Sunday, February 11, 2018

Couple of updates, 2/11/18

Finally, after years of things piling up after building an addition on the house, I'm starting to catch up with some radio stuff. I cleaned layers of stuff off my desk. Among other things, at different layers, I found Corsette oscillators, parts, QSLs, photos, etc. I also printed QSLs that I received from the past 18 months or so and got those into albums.

One thing that I found in the mess was an unaddressed package. I cut it open & it's a 2014 Pirate Radio Annual. This one sold out a while back & a number of people asked about its availability. So, if anyone reading this wants it, it's $18 including shipping. Send an e-mail to me & I'll let you know if you were the 1st to ask. Then, you can either pay me via PayPal, check, etc.

I've had a chance to listen to the radio a bit over the past week while working in there. I've heard The Relay Station, Nuttin' on Shortwave, Yetti Radio, Deez Nuts Radio, etc. Good stuff.

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About two years, I bought an old navy rack at a local auction. I didn't go to the viewing, but I saw the photos. It had a couple of speaker slots, an open place with a shelf that held an amplifier, and a blank panel. A lot of things at the auction sold for pretty high prices, but amazingly the rack went for $16. Couldn't believe I got a full-sized rack for $16! I got there and went to move it and it didn't budge. Not a bit. I went to the backside and the former owner had replaced the speakers with projects: each speaker panel contained one side of an enormous power supply. The blank panel wasn't wired together, but it had a modulation transformer (that I looked up later & saw is good for 500 watts out). 

In all, this beast weighed somewhere around 600 lbs. and I needed to get it out. To shorten the story a bit, a good samaritan helped out & we were able to get it up a few basement steps & into the back of the van.

I disassembled the whole thing, painted the cabinet, & finally moved the cabinet into my upstairs radio room. Last night, I discovered a problem. How do you lift a Hammarlund SP-600 up over your shoulders in height and screw it into the front panel of the cabinet? 

Anyone have any techniques for mounting boat anchors into full-size cabinets?

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I've been working on the CD for the 2017-18 PRA. I have clips done for about 35 stations now. It's been fun re-listening to bunches of stations from the past few years.