK) 1972 - 1973 Frank A Gunther W2ALS (SK) 1974 - 1977 Harry S Gartsman W6ATC (SK) 1978 - 1981 Stuart Meyer W2GHK (SK) 1982 - 1985 Leland Smith W5KL (SK) 1986 - 1989 Harry Dannals W2HD 1989 - 1994 Lew McCoy W1ICP (SK) 1994 - 1996John Kelleher W4ZC (SK) 1996 - 1998Gary R Harrison KOslashBC 1998 - 2002Croft Taylor VE3CT (SK) 2002 - 2004John B Johnston W3BE 2004 - 2008Robert A Bob Roske NOslashUF 2008 - 2012

Executive AdministratorGMOffice ManagerRalph Barber W2ZM (SK) 1955 - 1964 Gus Gironda W2JE (SK) 1965 - 1973 Ethel Smith K4LMB (SK) 1974 - 1976 Ted Heithecker W5EJ (SK) 1976 - 1991Jim Walsh W7LVN (SK) 1991 - 2003Charles Walbridge K1IGD 2003 - 2012Jim LaPorta N1CC (SK) 2012Ken Simpson W8EK 2012 - 2014Tom Loughney AJ4XM 2015 - 2016Roberta Cohen WA2FRW 2016-Current

3 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

The Quarter Century Wireless Association InceJournal

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Incand the eJournal in no way warrant the products described or reviewed herein The eJournal does

not assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts

To join or renew your current membership withQuarter Century Wireless Association Inc clickthe following link for the up-to-date applicationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembership-application-

form-uspdf

To view the Chapters on the Air visithttpswwwqcwaorgchapters_on_the-airphp

PRESIDENT Ken Oelke VE6AFO 729 Harvest Hills Drive NE Calgary AB T3K 4R3 Canada Phone 403-226-5840 e-mail Presqcwaorg

VICE PRESIDENTMark Wintersole W5NZ6481 Eastwood Glen DriveMontgomery AL 36117-4713Phone 334-244-7994e-mail W5NZqcwaorg

SECRETARYJim Perry KJ3P PO Box 73Schwenksville PA 19473-0073Phone 610-287-5630e-mail kj3pqcwaorg

TREASURER Charles Tropp N2SO2380 Mohansic AveYorktown Heights NY 10598e-mail treasurerqcwaorg

DIRECTORS Joe Ayala K4JGA516 El Dorado WayCasselberry FL 32707-5009Phone 407-255-5922e-mail k4jgaqcwaorg

Jeffrey ldquoJeffrdquo Beals WA4AWPO Box 1584Loxahatchee FL 33470Phone 561-252-6707e-mail WA4AWqcwaorg

Carole Perry WB2MGP28 Keune CtStaten Island NY 10304e-mail WB2MGPqcwaorg

Pete Varounis NL7XMPO Box 3026Easton PA 18043-3026e-mail NL7XMqcwaorg

Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC 5537 Ann Peake DrFairfax VA 22032-3001 Phone 703-359-9211 e-mail WD5DBCqcwaorg

Ken Simpson W8EK 8400 NW 115 Avenue Ocala FL 34482-1098 Phone 352-732-8400 e-mail W8EKqcwaorg

OFFICE MANAGERRoberta Cohen WA2FRW1972 Martina StreetApopka FL 32703-1558e-mail omqcwaorg

PRESIDENTS EMERITIHarry J Dannals W2HD 751 Hillsdale Drive Apt 210 Charlottesville VA 22901-3301 Phone 434-974-7388 e-mail W2HDqcwaorg

Robert A Bob Roske NOslashUF993 Hassan St SEHutchinson MN 55350-3214Phone 320-587-3890e-mail n0ufmediacombbnet

EDITORAmber Pelletier K1AMP310 Fairfield LaneVenus TX 76084 Phone 469-612-3135e-mail Editorqcwaorg

SChOLARShIP ChAIRMANGlen Reid K5FX1305 Carlotta Lane Austin TX 78733-1532Phone 512-263-5700e-mail scholarshipqcwaorg

hISTORIANJeffrey ldquoJeffrdquo Beals WA4AWPO Box 1584Loxahatchee FL 33470Phone 561-252-6707e-mail Historianqcwaorg

CALLSIGN hISTORIANPete Varounis NL7XMPO Box 3026Easton PA 18043-3026e-mail NL7XMqcwaorg

CERTIFICATE CUSTODIANVic Culver W4VIC1020 Lyndhurst PlaceVirginia Beach VA 23464-1289e-mail certificatecustodianqcwaorg

ACTIVITIES MANAGERRichard (Rich) Ferch VE3KIPO Box 1291 86 Richland Dr Richmond ON Canada K0A 2Z0Phone 613-838-8876e-mail ActivitiesManagerqcwaorg

SILENT KEY ADMINISTRATORRon Fish KX1WPO Box 4Circleville NY 10919-0004e-mail skqcwaorg

QCWA Officers and Board of Directors

reg

Greetings from the Great White North

The 74th Orlando HamCationSM held on the weekend of February 7-9 is now in the history book Though thiscomes two months after HamCationSM I wish to thank the HamCationSM organizing committee the Orlando AmateurRadio Club (OARC) and General Chair Michael Cauley W4MCA along with OARC President John Knott N4JTKalong with the many volunteers A job well done This year HamCationSM presented the second annual CarolePerry Educator of the Year Award to Melissa Pore KM4CZN

We did have our sights set on Dayton (Xenia) Hamventionreg unfortunately the organizing committee had to makea heart breaking announcement that the event had to be cancelled General Chair and QCWA member Jack GerbsWB8SCT and Assistant General Chair and QCWA member Rick Allnut WS8G worked so hard to make this thebest ever event and now a disappointing cancellation of this wonderful event we all enjoy going to

As well I invited past QCWA Scholarship Award recipients which would have attended Dayton Hamventionreg tomeet up with them My goal was to have them join us at the Saturday QCWA Forum to give a brief overview of theirgoals and achievements post-receiving a QCWA Scholarship As well the Annual Membersrsquo Meeting was to be heldin conjunction with the Forum This too had to be cancelled and will be scheduled at a different venue Stay tunedfor more details

And speaking of the Scholarship Program we are celebrating 42 years since the scholarship program began withan idea from one of the Board members in 1978 This year we are offering 23 scholarships at $2000 each for atotal amount of $46000 If you are aware of a young licensed Amateur Radio operator seeking post-secondary ed-ucation send them to this link httpwwwqcwaorgscholarship-programhtm for information on applying for a QCWAScholarship Application deadline is April 15 2020

Further to the Scholarship Program each student applying for a QCWA Scholarship requires a recommendationletter from a QCWA member Why does QCWA request this It is one way for you to get to know a young licensedamateur radio operator who is studying for their future goals in life Remember when you went to post-secondaryeducation to further your education Please consider reaching out to these students who are applying for our schol-arships In one of my earlier reports I reached out to our members asking to please contact me if you are willing tointerview these students This can be done several ways e-mail telephone or using VOIP methods like SkypeEchoLink or any other ways I have not mentioned And I might add a recommendation letter is very easy to writefor we have a template on our Website to make this easy ldquoSPONSORS Please use this form to recommend ascholarship applicantrdquo

The 2020 QCWA QSO Party is now history in our logbooks I hope everyone found time to make a few contactsand better yet at least submit your logs to Bob Buus W2OD for the possible winning of a nice QSO Party certificateYou still have time to submit your paper logs to Robert (Bob) Buus W2OD 8 Donner Street Holmdel NJ 07733-2004 or digital logs also accepted in Cabrillo format to ltw2odaolcomgt I trust everyone had fun

April is for Amateur Radio Day which is always held on April 18th the day the International Amateur Radio Union(IARU) was founded in 1925 On April 18th there will be many IARU Member Societies on the air with specific callsigns representing their Society Some Societies actually apply for a special event call sign usually ending with thesuffix lsquoIARUrsquo The theme for 2020 is ldquoCelebrating Amateur Radiorsquos Contribution to Societyrdquo Some very inter-esting QSL cards will surely glaze the ham shack wall For more information visit httpswwwiaruorgon-the-airworld-amateur-radio-day

Until next monthhellip47 amp 73Ken Oelke VE6AFO PresidentQuarter Century Wireless Association IncPresidentqcwaorg

4

PresidentFrom the

Ken Oelke VE6AFO

April 2020

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

5 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

How often have we been told that we donrsquot really appreciate what we have until itrsquos gone Sadly that seemsto be exactly what happened to MAGIC communications (QCWA Journal Vol 68 Issue 4 Page 6)

At the time of the previous article it was noted that there was no regulation of Magnetically Augmented Ge-ographic Integrated Connections (MAGIC) communications but that we expected some sort of regulation tobe forthcoming Regrettably that regulation came both much more rapidly and in a far more comprehensivefashion than we ever could have imagined

First a bit of a technical explanation is in order MAGIC communications are possible when the signal froman eXtreme Magnetic Telecommunications Remote (XMTR) connects to the Earthrsquos magnetic field This signalis then recovered by a Radically Constructed Veritable Reader (RCVR) Together these two units are in manyways analogous to the radio transmitters and receivers with which we as Amateur Radio Operators are famil-iar

With the control of Functionally Relative Extreme Quality (FREQ) multiple simultaneous conversations werepossible At first FREQ was controlled by the use of an eXtreme Technical Adaption Logic (XTAL) Soon themore easily adjustable Veritable Functional Ozonescope (VFO) was developed

At the same time some of the more innovative individuals in the MAGIC ranks began to combine their XMTRand RCVR units to form an eXtended Communications Variable Remote (XCVR) This allowed greatly simplifiedoperation when compared to stations using a separate XMTR and RCVR

Even as these technical innovations were taking place there were others who were drawn to the operatingaspects of MAGIC Some derived the greatest pleasure from simply conversing with other MAGIC operatorscalling their operations Remote Audible aGreeable Communications Having Enjoyable Worth IN Groups(Ragchewing) Others were interested in communicating with people found in as many Different eXtreme (DX)locations as possible

In short order it became evident that the nature of MAGIC was unlike the radio communications which we ashams employ MAGIC was unaffected by such things as radio propagation and noise Virtually any MAGIC op-erator could at any time communicate with any other MAGIC operator On the surface this seemed like a greatadvantage for MAGIC

Quickly though problems began to arise First what would happen if more than one operator wanted to con-verse with the same station Was there really any place for operator skill in making DX connections Similarlywas there any reward for technical proficiency Was it possible for one person to construct a MAGIC stationthat was superior to others As it turned out it was the answer to that last question which was the beginningof the end for MAGIC

It was fairly quickly determined that only a very small amount of modulation needed to be applied to theEarthrsquos magnetic field in order to affect world-wide communications Once that modulation was accomplishedthere seemed that no further improvement in the quality communications gained by increasing the amount ofmodulation applied to the magnetic fields At least that was the case during orderly communications betweentwo or more stations but therein some of the darker aspects of human nature began to assert themselves

While the vast majority of MAGIC operators were content to communicate in an orderly fashion there wereinevitably some individuals who always wanted to be first to get through on any given MAGIC circuit and thoseindividuals quickly began to increase the amount of modulation which they applied to the magnetic field In thecase of MAGIC that resulted in those stations getting through and totally overriding any and all other stationsSoon other operators felt the need to apply more and more modulation to the magnetic fields This resulted inSuperfluous Large Area Transmission Troubles Engulfing Regions (SPLATTER) and also a host of other un-desirable effects

More and more operators decided that they could only communicate if they also increased their magneticmodulations levels The final result was an outright magnetic power struggle in which large numbers of MAGICoperators were modulating the Earthrsquos magnetic field at levels far in excess of what should have been neces-sary to carry out their desired communications This trend was called Quintessential Reference Operation(QRO)

There was one stalwart band of operators resisting this tactic instead relying on timing operating savvy andother efficiencies in order to communicate They took upon themselves the name of Quality Reasonable People(QRP) Unfortunately while the QRP operators were a respected part of the MAGIC community their efforts

No More MAGIC The Demise of An Innovation

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

QSO with QCWA GuidelinesAll submissions to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc including

letters and articles are eligible to be included in the QCWA eJournalspace permitting at the discretion of the Editor Please limit letters to 200words or less and submitted letters should include the submitterrsquos name

and call sign Send your entries for QSO with QCWA to Journalqcwaorg We readevery letter received but we can only publish a few each month We

reserve the right to edit your letter for length clarity style punctuation grammar libel and taste We regret that all submissions cannot be

published Also the publishers of QCWA assume no responsibility forstatements made by correspondents

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc was founded December 5 1947 as a non-

commercial association of radio amateurs organized for the promotionof interest in Amateur Radio commu-nication and experimentation for theestablishment and advancement of

the radio art and of the public welfare

QCWA is NY non-profit corporationqualified as a tax exempt organiza-

tion pursuant to 26 USCsect501(c)(3)(IRS) which allows donors to deducttheir contributions for tax purposes

Its affairs are governed by a Presi-dent Vice President Secretary

Treasurer and a Board of Directorswhose voting members are elected

every three years by the generalmembership

In order to qualify for membership inQCWA one must have demonstrableproof of having been first licensed asan Amateur Radio operator at least

25 years prior to application for membership and must be currently licensed Membership inquiries andgeneral correspondence should beaddressed to the Office Manager

Membership applications andor renewals should be filed on line ormailed with your payment to the

business office Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc Roberta Cohen WA2FRW

1972 Martina Street Apopka FL 32703

E-Mail omqcwaorg

QCWA Vision StatementThe Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc celebrates AmateurRadio operators achieving 25 years in

Amateur Radio and develops resources toassist young Amateur Radio operators infurthering their education through the

QCWA Scholarship Program

QSO With QCWA

6 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Ive been looking for that new HT just out You know the one Its the all bandall mode self-contained battery 1000-watt shirt pocket selling for $2550 andmanufactured by that new Amateur Radio company April F Ool If you knowwho is selling them please let me know - Submitted by Avery Finn KOslashhLA

Just finished reading the February 2020 Journal Just wanted to send a quicknote to tell you how much I enjoyed the two articles by George J Misic KE8RNBoth brought back some great memories and itrsquos always interesting to readabout the history of Amateur Radio equipment and technology Please passalong my appreciation to George for the great articles - Submitted by AlanSines W3AL

turned out to be far too little too late to prevent the unfolding disasterWith more and more magnetic modulation being applied to the Earthrsquos

magnetic field it was soon discovered that the entire field was becomingunstable Mariners and aviators were the first to notice this trend as theirmagnetic compasses began to quiver and sometimes even gyrate wildlywith the onslaught of MAGIC signals

It was then that the Interpolated Trial Users (ITU) an international bodyformed under the auspices of the Underlying Navigators (UN) took controlof the situation The ITU with the backing of the UN quickly moved to solvethe navigational problems by banning virtually all MAGIC communicationsEven this action was too little and too late to prevent a noticeable and trou-bling shift in the Earthrsquos magnetic field Ever since that time it seems thatthe Earthrsquos magnetic north pole has continued shifting Real news articlesverify this among others

httpswwwnytimescom20190207opinionnorth-pole-gpshtmlbullhttpswwwsciencealertcomnavigation-systems-finally-caught-up-bullwith-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

So sadly as of this writing all MAGIC operation has been shut downAs the song says ldquoThe MAGIC is Gonerdquo - Submitted by Paul WalcottWD8h QCWA Life Member 21248

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 4: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

Greetings from the Great White North

The 74th Orlando HamCationSM held on the weekend of February 7-9 is now in the history book Though thiscomes two months after HamCationSM I wish to thank the HamCationSM organizing committee the Orlando AmateurRadio Club (OARC) and General Chair Michael Cauley W4MCA along with OARC President John Knott N4JTKalong with the many volunteers A job well done This year HamCationSM presented the second annual CarolePerry Educator of the Year Award to Melissa Pore KM4CZN

We did have our sights set on Dayton (Xenia) Hamventionreg unfortunately the organizing committee had to makea heart breaking announcement that the event had to be cancelled General Chair and QCWA member Jack GerbsWB8SCT and Assistant General Chair and QCWA member Rick Allnut WS8G worked so hard to make this thebest ever event and now a disappointing cancellation of this wonderful event we all enjoy going to

As well I invited past QCWA Scholarship Award recipients which would have attended Dayton Hamventionreg tomeet up with them My goal was to have them join us at the Saturday QCWA Forum to give a brief overview of theirgoals and achievements post-receiving a QCWA Scholarship As well the Annual Membersrsquo Meeting was to be heldin conjunction with the Forum This too had to be cancelled and will be scheduled at a different venue Stay tunedfor more details

And speaking of the Scholarship Program we are celebrating 42 years since the scholarship program began withan idea from one of the Board members in 1978 This year we are offering 23 scholarships at $2000 each for atotal amount of $46000 If you are aware of a young licensed Amateur Radio operator seeking post-secondary ed-ucation send them to this link httpwwwqcwaorgscholarship-programhtm for information on applying for a QCWAScholarship Application deadline is April 15 2020

Further to the Scholarship Program each student applying for a QCWA Scholarship requires a recommendationletter from a QCWA member Why does QCWA request this It is one way for you to get to know a young licensedamateur radio operator who is studying for their future goals in life Remember when you went to post-secondaryeducation to further your education Please consider reaching out to these students who are applying for our schol-arships In one of my earlier reports I reached out to our members asking to please contact me if you are willing tointerview these students This can be done several ways e-mail telephone or using VOIP methods like SkypeEchoLink or any other ways I have not mentioned And I might add a recommendation letter is very easy to writefor we have a template on our Website to make this easy ldquoSPONSORS Please use this form to recommend ascholarship applicantrdquo

The 2020 QCWA QSO Party is now history in our logbooks I hope everyone found time to make a few contactsand better yet at least submit your logs to Bob Buus W2OD for the possible winning of a nice QSO Party certificateYou still have time to submit your paper logs to Robert (Bob) Buus W2OD 8 Donner Street Holmdel NJ 07733-2004 or digital logs also accepted in Cabrillo format to ltw2odaolcomgt I trust everyone had fun

April is for Amateur Radio Day which is always held on April 18th the day the International Amateur Radio Union(IARU) was founded in 1925 On April 18th there will be many IARU Member Societies on the air with specific callsigns representing their Society Some Societies actually apply for a special event call sign usually ending with thesuffix lsquoIARUrsquo The theme for 2020 is ldquoCelebrating Amateur Radiorsquos Contribution to Societyrdquo Some very inter-esting QSL cards will surely glaze the ham shack wall For more information visit httpswwwiaruorgon-the-airworld-amateur-radio-day

Until next monthhellip47 amp 73Ken Oelke VE6AFO PresidentQuarter Century Wireless Association IncPresidentqcwaorg

4

PresidentFrom the

Ken Oelke VE6AFO

April 2020

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

5 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

How often have we been told that we donrsquot really appreciate what we have until itrsquos gone Sadly that seemsto be exactly what happened to MAGIC communications (QCWA Journal Vol 68 Issue 4 Page 6)

At the time of the previous article it was noted that there was no regulation of Magnetically Augmented Ge-ographic Integrated Connections (MAGIC) communications but that we expected some sort of regulation tobe forthcoming Regrettably that regulation came both much more rapidly and in a far more comprehensivefashion than we ever could have imagined

First a bit of a technical explanation is in order MAGIC communications are possible when the signal froman eXtreme Magnetic Telecommunications Remote (XMTR) connects to the Earthrsquos magnetic field This signalis then recovered by a Radically Constructed Veritable Reader (RCVR) Together these two units are in manyways analogous to the radio transmitters and receivers with which we as Amateur Radio Operators are famil-iar

With the control of Functionally Relative Extreme Quality (FREQ) multiple simultaneous conversations werepossible At first FREQ was controlled by the use of an eXtreme Technical Adaption Logic (XTAL) Soon themore easily adjustable Veritable Functional Ozonescope (VFO) was developed

At the same time some of the more innovative individuals in the MAGIC ranks began to combine their XMTRand RCVR units to form an eXtended Communications Variable Remote (XCVR) This allowed greatly simplifiedoperation when compared to stations using a separate XMTR and RCVR

Even as these technical innovations were taking place there were others who were drawn to the operatingaspects of MAGIC Some derived the greatest pleasure from simply conversing with other MAGIC operatorscalling their operations Remote Audible aGreeable Communications Having Enjoyable Worth IN Groups(Ragchewing) Others were interested in communicating with people found in as many Different eXtreme (DX)locations as possible

In short order it became evident that the nature of MAGIC was unlike the radio communications which we ashams employ MAGIC was unaffected by such things as radio propagation and noise Virtually any MAGIC op-erator could at any time communicate with any other MAGIC operator On the surface this seemed like a greatadvantage for MAGIC

Quickly though problems began to arise First what would happen if more than one operator wanted to con-verse with the same station Was there really any place for operator skill in making DX connections Similarlywas there any reward for technical proficiency Was it possible for one person to construct a MAGIC stationthat was superior to others As it turned out it was the answer to that last question which was the beginningof the end for MAGIC

It was fairly quickly determined that only a very small amount of modulation needed to be applied to theEarthrsquos magnetic field in order to affect world-wide communications Once that modulation was accomplishedthere seemed that no further improvement in the quality communications gained by increasing the amount ofmodulation applied to the magnetic fields At least that was the case during orderly communications betweentwo or more stations but therein some of the darker aspects of human nature began to assert themselves

While the vast majority of MAGIC operators were content to communicate in an orderly fashion there wereinevitably some individuals who always wanted to be first to get through on any given MAGIC circuit and thoseindividuals quickly began to increase the amount of modulation which they applied to the magnetic field In thecase of MAGIC that resulted in those stations getting through and totally overriding any and all other stationsSoon other operators felt the need to apply more and more modulation to the magnetic fields This resulted inSuperfluous Large Area Transmission Troubles Engulfing Regions (SPLATTER) and also a host of other un-desirable effects

More and more operators decided that they could only communicate if they also increased their magneticmodulations levels The final result was an outright magnetic power struggle in which large numbers of MAGICoperators were modulating the Earthrsquos magnetic field at levels far in excess of what should have been neces-sary to carry out their desired communications This trend was called Quintessential Reference Operation(QRO)

There was one stalwart band of operators resisting this tactic instead relying on timing operating savvy andother efficiencies in order to communicate They took upon themselves the name of Quality Reasonable People(QRP) Unfortunately while the QRP operators were a respected part of the MAGIC community their efforts

No More MAGIC The Demise of An Innovation

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

QSO with QCWA GuidelinesAll submissions to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc including

letters and articles are eligible to be included in the QCWA eJournalspace permitting at the discretion of the Editor Please limit letters to 200words or less and submitted letters should include the submitterrsquos name

and call sign Send your entries for QSO with QCWA to Journalqcwaorg We readevery letter received but we can only publish a few each month We

reserve the right to edit your letter for length clarity style punctuation grammar libel and taste We regret that all submissions cannot be

published Also the publishers of QCWA assume no responsibility forstatements made by correspondents

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc was founded December 5 1947 as a non-

commercial association of radio amateurs organized for the promotionof interest in Amateur Radio commu-nication and experimentation for theestablishment and advancement of

the radio art and of the public welfare

QCWA is NY non-profit corporationqualified as a tax exempt organiza-

tion pursuant to 26 USCsect501(c)(3)(IRS) which allows donors to deducttheir contributions for tax purposes

Its affairs are governed by a Presi-dent Vice President Secretary

Treasurer and a Board of Directorswhose voting members are elected

every three years by the generalmembership

In order to qualify for membership inQCWA one must have demonstrableproof of having been first licensed asan Amateur Radio operator at least

25 years prior to application for membership and must be currently licensed Membership inquiries andgeneral correspondence should beaddressed to the Office Manager

Membership applications andor renewals should be filed on line ormailed with your payment to the

business office Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc Roberta Cohen WA2FRW

1972 Martina Street Apopka FL 32703

E-Mail omqcwaorg

QCWA Vision StatementThe Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc celebrates AmateurRadio operators achieving 25 years in

Amateur Radio and develops resources toassist young Amateur Radio operators infurthering their education through the

QCWA Scholarship Program

QSO With QCWA

6 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Ive been looking for that new HT just out You know the one Its the all bandall mode self-contained battery 1000-watt shirt pocket selling for $2550 andmanufactured by that new Amateur Radio company April F Ool If you knowwho is selling them please let me know - Submitted by Avery Finn KOslashhLA

Just finished reading the February 2020 Journal Just wanted to send a quicknote to tell you how much I enjoyed the two articles by George J Misic KE8RNBoth brought back some great memories and itrsquos always interesting to readabout the history of Amateur Radio equipment and technology Please passalong my appreciation to George for the great articles - Submitted by AlanSines W3AL

turned out to be far too little too late to prevent the unfolding disasterWith more and more magnetic modulation being applied to the Earthrsquos

magnetic field it was soon discovered that the entire field was becomingunstable Mariners and aviators were the first to notice this trend as theirmagnetic compasses began to quiver and sometimes even gyrate wildlywith the onslaught of MAGIC signals

It was then that the Interpolated Trial Users (ITU) an international bodyformed under the auspices of the Underlying Navigators (UN) took controlof the situation The ITU with the backing of the UN quickly moved to solvethe navigational problems by banning virtually all MAGIC communicationsEven this action was too little and too late to prevent a noticeable and trou-bling shift in the Earthrsquos magnetic field Ever since that time it seems thatthe Earthrsquos magnetic north pole has continued shifting Real news articlesverify this among others

httpswwwnytimescom20190207opinionnorth-pole-gpshtmlbullhttpswwwsciencealertcomnavigation-systems-finally-caught-up-bullwith-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

So sadly as of this writing all MAGIC operation has been shut downAs the song says ldquoThe MAGIC is Gonerdquo - Submitted by Paul WalcottWD8h QCWA Life Member 21248

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 5: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

5 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

How often have we been told that we donrsquot really appreciate what we have until itrsquos gone Sadly that seemsto be exactly what happened to MAGIC communications (QCWA Journal Vol 68 Issue 4 Page 6)

At the time of the previous article it was noted that there was no regulation of Magnetically Augmented Ge-ographic Integrated Connections (MAGIC) communications but that we expected some sort of regulation tobe forthcoming Regrettably that regulation came both much more rapidly and in a far more comprehensivefashion than we ever could have imagined

First a bit of a technical explanation is in order MAGIC communications are possible when the signal froman eXtreme Magnetic Telecommunications Remote (XMTR) connects to the Earthrsquos magnetic field This signalis then recovered by a Radically Constructed Veritable Reader (RCVR) Together these two units are in manyways analogous to the radio transmitters and receivers with which we as Amateur Radio Operators are famil-iar

With the control of Functionally Relative Extreme Quality (FREQ) multiple simultaneous conversations werepossible At first FREQ was controlled by the use of an eXtreme Technical Adaption Logic (XTAL) Soon themore easily adjustable Veritable Functional Ozonescope (VFO) was developed

At the same time some of the more innovative individuals in the MAGIC ranks began to combine their XMTRand RCVR units to form an eXtended Communications Variable Remote (XCVR) This allowed greatly simplifiedoperation when compared to stations using a separate XMTR and RCVR

Even as these technical innovations were taking place there were others who were drawn to the operatingaspects of MAGIC Some derived the greatest pleasure from simply conversing with other MAGIC operatorscalling their operations Remote Audible aGreeable Communications Having Enjoyable Worth IN Groups(Ragchewing) Others were interested in communicating with people found in as many Different eXtreme (DX)locations as possible

In short order it became evident that the nature of MAGIC was unlike the radio communications which we ashams employ MAGIC was unaffected by such things as radio propagation and noise Virtually any MAGIC op-erator could at any time communicate with any other MAGIC operator On the surface this seemed like a greatadvantage for MAGIC

Quickly though problems began to arise First what would happen if more than one operator wanted to con-verse with the same station Was there really any place for operator skill in making DX connections Similarlywas there any reward for technical proficiency Was it possible for one person to construct a MAGIC stationthat was superior to others As it turned out it was the answer to that last question which was the beginningof the end for MAGIC

It was fairly quickly determined that only a very small amount of modulation needed to be applied to theEarthrsquos magnetic field in order to affect world-wide communications Once that modulation was accomplishedthere seemed that no further improvement in the quality communications gained by increasing the amount ofmodulation applied to the magnetic fields At least that was the case during orderly communications betweentwo or more stations but therein some of the darker aspects of human nature began to assert themselves

While the vast majority of MAGIC operators were content to communicate in an orderly fashion there wereinevitably some individuals who always wanted to be first to get through on any given MAGIC circuit and thoseindividuals quickly began to increase the amount of modulation which they applied to the magnetic field In thecase of MAGIC that resulted in those stations getting through and totally overriding any and all other stationsSoon other operators felt the need to apply more and more modulation to the magnetic fields This resulted inSuperfluous Large Area Transmission Troubles Engulfing Regions (SPLATTER) and also a host of other un-desirable effects

More and more operators decided that they could only communicate if they also increased their magneticmodulations levels The final result was an outright magnetic power struggle in which large numbers of MAGICoperators were modulating the Earthrsquos magnetic field at levels far in excess of what should have been neces-sary to carry out their desired communications This trend was called Quintessential Reference Operation(QRO)

There was one stalwart band of operators resisting this tactic instead relying on timing operating savvy andother efficiencies in order to communicate They took upon themselves the name of Quality Reasonable People(QRP) Unfortunately while the QRP operators were a respected part of the MAGIC community their efforts

No More MAGIC The Demise of An Innovation

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

QSO with QCWA GuidelinesAll submissions to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc including

letters and articles are eligible to be included in the QCWA eJournalspace permitting at the discretion of the Editor Please limit letters to 200words or less and submitted letters should include the submitterrsquos name

and call sign Send your entries for QSO with QCWA to Journalqcwaorg We readevery letter received but we can only publish a few each month We

reserve the right to edit your letter for length clarity style punctuation grammar libel and taste We regret that all submissions cannot be

published Also the publishers of QCWA assume no responsibility forstatements made by correspondents

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc was founded December 5 1947 as a non-

commercial association of radio amateurs organized for the promotionof interest in Amateur Radio commu-nication and experimentation for theestablishment and advancement of

the radio art and of the public welfare

QCWA is NY non-profit corporationqualified as a tax exempt organiza-

tion pursuant to 26 USCsect501(c)(3)(IRS) which allows donors to deducttheir contributions for tax purposes

Its affairs are governed by a Presi-dent Vice President Secretary

Treasurer and a Board of Directorswhose voting members are elected

every three years by the generalmembership

In order to qualify for membership inQCWA one must have demonstrableproof of having been first licensed asan Amateur Radio operator at least

25 years prior to application for membership and must be currently licensed Membership inquiries andgeneral correspondence should beaddressed to the Office Manager

Membership applications andor renewals should be filed on line ormailed with your payment to the

business office Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc Roberta Cohen WA2FRW

1972 Martina Street Apopka FL 32703

E-Mail omqcwaorg

QCWA Vision StatementThe Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc celebrates AmateurRadio operators achieving 25 years in

Amateur Radio and develops resources toassist young Amateur Radio operators infurthering their education through the

QCWA Scholarship Program

QSO With QCWA

6 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Ive been looking for that new HT just out You know the one Its the all bandall mode self-contained battery 1000-watt shirt pocket selling for $2550 andmanufactured by that new Amateur Radio company April F Ool If you knowwho is selling them please let me know - Submitted by Avery Finn KOslashhLA

Just finished reading the February 2020 Journal Just wanted to send a quicknote to tell you how much I enjoyed the two articles by George J Misic KE8RNBoth brought back some great memories and itrsquos always interesting to readabout the history of Amateur Radio equipment and technology Please passalong my appreciation to George for the great articles - Submitted by AlanSines W3AL

turned out to be far too little too late to prevent the unfolding disasterWith more and more magnetic modulation being applied to the Earthrsquos

magnetic field it was soon discovered that the entire field was becomingunstable Mariners and aviators were the first to notice this trend as theirmagnetic compasses began to quiver and sometimes even gyrate wildlywith the onslaught of MAGIC signals

It was then that the Interpolated Trial Users (ITU) an international bodyformed under the auspices of the Underlying Navigators (UN) took controlof the situation The ITU with the backing of the UN quickly moved to solvethe navigational problems by banning virtually all MAGIC communicationsEven this action was too little and too late to prevent a noticeable and trou-bling shift in the Earthrsquos magnetic field Ever since that time it seems thatthe Earthrsquos magnetic north pole has continued shifting Real news articlesverify this among others

httpswwwnytimescom20190207opinionnorth-pole-gpshtmlbullhttpswwwsciencealertcomnavigation-systems-finally-caught-up-bullwith-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

So sadly as of this writing all MAGIC operation has been shut downAs the song says ldquoThe MAGIC is Gonerdquo - Submitted by Paul WalcottWD8h QCWA Life Member 21248

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 6: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

QSO with QCWA GuidelinesAll submissions to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc including

letters and articles are eligible to be included in the QCWA eJournalspace permitting at the discretion of the Editor Please limit letters to 200words or less and submitted letters should include the submitterrsquos name

and call sign Send your entries for QSO with QCWA to Journalqcwaorg We readevery letter received but we can only publish a few each month We

reserve the right to edit your letter for length clarity style punctuation grammar libel and taste We regret that all submissions cannot be

published Also the publishers of QCWA assume no responsibility forstatements made by correspondents

The Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc was founded December 5 1947 as a non-

commercial association of radio amateurs organized for the promotionof interest in Amateur Radio commu-nication and experimentation for theestablishment and advancement of

the radio art and of the public welfare

QCWA is NY non-profit corporationqualified as a tax exempt organiza-

tion pursuant to 26 USCsect501(c)(3)(IRS) which allows donors to deducttheir contributions for tax purposes

Its affairs are governed by a Presi-dent Vice President Secretary

Treasurer and a Board of Directorswhose voting members are elected

every three years by the generalmembership

In order to qualify for membership inQCWA one must have demonstrableproof of having been first licensed asan Amateur Radio operator at least

25 years prior to application for membership and must be currently licensed Membership inquiries andgeneral correspondence should beaddressed to the Office Manager

Membership applications andor renewals should be filed on line ormailed with your payment to the

business office Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc Roberta Cohen WA2FRW

1972 Martina Street Apopka FL 32703

E-Mail omqcwaorg

QCWA Vision StatementThe Quarter Century Wireless

Association Inc celebrates AmateurRadio operators achieving 25 years in

Amateur Radio and develops resources toassist young Amateur Radio operators infurthering their education through the

QCWA Scholarship Program

QSO With QCWA

6 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Ive been looking for that new HT just out You know the one Its the all bandall mode self-contained battery 1000-watt shirt pocket selling for $2550 andmanufactured by that new Amateur Radio company April F Ool If you knowwho is selling them please let me know - Submitted by Avery Finn KOslashhLA

Just finished reading the February 2020 Journal Just wanted to send a quicknote to tell you how much I enjoyed the two articles by George J Misic KE8RNBoth brought back some great memories and itrsquos always interesting to readabout the history of Amateur Radio equipment and technology Please passalong my appreciation to George for the great articles - Submitted by AlanSines W3AL

turned out to be far too little too late to prevent the unfolding disasterWith more and more magnetic modulation being applied to the Earthrsquos

magnetic field it was soon discovered that the entire field was becomingunstable Mariners and aviators were the first to notice this trend as theirmagnetic compasses began to quiver and sometimes even gyrate wildlywith the onslaught of MAGIC signals

It was then that the Interpolated Trial Users (ITU) an international bodyformed under the auspices of the Underlying Navigators (UN) took controlof the situation The ITU with the backing of the UN quickly moved to solvethe navigational problems by banning virtually all MAGIC communicationsEven this action was too little and too late to prevent a noticeable and trou-bling shift in the Earthrsquos magnetic field Ever since that time it seems thatthe Earthrsquos magnetic north pole has continued shifting Real news articlesverify this among others

httpswwwnytimescom20190207opinionnorth-pole-gpshtmlbullhttpswwwsciencealertcomnavigation-systems-finally-caught-up-bullwith-the-mysteriously-north-pole-shift

So sadly as of this writing all MAGIC operation has been shut downAs the song says ldquoThe MAGIC is Gonerdquo - Submitted by Paul WalcottWD8h QCWA Life Member 21248

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 7: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

7 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

( Items shown are not to scale and may differ slightly from photos)

Log into the Members Only webpage and click Member Supplies for informationhttpswwwqcwaorgmembersloginphp

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 8: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

8

STANDING COMMITTEE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTUREEffective January 19 2018

Administration amp Finance CommitteeChair Mark Wintersole W5NZ

Chapter amp Member Relations CommitteeChair Pete Varounis NL7XM

Publications amp Publicity CommitteeChair Howard Cunningham Jr WD5DBC

Scholarship CommitteeChair Glen Reid K5FX

Youth Activities CommitteeChair Carole Perry WB2MGP

All Silent Keys Recent Silent Keys and New Memberslistings are now available on the Members Only web page

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Most of the old-line USA manufacturers went out of business in the 1970s or 1980s Radio Manufacturing Engineers[RME] ran into trouble earlier than Hallicrafters National or Hammarlund they vanished in about 1963 RME startedin the amateur radio and ShortWave Listener [SWL] business in 1932 about the same time Bill Halligan started Hal-licrafters and well after both National and Hammarlund got started in business about 1915

RMErsquos first receiver was the model 9 in 1932 The model 9 was a single conversion superheterodyne that includedbandspread tuning Automatic Gain Control [AGC] a signal strength meter a Beat Frequency Oscillator [BFO] forCW reception and general coverage tuning as well as amateur radio bandspread The model 9 was one of the mostadvanced receivers when it was introduced it sold very well requiring RME to move to larger facilities to keep upwith the demand for the model 9

RME followed the model 9 and later model 9D with the quite popular model 69 first introduced in 1935 and availableuntil sometime in 1940 The model 69 covered 550 kHz to 315 MHz in six bands with bandspread on all bands Thereceiver provided a BFO S-Meter one crystal filter in the 465 kHz Intermediate Frequency [IF] AGC bandspreada built-in speaker and a frac14 inch headphone jack For the most part the receiver used tubes using a top cap for oneconnection usually the control grid A type 80 served as the rectifier tube and a type 42 as the audio output tubeMany model 69s were made with no function marked on the various front panel controls a most unusual move forthe manufacturer to take RME claimed that experienced radio users would know what the controls did without thembeing marked This was a dumb idea to do

RME went through the WWII era supplying the federal government with radio equipment to use in the war noneof the RME models were adopted by any unit of the US military as happened with products from Collins HallicraftersHammarlund and National RME picked up many contracts to build equipment to print often it was designed bysome other company

RME merged with Electrovoice the microphone company in 1953 this did not seem to make much sense asRME built essentially no transmitters that could use microphones in 1953 Later RME was sold to GC Electronicsin 1962 which was a division of Textron They disappeared completely soon after

RME introduced new models after WWII including the models 43 45 50 79 and 84 all were decent performersbut none had breakthrough technology like the Collins 75A-1 75A-3 75A-4 75S-1 51S-1 Hallicrafters S-76 Na-tional HRO-500 Drake 1-A and 2-B Starting in the mid-1950s RME introduced a few ham band only receivers start-ing with the model 4300 in 1955 the 4300 was smaller lighter at 28 pounds and ready for SSB use with the optional4301 SSB adapter that provided a product detector and Automatic Gain Control [AGC] that operated on SSB and

RME was the first of the old-line manufacturers to disappear

Continued on Page 19

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 9: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

9 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

ATTENTION QCWA Chapter Report Guidelines Please send the reports to Journalqcwaorg to arriveNO LATER than the first of each month to appear in the following month Reports received later than thedeadline may not be published in the Journal When taking photos group together those receiving awardsrather than individual photos Those can always be posted on a Chapter webpage Also please send allphotos as a JPEG file attached to the email Please DO NOT put photos in the Word document ONLY Doingso may result in your photos not being used We do NOT guarantee that all photos submitted will be usedWhen a Chapter report is submitted include the Chapter number in the title and then the subject line ofyour email and with any photos submitted Reports should be NO MORE than 750 words and the maximumnumber of photos is 2 Donrsquot forget to send us photo CAPTIONS Preferred formats are Word (doc) rtf orplain text Photos attached should be a minimum of 4 inches wide 300 dpi color (preferred) or grayscaleLarger is fine and JPG GIF or TIF formats are best For a list of all the QCWA Chapters check out theChapter by Numbers page on the website

Chapter 5 Delaware Valley (PA)

On Saturday Feb 15 the 2020 season for Chapter 5 began with a meeting at OttosBrauhaus German Restaurant The attendees included about half of Chapter 5 QCWA

members and about half of the Friends of Chapter 5 Membership dues for year 2020are $10 and a variety of programs was discussed at this meeting Chapter 5 is again holding two Radio Days We will jointly work with the Penn Wireless As-

sociation (PWA) radio club in continuing to grow this event We started out as a QRP day buthave now allowed operators to work up to 25-30 watts In October 2019 we were able to QSO

with the California QSO Party participants and all of the working ops made multiple QSOs withvarious ops in the Golden State We are set to do the same this October and will hope to add a third

local radio club to the eventAnother project in cooperation with the PWA club is working with a local Cub Scout pack to bring

knowledge of radio communications to the scouts More information will be provided as the details are fi-nalized A large Hamfest will be held on the first Sunday in May and Chapter 5 will have a table at this Hamfest

seeking hams licensed for 25 year or more for membership in Chapter 5 We have gained several new folks buta couple have no emails with which we can keep them abreast of our Chapters activities We will try landline andsnail mail as options for these folks

Chapter 5 is looking at possible programs in the future to help folks become amateur radio operators and severalmembers have expressed the willingness to teach the courses needed for folks to secure their ticket - Submittedby Bob Seyfarth N2LEC Secretary

Chapter 8 Upper Midwest (MN)

As does happen in the Great White North from time to time the Chapter meeting of January 18 2020 was cancelleddue to a blizzard Remember we are looking for nominations for President and Treasurer Please contact the boardwith any nominations for the May elections

Next are the hamfests coming up The St Cloud Cabin Fever Reliever will be February 15th and Buffalo HamfestMidwinter Madness will be March 21st This is in conflict with our next membership meeting also March 21st Lookfor a coming announcement on this

Last remember our net on 3908 kHz at 8 AM Central time on every Saturday Also check the chapter website athttpswwwqcwaorgqcwa008chapter008php - Submitted by Dan Franz WD0GUP Secretary

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 10: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

10

CHAPTER reportsChapter 19 Missouri (MO)

A number of Chapter 19 members found an excuse to head to Florida to attend HamCation The WX was perfectand a number of impromptu face-to-face discussions were held with Hams who have only talked to each other onthe air We were able to talk at length with our fearless leader from the Great White North Key topics discussedthat are applicable to each QCWA member are retaining existing members after their current membership expiresand signing up newly eligible Hams

When in the area stop by for lunch and spirited conversation on the second Saturday of each month at noon atDuffyrsquos Grill and Bar in Kirkwood MO (a St Louis suburb) - Submitted by Roger Volk K0GOB President

Chapter 32 Gator (FL)

We had a nice lunch at the Acropol Family Restaurant John K3RGBand I were the only ones in attendance Wersquoll try a new location nextmonth that is more accessible to the interstate system This might make

it easier for people to attend We willtry meeting at the Village Inn 91074th Street St Petersburg FL 33702next month on the 4th Saturday(March 28th) at 1130 AM

We had a great time at Orlando HamCation The Orlando ARC and Ham-Cation Committee really did a great job this year The crowds and parkingwere handled very smoothly There were plenty of food vendors and placesto sit down Ken Oelke VE6AFO gave a nice presentation at the QCWAForum during HamCation - Submitted by Jake Eckardt N3FU

Chapter 53 Suncoast (FL)

President Don Watson K9DDO welcomed 23 Chapter 53 members spouses and visitors at our 03 Februarylunch and meeting All was positive regarding the January meeting minutes and the Treasurers Report

Chapter Correspondence was given some prominence describing how the secretary engaged in email messageswith and received a phone call from QCWA President Ken Oelke VE6AFO who offered his personal assistanceto successfully update our Chapter Annual Report Kens very kind assistance was most appreciated

The Sunshine Report had a negative tilt with the news that Doug Davidson KW4FL has been placed in the Aravillamind care facility on Proctor Road Sarasota

There was no new business so we moved to the old business Frank Wroblewski W2XYZ reminded all of thecharter bus sponsored by the Tamiami ARC to transport anyone interested in attending the Orlando HamCation on08 February

Following adjournment of the meeting guest speaker Tom McDermitt W3GXV offered a very informative programentitled ldquoThe Public Diary That You Didnrsquot Know You Hadrdquo which clearly illustrated how smart phone and similar de-vices provide tracking information on the ownersrsquo movements even when they are turned off

Any QCWA members visiting the Florida Suncoast are more than welcome to join with us and partake of our fel-lowship and good humor From October through May we get together around 11 AM thefirst Monday of those months at Dennys 3701 Bee Ridge Road Sarasota FL Pleasecontact our president Don Watson K9DDO via k9ddocomcastnet for further informa-tion - Submitted by Jack Sproat W4JS Secretary

Chapter 62 Ocala (FL)

Ocala Florida Chapter 62 met on February 27 at the China Lee Buffet in Ocala Themain theme of the meeting was the presentation of awards After being presented with

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Jake N3FU and John K3RGB at Chapter32 Tampa Bay Area Gators Lunch

Ken Oelke VE6AFO at the QCWAForum - Orlando Hamcation 2020

Leon Couch K4GWQ re-ceives 65 year certificatefrom Ken Simpson W8EK

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 11: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

11 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

their awards each recipient talked about some of the things that had taken place sincethey had become a ham

Ken Simpson W8EK National Director and Chapter President presented awards asfollows Century Award to Rhyne Killian KA1CX 65 year Award to Leon CouchK4GWQ 65 year Award to Charles Lukas W1DOH 65 year Award to Dick SchauerW8DYV Not present to receive awards was 60 year to Vincent McKever N6OA and55 year to Sonny Eisenberg W4HXQ

The next meeting of Chapter 62 will be held on Thursday April 23 at 1230 PM at theChina Lee Buffet on East Silver Springs Boulevard Chapter 62 also holds a net everySaturday morning at 9 AM local time on 3940 kHz All are welcome - Submitted byKen Simpson W8EK President

Chapter 64 El Paso (TX)

Greetings from Chapter 64 in El Paso Texas and southern New Mexico Dur-ing our February meeting new chapter life member Paul N5FAZ was recog-nized and his Chapter Life Membership certificate was presented by chapterpresident Larry WB8LBZ Including Paul this makes a total of 50 life member-ships in Chapter 64 Welcome Paul

We are sad to report another member of our Chapter 64 family has passedon Liz Holt devoted companion for past Chapter 64 president Bob K5HRIdied this month We will miss Liz with her cheerful personality and devotion toBob and our chapter

Chapter SecretaryTreasurer Rick W5PIE presented a short history lessonon how the QCWA came about in 1947 and how Chapter 64 was a result of ahandful of hams in El Paso interested in becoming a chapter in July of 1973Their work resulted in our charter being issued in August of that year signed by

Barry Goldwater K7UGA and presented by Barney W5CJZ president of Chapter 41 in Dallas Texas Our firstpresident was Noel WB5FHW and SecretaryTreasurer Milly W5OVH Directors were Howard W5RO TexW5BQU Clyde W5NB and Bob W5RAF In 1996 W5RO become our station call sign in honor of Howard BrokateW5RO (SK) We believe it is important to remember from time to time our chapter history and the hams that workedto make it a reality

Our chapter has a regular monthly luncheon meeting on the third Saturday of each month at 11 AM local time atthe Golden Corral located near the intersection of the North-South Freeway (US 54 South) and Transmountain Road(Woodrow Bean) next to the Wal-Mart store in Northeast El Paso

We also enjoy a weekly net on Saturdays at 0830 local mountain time on 3933 kHz Net control operators varyusing our chapter station call W5RO Out-of-town check-ins are especially welcome

To all of our members and hams stay safe and enjoy amateur radio - Submitted by Rick Rumbaugh W5PIEChapter Director

Chapter 65 Niagara Frontier (NY)

This month QCWA Chapter 65 moved its monthly meeting to BobEvans Restaurant in West Amherst New York The change of venuewas due to a more central location and logistics of the previousrestaurant Several members will continue searching for a hosting fa-cility which can accommodate our group We may have to changethe day or time along with the location for our luncheons Besidesour normal radio discussions ideas for programs of ldquoShow and Tellrdquoat our meetings were talked about Some amateurs volunteered tobring in their projects including AllStar and Software Defined Radiodongles One of our members is involved with reading to the visually

CHAPTER reports

Chapter president Larry WB8LBZleft presents Paul N5FAZ with theChapter Life Membership certificate50

National Director and Chap-ter President Ken SimpsonW8EK presents CenturyAward to Rhyne KillianKA1CX

Those who attended this meeting from left toright clockwise were Steve W0LUB JimW2IMY Bill WB2AIV Jim WB2JFP PeterK2RSK Bob K2CRR Bill AA2AR LarryWA2ARA Ron WA2WWK Paul WA2VTI andArvela W0LUB-XYL

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 12: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

impaired and he will be discussing his projectOne member is trying to locate any information regarding FM SCA transmission since he is repairing radio receivers

(pro bono) for Western New York Reading to The Visually Impaired Many years ago these SCA transmissions werefor subscription services ie background music in stores and multi-lingual broadcasts The general public was notallowed to monitor these services Today these services have moved to satellites leaving only educational serviceslike reading to the blind Unfortunately because of this there is minimal info to assist in these repairs - Submittedby Ron Gilson WA2WWK

Chapter 70 Ottawa (Ontario Canada)

Our first quarterly meeting for the new decade was a luncheon affair again conducted atKS on the Keys Restaurant located in south central Ottawa In spite of the cold and blusteryweather conditions 24 of our hardy members several accompanied with their XYLs bravedthe elements to attend

This meeting was conducted on a sad note at the loss of one of the Chapterrsquos most promi-nent radio amateurs Doug Leach VE3XK who passed away suddenly on January 15th atthe age of 81 Doug was a very accomplished fellow and active radio amateur in the Ottawaarea since his retirement in 1995 In recent years he had served as the Chapterrsquos archivistand keeper of our web site A special tribute to Doug was given at the meeting by RalphCameron VE3BBM who knew Doug well from their student days while attending the Ry-erson Institute of Technology in Toronto in the late 1950s Both were teenage hams and members of the ldquoRyehamrdquo

Amateur Radio Club at college Ralph highlighted their career to-gether in the electronic instrumentation sales business and notedDougrsquos mastery of administration and organization his passion formotor sailing in the in the Intracoastal Waterways of the eastern USand his serving on the executive of Radio Amateurs of Canada in theformative years of the organization Doug was a regular at the Chap-terrsquos Tuesday morning breakfast gatherings at the Summerhayesrestaurant where he always sat at the table in a particular seat by thewindow We will be continually reminded of Doug when we go thereand see his empty chair

On an upbeat note we were entertained at our February meetingby a wonderful presentation from our Chapter treasurer Bryan Rawl-

ings VE3QN who provided one of his usual well produced picture shows with detailed commentary this time abouthis travels to Sharm El Sheikh Egypt where he went in November as part of the 29 member Canadian delegationto attend and participate in the proceedings of the World Radiocommunication Conference on matters of interest tothe amateur radio service

There Bryan conferred and worked with other radio amateur team members representing the IARU most notablyTim Ellam VE6SH IARU President Ole Garpestad LA2RR IARU Vice President and Dave Sumner K1ZZ IARUSecretary Just before and just after the WRC Bryan and his wife Louise took the opportunity to visit the ancienthistoric sites of Petra Jordan and Abu Simbel Egypt which Bryan also included and told about in his picture pres-entation

In our November Journal Report we mentioned that John VE3ZOV had stepped down from his position at thehelm of the Chapter We are now happy to report our long time Chapter member David Parks VE3AV has acceptedthe position of president of Chapter 70 and this was confirmed by a unanimous vote of the membership at the Feb-ruary meeting - Submitted by Norm Rashleigh VE3LC Secretary

Chapter 85 Ark-La-Tex (LA)

The Annual Christmas Hamfest sponsored by the Minden Amateur Radio Association (MARA) was held on De-cember 21 2019 at the Civic Center in Minden Louisiana Thirteen Chapter 85 members were in attendance aswell as several QCWA members from other chapters Congratulations to MARA for another successful hamfest

12

CHAPTER reports

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Doug Leach VE3XK SKat age 81

Bryan Rawlings VE3QN giving his presenta-tion on WRC 2019

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 13: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

13 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

CHAPTER reportsRonnie Hull W5SUM is the newest member of Chapter 85 Ronnie was first

licensed as WN5AIA in 1969 Ronnie runs a classic radio station with a numberof classic boat anchors in his shack He runs AM SSB and CW We welcomeRonnie to Chapter 85

The chapter held its first quarterly meeting of 2020 on January 31 at the CatfishKing Restaurant in Bossier City Louisiana Current Chapter officers are Presi-dent Jim Howard K5TC Vice President Mike McCrary WB5LJQ and Secre-taryTreasurer John Stewart AA5KV Members of the Board of Directors includethe officers of the club plus two elected members they are John Beck KB5LEand Marilyn McCrary W5ADM - Submitted by John Stewart AA5KV Secre-taryTreasurer

Chapter 91 Vic Clark (DC)

Guess what You too can 4NEC2 And so can many of us in Vic Clark Chapter 91 This is because Lee GarlockKD4RE showed us the way at our February meeting We learned that there are many ways to model antennas de-pending on the results you want and the size of the antenna relative to a wavelength However if your antenna isnot large relative to its wavelength (as most HF VHF and UHF antennas are) you can use techniques that involvesolutions to Maxwellrsquos equations (Electromagnetic Computational Codes)

Best known is the Method of Moments Codes used in most versions of NEC (NEC2 NEC3 NEC4 WLNEC SU-PERNEC MiniNEC and MMANA-GAL) We explored 4NEC2 as presented by Lee The software is available freeas a download from httpwwwqslnet4NEC2 which makes it easy for use and experimentation A plethora of in-formation on using NEC can be found by searching the internet

It 4NEC2 has some advanced features not found in other NEC codes such as the ability to use variables forvalues to facilitate optimization of the antenna When you download the program you will get hundreds of antennadesign files Most implementations are really three programs A pre-processor program that builds the model whereyou enter the geometry and commands the actual NEC computation engine written in FORTRAN for NEC2 andNEC4 that writes the text output file and post-processors that read the output file and plot the data as well as performpost-process computations such as scaling results for the power level into the antenna However 4NEC2 and othershave tightly integrated the modeling program so that the executable program and the post-processor appear as oneprogram to the user 4NEC2 lets you interactively enter most commands for generating output files

Following Leersquos lecture on the basics of 4NEC2 interested club members tried out an interactive demo of the pro-gramrsquos antenna modeling features Some of the time the results could be a bit anticipated Some test configurationsbrought forth very surprising results Even if you buy ready made and cut antennas from commercial vendors ratherthan build your own you will find it worthwhile to download the program and enter your known variables I did andwas surprised at the results Give it a try ndash You too can 4NEC2

For our March meeting the members will participate individually or with their local ham club in the Virginia QSOParty Therefore Chapter 91 will not have a report of the March meeting - Submitted by Tim Donovan W4CLK

Chapter 134 Pine Tree (ME)

If you are in Maine the weekend of 10 to 11 April join the Maine Pine Tree Chapter of QCWA at the Andy Hamfestheld at the Ramada Convention Center at 490 Pleasant St Lewiston Me Also the Maine State ARRL Conventionruns from 7 PM Friday to noon Saturday and ends with door prizes VE sessions will follow the convention at 1230PM Saturday

We also hold our weekly net Sundays at 2 PM local on 3942 kHz Whether you are a QCWA member or not joinus for friendly conversation - Submitted by Larry Banks W1DYJ

Chapter 151 Wild Rose (Alberta Canada)

QCWA Wild Rose Chapter 151 will hold its Spring Luncheon on Thursday April 23 at the Dennys Restaurant lo-cated at 1804 19 St NE Calgary Bring a guest or a spouse and enjoy a time of socializing a short business meeting

Chapter 85 President Jim HowardK5TC at the MARA Hamfest

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 14: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

14 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

CHAPTER reportsand fascinating presentation Rag-chewing begins at 930 AM and the formal meeting and presentation begins at1030

This luncheons presentation is entitled ldquoCommunications and Life at Macquarie Island 1901 to the Presentrdquo andwill be given by David James VA7VKVK3IA Macquarie Island is an Australian remote research station located inthe southern Pacific Ocean about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica The presentation will focus onAntarctic exploration the first wireless telegraphy in Antarctica communications during the Intrepid Era naturalhistory and scientific programs Were confident that David will also talk about operating DX from a rare locationWe look forward to seeing you there - Submitted by Mitch Goodjohn VE6SM Secretary

Chapter 228 Mount Diablo (CA)

Mount Diablo Chapter 228 started the new decade on January 18 when it held its first meeting of the year Presentwere Ron Luttringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Jay Caldis KT6Y K6XC proudlyannounced that Chapter 228 contributed $1240 to the QCWA Scholarship fund in 2019 Ron suggested existingmembers bring a guest to meetings to help grow the membership W6REQ is arranging a tour of the California His-torical Radio Societyrsquos museum in Alameda California

Chapter 228 held its February meeting on President George Washingtonrsquos actual birthday Present were Ron Lut-tringer K6XC Dick Schulze AA6DL Art Lieberman W6REQ and Matthew G Vurek N4DLA

K6XC and N4DLA exchanged QSLs for a 10-meter CW QSO they made earlier in the week N4DLA said he wason his way to finally earning the ARRL ldquoWorked All Statesrdquo award on 10 meters but is aware that he needs to makeanother 49 QSOshellipin the rest of the United States Matthew also brought his ailing Grundig YB-400PE ldquoYacht Boyrdquoportable AMSSBFM receiver for diagnosis and repair suggestions W6REQ thought N4DLA had a chance for suc-cess as long as Matthew could figure out how to disassemble the cabinet On the transmitter side of things Artbrought a 250-watt RF amplifier circuit board from a local AM broadcast band transmitter it is one of 48 that comprisethe final amplifier system

Ailing Grundig notwithstanding N4DLA boasted about his exploits during his portable operation for ldquoWinter FieldDayrdquo on January 25 Matthew claimed the 20m and 40m bands sounded as busy as the traditional ARRL Field Dayheld each June He is hoping to convince his other clubs to participate next year Dry and unseasonably warmweather at his hilltop portable QTH was very appreciated although lack of a nearby bathroom was not

Vicki N6KLS was at her ldquoantenna ranchrdquo in Arizona and could not attend but did send a photo of a felt Christmastree she handmade If demand warrants she can make more to sell and donate the money to the QCWA ScholarshipFund

Meetings are held on the Fourth Saturday of the month at 1030 AM at Legendrsquos Restaurant at the Diablo CreekCountry Club 4050 Port Chicago Highway Concord California All are welcome to join us - Submitted by MatthewG Vurek N4DLA

Chapter 230 Cahaba (AL)

Chapter 230 held its monthly meeting on February 18 2020 at Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill in Trussville AlabamaA topic of discussion was planning for the QCWA booth that the Cahaba Chapter will sponsor at the BirminghamHamfest March 6-7 2020

Several members of the chapter are active supporters of the Pinson Valley High School Amateur Radio Club anda presentation of the schoolrsquos participation in the February School Club Round Up was presented to the membersThe next meeting will be on March 17 2020 at PVHS whose culinary department will prepare a meal for the mem-bers - Submitted by Ken Moore AB4WL

The Signal One CX-7 complete station with Nixie Tube frequency readoutSignal One starts in business in 1968

Richard Ehrhorn at the time W4ETO and Don Fowler W4YET began the Signal One Corporation as a division ofElectronic Computer International a part of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton Ohio Signal One liketheir later RF amplifier company Ehrhorn Technological Operations was started in Brooksville Florida near SaintPetersburg in 1968 The Signal One design heavily used RCA semiconductors and an RCA tetrode final amplifier

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 15: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

15 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

tube type 8072 which was related to the forced air cooled 8122 and 8121 The 8122 was used in other well-knownamateur radio gear from National and Hallicrafters the National NCX-1000 and NCL-2000 and the Hallicrafters SR-2000 all used the 8122 Signal One went on to other locations including New Jersey and California

Overview of the Signal One CX-7 from 1969-1970The Signal One CX-7 all-in-one transceiver had most common accessories used with a transceiver in a well-

equipped amateur radio station built in the only commonly used accessories missing from the Signal One was alinear amplifier and an antenna tuner as these devices would probably not fit into the CX-7 The Signal One wasfirst advertised in QST in 1969 which means the ARRL had received a fully functional unit that met all terms of theadvertisement At the time of the first QST ad the CX-7 sold for $1595 most initial units were actually delivered in1970 From 1968 I worked part time in the amateur radio department of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Pioneer be-came a Signal One [and Ten-Tec] dealer so I had experience with the start of Signal One We had one serious hamorder a Signal One CX-7 it took nearly a year for Signal One to deliver the first unit

The Signal One operated on 160 8075 40 20 15 and 10 meters plus three optional 10 MHz wide bands couldbe added by supplying optional crystals the ranges are 20-40 MHz 40-70 MHz and 80 to 180 MHz The CX-7was too early for the WARC bands so it does not cover them but some WARC coverage can be added The SignalOne runs 300 watts Peak Envelope Power [PEP] on SSB and CW a speaker was included in the radio as was anAC power supply operating from 120 or 240 VAC Built-in speakers and power supplies were also seen in the NationalNCX-1000 in 1969 and the Collins KWM-380 from 1978 Built-in power supplies and speakers remained fairly rarefor USA made gear but many products from Kenwood Yaesu and Icom had both internally included

Signal One was initially located near Saint Petersburg Florida and was a part of Electronic Computer Internationalmanufacturing company involved in military and government communications which was owned by National CashRegister Company Initially I think the developers of the Signal One CX-7 thought it had a big future in governmentand military service but that aspect of the CX-7s appeal apparently did not pan out as it did later for Collins RadioCompany with the HF-380 version of their very high end KWM-380 Signal One relocated several times before beingsold to Payne Radio about 1975

The CX-7 was upgraded a number of times it became the CX-7A and then the CX-7B Later it became the CX-11and came with seven segment LED readout devices designed into the frequency counter The CX-11 version at firstcost $260000 and rose to $590000 It was distributed by Payne Radio in September 1974 but they did not yetown the Signal One Company as they later did

The Signal One CX-7 had many built-in accessories they include a CW keyer variable from 5 to 60 words perminute full break-in CW operation a transmit speech compressor to increase talk power broadband no tune-uptransmitter operation into a low VSWR antenna and for receive operation a noise blanker passband tuning IF shiftdigital frequency readout and the ability to receive on two different frequencies in the same band at the same timevia the use of two internal VFOs

Two VFOs for split frequency operation and dual receiveThe first major innovation in the Signal One was the use of two VFO assemblies The use of two VFOs gave the

CX-7 the ability to receive and transmit on two different frequencies in the same band or to transceive on one fre-quency using only one VFO The VFOs each covered a full 10 MHz so 10 meters was the only band covered wherethe two VFOs could not reach any part of the band The two VFOs can also be used to receive two different spotsin the same band In the dual receive mode the ratio of RF gain between the two receive signals could be adjustedso one signal would not override the other

IFs used and filters for the CX-7The Signal One CX-7 up-converted the covered bands to 390 to 400 MHz an early example of amateur radio up

conversion The final Intermediate Frequency [IF] was 88 MHz which I believe was unique to the CX-7 and its laterversions The radio was supplied with a crystal lattice filter at 88 MHz optimized for Single SideBand [SSB] signalswith a bandwidth of 22 kHz Also available were two filters for CW use a lower cost 400 Hz wide filter and a premium300 Hz filter with a better shape factor for rejecting strong off frequency signals For RadioTeleTYpe [RTTY] use a1200 Hz wide filter was offered The Signal One could accommodate two additional filters in addition to the SSBfilter The filtering for SSB used 16 poles for much better off frequency rejection

Frequency counter and display in the Signal OneThe Signal One CX-7 had a precision frequency counter built in that read to 100 Hz the display read down to the

nearest 100 Hz using orange neon Nixie tube readout devices Later models of the original CX-7 used LED seven

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 16: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

16 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

segment readout devices adapted to replace the Nixie tubes Even later versions were retrofitted to use the LEDseven segment display without Nixie tube designs The display automatically read the frequency of the VFO currentlyin use Flicker of the 100 Hz digit was not an issue for the Signal One CX-7 like it was for the Heathkit SB-104 SSBtransceiver

The Nixies are quite easy to read but are essentially impossible to find new now about the only way to get a re-placement is to salvage a suitable Nixie tube from a donor piece of test equipment or an electronic calculator If pos-sible check the donor Nixie before removing it as many have logged many many hours in its previous use

The Signal One power supplyThe internal AC power supply operated from 120 VAC or 240 VAC no power supply for mobile use was included

as the CX-7 size and weight made it inappropriate for mobile service The choice of 120 or 240 VAC is made by thewiring of the detachable power cord The supply delivers 1500 VDC for the final amplifier tube plate supply 300VDC for the driver stage and the final amplifier screen 60 VDC for final amplifier grid bias 34 24 5 volts for thesolid-state stages and also +- 15 VDC Silicon power rectifier diodes are used in all rectifier locations Voltage reg-ulation employs transistor regulator circuits on all power supplies at 24 VDC or less irrespective of output polarity

The driver and final amplifier stagesThe final amplifier uses a type 8072 conduction cooled tetrode this tube was made by RCA transmitting tube di-

vision and is the conduction cooled version of the axial forced air cooled 8122 tube used in the National Radio NCL-2000 and NCX-1000 and the Halllicrafters SR-2000 Hurricane transceiver

The Transcom SBT-3 is the only other amateur transceiver besides the Signal One CX-7 I can think of that had asolid-state driver stage for a vacuum tube final The CX-7 uses two TRW RF power amplifier transistors with onedriving the other one apparently RCA did not market a suitable RF power transistor for the driver They are studmounted RF power transistors

Beryllium oxide warning for conduction cooled final amplifierThe conduction cooled final amplifier tube an RCA type 8072 dissipating 150 watts but similar to their 8122 tetrode

is attached thermally using parts made of beryllium oxide which is a deadly poison and a heat sink compound whichis nearly as hazardous Chuck Penson WA7ZZE in his excellent book about Heathkit amateur radio products titledldquo HEATHKIT a guide to the amateur radio productsrdquo has an excellent warning about beryllium oxide on pages 232and 233 in his discussion about the Heathkit SB-230 linear amplifier which also uses a conduction cooled tube inthis case the Eimac 8873 triode The Signal One uses an RCA transmitting tube type 8072 it is a derivative of theirtype 8122 and 8121 axially forced air-cooled tube which has 400 and 150 watts of plate dissipation respectively

Broadband RF power amplifier tuningThe final amplifier may be manually tuned for use with antennas having a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR]

above 151 If the VSWR is below 151 a broadband mode which requires no operator tuning can be used Thebroadband tuning for vacuum tube electronics was first seen on the mid 1950s Central Electronics vacuum tube100V and 200V SSB transmitters using 6550 vacuum tubes mostly used today for high quality audio applicationsand the 600L linear amplifier employing a type 813 transmitting tube

The transceiver circuitry uses many analog ICsAnalog Integrated Circuits made by RCA are used in many places in the receiver and transmitter circuitry of the

Signal One The RCA CA3028A and CA3053 linear ICs are used in many locations I suspect getting replacementstoday is not an easy task since RCA is no longer in business - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

MY ROAD TO hAM RADIOEvery ham has his own personal story of his quest for an amateur radio license For those who are fortunate

enough to already have a ham in the family things can go fast and smoothly in attaining a ticket But for those of uswho were on our own the road could sometimes be a rocky one This is my story

IN ThE BEGINNINGBack in the early 1940s my father subscribed to Popular Mechanics magazine In those days between the feature

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 17: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

17 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

articles and the ads in the back of the magazine there was usually a page or two devoted to something electricalor electronic They usually concerned themselves with things like audio amplifiers home intercom systems powersupplies and the like But one issue featured a write up on amateur radio and in it was a photograph I will neverforget It showed a man seated at a desk looking at stacks of equipment containing dials knobs and meters andbeside him was a window Through the window one could see the top of a tower on which sat a beam antenna Iasked my father what that was all about He explained that the man was an amateur radio operator called a hameach of whom had their own private radio station and talked to other hams all over the world I told him that when Igrew up I wanted to be a ham radio operator He told me it wasnt easy to become one

DAD LIVES VICARIOUSLYWhen he was a young man my father had an interest in the budding science of electricity and radio communica-

tions I have several of his old books which date from the 1920s and have such titles as Practical Electricity (circa1920) Wireless Valve Transmitters (circa 1925) and Practical Wireless Telegraphy (circa 1921) He said that if itwere not for the Morse code requirement he would have become an amateur radio operator So he had more thana passing interest in my getting licensed

ThEORY AND NUTS AND BOLTSIn my second year of high school a classmate had an ARRL Handbook for sale for $100 I bought it I read it cover

to cover including all the ads in the back I didnt get much out of it So I read it over again again and again Witheach reading it made more sense So I bought the ARRL License Manual And while looking over the QampA for theNovice and General class exams I found that I could answer almost all the questions correctly I did learn somethingwith those repeated readings of the Radio Handbook Around this time I was getting interested in shortwave listeningand asked my father to buy me a shortwave receiver which he did That radio was a Hallicrafters SX-62

TIME TO MEET MISTER MORSEI had learned the Morse code from the Boy Scout Manual The letter A was dot-dash B was dash-dot-dot-dot C

was dash-dot-dash-dot I knew the code alright So I tuned my SX-62 to the 80 Meter Novice band and got readyto copy I got a few letters here and there but could not understand what was being said It quickly became obviousthat learning the code from a book was not the way to learn It had to be learned by ear I was discouraged

ELMERMy father was a creature of habit He always went to the same auto service station for gas and car maintenance

It was the local ESSO station The manager Nick Esposito and my father were about the same age and got alongvery well together One day my father mentioned to him the trouble I was having with learning Morse code As itturned out Nick was a ham W2DVK and offered to give me code lessons once a week in his basement shackGreat So for several months one night a week I sat in Nicks basement and learned the code the right way by ear

641 WAShINGTON STREET ROOM 741That was where in lower Manhattan I found myself seated one spring morning taking the Novice and Technician

class tests I passed both There was an FCC backlog in the spring of 1953 and the licenses didnrsquot arrive for twomonths But finally there they were I was now officially KN2DDK and K2DDK

PROUD DADMy father could not have been happier He brought me down to lower Manhattans Radio Row to Harrison Radio

and treated me to a real ham receiver a used Collins 75A-1 I could then listen in on the ham bands in style Wecould not find a suitable transmitter there but my father had heard of an upstart transmitter manufacturer in Brooklyncalled Sonar There he purchased an SRT-120P for me

ON ThE AIRMy shack was on the second floor I strung a wire about 30 odd feet to the back of the garage and back up again

to the shack keeping the two strands about 6 inches apart It was a down sloping frac14 wave 40 Meter affair My firstcontact was with a Novice in MD My first DX contact resulted from one of my CQs and was answered by WP4VHin Puerto Rico That was the first of what would eventually become 351 countries and DXCC Honor Roll in 2001

TAG ENDThe purpose in writing this article was to encourage radio clubs to institute a lsquoonce a monthrsquo How I became a

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 18: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

18 Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

Continued from Page 2Technical summary of the Collins KWM-380

Frequency coverage and tuning the KWM-380 As delivered the KWM-380 will only transmit on the amateurradio bands from 160 to 10 meters but Collins manufactured a version of the radio for government and military serv-ice called the HF-380 it can transmit anywhere from 160 to 300 MHz with the full 100 watts of RF output powerinto a good 50 ohm load The unit will receive from 05 to 300 MHz with reduced performance from 05 to 16 MHzwhich is the AM broadcast band The KWM-380 is frequency synthesized to establish the operating frequency twoindependent frequencies can be selected one for the receive mode and a second for the transmit mode to enableworking of DX stations that operate outside of the US phone band The tuning rate can be selected from 10 Hz stepsup to one MHz in steps of ten times [10 Hz 100Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz 10 MHz] The frequency synthesizeris accurate to within 5 Hz of the frequency set drift is essentially zero An accessory keypad is available to enter adesired frequency the keypad is very convenient to use

The receiver comes with a 22 kHz bandwidth SSB filter and a bandwidth of 80 kHz without the benefit of a filterother than one four pole filter built in as part of the circuitry in the first IF this is the bandwidth with no 455 kHz filterin use which should work well for broad reception of AM signals The KWM-380 allows the installation of up to threeoptional filters of the four available The first intermediate frequency [IF] used in the KWM-380 is 39145 MHz andthe second IF is 455 kHz Up-conversion was not commonly used when the KWM-380 came on to the market in1979 it is much more commonly used in ham gear now The Signal One CX-7 deluxe transceiver was the first am-ateur radio product with the up-conversion concept that I am aware of in 1969 A frequency of 6255 MHz is usedas the shuttle frequency for the passband tuning feature The KWM-380 like most other Collins equipment featuresboth a product detector for SSB and CW and an equivalent diode detector for AM reception The following extra cost optional IF crystal lattice were available for the KWM-380

AC-3813 60 kHz wide AM receive bandwidth filterAC-3812 1700 Hz RTTY filterAC-3811 500 Hz CW filter [wide]AC-3810 250 Hz CW filter [narrow]

100 watts of nominal power is available everywhere the transmitter operates High VSWR or long duty cycles willcause the KWM-380 to partially shut down to prevent overheating of or damage to the RF power amplifier The radiowill deliver full power into a load with a Voltage Standing Wave Ratio [VSWR] of 201 or less and automaticallyramps down the output power if the VSWR is higher Also common to many other Collins products no AM transmitcapability is provided

The unit has a frac14 inch two circuit phone jack on the front panel to insert headphones using headphones mutesthe internal speaker and the external speaker jack A 316 inch three circuit phone jack on the front panel accepts aPush To Talk [PTT] high or low impedance microphone with a PTT push-button The specific input impedance of themicrophone input is 33 K ohms low for a high impedance microphone and high for a low impedance microphoneA crystal or ceramic microphone would be inappropriate to use with the KWM-380 unless the microphone includesa built-in preamplifier to deal with the input impedance issue PTT manual transmit via a push-button or Voice Op-erated Transmit [VOX] can be used to select receive or transmit

The antenna connector is the commonly used SO-239 that mates with a popular PL-259 A frac14 inch two circuitphone jack is provided on the rear panel for an external speaker [can be used but not needed] a second similarjack is provided for a CW key or keyer The power connector is a Cinch-Jones S-406-CCT the power input can be50 or 60 Hz and voltages from 105 to 250 VAC a DC input of 120 to 150 VDC may also be used The unit maydraw up to 100 watts on receive and up to 600 watts on transmit

The unit measures 155 by 75 by 18 inches without considering the knobs connectors or rubber feet The unitweighs 50 pounds with the internal power supply and speaker The unit is tan and brown rather than the more com-mon gray or black the colors used were similar to those on the Signal One CX-7

The reviews posted on E-Ham range from the highest rating of 5 down to a 1 I am definitely in the 5 group I verymuch like the KWM-380 and am very impressed with its capabilities especially the very good general coverage re-ceiver especially when one considers that it entered the amateur radio market in 1979 I think most users will findthe Collins KWM-380 a very pleasurable radio to use I certainly do - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

Ham for their club members It is a great way for lsquoBuddy bondingrsquo Try it You just may like it - Submitted by Al PLaPlaca W2WW

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 19: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

19 QCWA Journal bull April 2020

MEMBER CLASSIFIEDSQCWA Members Place your ads here for FREE have something to sell

Looking for a part manual book etc Take advantage of your membershipand send your ad today Ads will run for 2 editions

E-mail Journalqcwaorg

Are you tired of plastic mod-ern radios that you canrsquot work

on and are hard to under-stand Are you looking for in-

formation on restoration ofquality vintage receivers andtransmitters Electric Radio isthe magazine for you In print

since May 1989 we alsohave the largest vintage-onlyHam classified section avail-able Please send $1 for a

sample copy toER PO Box 242 Bailey CO 80421

720-924-0171Email RayERmagcom

wwwERMAGcom

Communicated by Wireless 40years ago CB Military Com-

mercial or Amateur RadioJoin OOTC

Join $10 initiation One year dues US $16 Interna-

tional $18 The OLD OLD TIMERS CLUB

Phil ldquoPiprdquo Sager WB4FDT 7634 Carla Road

Baltimore MD 21208 E-mail WB4FDTgmailcomWeb site httpwwwootcus

Continued from Page 8CW greatly improving the receiverrsquos operation on SSB and CW 1957 saw the 4300 replaced by the 4350 featuringdouble conversion for much better image rejection than the single conversion 4300 in 1957 with only a $3500 in-crease in the selling price to $22900 In 1958 RME added the optional 100 kHz crystal calibrator to the model 4350making it the 4350A for $24900 about what the 4350 and the calibrator cost together

RME upgraded it to the 4350A in 1958 by adding a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and raising the selling price to$24900 The 4350A used the same accessories as the 4300 and 4350 except for the calibrator which was built inSadly the 4350A was being left behind by the added features in other receivers the biggest being the ability totransceive like the Collins S-Line in 1958 and the ability to operate well with SSB by including a product detectorand AGC that worked on both SSB and CW like the Collins 75A-4 from 1955 and Drake 1A in 1957

RMErsquos last successful receiver was their very attractive model 6900 in 1959 for $35000 The receiver had aproduct detector SSB and CW AGC a 100 kHz crystal calibrator and a low frequency 57 kHz last IF for improvedselectivity I own one of the model 6900 RME receivers it works very nicely but became dated when it had no trans-mitter to operate with in the transceive mode The Collins S-Line first featured the ability to transceive and the KWM-1 and KWM-2 transceivers pointed the way ham radio equipment would go in the future RME introduced one finalmodel before going out of business in 1963 it was the model 6902 I have never seen one and know essentiallynothing about it Very few were sold due to the availability of competing equipment with better features like the abilityto transceive or being a transceiver RME never went on to transceivers - Submitted by George J Misic KE8RN

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg

Page 20: Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc., Founded in 1947 ...Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. 1972 Martina St. Apopka, FL 32703-1558 USA ... Croft Taylor, VE3CT (SK) 2002

20

Ensure that your QCWA membership is current so you donrsquotmiss out on any of the monthly eJournals

Renew your membership by going tohttpswwwqcwaorgjoin-renew

Also new members can join QCWA by completing the sameapplication so donrsquot forget to refer a friend

Pay by Credit Card online or send a check to Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc1972 Martina St Apopka FL 32703-1558

Membership 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years Life MembershipRegular $2500 $4000 $5500 $50000Family $800 $1500 $2000 $16000

Quarter Century Wireless Association Inc

reg