Wow. I had a DX-20 and NC-125 receiver in my college dorm room. Threw a very thin wire out the second floor window into a tree. It had to be loose because a few times the groundskeepers spied it and pulled it out of the tree. I used the receiver to keep track of club radio usage - W1AF. We had some international students who had no regard for band edges.
Wayne, you're not that old. Monty Shultes K2DLJ, Class of 1961 On Sep 9, 2011, at 3:57 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote: > I grew up with Heathkit and built or repaired many of their products. > I learned a lot from them. (I would soon try my own hand at kit > design. Alas, the high price of 1970s-era TTL ICs doomed my digital > tach project.) > > There was a Heathkit retail outlet at Grossmont Center, two miles from > my house in La Mesa. My high school friends and I would drop by > occasionally to drool over the all-Heath ham station on display. The > store's carefully dimmed ambient lighting enhanced the aristocratic > glow of the meter lamps, while the triband yagi on the roof never > failed to pull in strong DX stations on 15 meters. But in those days, > funded as we were by paper routes and push mowers, the dream seemed > far out of reach. > > The sales counter, pristine and intimidatingly high, was staffed by a > clean-cut middle-aged man with a touch of gray at the sideburns. You > know the stereotype: pipe in one hand, soldering iron in the other, as > if he'd stepped right out of Heath's catalog. He politely denied my > credit application. > > Wistful memories notwithstanding, the impending resurrection of > Heath's kit line reminds me of the story about a woolly mammoth that > drowned in icy waters some 10,000 years ago. Scientists found the > beast nearly intact, suspended in a block of ice somewhere in northern > Canada. Given the capricious nature of climate change, I suppose it > could just as easily have been western Michigan. > > The mammoth was reasonably well-preserved. This elicited talk of a > revival attempt by the same sort of scientists who have themselves > quick-frozen upon their death, along with treasured artifacts like > their pipes and soldering irons. > > Unfortunately, the best the team could do was thaw out a few small > steaks and serve them to the hopeful. I can just imagine the labored > grins on the faces of those hardy diners. We know from centuries of > native oral tradition that mammoth meat was a bit tough, even when > fresh. > > But back to western Michigan. My wife's family has a cabin in > Ludington, a couple of hours north of Benton Harbor. We visit the > cabin every other summer to enjoy the miles of lonely beach along the > lake. > > Next time we go there, you can bet we'll be detouring to take in the > Heath tour, which I hope includes a museum. I'd love to see my beloved > DX-20 transmitter, which hummed and sizzled and arced in a manner not > described in the literature, and which struck fear into the hearts of > nearby TV viewers in my ancestral La Mesa homeland. > > With tongue firmly in cheek, and with appreciation for those who > bothered to read this far-- > > Wayne, > N6KR > > > On Sep 8, 2011, at 10:59 PM, David Pratt wrote: > >> Not sure you should be advertising the competition on here, Nape. >> Heathkit was excellent in years gone by, but for me it's ELECRAFT for >> the present and the future. >> >> 73 de David G4DMP > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
