Transmission1

Avenger wrote: ↑05 Oct 2019, 22:43 First rig I had on the air was a spinnytronic clone of the amstrad 901 with a modulator mag mount stuck onto a triangular road sign in my attic with 3 aluminium poles from an old rotary clothes line attached 1 from each corner ( I kid you not). this was early 90's and worked really well with good swr.

I suppose it was a sign of the times

midland 100M; the black/silver one with powermax mag mount in the loft, later a "super dee" dipole, Then a legal midland 2001 FM, a superstar 2000 and then an Avanti sigma 4 on a scaffold pole...………..39 years later the midland is still in its box, but other radios plus the Avanti are boxed and having a sleep for now.

I had a Cobra 19 GTL in the late 70's, it cost me almost a weeks wage. Had it hooked up to a DV27 on a biscuit tin in the loft, usually had to wait for the TV to go off (yes it closed down back then) before any TX.
Eventually saved up for a Major M360 and a Avanti Astroplane - Happy Days

2 channel hand held to start with in 80/81. Then legal 81 40 channel Midland , which I returned to Tandy and bought a Barracuda with as it had more buttons and switches Then an Audioline 341 , and from there on in it was Uniden all the way (more or less).

I used to have an Antron 99 CB Antenna and my radio was a President Lincoln with a Tear Drop Anti Static power mic, this was when I lived in my old place which was a basement with a small garden, it got me out on the air although the neighbor hated it. I still have the antenna but not the radio, I sold that years ago which I regret.

Anyway I can't use the Antron where I live now as I have antenna restrictions but I've been working on an old crappy Moonraker gutter mount which will bolt onto another metal piece that will also form part of the ground plane. I've modified the gutter mount and drilled four holes into it so that I can bolt it onto a short pole and I've removed the crappy lossy coax and soldered on some RG213 coax to it. I'll snap a picture of what it looks like so far in a minute although its not finished yet.

I stripped the shield a bit longer as I plan to tin it and connect a ground to it. This will be bolted onto an aluminum metal piece which will then be connected to a short pole.

I've just been digging through my box again and repairing all the broken/faulty patch leads I've had over the years and making other test leads although its all RG58 stuff, I de-soldered all the PL259 plugs from the leads and made some new ones, the quality of some of the coax on those leads I'm surprised they even worked at all anyway I've now got some extra test leads, I always use RG213 coax for my actual setups, the RG58 leads are just for testing antennas and stuff.

my first rig was an amstrad 901, i then got a nato 2000 and dx,d on 11mtrs for years, ended up using a ft101zd mk3 with vhf to listen to the morse then got a FT ONE, i had a cobra 148 for the car, those days were great, just getting back into it now and cant wait to get the antenna,s back up, if i remember i had a 5/8th wave antenna called a 2013 if im correct, had a big coil at the bottom in a glass bowl, got me all round the world though

Possibly a Sirio 2012 as I had one in the mid to late 80's.

yes it was the sirio 2012, a cracking antenna that got me all over the world,many thanks for that , i,ll be able to sleep at night now , now you have reminded me what it was

First rig we had was my dad’s cobra 19x with a dv27 on the back of a vauxhall viva..
My own first rig was a cobra 21xfm bleed over box then progressed to midland 4001 but hated the fm thing as it was well over crowded back in 81/82 so bought a knackered ham international concorde and got the loca rig doc to fix it up and that was my first ssb rig with a gp27 antenna on a 20ft scaffy on the back of the garage and done me proud till i got onto the cobra 148gtl dx and next came the hygain v 2795 then next the 2795dx version then bought another cobra 148 but soon sold it for a hygain 8795 four blocks of 50 channels and bought me an avanti sigma 2 hoisted up on a 10ft scaffy on the back of the parents house..waited till the went on holiday and added another 20ft scaffy to the set up and 30ft of pole 21ft of antenna and bought a bremi brl 200 linear amp and that was me for a while untill a ham jumbo come up at a good price and then finally sold up in 1986.
Have owned a shed load of rigs listed below
Nato 2000
6x cobra 148 gtldx
Cobra 200dx
5x hygain v
Midland 150m
Jaws mk2
President lincoln
President jackson 6 band
President grant classic
Midland 2001 27/81fm
Midland 3001 am mid band
Midland 4001 27/81fm
Cobra 19x
Comtron cb40f 27/81fm
Ham jumbo mk1
Ham concorde 1 and 2
Tristar 727
Colt 210
Probs missed a few and currently own
Ranger 2950dx3
Colt 720dx black shadow
Hygain 2795dx
Cobra 148gtl dx
Jaws mk2
Avanti sigma 2
Avanti astro plane
Avanti moonraker mobile antenna
Wilson 5000 antenna
Cherokee half breed just coz i felt nostalgic one day and it was there lol

I had a Robyn SX-007 23 channel in 1980 followed by a Fanfare one hander and a sharp small window.

My first big antenna was a Ham International Minory then a few Comtells that used to snap every other week at the insulator.
I think the Sirio Tornado is the modern version.

I then talked my mum into getting me a new Superstar 2000 for Christmas :-)

First legal rig was a Fidelity 1000 then a Mustang 1000 and a Binatone Speedway.

Had all sorts since then

First CB i owned was a Maxcom 7e handheld then bought a cybernet beta 1000 with a Dv27 (still have somewhere) used them for a few months then i had all sorts of radios first ssb radio was bought was a colt 1600dx at the time the front was un readable so i stripped it down and repainted and used letterset and named it Colt 2000dx wasn't till years later i figured what it was. then i had many more radios cobra ham colt then got a belcom (pile of junk) next was SOMMERKAMP TS 788 DX then i jumped to yaesu 101b and a 757gx. I have probably had every radio made that was possible to buy as i would buy try and sell on.
Antennas i had many started with the dv27 then dx27 also an avanti 9ft antenna that i still have was great static mobile and for a while on a metal ground plane on my roof. I then went to silver rods sigmas then started building yagis and quads biggest was a 5 ele on 11m before i went to quads. Started with the PDL2 till the wind got it and destroyed the plastic part. Still have bits of it as well.
I would work Japan Ozzieland and New Zealand each day when the locals would hear nothing. They all thought i was at it till i invited 3 of them up on day and they all were mesmerized at what i was working.

That was a great time starting out and learning. Cant mind when i first started with radio but it was late 70's when a friend had an old am/ssb set we would talk to folk must have been about 8 or 9 then it was probably 84 or there abouts when i bought the handheld
Now i am on the ham bands radios are all expensive lol same again i have had loads of radios but now starting to slow down and not buy as many.

All time fav radio from years gone by goes to the Cobra 2000GTL Would love to get a good one for memories.

My very first rig was a Colt 210 in early 1981, with a DV27 on the car and a DV27 on a biscuit tin in the attic! The rig was brand new and allegedly came via Ireland in the back of a truck. I still have that rig today, including the box and accessories. It's still in immaculate condition too! Simply lost count of the amount of rigs I've had since then, although I do still have my Binatone 5 Star, Cobra 148 GTL DX and Realistic TRC 422A. I still have the boxes and accessories for the Cobra and Realistic too.

My first CB?
An LCL Economy UK40FM, and an unbranded loft-antenna. It was actually really good. A plucky little thing.

Harvard. Amstrad. Midland. Cobra 148 gtl DX. Dv27. Silver rod. Sigma 4. Silver eagle mic. Bremi 200. Oh and a teardrop mic. 40 odd years on I've got a cobra 148 gtl DX back. Along with the silver eagle. Got a 18ft halfwave sigma dipole now too. No bremi 200 burner