FT-101 11-meter burn, ca 1996

[nomadradio]

Some days cleaning up at my shop feels more like archaeology. Here's a sign a former tech put up after a customer zorched the finals in his FT-101. The other one cracked, this one only cratered on one side. About 30 years ago.

Get glass hot enough and it gets soft.

A stab from the past.

73

 

[AudioShockwav]

Some days cleaning up at my shop feels more like archaeology. Here's a sign a former tech put up after a customer zorched the finals in his FT-101. The other one cracked, this one only cratered on one side. About 30 years ago.

Get glass hot enough and it gets soft.

A stab from the past.

73

Looks like a couple of 811's I have known in the past.....

73
Jeff

 

[nomadradio]

Ahh the 811A. To quote my old friend Toll Free, "All the linearity of a half-wave rectifier".

73

 

[AudioShockwav]

Ahh the 811A. To quote my old friend Toll Free, "All the linearity of a half-wave rectifier".

73

A few months ago I talked to him , he was getting ready to go do some volunteer work in Jamaica, Hurricane recovery stuff
I miss talking to Shane
Years ago I could park on the top of Guadalupe grade in the mobile and talk to him when he lived in the Tehachapis on channel 6.

73
Jeff

 

[N8YX]

Fun Fact:

When I got into radio the progression went something like AM/FMBCB DX -> SWL -> CB -> Amateur -> wide-range scanning -> esoteric modes. All of which I still participate in.

CB was near the peak of the boom. As a young comms/electronics enthusiast I made a LOT of friends in the serious-user community. These were the types which didn't buy their radio and antenna at a K-Mart or Sears store. Think Cobra, DAK, CPI and all the other high-end rigs of the day.

One in five of that crowd was running an FT-101 of some sort. The exception was a high-school buddy and his dad, who had a complete (everything) Drake 7 line.

I personally didn't know anyone who cooked a 101, and I only know of one which hit our local shop for repairs. Most kept a pretty low profile when running that type of equipment on the Class D allocation.

But they sure managed to break a lot of the other stuff.

 

[AudioShockwav]

Fun Fact:

When I got into radio the progression went something like AM/FMBCB DX -> SWL -> CB -> Amateur -> wide-range scanning -> esoteric modes. All of which I still participate in.

CB was near the peak of the boom. As a young comms/electronics enthusiast I made a LOT of friends in the serious-user community. These were the types which didn't buy their radio and antenna at a K-Mart or Sears store. Think Cobra, DAK, CPI and all the other high-end rigs of the day.

One in five of that crowd was running an FT-101 of some sort. The exception was a high-school buddy and his dad, who had a complete (everything) Drake 7 line.

I personally didn't know anyone who cooked a 101, and I only know of one which hit our local shop for repairs. Most kept a pretty low profile when running that type of equipment on the Class D allocation.

But they sure managed to break a lot of the other stuff.

I started with a 3 channel RS cb and worked up to the 101 had a B and a E series.
I was fortunate that I had already progressed past the defeated limiter AM junkie mentality when I bought them.
The B had Toshiba tubes with the green stripe and I limited it to 20 watt carrier on AM and they lived for years like that.
It was the guys trying to run 75-80 watt carrier levels that were always down at Thrifty drug store buying new tubes.


73
Jeff

 

[BC Coyote]

It was the guys trying to run 75-80 watt carrier levels that were always down at Thrifty drug store buying new tubes.

You just reminded me of the days when every drug store (and electronics retailer) had a tube tester! As a pre-teen I would visit the local dump, extract as many tubes as I could from dead TV's and radios, and then haul them all down to drug store in bags to test them. Good memories. I still own and occasionally even use a vintage Hickock 533A tube tester, complete with its original wooden case.

 

[AudioShockwav]

You just reminded me of the days when every drug store (and electronics retailer) had a tube tester! As a pre-teen I would visit the local dump, extract as many tubes as I could from dead TV's and radios, and then haul them all down to drug store in bags to test them. Good memories. I still own and occasionally even use a vintage Hickock 533A tube tester, complete with its original wooden case.

Thrifty drug store and GBS Hardware had the biggest selection of tubes, I think a 6js6c was $7 back then.
( Bill the guy who ran the TV repair shop always charged $.50-1.00 more)
Yessir we scavenged old TVs/radios for tubes as well
The good ole days

73
Jeff