[IRCA] Looking back...

[cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

> At 12:11 PM 12/25/2006, you wrote: (commenting on the terrible reception conditions for a while now)

> Colin, just imagine a young child receiving a SW portable and tuning across the bands hears virtually nothing.  Any chance of snagging a young enthusiast has just gone down the drain!  I still recall my first "real" receiver....a 12 band portable, which cost me the princely sum of $32 back in the late 60s.  

My first "tune" was on an el-cheapo 5-band all-in-one in the Spring of 1971.

I tuned across the 49m band to 31 or 25m and was astounded by the languages
and strange noises. The expression on my face must have been priceless.

I was instantly hooked and never looked back.

My Dad brought home a 1938 RCA Cathredral type 6 tube with shortwave bands...
and it was functional!

Ran this radio off of the TV antenna was not in use. The concept of
putting up my own "aerial" was not yet within my grasp.
The old tube radio lasted a year. It died a quiet death. Old age.
In late 1972 I started kit-building - A Radio Shack Globe Patrol
(Regenerative was my primary receiver for about 8 monthes!)

I put up my first wire antenna for this little radio.

By the Fall of 1973, I had saved enough coin for a DX150B --
and the statling sum of 179$ and change (Canadian)
This changed everything, as did the addition of 1/2-wave dipole
after 1/2 wave dipole, long-wires and passive loops.
Anyway - in the intervening years I have owned or used
a FRG-7, a Barlow-Wadley XCR-30, numerous Radio Shack portables,
a Kenwood R2000 (Thanks Walt!) and my current Drake R8.

I do not have the acreage to put up suitable antennas so
Wellbrook ALA100's fill in until such time as I have a scrap
pf land.

For me,  the hobby is very much alive - albeit not
as friendly and instantly captivating as it used to be.

73 all,


--
Colin Newell - in Victoria B.C. Canada
Editor-Creator www.coffeecrew.com 

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