Welcome To AB7YD
On The Web
Like
many others, my introduction to ham radio came while listening to short wave
broadcasts on the family console radio. I became interested and in 1958 I
obtained my first license, K5UUT, at the age of 16 in Odessa, Texas.
I was planning to use converted military surplus equipment for my first station. The photo below shows the beginnings of what I’d put together by the time I was 15. Only the RAX receivers were converted, since the TA-12C transmitter was as yet beyond my ability.
Fortunately, my father started to get interested in what I was doing and put up the cash for the Heathkit DX-40 and Hammarlund HQ-110 that we both went on the air with. He obtained his General ticket (K5YVB, now SK) about a year after I received mine. The shot below was taken as publicity for the Odessa Ham Radio Club.
Back
then, I didn’t know that I was riding the tail of the best Solar Cycle ever
(Cycle 19). The propagation conditions
were absolutely incredible when I first started, but eventually the cycle
declined and I went off to college. As
I began my professional career, I lost interest in ham radio and I let that
original license lapse.
Now
fast forward 34 years to my retirement in 1997. On a whim, I bought an old Heathkit SB-301 receiver, thinking
that it might be fun to fix up. And
boy, was it! As I tuned across the ham
bands again, the old excitement came back, and I immediately started studying
for my Extra ticket. The shot below
shows the equipment I started my second ticket with.
So,
after a long hiatus, I’m back on the air as AB7YD. I’ve continued to collect and restore what are now called
“Boatanchors”, but which to me represent everything that I always wanted but
could never have afforded way back when I was a kid.
It
has been a wonderful re-entry into the world of ham radio. My primary interest (obsession?) is phone
operation with vintage SSB and AM equipment.
10 m. AM is where you’ll find me when the band is open.
73,
Bruce AB7YD
Publications:
The
Universal Speaker, Electric Radio Magazine #139, p. 20 December 2000
The
DX-60H (Heising Modulated), Electric Radio Magazine #176, p.14 January 2004
The
Lafayette HA-350 Receiver, Electric Radio Magazine #191, p.22 April 2005
Controlled
Carrier Modulation, Electric Radio Magazine #204 p. 13 May 2006
Modifying
Heath Crystal Filters, Electric Radio Magazine August 2008
Heath
HR-10 Receiver Update, Electric Radio Magazine #234 p.26 November 2008
A
Simple Plate Modulator, Electric Radio Magazine #253, p.29 June 2010
Technical
Information:
Harvey Wells TBS-50D Bandmaster
Updated Simple Plate
Modulator