Ham Radio and Radio Related Stuff (early)

This superb piece of kit has it's picture within the title of this Blogspot and all though it's from the 1960's it has a comfy position within my radio shack and is used daily. I like to call that "interactive history. This rig came in Kit form and the person that assembled it took time, care and used precision. It has a superb receive audio which is produced by good circuit design and the thermionic valve(s).   American manufactured and I do believe they sold about 30.000 units
There is  a lot of information out there on the world wide web regarding this rig so I need not put it all on here.
HEATHKIT SB101 80M-10M SSB-CW ---Year of manufacture 1967-70 (improved SB-100 1965-67)
Power: 180W PEP SSB&170W input CW  6146 output valves. Frequency control LMO.
Selectivity: 6 pole filter 2.1kc down (accessory CW filter 400hz)  Tracking TX and RX circuits.

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Canadian Army signal generator/meter TS-175/U 85-1000MHZ and a useful piece of working kit to have around the Shack. Easy to calibrate across the whole spectrum and when warmed up can deliver a accurate signal or receive frequency. I test it from time to time up against a known signal source and it is always on the button. Good enough for what I do but I suppose most people would want something digital.

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The Heathkit GR-78 six band receiver, 0-30mhz, all transistor and has on board chargeable batteries for portable use. Can be used with a transmitter but I use my GR78 for monitoring or background listening. What I have noticed about this receiver is that the further away you are from it the better it sounds. I haven't had a look lately but if I can recall it has a pair of OC71 transistors as it's audio final amp. (it could be just one).
I am not happy with that statement I shall have a look.

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Air space capacitor

                  This bit of kit is still in it's box.

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This is old!  Weston Voltmeter Newark NJ attached to a panel belonging to Albany Radio, Enfield Wash Middlesex.  Patent plate on voltmeter has date Nov 6 1888

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A Marconi Universal Bridge TF2700 on the left and a Cosser Noise Level Meter CT454 on the right.
Two bit's of test gear in the shack but I must admit they do not get used that often.


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Another piece of Heathkit but this time British Heathkit.  I have been meaning to find out a bit more about this radio but never got round to it. It appears to have been made in Britain with British Radio parts. The leather case is stamped Made in England and the speaker is a Fane made in Batley Yorkshire UK. It works well and has a nice am sound. The battery is a non standard type and is not freely available in the high street. The battery is a 9v, large terminal type and is about four times the size of a PP3.


It's very annoying that I have other stuff buried in the shed or in the garage that will be such a chore to find that  I cannot find the will power to go and get dirty and dig this stuff out. There will be more pictures to come and hopefully they will be put on here shortly.

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A large Mullard valve. The print is wearing off the glass but it appears to read QY3?5 ?. I have no idea what it was used in but I would say that as it has a five pin base and a top metal grid cap it is a double diode-triode. Please email me if this is wrong my email link is in my Profile. It's total height is 8" (20.5cm)

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A useful component in the early days of experiments etc. Quick connection terminals. A crystal set comes to mind. Manufactured by Telson Electric Company,  Birmingham, UK
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Used in the 2nd world war for listening to German radio traffic in British Government listening posts and also used by other agencies to monitor the airwaves.....The SX28

The halicrafter >>>Super Skyrider SX 28<<<

This receiver dates  back to 1940 has six bands covering 540kcs to 43mhz . It has high fidelity push pull audio-band pass audio filter and two stages of pre-selection. It has a highly efficient crystal filter circuit an additional effective noise limiter. The receiver has fifteen valves and sold for $159,50 which I presume was a lot of money in 1940. Made in the USA.

This ones a bit grubby it's been in the garage and now it's stored at my Brother in laws but it works. I have no room in the shack for it and it is so back breaking heavy.

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The "bath tub" Morse key -flame proof, used in British Bombers in the 2nd World War

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The Frog, Yaesu's popular receiver.

This picture taken at the Shack of the late G0-OVR

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Old Police surplus kit...Marconi RC675 16 channel, 25watts, FM and AM transceiver, converted to the four metre (70MHZ) Amateur Radio band.

Not to sure of it's year of manufacture, I shall look it up, rough guess 1980

The dashboard mounted front panel section, the larger receiver/transmitter section would have fitted under the seat or in the boot etc.  Marconi made a version that fitted into a suitcase.

Purchased at Dunstable Down Radio Rally yonks ago. I know of fellow Hams who purchased this rig as the same time as me and had problems with it but this one has gave me no problems and seems to work well. The rig has built in SWR protection and is EPROM programmed.

Frequency  70.3625 to70.4875 MHZ

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