...The radios we'll always remember
 The cavalcade of entry-level Ham and SWL radios continues with the addition of Allied - Knight Kit!  
VIEW News Item
About our members
Posted: 03/14/2023
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

K9QET (SK)

With deep regret we report the passing of John Lorentz  K9QET.    He was an active ham on many modes but in recent years was well known for his outstanding signal and audio in the AM window where his nickname was "Quality Every Time".   John was one of the Net Control stations for the Midwest Classic Radio Net, where his presence will be especially missed.Please submi...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
General Information
Posted: 01/08/2023
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

Arnie Coro CO2KK, SK

From the Radio Havana Cuba website, posted 1/8/2023:In the early hours of this Sunday, the prominent journalist and university professor Arnaldo Coro Antích, with a long career in Cuban radio, died in Havana. National Radio Award 2017, Coro was born on July 2, 1942 and from a very young age he was linked to radio broadcasting. He was a right-handed expert and specialist in Mass Communicatio...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
General Information
Posted: 12/20/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

5085 is back! With WRMI Legends

The latest chapter in the WRMI Legends story is:  they're baaack -- on 5085 kHz, the former frequency of WTWW.   "“On December 18, 2022, WRMI officially took over the 5.085 frequency previously used by WTWW, returning the previous format to that frequency under the WRMI Legends brand and WRMI license while continuing to use the 24-hour Internet service to fill in holes in WRMI...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
General Information
Posted: 11/15/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

And...they're back! Welcome WRMI Legends!

After ceasing shortwave broadcasting from it's own high-power shortwave transmitter near Lebanon TN,   WTWW's programming is back on shortwave, courtesy of WRMI, Radio Miami International.    According to the latest schedule,   "WRMI Legends" can be hard on Transmitter #5,  9455 kHz, from 2300 to 0100 UTC,   on Transmitter #8, 5950 kHz from 2300 to...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
General Information
Posted: 11/10/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

WTWW ceases Shortwave Broadcasting

Citing rising operational costs, WTWW has ceased shortwave broacasting as of Nov. 9. 2022.     Owner Ted Randall made the announcement via the stations Facebook group, and the stations signed off 5085 kHz at 1:03AM.Very sad to hear."With the rising costs of everything, the power bill to operate the WTWW transmitters had reached $10,000 a month and higher. Because of the extreme...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
General Information
Posted: 10/18/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

HAARP Oct. 2022 Transmissions Planned

"Ghosts in the Airglow" - just in time for Halloween! Shortwave listeners are in for something completely different in late October 2022.   Another set of transmission tests are planned from the HAARP transmitter in Alaska offering a weird array of ionospheric experiments, including "Ghosts in the Airglow".    The 3.6 megawatt HAARP transmitter array will beam straight up, creating an artificial aurora, where the sidelobes ma...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
Other nets and on-air events
Posted: 03/04/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

BBC re-institutes Shortwave Service for Ukraine

Per CQ Newsroom:he British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is reviving its European shortwave service in order to provide news and information to listeners in Ukraine who may be cut off from internet service but have access to portable shortwave receivers. According to the New York Times, the BBC decided to reinstate its shortwave broadcasts to Europe following Russia's attack on Kyiv's main r...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
Other nets and on-air events
Posted: 03/02/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

Current NEWS from Ukraine Radio

via Google Translate Here is the Ukraine Radio homepage, translated into English:   LINK     Most broadcasts are not in English, however, due to the increased interest in the current situation in Ukraine, WRMI has resumed its relays of the daily English language broadcast of Radio Ukraine International, the official overseas service of Ukrainian Radio. RUI can be heard daily, except Friday, at 1200...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
Site Information
Posted: 02/03/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

A Website that's like a Magazine

an old radio magazine, that is Wouldn't it be great if we could go to the mailbox and find a copy of something like this inside?That's our goal!    But since print magazines are rapidly disappearing, the next best thing is to create online content that is just as much fun to read and something to look forward to.   Online publications aren't limited by monthly schedules or printing costs - and they're f...  READ MORE
VIEW News Item
About our members
Posted: 01/24/2022
Created By: Robert Nickels (W9RAN)
Comments: 0

The radios we'll always remember

New broader focus comes to DX-60.net ...  READ MORE

Show All

   

On the workbench
Posted: 03/26/2023
Comments: 0
A 3D Printed Socket for FT-243 Crystals

Lots of us have crysals in the FT-243 type holder from our Novice days and since, but the sockets needed for them are becoming hard to find.    To address this I designed a socket that can be 3D printed in about 15 minutes that will substitue for the old style panel-mounted socket used on many transmitters and in homebrew projects.    You'll need to scavenge two conta...  READ MORE

Heat up the iron
Posted: 03/26/2023
Comments: 0
Test those 6146s!

"The most sensational beam power tube to come your way!"  was the banner headline for RCA's 1952 ad promoting the new 6146 tube.    Sensationalism aside,  there's no doubt that more Novices first RF came from a 6146 than any other  tube and its popularity even grew during the sideband era when "a pair of 6146s" was found in many SSB transceivers from the high-end Coll...  READ MORE

Looking Back
Posted: 03/21/2023
Comments: 0
Your Future With Teletype

The 1950s were a time of high growth for many companies - especially those involved in communications and electronics.   So what young ham would not be tempted to think about working for one of the largest data communications companies in the world - a future with Teletype?Download the booklet at the attachments link below for a look at how Teletype sought to attract technicians, enginee...  READ MORE

Looking Back
Posted: 03/16/2023
Comments: 0
Teletype Corp.

Download the document "The New Look At Teletype" which appeared in 1960 that offers a glimpse into the operation of one of the largest data communications companies of its time.The Teletype Corporation of Skokie IL,  a part of American Telephone and Telegraph Company's Western Electric manufacturing arm since 1930, came into being in 1928 when the Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Company changed its name...  READ MORE

Fone Forum
Posted: 03/13/2023
Comments: 0
Johnson Viking II - CDC

Lots of Johnson Viking II transmitters were made but every so often the much less seend "CDC" model turns up.   What was different about it, other than the Civil Defense decal on the front panel?    Find out by reading the EF Johnson "Design File" below....  READ MORE

On the workbench
Posted: 03/08/2023
Comments: 0
Improve the efficiency of your vertical antenna

Rob Sherwood NCØB is best known for his receiver tests but as a DXer and contester, Rob has paid a lot of attention to antennas over the years.   Since the '70s he's been using and working to improve the effectiveness of vertical antennas and recently shared some of his findings at a presentation at the W9DYV Technical Symposium at the St. Louis Suburban Radio Club's Winterfest in...  READ MORE

On the workbench
Posted: 03/05/2023
Comments: 0
Must-have accessory for your NanoVNA

The NanoVNA is an amazingly useful piece of inexpensive test equipment for the ham and experimenter.  Anyone working with RF needs one!   Perhaps the most useful application for homebrewing or repairng radio equipment is the ability to make S21 measurements, that is to view the transmission characteristics of any RF device, such as a crystal, an amplifier, or a tuned circuit. &...  READ MORE

Tech Library
Posted: 02/25/2023
Comments: 0
Phillips Tube Substitution Guide

Ever run into a weird tube in a foreign-made radio, maybe one with an EL or EM part number?   This 1965 cross reference from one of the largest tube manufacturers in Europe might help.    Download it from the Attachments sectio below....  READ MORE

Fone Forum
Posted: 02/24/2023
Comments: 0
Old Buzzard George - W1GAC

Many hams operating AM today didn't have the opportunity to hear some of the true AM legends while they were alive and on the air, but thanks to W1DAN's excellent profile, we can appreciate one of the finest homebrewers and long-time AM operators - W1GAC.     George Mouridian passed away in 2007 at the age of 91 but had been an active ham for over 70 years and while he did use ...  READ MORE

Tech Library
Posted: 02/21/2023
Comments: 0
What is Q?

What is Q? A concise definition:   "In physics and engineering, the quality factor or Q factor is a dimensionless parameter that describes how underdamped an oscillator or resonator is."We know it's important in RF circuits - low Q coils or tuned circuits will result in loss and perform inefficiently.   We may remember from the Handbook that the Q of a coil equals the rati...  READ MORE

Heat up the iron
Posted: 02/16/2023
Comments: 0
The Walter Ashe Novice Rig

Novices in the St. Louis area had no reason to envy their New York or Chiago ham buddies, not when they had Walter Ashe Radio Company in town.   The spot they once occupied at 1125 Pine St in downtown St. Louis is now a parking lot, but the memories of this full-line electronics distributor lives on in it's catalogs which rivaled those of its bigger city counterparts.And Walter Ashe was ...  READ MORE

Heat up the iron
Posted: 02/15/2023
Comments: 0
How To Build Radio Receivers

Looking for a simple radio project?   Or just a nostalic read with those great old-time pictorial wiring diagrams?   This little booklet was published for many years and still has ideas that might motivate you to get the iron hot!...  READ MORE

Fone Forum
Posted: 02/11/2023
Comments: 0
The Deltronic CD-144A

The early 1950s were a time of uncertainty in the US.   While the WWII soldiers and sailors had returned home and were re-entering the workforce or using their GI Bill benefits to prepare to do so, the Korean conflict had raised new fears:  the Cold War era was beginning.  While the threat of air raids or invasions in the United States became likely during the war, the focus on...  READ MORE

Welcome to the Shack
Posted: 02/04/2023
Comments: 0
Sky King was a Hallicrafters man

Those of us pajama-clad Saturday morning visitors to the Flying Crown Ranch via our black and white Admiral TVs knew this...but it took someone who owns the DVD collection posting this image on Facebook to prove it:   Sky King was a Hallicrafters man!This equipment was seen in the first  year of the series, according to those in the know, and subsequently Gonset gear was most often ...  READ MORE

Brass Pounding
Posted: 01/14/2023
Comments: 0
Looking to Ditch Twitter? Morse Code Is Back

"For almost 20 years, Steve Galchutt, a retired graphic designer, has trekked up Colorado mountains accompanied by his pack of goats to contact strangers around the world using a language that is almost two centuries old, and that many people have given up for dead. On his climbs, Galchutt and his herd have scared away a bear grazing on raspberries, escaped from fast-moving forest fires, camped in...  READ MORE

Tech Library
Posted: 01/05/2023
Comments: 0
101 Electronic Circuits

Most hams and hobbyists got their start in homebrewing by building simple circuits published in the various magazines.    Every so often most of them could collect a bunch of popular circuits and combine them into a book - Sams, TAB Books, and the magazine publishers among others.   Here's one from Gernsback, the publishers of Radio Craft magazine that is nicely organized ...  READ MORE

Fone Forum
Posted: 12/23/2022
Comments: 0
The Knight Kit Wireless Broadcaster

How many hams - - phone operators especially -- got their start with a Knight Kit Wireless Broadcaster?Who could resist the siren song of those ads in the Knight Kit section of the Allied Radio catalog with the promise of "transmitting your voice through any AM radio"?   Maybe not too far away or with the greatest fidelity, but it was a real radio transmitter! Some may not know that...  READ MORE

Fone Forum
Posted: 12/19/2022
Comments: 0
It all starts with the Microphone

One of the most asked questions is, “What kind of microphone should I use?”It all seems very confusing: Dynamic, Condenser, Ribbon, Electret, Large Diaphragm,Cardioid, Omni—so many technical words! Think of a microphone as a “backward”speaker: a microphone hears sound and transfers it into electricity. A speaker seeselectricity and transfers it into sound. The technic...  READ MORE

On the workbench
Posted: 12/18/2022
Comments: 0
Signal need a boost? Build a 6DQ5 amp!

That's what vintage SSB enthusiast K5LYN did when he wanted more power from his Central Electronics station.  Since he has it set up for transceiving using the output of the SX-115 receiver to control the frequency of the 20A,  the station is dedicated to 75 meter operation anyhow, so a full bandswitched amplifier wasn't needed, and because the 20A can't provide the drive needed for a gr...  READ MORE

Looking Back
Posted: 12/17/2022
Comments: 0
YASME - Exotic DX On the Air

Yasme is a storied word in amateur radio DX circles. DX stands for “distance” and the sailboats for which Yasme is named certainly covered their share of DX, crossing the oceans and dropping anchor at exotic islands some six decades ago. In turn, amateurs around the world, the “DX-ers,” would then try to contact the Yasme captain, Danny Weil, VP2VB, an amateur operator of r...  READ MORE