The "George Batterson 1935 CW QSO Party" - Summary

The first George Batterson CW QSO Party has concluded and the results are in! The "GB" was introduced to honor George Batterson (W2GB), who along with Bruce Kelley and Linc Cundall formed the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) in 1952.

For those familiar with the AWA's popular '29 Bruce Kelley QSO Party (BK), the GB differs only by the style of transmitters permitted. Transmitter designs as well as the tubes used must have been available in 1935 or earlier and, unlike the BK, the use of crystal-controlled transmitters is not only permitted but encouraged! There are no restrictions on the type of receiver used.

It is anticipated that activity in the GB will continue to grow as more amateurs become aware of it. In spite of terribly poor propagation, the initial GB found 20 participants from both Canada and the USA, making trans-continental contacts on 20m and below. Some of the results and participant's comments are shown below.

One of the most enthusiastic operators was Jake, KC7WXD, near Reno, Nevada. Jake did not let having an output power of just 3 watts spoil his fun!

Jake, KC7WXD

A new convert to vintage radio activity, Jake constructed a beautiful Tri-Tet oscillator using an 802 and homebrew plug-in coil forms made on his 3D printer.

Transmitter details here

"I had a great time with the inaugural George Batterson 1935 QSO Party! One of the most enjoyable parts of these events is getting to research, plan, and build a vintage transmitter. It's a great opportunity to learn and connect with history. For the GB 1935 event I chose to build a 59 tube powered Tri-Tet transmitter from the 1935 ARRL Handbook. I later switched to the 802 tube (after some minor rewiring) as it was easier on my crystals. For the event, I made QSOs on 80, 40, and 20m. Despite the poor band condx, I had a great time with the new event this year! I got a total of 6 contacts:

 80m: WB2AWQ 

40m: VE7SL and WB2AWQ 

20m: VE7SL, VA7MM, and VE7CNF 

I am definitely looking forward to the next event!"

Have a listen to how Jake's 3W on 20m sounded here in VE7 land (the frequency changes are by me tuning the receiver).

Also down near Jake, was Howie, WB2AWQ in Reno, making 5 contacts on 80 / 40 with a MOPA, Hartley and a TNT GB combo. As much as I hunted for Howie, I never managed to catch him on either weekend.

"Hi Steve! First time in the George Batterson, was good! Yes I normally work you in all the various old tyme contests! But the GB took place the second weekend on the first two nights of Passover, then the first weekend I had family commitments. I ended up running some of my stuff from the BK weekend (had to put a 40M coil on my 211 rig) because I ran into severe issues trying to create a 35 style rig.  But I made a few contacts, one across the country in NC, the rest were sort of local. But band propagation wasn’t the greatest. Overall, the GB is fun, and I hope it is kept alive. Nice to have some different tubes, and of course, crystals to work with. Hoping to create a twin rail style rig using a pair of 10s and a 42 xtal driver. Will send pix when I do."

211B '29 Hartley at 25W - 40m

Original 1921 Hartley (80m) with 10s at 25W

Back in eastern Canada, Lou, VE3AWA held down the fort on 80 and 40, making 11 QSOs with his widely-admired TPTG P-P 210 transmitter as well as a TNT at 10W.

VE3AWA P-P 210s TPTG

Although the GB is not presently a 'contest', if it were, W8PU would have to be the top-dog when it came to QSO totals. Gary in Ohio made an impressive 18 contacts, working 90% of the active participants, in spite of the terrible propagation. Gary managed all 3 VE7s on 20m as well as snagging a rare 20m QSO with NE1S! 

W8PU's GB arsenal consisted of a MOPA (20W), Hartley (6W), Tri-Tet (10W) and a P-P 59 Jones Oscillator (12W).

W8PU's P-P 59 Jones

W8PU's 20m Hartley uses a 27. It sounds like a Collins!

Larry, NE1S in NH, put his 8W Tri-Tet to work, wringing out 5 contacts including VE3 on 80 and W8PU on 20. Unfortunately, tax time kept Larry restricted to just one weekend of the GB.

NE1S  160-20m Tri-Tet 

Larry's beautiful 'Old Buzzard' operating bench

Tom, WA9CW in WI, had great success with his 80m 6a6 P-P Jones crystal oscillator at 5W out. Working Ohio, Rhode Island, and North Carolina shows that nothing too elaborate is needed to have fun. It seems like the P-P Jones circuit was as popular in the GB as it was back in the 30s!

"Here is a pic of the Jones 6a6 Push-pull rig that I was using.  

I think I could have made more GB qsos if both leads of my doublet had been hooked up. Didn't realize that I was operating with a crippled antenna till the party was over. Three GB QSOs and checked into the MI Traffic Net with the 6a6 Push-pull and a one legged antenna on 80M. That's a real testament to the little rig. I'll be ready on 40m and 80m with a good antenna  next year. Thanks to the organizers for a great qso party." 

WA9CW - 6A6 Jones P-P 80m xtal control

Bruce, WK3A in MD, put in an amazing performance with his Jones P-P oscillator using a 53. This workhorse design produced 12 QSOs between 80 and 40m and included the highlight of the GB for me ... working Bruce on 40m on weekend two when conditions were slightly better. I think Bruce must have a pretty good antenna and location!

"Thanks for the signal reports Steve. I put a great deal of time and effort into getting the most power out and good signal sound. 

Actually have a QRP wattmeter, so yes, the 80m output is 7 watts and the 40m output is 8 watts. Of course depends on xtal activity. I did fracture one xtal during the shake down, it was 7.071, a not useable spot anyhow due to Digi people there all the time. 

It uses a #53, as the power supply I built powers other 2.5v Hartley's and it has an adjustable slider power resistor to use it for 2 tube #27's or 1 tube #53 and keep the filaments at 2.5 v. It has two optimized tank coils for 80m and 40m. A series variable was put in place to find the correct wire turns and coupling, then a fixed mica cap added in series to make it plug and play on both bands.

Please find attached GB Log, total of 12 contacts. There could have been more but alas, again, some of the participants were not tuning around for the Xtal control guys.

I think it is time to "create" another TX, one for 20m. It would be great to get some east coast action for the west coast ops."

WK3A - Jones P-P using a 53 on 80 / 40m

W8KGI, Jim down in New Mexico had rough conditions and unfortunately managed only one GB contact. He converted his '29 MOPA to xtal-control just for the event, something that others may like to consider as well. His conversion info will be found here, towards the bottom of the page.

"I'm attaching my log for the recent George Batterson 1935 QSO Party - with all of one contact.  I spent several hours on the air both weekends, and the only contact I managed was with Steve, VE7SL on 20 meters on 4/13.  There were plenty of signals on both 20 and 40, but I heard only Steve working the GB. 

Honestly, this seems like just one more AWA-style event where contestants are limited to such low power that their signals just don't make it out west to New Mexico and beyond.  And limiting transmitters to 1935 or earlier and to 25 watts max of course cuts out rigs using slightly newer 6L6s and 807s which could easily generate at least 5 dB more output. 

For me, AWA events generate so few contacts that they really aren't worth the effort.  In this GB and the recent JR I made all of one contact each.  By contrast, in the last Classic Exchange I logged 49 contacts."

Please don't give up on the GB Jim. Conditions were particularly poor out west and hopefully there will be even more activity next time out.

N1EPJ, with operator Rob at the New England Wireless & Steam Museum, fired up an original, very old MOPA, putting RI into the log of five very happy GBers on 80m.

"N1EPJ, plans to use a crystal controlled set from Gil Johnson, W1DZ. This one has a UX-210 tube for the RF oscillator, and an RCA-247 pentode tube for the Crystal oscillator. Is this an XOPA? We modified it so that we can use commercial crystals. One of our volunteers recently made a power supply for it. We will try it for the first time soon."

More details here

KD8TUR, Dave in OH, made 3 QSOs with his Hartley.

"Hi Steve!   Really enjoyed the GB!  I only had a few QSOs, but I missed out on the first half.  I can send a pix of my trusty Hartley.  Tnx to you and Gary for trying to get this going, ( I know it is a lot of work.)  Hope the next one brings more Ops!!   Want to QSO wid you then!" 

KD8TUR 10 Hartley

KN4RRQ, Tom in VA, used his Hartley for 7 hard-earned 40m contacts. The 'four-holer' uses P-P parallel 27s in a unique design. Another highlight for me was working Tom on 40m.

Out west, three VE7s were active, hoping to encourage easterners to stay up later than usual!

VA7MM, Mark, ran his 10-Y TNT on 160 through 20m to snag 11 contacts. 

"VA7MM operated both weekends in the George Batterson QSO Party. Station equipment used included:

• TX: 1929 TNT Transmitter, Type 10-Y triode, 10W input, 3W RF output, regulated power supply.

• RX: Modern, Yaesu FT-817 portable.

• Peripherals:  Power/SWR meter, antenna tuner, band filters, T/R switch, keying interface, straight and electronic keying.

• Antenna: multi-band dipole at 100 feet above ground level.

It was exciting to start off the GB with a QSO on 20m with W8PU at the outset, thank you for the QSO.

Jake, KC7WXD, with his crystal controlled 1935 TriTet was an easy QSO on 20m. Near the end of the first weekend, I squeaked in a 40m QSO with Howie, WB2AWQ, during rapidly declining band conditions.

Locally, QSOs with VE7CNF and VE7SL added to my log on the 160, 80, 40 and 20m bands. VA7MM wrapped up the GB with a total of eleven QSOs of which ten were on the first weekend and one on the second weekend.

Thank you for organizing this first event in memory of George Batterson, W2GB."

VA7MM's GB setup

Toby, VE7CNF, also managed 11 contacts on 160 through 20m using his unique MOPA. It's a Colpitt's Oscillator with P-P 45s putting about 4W into a P-P 45s power amplifier. DC input to the amplifier is 25W. It really sounds wonderful on all bands! 

KB0ROB, Harold in MN had 3 QSOs on 80m using his Colpitss MOPA. Although he managed contacts with NC and MD, I never did hear Harold or anyone else on 80 other than locals as conditions here were truly awful.

VE7SL's GB efforts were split into a weekend of crystal control and a weekend of the Hull Hartley. A total of 14 QSOs were made, 9 being on crystal control.The highlight for me was working recent arrival KC7WXD in NV on both 20 and 40, with his newly minted Tri-Tet and working Bruce, WK3A in MD with his little 53 Push Pull Jones on 40m.

For the crystal controlled weekend I used a P-P Jones with 6F6s at about 8W out on 80 and 40m. On 20m I used a Tri-Tet, also with a 6F6, at about 4W out. On weekend two, the Hull Hartley was used on 160-20m.

P-P Jones used 6F6s

Tri-Tet used a single 6F6 on 20m

I'm calling a 'success' for the first-ever GB '35, with 20 stations participating and 15 logs officially submitted. Thank you all for your interest and effort! With the first one under our belt and a few tweaks, the next one should be even more fun ... all of the changes and details for the next one can be found right here.