Drake vs. Heathkit

[Dave]

> What I found interesting is that many of you have a deep emotional
> attachment which is perfectly understandable.  I, for one, have a deep
> attachment to the Henry Radio Tempo One which was my Novice rig back in
> the early 1970's (I'm not very old...)  The Tempo One could not hold a
> candle to the Collins KWM2, SB-102, and perhaps many other radios but it
> sure was a good, old friend to me.


Just to chime in with a 'me too' of relevance, my first serious novice setup
was a Globe Scout 680A and a Hallicrafters S-85.  It could have been
an S-line for all I knew, and I wouldn't have been happier.   I bought the
pair at a garage sale for $35 and worked much of a WAS with it.

Then when the next year I got for Christmas an already-built SB-101, which
was VASTLY superior to the other lineup, I still went back to the S85 and
Scout because it was so dear to my heart to use!   Some of those old
'basic novice' rigs just had a 'feel' to them that the more sophisticated
and far more effective rigs didn't have.  Of course, I've gone back to that
lineup a number of times and wondered just what I saw in them!  This
being after acquiring Drake B and C lines, S-line, and many other vastly
superior rigs.  But when I was a kid, it was the best there was I thought!

I still have all these rigs and put them on the air once in a while.  If ya
want to see 'em they're at http://www.boatanchors.com

Question to all - did anyone on the reflector ever use an AT-1 with an AR2
or
AR3 and actually make QSO's?  The AT-1 is very nice to use, but anyone
who could maintain a QSO on one of the AR-x receivers was a true
operator!  I'd be interested in hearing any anecdotes about that lineup.  I
have 2 AT-1's that I've had for many years (I restored and put the first on
the air in 1979 while I was still in high school - the other is the parts
rig
I used to get it going, and has since been cobbled back to a non-original
form that at least works - still just a parts rig!).

Anyone use the AT-1 / AR-2/3 lineup as a novice, and to what success??
I have one of each receivers, and neither is much use on CW it seems to me.
But I'm not a kid anymore!  My opinion would have been MUCH different
back then!

Thanks to all,

Dave WB7AWK
http://www.boatanchors.com

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