The Coast Guard Cutter Courier: “A Cold
War-era Battleship without Guns”
By John Schneider W9FGH
The
Voice of America operated a unique shipboard radio broadcasting facility on the
medium wave and shortwave bands in the Mediterranean Sea from 1952 to 1964. The
US Coast Guard Cutter Courier was a
seagoing Cold War shipboard broadcaster, which preceded the famous pirate radio
ships of the 1960s and 70s and was the home to the most powerful transmitter
ever operated aboard a ship. But, it was not always smooth sailing. There were
complications with the 900-foot balloon-tethered medium wave antenna and constant
jamming from Russian-based transmitters.
Experiences of a (Relatively) Young Ham
with Vintage Radios
By W. Eric McFadden WD8RIF
While the author has been a licensed ham
for 38 years, he’s relatively young. And, since most of his operating gear is modern,
he’s fairly new to vintage radio. He writes that he wanted to experience what
the hobby was like for earlier generations and he felt the contagion of many of
his close amateur radio friends who are quite into vacuum tube-era gear. He’s
apparently a quick study because now he has some good-looking vintage gear in
his shack, including a Heathkit HW-16 and a Drake 2-NT transmitter and 2-C
receiver as well as tube-fired 6-meter gear. He’s definitely hooked!
Beware
the Mods: Drake 2NT Transmitter
By
Rich Post KB8TAD
Longtime
vintage radio guru, Rich Post KB8TAD, helps Eric McFadden restore his Drake
2-NT transmitter and shows the rest of us some of the things he does to give
vintage radio gear new life. Here’s a hint: It’s not easy and it helps to have
good diagnostic equipment, skills to operate that equipment and many decades of
understanding the variables of tube-technology.
Shortwave Listening with the “Old-Timers”
By Eric Beheim
Growing up in the 1950s and listening to
his grandfather’s 1936 23-tube Scott All-Wave console shortwave radio was a
pretty good start for young Eric Beheim. That’s why today, Eric likes to listen
to the shortwave bands on number of vintage shortwave radios, including a 1936
Hallicrafters S-20R Sky Champion and a 1942 Zenith model 7G605 Transoceanic
“Clipper” among others. Listening is not as easy as you might think. Eric
writes, “Most older radios lack the sensitivity, selectivity, and stability
that we take for granted in our modern sets. But
that’s what makes monitoring with the ‘old timers’ both challenging and
exciting.”
A Salute to the Esteemed Regenerative
Receiver
By Richard Fisher KI6SN
Fifty years ago, a teenage Richard
Fisher, sporting his Novice call, WN1DWL, found he was at loose ends during his
high school winter break. What better way to pass the time than to build a
regenerative receiver that he could use to cover the ham bands from 160 through
10 meters? It was a project financially within reach of “a broke 16 year-old.” Years
later, while he still had the rig, it had fallen victim to the ravages of time
and “parts scrounging.” Now, Richard thought, what better way to celebrate the
50th anniversary of that little radio than to restore it to its full
regenerative glory?
Scanning America
By Dan Veenaman
Scanning Radio History
Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Holiday Radio Logs
Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
Russia
to Activate Arctic OTH Radar in 2017
Digital HF: Intercept and Analyze
By Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
What Digital HF Signals can you Hear and Decode Today?
HF Utility Logs
By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman
Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
Holiday Wish List
VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
ARISS: A Brief Flyover and My Experiences with ARISS QSOs
Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
The Hows and Whys of DIY
Open-Wire Feed Line
Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Getting Started with Free-to-Air Satellite TV
Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
Plasma Bullets
The World of Shortwave Listening
By Rob
Wagner VK3BVW
On the
Road with a Tecsun PL-680
The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Christmas Around the World on Shortwave
Amateur Radio Astronomy
By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF
Amateur Radio Satellite Operating Protocols
The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
Resources: What's On Your Bookshelf?
Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
The Heathkit Laboratory-type Signal Generators: LG-1 and IG-42
Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Sunspot Maybe: Surviving without Upper HF