LOCALBOY Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 I joined the group after hearing about it from my local Radio Head friend de- Weedster (Allen Weede) from the Texas South Coast Radio Group on Channel 21 CB. There is a Houston area check in every night at 8pm CST. 2:00 GMT. To tell you a little about my radio history I started SWLing in the late 1950s from a Hellicrafters SWL receiver with a 100 ft long wire up to a tree. Upgraded to a Collins R-390A receiver in the early 1970s. That rig still receives better than anything today. The Collins mechanical filters were the best. Mine was from a Navy surveillance ship. The navy paid around twenty grand for it in 1965 dollars. Still have it. It was as they would say back then "The cat's meow". Its antenna was a 160-meter low Q all band horizontal loop 30 feet above a saltwater marsh on the Texas coast. 500ohm impedance ending in a 500ohm resister on the far corner. That was the best location I've ever operated from. The 10 years I lived there I verified almost 300 tropical low and medium wave tropical short-wave stations the old school way. By writing to the station engineers all over the world. Average response time was 2 years if you heard back from them at all. About 50/50. Wasn't easy or cheap. They would send me a verification card and some stations would send pennants and other goodies. A lot of good stamps from their county also. I got one response 20 years after I sent it to Russia. There was a new station opening up a FM site and someone found my letter that had falling into a crack in the operator's desk and was found by one of the installers of the new transmitter 18 years later. I liked to dx pirate stations also. Verified quite a few of them. My favorite QSL was from John Steele pirate broadcast station (Radio New York) on the famous pirate radio ship. de- (Sara). I still have the T shirt they sent. Lots have changed since the internet was created and cell phones became a reality. Less than 1% of the tropical stations exist now in the world. Those were the best days of Short Wave Listening. My first radio license was a CB call sign. KHV-7863. I've operated off and on CB sense the late 1960s. I'll be 71 years old this September and also hold an Armature Extra license. I love the CB world, but you can't beat having all the bands that are available 24/7 being a Ham. There is always a band open somewhere. God's Blessings to you and family. 73 Kit 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2WR7152_Steve_ID Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 Welcome to the Forum Kit! I loved listening to short wave as a kid, then someone gave me an old Heathkit receiver, and I was blown away listening to Sideband Ham radio. Been hooked on sideband ever since. Started out in CB then also became a Ham. It's sad that many of the SW stations have gone away, I miss listening to them. Nice looking Antenna setup. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOCALBOY Posted February 5 Author Report Share Posted February 5 Thanks Steve. 73 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2WR0216_Steve Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 Welcome to the forum! Hope to talk with you on air. 73's 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2WR1958_JAMES_KANSAS Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 Welcome to the forum... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2WR954 Dee Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 Welcome to the forum 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WR4090 Posted February 5 Report Share Posted February 5 Hey Kit! Glad to see you made it into the forum. Welcome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2771, Massachusetts Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 Welcome to the club Sir 2WR2771 South Eastern MA - Jorge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2WR1167 Jon H Posted February 6 Report Share Posted February 6 Welcome to the forum. Love that wire antenna. 2WR1167. Albion,Nebraska 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.