Ham Radio Corner

This page is about ham radio and some of Jim's experience and thoughts concerning various topics.

I came across some pictures of my first transmitter that I built in my last year of high school in '53 and '54 at Bragtown High School. My shop teacher, Mr Ortosky, had acquired a good bit if WWII surplus equipment and we were allowed disassemble them and obtain parts. It was a gold mine for me. I was allowed use of the upstairs of my aunt's garage as a shop and a dark room. I had obtained a copy of The Radio Amateurs Handbook and based my rig on one of the book's projects. Looking back it was a quite ambitious project; however I got it done and it worked. This was a couple of years before I got my ticket although I did hold a First Class Radio Telephone license. It is pictured below.

It used a single 813 modulated by a pair of 811's and produced around 250 Watts. The 813 glowed cherry red when modulated.

Of course, if you have a power amplifier you need an exciter. So, I built an exciter. I don't remember much about the exciter design except that it covered 80 meters and a few other bands.