Tuesday 13 March 2018

My 2018 Novice Rig Roundup (NRR) Highlights

courtesy: arrl.org




Well this year's NRR has come and gone, providing a full nine days of CW fun for those of us that love old radios.







Once again, the ether filled with signals spawned from the old classic Novice-class workhorses that many of today's 'seasoned' amateurs used in their first stations, way back in their teen years. In many respects, the NRR is as close to a real time machine that you'll find, allowing participants to experience the joys, and sometimes the frustrations, of operating CW with their favorite old rigs from the past.

For me, just like last year, the NRR once again provided many notable highlights over the nine day event.

Almost topping the list was just experiencing the variety of old classics and hearing how well almost all of them sounded. Numerous Knight T-60s, Drake 2NTs, Heath DX-40s, Johnson Adventurers and Eico 720s, along with a nice variety of homebrew MOPAs and one-tube power oscillators graced the nightly airwaves. These oft-forgotten shelf-queens always seem to develop super-powers, far beyond their expectations, when the NRR rolls around!

I was really surprised to work so many T-60s, a small and inexpensive 60 watt transmitter kit from 1962 using a popular 6DQ6 television  sweep tube ... one never expected to achieve such RF greatness! I was very impressed with every one that I heard.


What radio-struck pre-Novice teen, dreaming about getting on the air, could resist a clever ad like this.


Scott, KA9P's 80m T-60 signal sounded as sweet as it looks in his 2018 setup, paired with his Heathkit HR-10B inhaler.

KA9P 2018 NRR station with RAF Vulcan bomber Type 51 hand pump

Right up there with the plethora of T-60s was the Drake 2NT, another great sounding radio and also my choice for this year's event. My summer refurbishing project, described here, proved a worthy companion, although my much-treasured VF-1 VFO's short term drift probably had my 2NT getting red in the face whenever I took her off of crystal control to scurry around the band, seeking out the CQ'ers. I've had a love-hate relationship with the VF-1 ever since buying my first one back in '63!


VE7SL 2018 NRR with 2NT, VF-1 and my Original '63 Vibroplex

Yet another 2NT packed a powerful punch from West Virginia, keyed by Dave, W3NP, when we exchanged 579 reports on 40m, 45 minutes before sunset.

W3NP - 2018 NRR setup
This year's band conditions were excellent as both 40 and 80m sounded much as I remember them sounding back in the 60's ... loaded with strong North American CW signals almost every night. Unfortunately, Solar Cycle 24 has taken its toll on 15m and although the band appeared to often have daily though somewhat dicey propagation, there appeared to be few NRR stations using the band.

I made three contacts on 15m this year: W5IQS in Texas, K2YWE in Maryland and WN4NRR in Florida, whose S9 reply to my 'CQ NRR' just about took my head off ... what a nice surprise to hear the booming signal from Bry's 2NT powerhouse. Dan, K2YWE, was no slouch either, as his Globe Scout was music to my ears when his signal quickly rose out of the noise just long enough to make the coast-to-coast journey. If the predictions for future solar cycles become reality, there may be many more NRRs before we experience the magic of 15m once again.

K2YWE's Globe Scout and Adventurer were worked on all three bands!

My NRR exchanges with George, N3GJ (KA3JWJ) in Pennsylvania, truly demonstrated just how well the low bands were performing. More than an hour before my local sunset, I responded to his 569 40m 'CQ NRR' only to learn that his signal, now reaching a solid 579, was coming from an original Ameco AC-1! This one-tube crystal-controlled power oscillator has, over the years, reached Holy Grail status among many amateurs. Originals are guarded like precious jewels and handed down from father to son ... or in George's case, from uncle to nephew!

N3GJ and his all powerful original AC-1
I was astounded at the strength of his signal and before exchanging '73's added 'CUL on 80', not really thinking how low the chances of that might really be. Two hours later, his even stronger 'CQ NRR' was heard on 80m, as his 579 signal flirted with reaching S8 ... all emanating from just a low hanging inverted-V.  It's nights like this that remind me how I was bitten by the radio bug so many years ago and to have them coincide with the NRR was an added bonus. I've rated my contacts with George's AC-1 the highlight of this year's NRR for me!

Heathkits were plentiful too, with the DX-60 seeming to be the rig of choice, often paired with the matching HG-10 VFO. Both Mark, VA7MM and Gary, W8PU, packed a wallop with these fine examples.

VA7MM - 2018 NRR set-up

W8PU - 2018 NRR set-up

But it wasn't just DX-60s representing Benton Harbor engineering in the NRR. All of these neat old Heaths made it out to the west coast, sometimes on both 40 and 80. KN8RHM's (Rick) HW-16 made it here on 40m with a solid signal almost every night, while KE4OH (Steve) sported a modernized DX-20 in the form of Heath's HX-11. Steve even received the highly-treasured 'OO' report for his NRR chirp ... good job!

KN8RHM - HW-16 NRR set-up
 
KE4OH - HX-11 NRR station
Not to be forgotten was the ubiquitous DX-40, used by several, including this proud old warhorse, lovingly keyed by Doug, N3PDT.

N3PDT - DX-40 NRR transmitter

Rich, WN7NRR / AG5M operating in nearby Washington state put some of his 44 crystals to work with his HW-16 ... that's some collection!

WN7NRR - HW-16 NTT set-up
It seems that many NRRers are as adept with a soldering iron as they are with a hand key, as several homebrew transmitters were worked from here as well.

Howie, WB2AWQ in Reno, was using his homebrew pair of 807s, driven with a Millen 90700 swing-arm VFO from 1945. Most shacks worldwide, including the Novices, found plenty of use for the 807 as they were dirt-cheap in the post war surplus market. The filament has a beautiful illumination and if a bit gassy as most are by now, emit a wonderous blue glow with each press of the key.

WB2AWQ - 807s
Millen VFO from 1945 at WB2AWQ
KD7JG (Joe) in Oregon, sported a 12 volt version of the 807, a 1625, in his home brew rock-crusher. With 25 watts into his ladderline-fed 160m inverted-V, his 599 signal up here was hard to miss on both 40 and 80m.

KD7JG's 1625 NRR mainstay
K4IBZ down in Florida also utilized the magical 6DQ6 sweep tube in his homebrew rig for 80 and 40m. Bill was worked on both bands from here with his 10 watts receiving a 569 on both contacts.

K4IBZ's 10 watter
AA8V, Greg in Maryland, used an LM-13 war surplus frequency meter to drive a popular Novice pairing of the 6AG7 / 6146 at 90W input ... good enough for a 579 report on 40m, 30 minutes before my sunset.

AA8V's homebrew NRR stack
The runner-up highlight was my 80m QSO with Lou, VE3BDV / VE3AWA who worked me on 3568 kHz using his Bare-Essentials 50C5 crystal controlled power oscillator at 7 watts. I understand that this rig enjoyed some popularity among many Novices as a 'first transmitter'. Being connected directly across the A.C. mains, fully exposed, would require some delicate handling!

VE3BDV / VE3AWA - 50C5 Bare - Essentials power oscillator
There are many more stories to share and you can soon read them all on the NRR 2018 Soapbox page once it gets published. If you participated, be sure to post your station picture and tell us about your experience!

I finished up the NRR with 123 contacts, a lot better than last year's event when I was running the Longfeller at 5 watts.

If you think that you might enjoy participating in the next event then now is the time to start preparing ... just 353 more sleeps until the 2019 NRR begins!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great Blog Steve. Thanks for doing all of the work to enable us to hear about your experiences and see the neat photos. Next year I'll try to send a picture or my Lysco 600 because I got several "please repeat your rig", and frequently copied "never worked a Lysco before", hi. 73 and thanks again....oh and thanks for the NRR QSO too. Tony W4FOA

Steve McDonald said...

Nice to hear from you Tony and TU also for the NRR fun!

Anonymous said...

I am almost crying with nostalgia over the sight of those DX60B-HR10B-HG10 lineups. I believe the Novice was not allowed the VFO until rule changes in the late Novice history period.

Anyway your post got me reliving my happy days as a wannabe ham in Victoria. Parental support for my hobby was very tentative. My Mom, Dad and sis were burning through three packs of smokes a day then.

They relented and bought me an HR-10B kit in 1973 or 1974, believing it would be good education (and perhaps feeling guilty about the smoking). Had no signals until discovering I had wired the RF gain pot backwards. Still had problems, so we took it to Q-Lectronic Services at Fort and Oak Bay where a friendly tech found my bad solder joints. I remember zero-beating the calibrator on WWV with the help of my Rad Shack Globe Patrol. (In hindsight it seems incorrect to use a super-regen receiver for that.) I never bothered replacing the audio tube that came gassy from Heath. Red hot tube, what the h***, I'm mainly a CW man....

The HR-10B was never used for a QSO by me. Never heard a 10m signal on it because I gave it to VE7FJX before the 1979 solar max. Dave rented a basement in Point Grey for $250/mo. He combined it with his old Multi Elmac and made some contacts in the early 80s. He lost his job when the satellite TVRO market collapsed and forced him to move to cheaper neighborhoods. Last time I was with him, we were cruising Hwy 1 in a black Chrysler like the car in the "Blues Brothers". He'd become a freaker before beards were hip. He gave up his call before the licenses were grandfathered and dropped out of Callbook.

An HR-10B came up for sale at the Humane Society thrift shop last year. It was dead and rough and so I decided No and walked away, breaking some heartstrings.

List price of Knight novice transmitter: $49.95
List price of Vibroplex Original bug: $29.95
(from ad giving V's New York factory address lacking Zip code
but offering the new Vibro Keyer paddle, so call it early 1960s)
A bug was quite an investment for a Novice.

- Dan VE7DES
(It's a great CW call and I will never change it for a 2-letter call. The "D" was from the Vancouver Island call block. I got that excellent suffix instead of some ugly Vancouver F call thanks to some fast talking. I explained to the DOC's Tak Ho that I would be going home from UBC to the Island after classes. He was a CW ship op, and may have sympathized.)

David Newkirk said...

Blue glow in power tubes is usually _not_ the result of gassiness, but of fluorescence on the tube glass as a result of electron bombardment. See http://blog.thetubestore.com/understanding-blue-glow-in-your-amp-tubes/ ; the glow in the upper two images on that page is fluorescence. If, however, the glow is inside the tube, _between the tube elements_ like the purple glow in the 6L6GC a bit further down that page, _that's_ a gassy tube.

Best regards, Dave/amateur radio W9BRD