February 14, 2023
A lot has happened in the last nine months. Just not a lot in the shack. As I approach the end of the first year since my dad's passing, I haven't found much solace or comfort in radio or Jeep work. I haven't done much with amateur radio other than to help a good friend build his station up and get it running. It brings me a modicum of happiness that he's taken flight with his General ticket and gone full-throttle. I'm glad he's having fun with it.
For me, I have been trying to avoid it. I have thought about downsizing my collection to just his equipment and get rid of the two Hallicrafter's radios and the Hammarlund receiver as well as the HW-101. I have become re-interested in my Commodore computers, of which I haven't seen in twenty-five years. A couple of Commodore 64s, an Amiga 500, an A2000 along with my sole surviving 1084S monitor. I seem to find comfort in these projects right now so I'll pursue them for a while. I've also begun trying to write stories again as well. I guess it's a defense mechanism to cope with the loss. It's what I have to do.
I do dabble in HF once in a while but quickly loose interest, turning back to 8 bit computing by binge-watching repair videos for hours at a time. The Jeep is running with only a front driveshaft still as the rear driveshaft bearing at the transfer case still requires replacement. The engine still runs rough and needs a new intake/exhaust manifold gasket. At this point I'm even considering selling it and putting the IC-7100 on the desk with the other one.
Even though I feel the fog of grief is lifting some, I'm just too disinterested in things and need to figure out how to break out of this funk. Maybe it'll happen after the first year, maybe not. Maybe it'll be writing stories or fixing C64s. Maybe it'll be just dabbling around with different things I've not done before. At this point I'm not sure what I'll pursue. If I do get interested in radio again or some significant event here in the shack happens, then I'll post something. For now, I'm putting this on hold instead of just ignoring it.
That's it for now. Until next time, keep the tubes warm and line taught. Something's bound to come around.
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May 28, 2023
I've made the tough decision to downsize all of my tube radio equipment. I still have a need for the test equipment but the radios have to go. All of the SB series, the HW-101 and accompanying power supply, Hammarlund HG-150, among other miscellaneous items will be put up for sale on the RARS website. As much as I loved the radios as a kid when he would operate them, I really don't have the desire or interest anymore to pursue repairs and operations.
I'll keep my IC-745 and get that fixed so it won't keep scrolling the frequency. It might not work any longer with the age of the e-caps inside but maybe I'll get it down to the bench and work on it. My Kenwood won't transmit audio but does a very nice carrier. I've moved it to SWL status and connected to my 156ft long wire. My second IC-7100 is my primary rig now and planning on obtaining another AH-4 to work the long wire with it.
Beyond that my focus has migrated away from radio towards retro-computing after finding I still had a lot of C64 and Amiga stuff. Incidentally, I never found the extra C64, cases, mobo's, BlueChip disk drive, or the keyboard for the Amiga 2000. I've repaired my wife's Amiga 500 and upgraded the video options with a Pi Zero to allow it to work on a modern monitors that can't support 15kHz horizontal frequency. Likewise I've built up a re-make of the A501 memory expansion card and all works now after locating NOS 41256-12 DRAM chips for it. Next step is to get the Amiga 2000 repaired and running again along with the 1084S monitor.
My friend Russ - N4RUS, is doing nicely with his 7300 at his QTH. Finding time often to get on the air and just try to work stations. I'm glad to have had a small part in his becoming interested in amateur radio. He's currently looking for an amp to add to his vertical antenna project. Crazy what you can do when you have the funds.
Right now I barely have enough space on the bench to work on anything larger than a medium pizza much less a tube radio. So it's cleanup time so I can get the bench put together the way I need it. I'd still like to finish building the component tracer out of the 3" Heathkit scope. The scope partially works after rebuilding it so I'm not quite sure why it's acting the way it is. But that'll have to wait for now.
So that's what has been going on in the shack this year. I have wonderful memories of my dad and hanging on to radio gear he used just emphasizes the fact he's not here to use it. It's taken the year since his passing to realize that my memories are worth more than the things he owned. It's time to move on and do other things of interest.
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May 30, 2023
All the Heathkit radio gear was sold to a fellow ham. He genuinely showed a love for the brand and the SB series in particular. I feel much better that it all went to a good home to be useful and fulfill a purpose once again instead of it sitting on my shelves waiting for me to get to them. Sadly, I likely wouldn't and looking at them deteriorate on the shelf hoping to get to them is depressing. It was hard to decide to downsize but it feels good they are in good hands.
With this, the end of my journey with Heathkit has basically ended. I do have the test gear like the TC-2, HD-1250, IT-102, IM-113, IT-28, IM-4120, OL-1, and an O-12. I have kept his HW-7 and Icom IC-745. I bought two HD-1234s a couple of years ago and have worked perfectly. So all this said I'm not dumping the brand. Just the things I won't be able to get to in the foreseeable future.
I have worked on the shack space to organize it to use as I intended originally and am liking the results so far. However, it was short lived as I began to work on making it actually be functional. Here's a before and after photo set:
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| Went from useable |
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| to this. All I wanted to do was hook up some speakers to the stereo on the top right. |
As the caption stated, I wanted to get the stereo connected finally and to do that I needed to drill a hole through the top shelf behind the far-right support at the back to get cords through. I didn't do it when the shelf was just installed as I was in a time crunch. I later got the hole saw out for the second shelf and again, interrupted. A quick cleanup later and all the Heathkit radio gear was back up. Fast forward a couple of years to today and I finally drilled that hole for the top shelf. But now it's a mess again. Ugh! Since I'm on staycation I have time to finish connecting up the stereo and speakers. I have a couple of mixers I might pick from to pipe the Alexa Dot's audio through the stereo as well as the PC at the station. I have a dedicated Kenwood SP-31 for the IC-7100 and Kenwood TS-450S/AT. BTW, the Kenwood won't modulate. Indications are that the ALC settings in the microprocessor board is corrupt and is clamping down on the modulation. It still receives great but I am unsuccessful in reprogramming the ALC. I think I'm just doing it wrong. No surprise there. It may be because I lack the correct frequency devices for the job. I haven't found anyone in my area that knows about this problem let alone that it's a programmable parameter. For now it's a great SWL rig on the 156ft Inverted-L out back.
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