GB> Flexible Flea rediscovered

[www.boatanchors.com]

>
> So, for fun, what rigs (homebrew, commercial, kits) did you folks
> desperately want way back when?

Mike,

Boy, what was with that Ameco AC-1?  I too wanted one just cuz it
looked so neat!  I never did get one, though. (If anyone has one for
sale, I might want to buy it).  Instead I built a 'clone' (just in looks
since
I didn't have the 'right' schematic) and used press-on lettering to
make it look similar.  Worked very well - it was a 6V6'er on 40.  I
currently have one like it, but in a better box that I love to use.

I also was fond of the Conar twins from the old Popular Electronics
ads.  I now have the transmitter of the pair, and will someday likely
acquire a matching receiver.

I used to sit and read old back issues of CQ to see the 'Novice Corner'
photos of rigs other kids my age used (of course, I was the 'kid' in
1974 and they were 'kids' twenty years before, but I didn't care).  I
used to imagine running all those neat rigs, or the REALLY lucky
dogs who had a ham for a Dad with an S-Line!

I ended up building that 6DQ6 transmitter you described, but mine
didn't look anything like it.  I built the tank for 40 meters only, since
I only had 1 antenna at the time.  I have a photo of it on my desk in
about 1975 or 1976 as a novice (WN7AWK) at this URL:

http://www.boatanchors.com/page70.html

But I think my all-time favorite homebrew rig setup based SOLELY on
it's appearance was the little 6SN7 regen and 6DQ6 transmitter
pictured in the 1956 How to Become a Radio Amateur.  The transmitter
was mostly the same, but had a wooden chassis and was link
coupled, and the receiver just looked so darn cool!  I loved that photo
of the station shown in a corner of a room, with a kid wearing headphones
and zillions of cool QSL's on the wall!

In retrospect, I would wonder if ANY of those cards came from QSO's
using that setup!  Someday I will build that receiver and just find out.

Take care,

Dave WB7AWK
http://www.boatanchors.com

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