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December 24-25, 2009 - A Christmas Dream - Nancy's Christmas Gift to Bruce - Regen
Receiver Kit
Continuing with the regen theme, Nancy kindly gifted me a neat regen kit
for Christmas.
I am quite impressed with the kit, and have been honing my skills fabricating
and bending bus wire
for the set. Most of the parts are NOS, but he has thrown in a few newer
components.
It's been a fun project, and I look forward to many more late nights at the
workbench,
makes the cold Maine winters go faster.
December 22-24, 2009 - Visiting Buffalo, NY and Ham
Friends
Hope all had a Merry Christmas!
We had quite a road trip, totaling in all over 1,700 miles on the old Volvo.
Left Maine and journeyed back to New York State, staying in Skaneateles, Buffalo
and Sidney Center, NY. We didn't have a formal plan, just wanted to take our
time,
meander and
enjoy the ride. Nancy brought gift baskets and we tried to visit as many
of our radio friends as we could along the way, if we missed you this year, we'll
try again next year.
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| Kathy and Bill K2LNU |
Drive Back Through NY
State |
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| Nancy and Rudy W2ZIA |
Rudy and his fantastic train set |
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| Nancy and Patricia NW2I |
Command Set Control - See
inscription on back |
November 26, 2009 - Building the Borden Radio Company
Regen RX Kit
In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the regenerative receiver was the
hottest thing to hit the radio world.
Major Howard Armstrong's discovery blew away other receivers of its time, and
until the advent
of the superhetrodyne receiver (another Armstrong invention), it was choice of
commercial
and ham operators. Even today, the regen set stands out for its incredible
sensitivity and
good audio characteristics, and for just being fun to operate!
As for the Borden Radio kit, I have two words, very fun! And very reasonably
priced as well.
Really enjoyed this kit, a nice simple one or two evening build, and it works
great!
You can find Borden Radio on the web at
www.xtalman.com.
The kit documentation includes a great deal of detail on the
history of the regenerative receiver,
and the assembly directions are clear and well written. A great gift for a
newcomer to the radio hobby,
or for someone who enjoys building kits and wishes to really see how things
operate.
Perhaps the most challenging thing was winding the coil, not really hard if one
takes his time,
and is careful in the process. I choose to paint my wooden base black for a more
old time look
but it could be stained or even left natural.
The kit price is very reasonable, and the owner of the company, a fellow ham, is
a great guy
to deal with. I look forward to additional kits and offerings from the company.
There is nothing
like "winding your own" for a feeling of accomplishment! Used with a set of old
"cans" or vintage
headsets, this little set has plenty of audio for even the weak stations. Just
be sure to keep the
antenna loosely coupled to the set, regens don't seem to work well with "tight"
coupling, and find
a decent ground.
Enjoy a bit of time travel, all the way back to the 1920s!
October 17, 2009 - Realistic DX-160 Receiver - Reliving My
Youth - Sort Of
The radio that started my interest in shortwave listening was the 1970s
vintage Realistic DX-160 set. I'm not quite certain what happened to my
original set, but when I went away to school, much of my early radio
gear has gone missing. So when I recently had the opportunity to purchase one
which had apparently been stored in a closet in Kansas since new, I was
thrilled!
Both the set, speaker and original manual were like new, and I eagerly
fired them up at 10:30PM on October 17. Worked flawlessly. I can't
say the audio was anything to write home about, the HRO-50 sitting
next to the set on the workbench sounds Hi-FI compared to the DX-160
somewhat "tinny" audio, but it was still a treat to fire up this blast from
the past.
I've photographed the new "old" DX-160 with my old log book and
QSL cards from the early days of my radio listening. You'll note my rather
"creative" naming of certain signal types, "beep, beeps", as well the
unique spelling of days of the week. :-)
 
October 16-17, 2009 - NEARFest Radio Meet - Deerfield, NH
Check the menu bar on the home page for the link
to all of the photos, these are but a sampling.
October 10, 2009 - Building a Reproduction Radio Shack "P
Box" Kit
My interest in electronics was really fueled in building these wonderful
little kits,
which were sold by Radio Shack during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
I was therefore delighted to see someone offering reproductions of these kits
on eBay a few weeks back. After winning the auction, I early waited for the kit
to
arrive, and planned just the right kit building environment for its
assembly.
I enjoy my radio restorations late in the evenings, ideally on weekends, with a
large
cup of strong black coffee at hand, and a vintage tube set tuned into an
interesting
shortwave broadcast.
I began the construction of the kit over a weekend, no hurry, savored the
experience.
I laid it out Heathkit style with a muffin tin holding and organizing all the
parts.
There is nothing like a cold fall or winter night for building a radio kit while
listening to
shortwave radio broadcasts on the National HRO-50. While I was busy with the
kit,
Nancy was working on her own project, actually her new birthday gift, a wooden
jigsaw
puzzle from the nice folks at ELMS puzzles.
September 12-19, 2009 - Lafayette PB-46 Teardown
August 20-23, 2009 - AWA Conference - Rochester, NY
 
August 16, 2009 - Paint It Black - On Refinishing Old
Radio Gear
I sure wish the good old "black crackle" finish that you see on
1930-40s gear could be duplicated accurately today, but unless someone
releases the formula and protocol commercially, we'll have to settle for
the light "vein" or "pebble" style of wrinkle finish used today.
I understand that the wrinkle finishes were often used to expedite the
metal finishing work, one did not have to worry about a perfect metal
surface if it was going to be covered with a wrinkle finish. Gloss,
satin and to some degree, even flat, black serves to magnify the surface
imperfections underneath the paint.
 I
had researched this matter extensively when I was refinishing the W1FPZ
transmitter back in 2007, taking months to try and find the exact match.
After all, I had spent weeks disassembling and documenting the rig, I
wanted it to be 100% when done. I even posted my request on numerous
internet sites and must have called nearly two dozen "coating", as the
paint folks now like to term paint, specialists about a formula matching
the 1930s wrinkle. Nothing was really out there is a exact match, close,
but not exact. I settled for close, used powder coating - more about
that later, thinking it was better to preserve the piece rather than
lost it to rust. Or worse yet, have to go back in in 20-30 years and
disassemble those now 100 year old wiring harness so it could be
properly refinished. If you saw the results of this project at last
year's AWA Conference, you know that it worked.
What I discovered is that their is great variation in the color, texture
and design of the wrinkle finishes over the years, this is true even
among the same manufacturer. When I look at my 1940s Collins 30K
transmitter and compare it to the matching 75A1 receiver, bought at the
same time for the same station by the original owner, you can see the
30K has more of a "pebble" finish and the 75A1 has more texture. Both
pieces were built at the same time, by the same company, for the same
station. Take a look at any Collins gear in the classic Saint James
Gray, some is certainly black, others have a more blue hue. There is no
true Collins "standard".
I found that the same variance is true with the Gross Radio and early
National gear. My 1930s Gross Eagle receiver has a large number of
"veins" and even what could be described as "starburst" patterns in the
paint, certainly not your typical finish. The Nationals here, from the
very early SW-3 to the FB-7 and HRO all have different finish colors and
textures. All are still black, but different shades of black, and
different designs of texture.
Arguably, some color variation may relate to conditions of storage, sun
exposure, etc. but I think to a large degree it is simply variances in
paint formulation and application. Yet another issue with the wrinkle
finish is the degree of gloss. On some of the pieces I've seen the
finish almost looks "dry", very low gloss, even after cleaning, my
BC-348 comes to mind. Yet others, thinking of some of the later Collins
gear, like the 75A-4s, almost glisten once cleaned.
I suspect the texture, color and gloss variances had more to due with
the paint vendor than they did with the manufacturer. You still had a
number of small to midsize companies back then in the paint game, rather
than the few large multi-nationals we see today. Quality control was
relative among many of the early manufacturers, ISO standards were
decades down the pike as were the Pantone color standards. Automated
manufacturing was unheard of during the early days of radio, if you've
seen vintage photos the rows on rows of women wiring up sets you know
what I mean, so I suspect that to a large degree, the finish also relied
upon the skill of the fellow holding the paint gun. With so many
variants of color, texture, design and gloss, it is nearly impossible to
set a standard, we can only hope to come close.
So in the real world, I think the answer is to do the best you can to
replicate the original equipment appearance, while making certain it
will also there for future generations to learn from. We are not so much
owners as we are caretakers of this wonderful gear, and we owe to future
generations to be able to experience the same magic of radio that we
have been privileged to witness.
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| W1FPZ Rig - ECO - Aerosol
Finish |
W1FPZ Rig - ECO
- Powder Coat |
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| W1FPZ Rig - Power Supply -
Aerosol Finish |
W1FPZ Rig -
Power Supply - Powder Coat |
One of the memories that I treasure most about my visits with Fred
Hammond VE3HC was the ability to turn on and operate the equipment, his
museum was more of a dynamic candy store for adult hams, than a static
museum display. The important thing therefore, at least in this ham's
mind, is to not have static equipment displays, but rather a living,
working station to enjoy. That's my 2 cents...
-Bruce W1UJR
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August 1, 2009 - Photos From My Radio Past
Found these old photos from my radio days in Buffalo, NY and scanned
them in. Not really the usual theme here at "Bruce's Bench", but at least
one is of my old service bench in Buffalo.
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| My old QSL Card, was KB2VKJ, then KG2IC when I
upgraded to the extra class license. |
Collins KWS-1 station in basement - circa 1997. |
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| First ham station, Icom 970, Icom 765, T-368
transmitter and R-390A receiver -circa 1995-1996. |
Close up of the T-368 and R390A in the audio
processing rack, minidisk player below. |
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| RCA BTA-500MX broadcast transmitter, K2LNU and I
went all the way down to NJ and back in one day to pick up! |
Front panel of the RCA BTA-500MX open, showing the
plate transformer and three 833 tubes aglow. |
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| The original "Bruce's Bench", located in the
basement of my home - circa 1997. |
The "northern hamshack", at my office in Lockport,
NY, about 1996. |
July 25, 2009 - Building the Elecraft K2 CW Audio Filter
Elecraft has the best kits, what a great way to spend an evening!
June 27, 2009 - 1934 Gross CB-25 and W1FPZ Rig Comparison
A side by side comparison of the John Rollins W1FPZ transmitter, and
the Gross CB-25. More about the W1FPZ rig can be found on the
Gross CB-25 Restoration page.
| Gross CB-25 on left, W1FPZ rig on right. |
W1FPZ rig paired with National HRO. |
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The classic "46 Job", from the 1930s series of ARRL
Handbooks.
This is a circuit design very common in early homebrew transmitters.
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| Gross CB-25 Transmitter |
W1FPZ Transmitter |
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| Gross metering |
W1FPZ metering |
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| Gross power supply and modulation deck. |
W1FPZ power supply, no modulator on rig. |
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| Gross RF deck, 47s and 46 tubes. |
W1FPZ RF deck, National Velvet Vernier dials. |
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| Gross RF tubes, a pair of RCA type 46. |
W1FPZ RF tubes, a pair of Taylor TZ20s. |
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| Gross CB-25. |
W1FPZ rig, before restoration. |
May 15, 2009 - 1934 Gross CB-25 Transmitter
Testing
Final testing of the Gross rig on my bench. Note the light bulb "dummy
load"
in the second image in the top row. Unit tested fine on the bench, plenty
of RF, very stable when loaded properly.
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| Audio amp and power supply testing. |
Note dummy load light bulb. |
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| Power supply/Audio chassis. |
RF chassis and metering panel. |
May 3, 2009 - 1934 Gross CB-25 Transmitter Reassembly and
Testing
The reassembly and preliminary testing of the Gross CB-25 transmitter, more to come.
April 24, 2009 - Macbook Pro - Case Replacement
On a recent trip out to LA, my trusty Macbook was damaged, apparently at
TSA screening,
requiring replacement of the upper and lower case halves.
While these photos have little to do with vintage radio, other than the repair
project occupied the same workbench as the Gross transmitter project,
it is interesting to compare and contrast 1930s technology with the modern
laptop computer.
February 1, 2009 - Final Disassembly - Gross CB-25 Transmitter
Continuing on with last week's project, I disassembled the RF deck for
the Gross
CB-25 transmitter. That effort went flawlessly, and all the parts were
inventoried and placed into marked Ziploc bags. I found it interesting that the
General Radio air variable capacitors were mounted to the front panel with
small wooden blocks. I first thought that this might be a non-stock
modification,
but on closer examination, the hardwood blocks were very precisely cut, and I
concluded that this must have been a low cost method chosen by Gross that
provided
both insulation and rigid attachment to the metal chassis.
The only issue I did encounter during disassembly was the front dial bezels were
stuck into the paint. After a bit of effort I was able to carefully free all
three
without any damage to either the bezel or the panel. Possibly the paint was
still wet
when they were installed, or the "soft" paint I had noticed earlier had allowed
the bezels
to "sink" into the finish. I used my now standard method of marking leads with
paper tags,
each referenced back to a component on the digital photo.
The power supply teardown was much more complex, numerous transformer leads
needed
to be carefully marked, and labels made for each removed lead. The digital
camera came in
well for this part of the project, I was able to photograph lead placement and
dress with
great detail, which should aid reassembly. I did discover that at least two of
the transformers
and one choke, had been replaced, the replacements
apparently 1940s
vintage military surplus
parts. I'm not sure if this work was done during by Bill Orr or during John's
restoration. I remember
John telling me that the unit arrived in good condition, so I assume it was an
earlier modification.
In either case, the workmanship
was very high quality, and the chances of locating the original
units used by Gross are close to nil, I intend
to the same parts during reassembly.
Given the age of the unit,
I was very careful not to bend or stress the wiring harness, especially
the bus
wire which
had been so carefully formed on the RF deck. So after component removal, I
placed both the RF as well the
power supply
wiring harness onto large flat cardboard sheets.
I then used nylon wire ties to secure the
harnesses to the cardboard, making a very safe mount
to move and store the
harness.
The sheet metal will go out to Wayne Spring early next week
stripping and powder coating.
Wayne did the
wonderful job on the sheet metal for 1FPZ rig
which I restored last winter.
I'd be very interested in hearing from any other Gross transmitter owner's out
there, it would be
very helpful to compare notes and operation.
January 25, 2009 - Refinishing Project - The Gross CB-25 Transmitter
With subzero temps out the night before, and not much on the agenda
for the day, it seemed like a prime time to get the 1930s vintage Gross CB-25
apart
for refinishing of the sheet metal.
This is the rig which formally belonged to
Bill Orr W6SAI,
the well known author
and a former editor of the "West Coast Radio Handbook". Bill had a
special place
in his heart for Gross Radio gear, having grown up in NYC, he had visited Jerry
Gross's store as a young boy. Bill later wrote about these experiences in
February
1977 issue of CQ magazine. John related that Bill had given the transmitter to him
to restore (click here for
video), with the understanding that
John could keep the
rig
after the restoration, if he would send Bill photos of the
completed work for his
scrapbook. The Orr Rollins connection will be the subject
for an future article in
the
AWA Journal.
While the overall condition of the rig is very nice, John W1FPZ had used an
aerosol paint when he restored the transmitter some time ago, and I noted
that it seemed "soft". Several coil forms, sitting on top of the chassis,
had
"melted"
into the finish, as had the front panel meters. Some of the exterior
panels showed uneven
paint coverage, and rust was
starting on the
bottom of the panel edges.
Given the spreading rust, I'd have to tackle this project at some time, and
with the restoration of the 1FPZ rig under my belt, I figured I'd better strike
while the iron was hot. The Maine winter is now in full force, so I have the
time
to get the work done, as well as the contacts with the good folks who did so
well on the powder coating
work of the 1FPZ rig.
January 24, 2009 - The "Real Radio Service" Box
While out and about today prowling the coastal Maine antique stores for
goodies,
I came across this treasure. I'm not sure of the date or exact origin of the
box, but
the lettering seems to tell the tale. Appears to be some sort of advertisement
for radio service. The wooden box is dovetail construction, and someone has
taken
great pains to highlight and paint all of the dovetails a white color.
At first I thought it might be a repairman's tool or part caddy, but upon
closer
examination I noted that there are no handles it, so it would not be too handy to
carry to and from service jobs. I wonder if it is not part of some store or window
display. It is an old
wooden box,
which once held some commercial product, you can
faintly see the wood has been
embossed or stamped with a product name, but it is
too faint to read. I'm not
sure
where "24 Beaver St." is located or where "P-2073-R"
once called, but I found
the box
at an antique shop in Brunswick, Maine.
January 17, 2009 - ARBE-III Battery Eliminator -
Evaluation and Repair
In the 1920s most broadcast radios were powered by batteries,
rather than AC or
"mains power". Now, the bane of most early vacuum tube battery radio sets is
the batteries. Some 80 years ago, when one needed a "A", "B" or "C" battery,
they just strolled down to their local general store and picked one up, much
like we
buy "AA" cells today. Now a days you'd be hard pressed to find a general store,
and the concept of buying a replacement battery for the early tube battery sets
is nearly impossible.
Over the years vintage radio fans have built, and in some cases
cobbled together,
a number of "mains powered" battery eliminators. Most these worked, but few
offer
the flexibility of the ARBE-III supply. Offering filament, "B +" and "C"
bias voltages,
this supply is the way to go. The company also offers a neat series of covers to
fit
over the supply, making it appear as an antique battery! You can find out more
about
the ARBE-III supply on their website, entitled appropriately enough,
www.arbeiii.com.
I've been using this supply with my Gross
Eagle documentation, and during testing I
unfortunately shorted out the "C" supply, damaging the zener diode string.
I emailed
the builder of the unit, it comes with a 5 year warranty, and asked if
I could repair
it on my bench, rather than sending back for service. David, the owner of
company, is
wonderful fellow to deal with, and he promptly sent me out replacement diodes
(and some spares)
at no cost. The photos below show the ARBE-III unit during service on the
workbench of W1UJR.
January 10, 2009 - Utah Jr. Transmitter Returns to Air -
Restoration Done!
Finishing up a project first started in January of 2008, the Utah Jr.
transmitter is done.
I had most of the rig completed last fall, waiting only to try my hand at lacing
up the
new wiring harness. After some experimentation, I was able to nicely duplicate
the
design of the original lacing job.
Today I finished the final assembly, testing and documentation of the rig.
Complete with the metal 6L6 Arcturus tube, the unit is now working very well on
75 meters,
and will be active on the other bands once I wind up additional output coils.
More info and photos can be found at the Utah
transmitter page.
January 3, 2009 - A Gift From A Friend
On January 3, 2009 I was presented with a most wonderful homebrew creation by
my good
great friend Larry NE1S. Larry has named the rig the "Pilot Quasi-Wasp"
as it is based loosely
on the classic Pilot Wasp receiver from the late 1920s.
The rig uses three 201A tubes, has has plug-in cols to cover from the AM
broadcast band up to
the lower bands. Built using vintage black bakelite panels, it works as
wonderfully as it looks!
Instructions and a detailed write up can be found on the NE1S rig documentation page.
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Amateur Radio Station W1UJR
Click on each photo to enlarge.
