Welcome to the W7OS Museum SKN 2009 Page...   Some brief info:

The Museum Committee took down the old benches on the SE and South wall and installed Wainscoting and chair railing, painted it nicely with old-timey colors.  The goal was to make that part of the room look like the Old Man Hiram's shack from 1918.  Thanks to all for your kind complements.

Now that more useable floor space was created... we had room to set up some tables with old time stations.  The theme right now is... Novice Stations.  All of the transmitters are XTAL (crystal controlled = No VFO) like it began in 1951 when the FCC created the Novice Class License. 

                                      
Back then the Novice could only operate Morse Code CW (5 words per minute to pass) on  HF with XTAL controlled transmitters with a power INPUT (vs output power in todays ham radio) of 75 Watts.  Also... the transmitter and receiver were separate units coupled together by the antenna relay operated by the T-R switch.  Most Novice operators had one or two XTALs. 

A Novice would call CQ on his/her frequency and then tune up and down the band to listen for a reply because another Novice might be answering with their one or two XTALs not on the same frequency as yours.  Hamming back then took a lot of patience and effort... but it was good training.

The Novice class license was good for one year and not renewable.  In order to keep hamming... the Novice had to upgrade to General or Conditional.  This meant they had to get good at CW and radio theory to pass the 13 words per minute Morse test and (what I thought) an advanced radio exam.

The stations set up in the Museum depict what it was like back in 1951 through 1966.

Stop by the W7OS Museum and check it out.


All comments and captions by Rich KR7W

 
 
 
The receiver (L) is a very nicely restored Hammarlund HQ120 from approx 1939.  The transmitter is a World Radio Labs 'Globescout 65'.  This transmitter could be purchased as a kit.  I think this Globescout was build by the factory as it is very neatly assembled inside.  The telegraph key has approx 500 volts across the contacts and a heart stopping shock could occur if not careful.  Modern rigs have 5 volts across the key contacts.  No fun there.

On top of the Globescout transmitter is an old Heathkit AM-2 SWR Meter which doesn't work accurately here because the output impedance of the Globescout is rarely 50 ohms.  On the right is an old Heathkit AC-1 antenna coupler which is like an antenna tuner.  The AC-1 could tune the Museum antenna to 80 and 40 meters... so dual band operation took place with this "Ham Set".  We had only one 80 M XTAL... so we were limited just like in 1951.
 
In the old telegrapher's desk is a Drake 2B receiver, 2BQ Q-multiplier, and a Drake 2NT transmitter.  (from 1960 and 1966) The 'N' in the model number means Novice.  This station worked almost like a modern transceiver of today.  The 2NT has a built in Antenna Relay and T-R Switch.  When you push the key down... it automatically switches from receive to transmit.  Very nice... but when I was a Novice... this ham set was only in my dreams.  I was stuck with Heathkit stuff bought with paper route earnings.

 
The rig above is a Heathkit AT-1 transmitter with a whopping 8 watts output (circa 1951) and a Heathkit AR-3 receiver (circa 1955).  This station was not used at SKN because the receiver is less sensitive than the others... and besides, we wanted to make some SKN QSOs.  This is the kind of station I had when I was a Novice, at the bottom of the sun spot cycle.  I wonder how I almost Worked All States.  The old table is from my mother's house.  It is the table I had my first station on and later was used as a study table to get me through highschool.

 
Randy, WB4SPB, stopped by and did some SKN CW.  Randy really enjoyed the Drake set up.  I think he was like me as a Novice... I could only have one of these in my dreams.

 
Dr Doug, AD7AV, makes contact with the Drake ham-set.

 
Pete, KK7QW, uses his slowed down Blue Racer bug with the Globescout ham-set.

 
Gary, WG7X, stopped by on New Years Day to make some QSOs with the Globescout ham-set.  Gary had trouble with the T-R switch on the Globescout.  As he reached for it... he grazed his hand over the key terminals and then touched the switch.  Ouch!! 500 volts.

 
Here's Morel, W6LIX,   Licensed at age 12 in 1932 using the Globescout set up.  Morel is a great CW operator, especially with a bug.

 
Nick, K7MO, stopped by to operate the Drake set up and made contact with club member Peter, AD7EU.

 
The W7OS Museum could use some bucks to continue our effort to make more of the interior look like Old Man Hiram's shack.  Right now we are about $100 in the RED.  Help if you can.  Thanks...KR7W

 
 

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