I am not going to power it up for operation. I just put it on display in my office ham shack. The internet and email is much more effective communication for me today. I did enjoy many years of packet as I was one of the early adopters of that digital mode of communication.
I resurrected my Heathkit HW9 QRP transceiver from the same dust and it too is now displayed in my office. That rig I may put back on the air some day. For non hams it is an all band HF (High Frequency) CW (Morse code) radio. I can’t use voice as it is designed for on/off keying only, a form of digital communication. QRP means it is low power, usually just a couple of watts. I think the HW9 has about the same power as the old legal CB radios used (5 watts).
With a wire antenna and some patience, the radio can be used to talk by code to anywhere in the world. The thrill of low power operation is how well it can communicate when band conditions are good on HF (3.5 – 28MHz.) 80 through 10 meter wave length.
These are not all the radios I have ever owned, just a few of those that I still have today. It will take more than a blog post to mention them all.
At one time the popular term for those frequencies was “short wave radio”. It’s funny because I never considered those wavelengths very short but it is all relative. The AM broadcast frequencies are considered medium and long wave.
I have done a lot of operating with amateur radio but my most fun was building the equipment. That is a wonderful thing a licensed amateur radio operator can do beyond operate, experiment with the equipment and build the radio gear from kits or scratch (just parts).
We are responsible to do it correctly and not create radio spectrum havoc with poorly performing equipment. I began scratch building circuits (usually published in magazines) from the time I was 12 years old. I received my formal electronics training from the US Navy. I didn’t build personal transmitters with any power (over 1 watt) until I was about 23 years old and became licensed as WN8EHS in 1969. I was in the Navy reserve then. Now 44 years later I still love experimenting with radio.
Today it is a digital microwave link to a model boat I am playing with but I also used amateur radio frequencies to fly model airplanes by radio control.
My enjoyment of constructing electronic equipment was equally shared with all the computers I have ever had. I totally immersed myself into digital electronics when I started into Packet radio. I knew it was the future of electronics. I have ridden the digital cutting edge for over four decades. I didn’t invent it, but I sure enjoy pushing it.
In my CNC machine shop I hand built all my computer controller electronics because I could. The result is I know exactly how it all works. For me I am doing something I enjoy. That is what life should be all about if we have the freedom. God bless the USA for letting me do what I enjoy.