CLASSIC RADIO EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER February 2003 CX

INDIVIDUAL REPORTS

W8KGI
Jim

N6KN
Rocco

K2TOP
Rob &
Crew

WQ8U
Mac

WB2AWQ
Howie

W7FOX
Fox

K3ZX
Mark

WJ9B
Will

K9VKY
Brian

W8ZR
Jim

W5TVW
Sandy

AA4RM
Marty

KC8JX
Larry

K9STH
Glen

W2JEK
Don

K5DH
Dean

N5OHL
Jim

W6XA
Paul

K4EJQ
Bunky

KC8UAN
Lyle

K5AM
Mark

W2AGN
John

WA5EUK
Brian

N5AIT
Al

INDIVIDUAL REPORTS
W8KGI Jim	N6KN Rocco	K2TOP Rob & Crew	WQ8U Mac
WB2AWQ Howie	W7FOX Fox	K3ZX Mark	WJ9B Will
K9VKY Brian	W8ZR Jim	W5TVW Sandy	AA4RM Marty
KC8JX Larry	K9STH Glen	W2JEK Don	K5DH Dean
N5OHL Jim	W6XA Paul	K4EJQ Bunky	KC8UAN Lyle
K5AM Mark	W2AGN John	WA5EUK Brian	N5AIT Al

ATTRIBUTION AND DISCLAIMER

The CX Newsletter is intended for the enjoyment of CX participants and others interested in the restoration, operation and enjoyment of Classic Ham Gear. This Newsletter was prepared from materials submitted by CX participants and from on-the-air observations and QSOs. Editorial comments on Individual Reports are shown in [Italics]. Any errors, omissions, or insensitive comments are unintentional. Please let me know if you have suggestions on improving the Newsletter or the CX website.
Thanks and 73,
Mac, Mac, WQ8U

FEBRUARY 2003 CX HIGHLIGHTS

HIGH SCORERS - HOW IT’S DONE

Jim, W8KGI, who came in third in the September 2003 CX, decided that he wasn't going to let Rocco, N6KN, keep the record for CX high score. When Jim makes up his mind, look out! Jim racked up a record setting score of 26,598,000 points using 24 receiver/transmitter pairs with a total age of 2600 years. AWESOME!!! That is a 6.3 dB increase over Rocco's record. Click here to see Jim's "Summer" and Winter" stations

Rocco, N6KN, came in second with 11,388,762 points using 15 stations with a total age of 1162 years. Click here to see if Rocco is still smiling.

Rob and team, K2TOP, came in third with 4,827,216 points. While the total age of their gear was a young 632 years, the team kept all those rigs active to rack up that score. Click here to see the K2TOP team and their rigs.

INTERESTING RIGS, QSOs and ENTRIES

10 Meters
"The sunspots are down, and it's a new ball game." Rocco, N6KN
"10 meters: Too bad this band was a bust." Rob, K2TOP
"The bands were the pits, but I wasn't going to let that spoil my fun. I didn't hear any CX CW on 10 meters at all." Fox, W7FOX
"Started off on 10M AM this year, and got nowhere!" Mark, K3ZX

Mac, WQ8U: The benchmark change to the station was the addition of the venerable BOGS (Burnt Orange Globe Scout), which was passed to me from Al, N5AIT, the CX founder/organizer/former Newsletter producer.

Peter, K2TOP: Homebrew p-p 811s driven by a DX-40 with Northern 115 Variable Master Oscillator. A DX-40 never sounded so good.

WA2AWQ, Howie: About 8:30 local I decided it was time to pollute the ether on 80M, with a couple of HB self-excited oscillators, the potent push-pull Hartley beast with a pair of 211's running over 90W out, and my 1921 UV-202 parallel rig, whose filaments take more power than the plates. Receivers on 80 were a HB 1932 Jim Lamb superhet, and a 1934 single tube regenerative whistler.

Rob, K2TOP: This station was awkward because the receiver (McMurdo-Silver 5c) frequency changed with the RF gain, so we were never really sure where we were listening.

WA2AWQ, Howie: My choice for special kudos this year go to Mac WQ8U, who on 40, for a second rig, ran the most operationally challenging gear, a Heath AT-1 and a Howard 435 receiver. Rob, K2TOP, once again has the neatest rig, an all-Navy setup, TBW transmitter and RBM receiver.

"Mark, K3ZX: The wierd QSO of the event goes to Ed W8NZW. He's 84 years old, and told me he was running an ICOM, but he was in the bedroom and his rig was not. I told him I needed the type of radio, and he said "Well, it's in the other room, but it's 24 yrs old". Hmmm.

K9VKY, Brian: All the smoke started and ended with Collins power supplies. First came the KWM-2, which will be easy to repair, but the heart breaker was with the Collins 310B3. Not only were the power transformer and choke taken out, but there was a PCB "event" with the filter caps while the rig cooked itself all night!

Marty, AA4RM: Fact is I got so entertained with the Navigator/2B & Johnson 500/Pro310, everything else slept.

Larry, KC8JX: But the “hoot of the exchange” was when I worked W8KGI….we went on for over one hour….Oh my….all those rig combinations (12 I counted); I hope I copied all of them correctly; there was some QRM…..what a hoot working Jim.

Glen, K9STH: I suffered a major heart attack on 5 January 2003 and underwent open heart surgery on the 10th (4 bypasses!). Fortunately, there wasn't any damage to my heart at all! Frankly, I was very lucky.

Dean, K5DH: Although I've been a ham since 1977, this was my first-ever CX. What a blast!

Paul,W6XA: Haven't heard so many chirpy signals since the Russians got commercial gear.

Bunky, K4EJQ: Just wanted to tell you and the others how much I enjoyed the recent "CX". Like the rest of those I worked, I don't consider this a contest but rather an on-the-air get together for those of us that enjoy the "finer things" our hobby provides, i.e. fellowship, operating expertise, and of course the PRIDE we share in the older equipment we use.

AWARDS

PSE QRX WHILE I SWITCH RIGS - VICTIMS AWARD

One of the pleasures of CX is hearing so many of the old great ones on the air at one time. Jim, W8KGI, and Rocco, N6KN, have designed their stations to allow unsuspecting CXers to have more of that pleasure in one contact than could be expected. During this CX Jim worked his way through 12 transmitter/receiver pairs in one round of QSOs with each of three heroic CXers: Art, WA5OES; Larry, KC8JX; and Paul, K2LMQ.

MOST DISTINCTIVE SIGNAL AWARD

Jim, W8ZR, usually works CX with an old Hallicrafters FPM-200 which has a very distinctive signal. This CX several folks noted that it did not have its usual full chirp. [That's pretty sad Jim, when people wonder why your signal doesn't sound as bad as usual.] Howie, WB2AWQ, with his p-p 211 rig and Rob et.al, K2TOP, with the TBW rig were again noted for their distinctive signals.

I WAS DOING OK UNTIL …. AWARD

Rocco, N6KN, was doing fine until a girl scout selling cookies appeared at his door. While Rocco was getting his Thin Mint fix, his Drake T-4XB was key down without an antenna. Rocco reports that the smell of burning resistors does not enhance the cookie's flavor.

MOST CX-LIKE QUOTATIONS

Rob,K2WI, says: "I have a new kid that will need lots of practice if he is going to be ready for the Fall CX. I can almost get him to say his initial, M for Martin, "da-da" at 5 weeks."

LATEST TECHNOLOGY VICTIM AWARD

It is well known that most CXers prefer vacuum tube rigs and more mature technology, e.g. pencil and paper, over todays new fangled computer controlled appliances. Unfortunately, Sandy, W5TVW, could not resist the siren song of technology and trusted his CX log to the computer - at least that is his excuse for not sending in a log. We'll see what he comes up with in September.

BEST PET NAME FOR A RIG AWARD

Rob and team at K2TOP, used a Navy TBW named "Pumper-Thumper" because of its noisy 3 amp keying relay

WEIRDEST COMBINATION AWARD

Self nominated by Jim, W8ZR, and appropriately awarded: I paired the Lysco 600 with a Davco DR-30 receiver, a duo which I humbly submit as my entry in the "weirdest combination" category. [On first look, the name shown for the Lysco 600 in Moore's appears to be Toastmaster 600. It is really named Transmaster 600 - An 807 won't get hot enough to make toast.]

MOST FIRED UP CXer AWARD

Al, N5AIT, who was one of the founders of CX and who has always been a CX champion, is known for his enthusiasm and really getting into things all the way. This CX Al was a serious participant; however, recently he has been so fired up about things at home he did not get his score or report in. He promises things will be better by next CX.

WHAT ABOUT CHANGES?

In the last year the CX has added 160 meters, highlighted 10 meter AM and extended the time into the wee hours. These changes, with the exception of 10 meters, seem to be adding to the enjoyment of CX for many folks.
However, things can always be improved. Suggestions have been made by Rocco, N6KN, and Bunky, W4EJQ. Please let me know what you think and any other ideas you have for making CX more fun.
Mac, WQ8U
CX Newsletter Editor
BACK TO TOP

EQUIPMENT REPORTED USED: TRANSMITTERS and RECEIVERS

TRANSMITTERS

NUMBER OF EACH REPORTED SHOWN IN ( ) IF GREATER THAN ONE.

B&W: 5100B, 6100 (2)
Central Electronics: Multiphase 100V (2)
Collins: 32V-2, 32V-3(2), 310B-3, KWS-1
Drake: 2-NT (2), T-4X (2), T-4XB, T-4XC (3)
Elmac: AF-67, AF-68
Gross: CW-25
Hallicrafters: HT-17, HT-18, HT-20, HT-32A, HT-32B, HT-37
Hammarlund: FOUR-20
Harvey-Wells: TBS-50C Bandmaster
Heath: AT-1 / VF-1, DX-20 (2), DX-40, DX-40/H-B p-p 811, DX-60, DX-100 (2), HX-10 Marauder, SB-200, SB-401 (2), TX-1 APACHE
Home Brew: Hartley p-p 211 (WB2AWQ), 1921 parallel UV-201 (WB2AWQ), 6V6/807 (K5DH), Pair 1625 (W7FOX), W8IB's 6L6 (W8KGI)
Johnson: Adventurer (2), Challenger, Desk KW, Navigator (2), Ranger I (4), Ranger II (4), Valiant (2), Viking I, Viking II, Viking 500
Kenwood: T-599D
Knight: T-150
Lettine: 240
Lysco: Transmaster 600
McMurdo Silver: 701/K
Meissner: Deluxe Signal Shifter, Signal Shifter "EX"
Military Surplus: BC-230, BC-459, BC-696A, CBY-52209 (Navy BC-457), T-19/ARC-5, T-20/ARC-5, Navy TBW "Pumper Thumper"
Millen: 90800 Exciter (2), 90800, 90881
Sonar: VFX-680
WRL: Globe Chief 90, Globe King 275, Globe Scout 680, Burnt Orange Globe Scout (BOGS) 680

RECEIVERS:

NUMBER OF EACH REPORTED SHOWN IN ( ) IF GREATER THAN ONE.

Collins:51S-1, 51S-3 (2), 51S-3A, 75A-2, 75A3, 75A4 (4)
Davco: DR-30
Drake: 2-B (4), 2-C, R-4A, R-4B, R-4C (2)
Echophone: EC-1
Hallicrafters: SX-28 (2), SX-28A,SX-73, SX-101A (4), SX-115 (2), S-43, S-53A, S-76
Hammarlund: HQ-110, HQ-129-X (4), HQ-170A (2), HQ-180, PRO-310, SP-600
Heathkit: HR-1680, SB-301, SB-303
Home Brew: 1932 Jim Lamb Superhet (WB2AWQ); 1934 Single tube regen whistler (WB2AWQ)
Howard 435A, 438
Kenwood R-599D
McMurdo Silver: 5C Military Surplus: BC-348-Q, BC-348-R, BC-454/BC-453, BC-455/BC-453, Imperial R-390, RBA, RBB, RBC, RBM, RCR, TCS-12/BC-453 National: FB-7 (2), HRO (2), HRO-50R1, HRO-50T1, HRO-60, NC-80X, NC-101X, NC-125, NC-173 (2),NC-200, NC-303
RCA: AR-88d
RME: 45, 69, 70, 6900

TRANSCEIVERS:

NUMBER OF EACH REPORTED SHOWN IN ( ) IF GREATER THAN ONE.

Collins: KWM-2, KWM-2A
Cosmophone: 35
Drake: TR-4C
Gonset: G-76
Hallicrafters: SR-150; SR-400A Cyclone
Heathkit: HW-101, SB-101 (3)
Home Brew: SSB Transceiver 8072 final (K5AM) National: NCX-5
Yaesu: FTDX-100

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:

Code Training Unit AN/GSC-T1 (see K2TOP)

BACK TO TOP

SCORES
STATION	OPERATOR	SCORE
W8KGI	Jim	26,598,000
N6KN	Rocco	11,388,762
K2TOP	Rob and team	4,827,216
WQ8U	Mac	1,515,161
WB2AWQ	Howie	1,380,488
W7FOX	Fox	894,381
WJ9B	Will	832,200
N3ZX	Mark	465,036
K9VKY	Brian	278,511
K5AM	Mark	233,740
W2AGN	John	178,848
AA4RM	Marty	176,000
KC8JX	Larry	132,720
K9STH	Glen	56,160
W2JEK	Don	39,096
K5DH	Dean	34,918
N5OHL	Jim	8,626
W6XA	Paul	3,872

NOTE:
K2TOP is a team entry consisting of Peter WW2Y, Jeff WB2WCO, Jack K2BMI, Al N3FRQ, Eric KC2JSX, and host Rob K2WI.

REPORTS

W8KGI_Jim

Mac,

The February 2003 CX is one that I will never forget, and perhaps something I'll never try that way again either, HI. Normally I just use one of my two shacks on a given CX, the inside shack in the winter and the garage shack in the summer. But this year, spurred on by Rocco, N6KN, [Rocco, see what you caused.] I decided to see how many of the transmitters and receivers from both shacks I could get on the air and qualified. Believe it or not, I managed to qualify 24 pairs! The only available transmitter I didn't qualify was my DX-100, and that appears to have been due to a "pilot error" on my part late in the CX.

The weather out here in New Mexico was quite mild that weekend, so I was able to get out in the garage for quite a while without freezing my buns off. I had decided to start off on 10 meter AM this time, and I had five transmitters all ready to go. I even had five different microphones connected to them with a label on each one so I wouldn't get them mixed up.

Sunday afternoon at 2000Z came and not just 29.0 but all of 10 meters was absolutely dead. [Sorry to tell you Jim, but Rocco was getting CX QSOs on 10 meters. ] So I went inside after a few minutes of calling CQCX on 10 with no answers and I qualified the four pairs that I had tuned up on 14045. Only the HT-18 vfo that I had driving the Globe Scout 680 (the Blue-Green Globe Scout) wasn't cooperating, but I grabbed a 7022.5 crystal and plugged that in and got everything on the air.

About 2200 I went back out to the garage and tried 10 again. It was still completely dead. So I shifted all of the 10 meter gear up to 7045 and started out about 2230 with twelve pairs of transmitters and receivers all on 40 CW. Art, WA5OES, up in Colorado was my first victim, followed by Paul, K2LMQ, in Arizona and then Larry, KC8JX, in Michigan. [Jim, you owe this trio something special - maybe send them each an extra rig or two.] It took us about 45 minutes each time, but we managed to make QSO's with all 12 pairs, everything from the flea power Hammarlund 4-20 and Silver 701 with about 10 watts out to the rock crusher Globe King 275 with better than 200 watts out. All of my receivers worked too, even the little Echophone EC-1 that heard everything from 7030 to 7060 all at once. I was afraid that the Hallicrafters SX43 was going to be out of business, it had a whole gob of hum coming out of it when I first turned it on for 10, but the filter caps must have healed because it settled down nicely for 40 cw. The "new" Johnson 122 vfo that I was using to drive my Adventurer decided not to work, but I found a crystal at 7050, and the guys were kind enough to listen for me up there as well as to work the herd on 7045.

About 0130 I came back inside to get warm. There was still a lot of action on 40, so I cranked up my 40 meter, single-band BC455/BC453 and BC459 Command Sets and brought my Lettine 240 and HRO down from their 80 meter assignment, and I managed to qualify them on 40 as well. Around 0345 I switched to 80 and qualified three more pairs including my little, home-brew 6L6 rig that I got from Bob (Doc) Higgy, W8IB, my EE prof at Ohio State. I ran Doc's HRO together with his 6L6, probably the first time those two have been on the air together since perhaps 1950 or so. About 0500 I tried to switch to 160 where I had my last three pairs ready to go. But I couldn't get my antenna tuner to cooperate - more pilot error it now appears since they tuned up OK for me this afternoon. I could hear the guys working the CX on 1810, but I couldn't get any RF out on that frequency! So I moved the 160 meter gear back down to 3545, all except for the DX-100 which didn't want to load properly on that frequency, and I managed to finish out qualifying the rest of the gear on 80 just as the final bell rang at 0600.

So that's the story. Murphy took a few shots at me, but I recovered pretty well and had an absolutely fabulous time. My undying thanks to Art, Paul, and Larry for spending so much time copying my 40 meter collection. They are great guys.

As to the score, my age multiplier not counting vfo's, keys, microphones and the aging operator was 2600 years! Wow! When I put it all together, the grand total score was an all-time high for me, 26,598,000 points! [Double WOW!!] Maybe next time I'll concentrate on talking to as many different stations as possible instead of trying to get all of this gear on the air. It would be an interesting change, and it sure would take less maintenance time for several weekends ahead of time trying to make it all work.

73,
Jim Hanlon, W8KGI

Click HERE to see Jim and his shacks.

Equipment on the air:

20 meters
Transmitters: Central Electronics 100V, 32V3, 1941 Deluxe Meissner Signal Shifter, Globe Scout 680.
Receivers: NC173, 75A4, SX28, NC200

40 meters
Transmitters: Globe King 275, Elmacs AF67 and AF68, McMurdo Silver 701, HT-20, Hammarlund 4-20, Globe Chief 90, DX20, DX60, Knight T150A, Johnson Adventurer and Viking I, BC459, and Lettine 240.
Receivers: NC303, SX28A, HQ129X, HQ170A, HQ180, SP600, 75A3, Howard 438, Echophone EC-1, SX43, SX73, RME70, BC455/BC453 and HRO.

80 meters
Transmitters: W8IB's Home Brew 6L6, Millen 90711/90800, TBS50D, CBY52209 (Navy BC457), T4X, Valiant.
Receivers: HRO-50, FB7, BC454/BC453, R4B, RME69, NC80X.

N6KN_Rocco

The sunspots are down, and it's a new ball game. I spent Saturday morning and Sunday morning putting together a new station on the workbench, featuring a nice Johnson Challenger with a Lafayette VFO and a recently acquired R4. I managed to get the Challenger to put out a decent 10-M AM signal after carefully tuning up and trying several microphones (after a month of trouble shooting and modifying on the bench). [Rocco is a perfectionist.]

The Challenger certainly was a challenge - I can see why so many of them are available in such good condition these days - it would be been tough for a teenager in the 60's to put one on the air, because there are several bugs in the design and the early production runs. I found the right combo and worked a lonely N5 mobile in New Orleans just before the CX began.

I began the CX on 10 M AM with the Johnson Ranger II/Desk KW. Absolutely no replies after 10 minutes, so I gave up and went to a trio of SSB transceivers on 29005. KA9EES/HH4 came back and was very patient as I worked him on the Hallicrafters SR150 and HT32B/SX115 stations. After a few minutes, some lonely local 6's showed up and helped qualify those stations plus the BW6100/SX115 station. I then tried 10 AM again and the band opened up a bit. W8AW had a great signal with his homebrew 807 rig, as did W0ZPT with his 32V1. Several stations said the Challenger audio was as good as my 32V2 and better than my Apache! Maybe the Challenger is underrated as a phone transmitter. [Rocco, for goodness sakes, don’t tell W8KGI how you were doing that on 10 Meter AM.]

Moved to 20CW at 2227Z and worked W8ZR with his less-chirpy-than-usual FPM 200. Guess Jim has been working on it, or maybe it just gets better with aging. [Everything at Jim’s university is on a tight budget, he probably just couldn’t afford as much chirp this year.] W7FOX was strong from Arizona, and helped me qualify three other stations. The band was pretty good, with low noise and many CX stations heard. However, I could tell that the east and midwest stations were already moving to 40 CW.

However, I could barely hear any CX activity on 40 CW at 0050, so I went to 20 SSB to see how that might work out during low sunspot years. I landed on 14280, which was clear, and easily qualified my Drake C line twins plus the CE100V/HRO 60 (terrible on SSB). Then disaster struck; I answered the doorbell and bought two boxes of girl scout cookies from the cute girl scout standing there. Unfortunately, I had left my T4XB in what I thought was SPOT. It turned out to have been in Transmit, key down, no antenna, no tuning. This resulted in no output and a burned resistor smell (how well I know that smell). These cookies turned out to be very expensive. [And what did they do to your wasteline?]

Finally went to 40 CW and worked many CX regulars. K2TOP had a great signal with his DX40, and he heard my drifty DX60 with his RBC. K6LQI's ARC 5 sounded wonderful, as usual; hope I did not blow his receiver off the shelf, as he is line of sight, and that is always a concern. WA6EKR heard me with his S38; now, that's a challenge. Many classic rigs were heard and worked. Never had time for 40 SSB, although I may try that next time.

80 CW was too noisy, as usual. I did work W8KGI, who always seems to be successful on that band.

Biggest surprise - no Globe Scouts heard or worked. Several 60's novice transmitters were active, including VE7XF's Eico 720. I wish I had the room to have put my own 720 on the air, but the Challenger took up the workbench. I qualified 15 stations and had a fun time, as usual. If 10 AM continues to decay, I will be trying more 20 and 40 SSB. Final score is 11,388,762, down a bit from last time but not too bad, considering 10 M conditions.

I still think that the CX should be two days long, or at least start much earlier on Sunday morning (6AM PST, 9AM EST). Sunday morning is a good time to operate from here. 40 is open to the west coast and mountain states during the morning hours, and I think this would stimulate activity out here. Also, it would be easier for me to spend more time chatting with CX regulars on 20 CW, instead of rushing between the rigs to qualify them (although that's fun, too). Just my 2 cents' worth. CX needs more hours! I really think this would help relative newcomers hear active CX stations and have time to put their own dusty classic rig on the air and join in before the activity is over.

For the same reasons, I also favor a second day - Saturday - for (perhaps) classic phone rigs. We would hear many more CX crazies trying DX40's and such on 20 AM, and other such acts of courage or madness. [What do the rest of you think? E-mail your ideas and comments about CX to me: Mac, WQ8U]

73,
Rocco, N6KN

Click HERE to see Rocco and his shacks.

K2TOP_Rob

[K2TOP is a team entry consisting of Peter WW2Y, Jeff WB2WCO, Jack K2BMI, Al N3FRQ, Eric KC2JSX, and Rob K2WI. K2TOP is the station call for the Garden State Top Band Club.]

Hi Mac,
How did we miss each other?
Here are some shots of the usual suspects for the Rogue's Gallery.

Peter on 40m with homebrew p-p 811s driven by a DX-40 with Northern 115 Variable Master Oscillator. A DX-40 never sounded so good. Receivers are both made by RCA, AR-88d, and Navy RBC. Peter worked several with both receivers. Click here to see Peter.

The Wall of Radios concept as implemented at K2TOP. Peter on 40, Jeff on 80, MF Beacon Search station, and Drake C-line behind Jeff for 15/160. Click here to see the Wall of Radios and operators.

Jeff WB2WCO on 80m. US Navy TBW(AKA the "pumper-thumper" due to its 3-ampere keying relay) with it's mates the RBM and LM, with RBB below for when the going got rough on 80. RBA to the right was used by Eric Houghton to find 10 Air Beacons. Click here to see Jeff and the "Pumper-Thumper".

2003 WINTER CLASSIC EXCHANGE 2/1/2003 AT K2TOP

10 meters: Too bad this band was a bust. [Someone else who needs to talk to Rocco.] I had the AR-88 tuned to 28.200, listening to the YV5B and LU1FHH beacons, with the receiver staying right on the beacons all day, even with the crystal filter on. Those guys at RCA knew what they were doing. We put out many CQs with the DX-40 but with no results. On Monday I worked a station in TX with the Northern 115 oscillator barefoot, about 1watt.

15 meters: We only listened here for a short time with the Drake C-line before we stole the 40m dipole to use on its own band. Note to self: We need a separate 15 meter antenna.

20 meters: Running the Millen 90881/90800 transmitter(54 Years) and National RCR receiver (like an NC-240, 55 years) with a dipole at 50 feet. We were rockbound on 14040, which was a major disadvantage, especially when the giant DX pileup erupted right on that frequency. Jack pointed out astutely that we need a Variarm VFO so we can move around and call others. [One just went on e-bay for $158.50 - What’s more important variable frequency or shoes for the baby?] Rob worked 3 CX participants and Peter and Jack followed with a log full of casuals and QRPers. I think there is usually some kind of QRP thing going on during CX.

40 meters: We started off with the Gross CW-25 (69 years) and McMurdo-Silver 5c(69 years) that Al brought and set up for us, and a dipole at 60 feet. This station was awkward because the receiver frequency changed with the RF gain, so we were never really sure where we were listening. [Rob, if it was easy to use everyone would want one. That was probably McM-S’s way of keeping demand in line with their production capability.] One of the guys we called, apparently far from his frequency said, “You can see I know what to do with the big knob in the middle.”

After much CQing to dead air on the Gross, we moved up to the 40m workhorse station. The DX-40 that embarrassed the RBC that it was matched with last time, was given a little help so the RBC could hold its head high. Instead of the chirpy Viking VFO122 we used last time, we excited the DX-40 with a rock solid Northern 115 from 1950, and used the output from the DX-40 to drive a homebrew pair of push-pull 811s at about 250W out. Never did a DX-40 sound so good. [Sounds like a DX-40 on steroids.] On the receive side, we ran the US Navy RBC(61 years) and RCA AR-88d(58 years), sometimes individually, sometimes with an operator on each, and sometimes with one operator switching headphones to give reports from each receiver. There was a Florida pipeline going, and 6Y5WJ gave us a 9+30 report! Now, do I date this transmitter by the 1950 Master Oscillator, the 1960 Transmitter (Buffer?) or the 1945 Power Amplifier?

80 meters:

We CQed a zillion times[Notice the scientific metric that Rob uses here. The "zillion" is approximately the same as "somanytimesmyarmhurts" both of which were frequently heard in the early days of classic radio use] with the Gross transmitter with no answers, at least none we could find on the McMurdo-Silver. The CX-shy Breting 14 popped a fuse during the setup period, making 3 consecutive CXs that it sat on the bench. Didn’t feel like messing with it.

We then fired up the Westinghouse US Navy TBW(60 years), AKA the “Pumper-Thumper” because of its keying relay that draws a whopping 3A through the key and makes a clunk to match. We used it with its soul mate, the RBM (60 years), and the RBM’s big brother the RBB(62 years). W8AU provided our first “All Navy” contact of all time in the CX.

Once I qualified the RBM, I stuck with the easy-listening RBB for the duration. 160 meters:

We never got around to hooking up Jack’s Viking Ranger, so I put the Drake C-line on topband so we could qualify it, having made none of the usual contacts on 15m with it.

Medium Frequency Listening:

Eric, KC2JSX, a no-code technician, worked his way towards becoming coded by tuning the RBA and correctly identifying about a dozen air navigation beacons. He also tried out his key on the AN/GSC T-1 code practice set. [Rob and his friends always have one of these they try to slip into the scoring but your eagle-eyed, green eye-shade wearing editor is wise to them.]

[A later e-mail gives some insight to who Rob is planning to slip into the next CX.]

Hi Mac,

You couldn't find our score because I didn't calculate it yet!

Once again, I'll not be going to Dayton. Work is busy then plus I have a new kid that will need lots of practice if he is going to be ready for the Fall CX. I can almost get him to say his initial, M for Martin, "da-da" at 5 weeks.

Score: 67 QSOs; 29 States; 5 Countries; Age: 632 years
Total = 4,827,216

73,
Rob

Click here to see more pictures of the K2TOP team.

This year, I had my operating position built, and a heavy duty metal rack to hold the transmitters, so I did NOT have to use the time honored "lug and hoist" method of getting the radios on the air; all I needed to do was re-cable -- that's a much better way to do things !! Trust me on that one..... [But what will you do for exercise now?]

Interesting CX this winter. For me, it seems that the winter event is always more enjoyable than the fall event. Started off on 10M AM this year, and got nowhere! Tried 10M AM off and on during the afternoon, but heard no signals at all; dropped down to the CW sub-band and still nothing! Oh well; I'm surprised that 10M is as good as it is this winter; I suspect the next few years will be worse. Interestingly, Rocco told me he did succeed in making a few 10M AM QSO's. That's great !! [It’s a CA thing. ]

I then took the HT-32 and HQ-170 up to 20M. Worked Sandy W5TVW for my first CX contact. Aside from him, I heard no other CX activity on 20M, although Sandy was working a bunch of them.

Had to QRT for a while, and didn't get back on the air until about 8 PM EST Sunday evening. I fired up the HT-37 and SX-111 and quickly qualified both radios on 40 meters, working some CX regulars Marty AA4RM and Bill K4IBZ. I then switched back to the HT-32 and HQ-170 combo, but found that the HT-32 would only put out about 2W!! Drats; thought I had that problem fixed, but up apparently not. So, I hooked the HQ-170 to the HT-37 instead, and worked 2 QSO to finish qualifying the HQ-170.

Next, I fired up the HQ-129-X on 40M and my first QSO was with my old buddy Dean K5DH. Dean was running his homebrew Tx with a 6V6 Oscillator and 807 PA, and it sounded really great. Finished qualifying the HQ-129-X, and then it was up to 80 meters.

Started on 80M with my B&W 5100B and SX-101A and worked quite a few CX QSOs, including K4EJQ with his SX-43 and SX-99 (love that old Halli stuff !!). It was interesting to work John W2AGN with his Meissner Signal Shifter!

Switched back to my HT-37 / SX-111 combo to finish out the CX event. Worked Jim W8KGI with his CBY52209 TX, and hopefully Jim will let me know What that beastie is!! [It is a Navy version of the BC-457 Command Set.] Finished out the CX the way I started it -- with a QSO with Sandy W5TVW !!

The wierd QSO of the event goes to Ed W8NZW. He's 84 years old, and told me he was running an ICOM, but he was in the bedroom and his rig was not. I told him I needed the type of radio, and he said "Well, it's in the other room, but it's 24 yrs old". Hmmm. Well, OK, I'll take "24 yr old ICOM", but will bow to Mac's discretion to delete that QSO from my log!! I tried!! [QSO qualifies but the mystery remains. How does he operate from the other room?]

Some other observations. Dean K5DH and I were comparing logs a few days after the event, and the only contact we had in common was you Mac (WQ8U) !! It was interesting to see how the propagation was differing from my QTH in the rolling Amish country of southeastern PA, and Dean's QTH in Dallas TX. He worked quite a few W9's and W0's, and I heard nary a one, which was a first for me in all the CX events! Usually I work a bunch of 9 and 0 stations. Also, aside from the aforementioned QSO with Ed W8NZW, I worked no "non-CX" contacts!! Usually I have quite a few of those contacts, but not this time!!

Looking forward to the Fall 2003 event!

73 Mark K3ZX (Airville PA -- Grid FM19ts )