CLASSIC RADIO EXCHANGE NEWSLETTER
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009 CX

HIGHLIGHTS

Jim, W8KGI, again took both the high overall score and the high CW score. Mario, N2AK, came in 2nd displacing Rocco, N6KN, who dropped to 6th.and Jeff, K3KYR, moved from 4th in the last CX to 3rd in this one. Bill, KG0LD, had the highest AM score and Ron, K2RP, took top honors in SSB. A CX first timer Gerry, VE7BGP had the highest FM score. Congratulations!!!!

This was one of the highest participation CX events in recent memory. A lot of the credit goes to Mario, N2AK, for his outstanding article about CX which was published by the ARRL on their web page. http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/01/09/10557/

Jim, W8KGI, one of the CX old timers and a frequent winner, has written about his CX philosophy

CX IS FUN

W8KGI – Jim: The CW CX out here in New Mexico sounded like the good old days. The bands were jumping with folks working the CX….was like a blast from the past.

K7NTW – Roger: QSO with N2BE, John, coast-to-coast on 40 meter novice TX and Novice RX – It just does not get any better than this!

K3KYR Jeff: Just to let it be known that a more perfect day couldn't have been found for yesterday’s CW CX. I also heard more and worked more vintage gear than ever before.

W4BOH – Wilson: ...had some fun, more than FD. Didn't get electrocuted!

W7ID - Jeff: ..there is something about making contacts using the little DX-20, Navigator, Meissner Signal Shifter level transmitters along with the old 50 and 60 plus year old receivers that brings me a great deal of satisfaction. I guess that is why I keep coming back to the CX. It is just plain FUN!"

KB2DHG – Lou: Again I have to say what a great time I had doing the CQ/CX event this weekend. My Drakes never worked so hard. This was a great event. I look for to doing it again.

W8KZF – Jeff: Boy, was this ever fun!

K4JYS – Bill: The CW CX was a lot of fun, as usual.

FIRST CX

K4UJT – Tom: I enjoyed the CX event very much. This was my first.... This brought back many wonderful memories of how it was when first licensed back in 1958.

VE7BGP – GERRY: This is my first Classic Exchange I participated in. I had a lot of fun.

WA3KFT – John: This was the first time I participated in the Classic Exchange. I will certainly be in the next one. I really enjoyed the QSO’s as they were all more than a half hour long.

VARIOUS AWARDS

MOST DISTINCTIVE SIGNAL
K2JEK – Don: Received a comment on my BC-696 - liked its chirp to a “saw cutting anvil.”

CX GROANER
N2BE – John: I was fortunate enough to catch up with Rocco (N6KN), who has one of the best equipped classic stations, I have ever heard.
Rock was ready to roll…

MOST ARTISTIC / CREATIVE EXCUSE
N6KN – Rock: My wife bailed out on taking my son to Mozart's Magic Flute at the LA Opera, so I was elected. I had a great time, but it took out a lot of the CX activity.

MOST UNUSUAL RIG WORKED
KG0LD Bill: On 160 AM, N0GMR running a Viking II/SP600 6T9 Tx and modified car radio Rx .

MOST CREATIVE SCORE PADDING ATTEMPT
K9VKY – Brian: Regarding the scoring, it was, once again, far from a sterling performance. 25 QSOs with an accumulated age of 438 on the equipment (10,950 points) x 4 (number of TVI complaints) = 43,800. Nice try Brian but we can't just let you claim those TVI complaints without some backup. Mac.

CX ANTHROPOLOGY
N2BE - John: Another episode of the CXosaurs.

NOTABLE QUOTATIONS

AA4RM - Marty: In my view, the nice CX-thing is embracing excess. The saw that "anything worth doing is worth overdoing" rings true.

N2BE – John: I ran into another CX stalwart, Bunky (K4EJQ). Bunky and I shared 10 QSOs together making him my vote for "CX Chameleon" and "Darn Good CW Ragchewer."

WB2AWQ – Howie: … the mil to mil QSO with Perry W8AU, who was using the classic WW2 setup TCS RX & TX. Ya gotta love relay keying, the radio literally bouncing on the desktop from the relay slamming back and forth at 25 WPM.

K7NTW – Roger: Great to smell hot dust on vacuum tubes!

WA4BNO – Richard: Dates for SX-101 and HT-40 are from date codes on the few original tubes. It was fun to fire up the old stuff

W8TM PAUL:I worked Mario N2AK 14 times on CW, but only once on phone. In fact, I worked no one on phone more than once.

W6SAI - PERRY (K4CWW)- W6SAI Bill Orr Legacy Radio Club
20 AM QSOs! Could not operate much this year and only on 20m AM.... Got some SSBers to punch up AM on their radios and that is a good thing!

MOUSE AND BUG PROBLEMS OF THE WRONG KIND

W8KGI – Jim: A mouse had gotten into the SSB-100, chewing up some of the control wiring and peeing on the relay contacts,

N6KN – Rock: That brings up the SX-73 I am working on - found some unusual critters INSIDE the "sealed" RF section. .

N8DL Denny: The ice and sunshine made it possible to better see most of the wire antennas, coax lines, guy wires, support lines, etc. My back yard looks like it was invaded by a hoard of giant spiders who then went bizerk.

ATTRIBUTION AND DISCLAIMER

The CX Newsletter is intended for the enjoyment of CX participants and others interested in the restoration, operation and enjoyment of Classic Ham Gear. This Newsletter was prepared from materials submitted by CX participants, from on-the-air observations, QSOs, and publically posted comments on various reflectors. Editorial comments on Individual Reports are shown in [Italics]. Any errors, omissions, or insensitive comments are unintentional. Please let me know if you have suggestions on improving the Newsletter or the CX website.
Thanks and 73,
Mac, WQ8U

You can read the individual reports by clicking on the call in the scores table below.

SCORES SUBMITTED

----
JANUARY/FEBRUARY2009CX NAMECWAMSSBFMBONUSTOTALCOMMENT
W8KGIJim 210,834-12,474-2,000223,317High Total and CW Score; Oldest Tx and Rx.
N2AKMario 86,9005,50055,6931,000148,093 High SSB Score
K3KYRJeff 70,046----70,460
W7IDJeff 48,165----48,165
K2RPRon 22,32030311,528--34,151
N6KNRocco 24,310----24,310
N2BEJohn 20,3503,200352--23,922Neatest hand lettered log submitted
KG0LDBill 6,1359,540258216-16,149Highest AM Score
K4JYSBill 13,280----13,280
K9VKYBrian 10,950----10,950
W8KZWJeff 9,959-462--10,421
WB2AWQHowie 10,269----10,269
W8TMPaul 7,676-2,204--9,880
VE7BGPGerry 3,094-2,6042,158-7,856Highest FM Score
N8DLDenny 6,048----6,048
AA4RMMarty 3,534----3,534
W4BOHWilson 3,293-162--3,455
K2LMLBill 2,856-306--3,162
K2JEKDon 2,826----2,826
KC2QILMike 2,208----2,208
W6SAIPerry -2,120---2,120W6SAI Memorial club Station
K3MSBMark 1,560----1,560
K7NTWRoger 1,512----1,512
WB7QCXRob --1,176--1,176
K4UJTTom 714----714
KB2DHGLou 656----656
WA3KFTJohn --574--574
WA4BNORichard 306----306
REPORTS SUBMITTED WITHOUT SCORES
OH6MHKirster Finland
N8OFSAndy
K3TVCTomy

CX REPORTS

W8KGI - JIM

INITIAL REPORT

I'll send much more later, but this CW CX was like a blast from the past. I made 81 QSO's, 26 on 20 meters, 31 on 40 meters, and 24 on 80 meters. There were a lot of new folks who showed up and also some old ones I hadn't worked in years like W7FOX and K9VKY. I worked Mario, N2AK, and thanked him for his ARRL web page article. I worked Marty on 20 and 40 and Denny, N8DL, on 80. I also worked Wilson on 80. I started out in the garage and stayed there until I got cold. I put 7 transmitters and 5 receivers on 20. There would have been 6 receivers, but the filter caps in the SX-43 pooped out and I couldn't use it because of the hum. Then I ran 2 more pairs on 40 until I got cold and went inside. Inside I ran 6 pairs on 40, getting plenty warm in the process, and then went back out to the garage where I ran the Globe Chief and the SW-3 and HQ-129x for 6 more QSO's on 40. At that point I quit for supper. After supper I tuned up on 80 from the inside shack and ran 6 more pairs.

My total age multiplier was 2603 years. My CW score is 210,843.

The oldest transmitter I had on the air was my 1938 NTX-30. The oldest receivers were my SW-3 and FB-7, both 1933 by my reckoning. Bill Orr's article in CQ, July 1971, dates the "version II" SW-3 which I have to about 1936. He dates the original, version I SW-3 to 1931. I have a 1981 letter from Bern Hilts, W4NDF, from whom I bought my SW-3, saying "By way of background, the receiver was purchased in 1933 or 1934 by a radio club in Niagra Falls, where I lived at the time and was W8IIZ. I bought it from the club, practically un-used." That's my justification for the 1933 date. I will trust you to figure out what you want to do about that in case my 1933 receiver(s) come in as the oldest used on this year's CX.

By contrast, I made all of 7 QSO's on the AWA Linc Cundall Memorial OT CW Contest which ran for two full days last week. The AWA should learn something from the CX!

73,
Jim

P.S. Thanks to Mac and his helpers for hosting the CX! It was great fun….

HARDWARE TALES

It was really fun getting the gear up and on the air. I kept working on the SSB-100 one problem at a time until I got it running. The last problem was the 4pdt relay. In previous mouse invasions, several contacts on the relay had gone open circuit, and I had managed to get them going again with applications of Deoxit and light sanding. This time even that didn't do the trick. But I was really lucky. The relay coil measured about 9000 ohms and it was in the plate circuit of a control tube. I found a matched pair of 48 volt, dpdt relays in my junque box that had 4000 ohm coils. I wired the coils in series, transferred all of the switching contacts over, and the new relays worked just fine! That was also the last problem with the old SSB-100 and it came to life again. It was a real thrill to work Montana, Oregon and Wyoming with it barefoot on 20 meters.

I received the B&W-6100 from Art Grandle, KD8ZG, in Columbus, about a week before the CX was on. Art said he hadn't had it turned on for about four years, and he thought it was drifty then. I started by bringing it up on a variac and it seemed to be OK. But when I tried to tune it up, it blew its 5 amp line fuse. I went through both the LV and HV power supplies step by step, and fortunately everything was OK there. I finally traced the problem down to an RFC in the B+ feed to the 6146 finals. One of the RFC leads was close enough to a metal control shaft so that the B+ would arc over to the shaft. I moved the RFC over and then the rig worked fine. It also did not have a drift problem, so I was really lucky. I was running it in a "two switch" mode for the CX, but yesterday I integrated it into my multi-rig control system and now I can run it single switch to talk on phone and QSK on CW.

I may need my Valiant next Saturday night for the AWA AM QSO Party. I'm going to be their "Western Flagship Station" and I'll be signing the call of the James Millen Society club station, W1HRX. I've got the NTX-30 and NSM ready to go on 40 and 75. Driving the SB200 I can get almost 200 watts of carrier out, so I have a pretty decent signal with them. I'll probably call upon the Valiant to do duty on 20 meters. I'll also be using some Millen-era National Receivers, like the HRO, NC-101X and FB7. And if I go out to the garage I'll use the HRO-5TA1 which is certainly close to the Millen HRO's.


W8KGI's CX PHILOSOPHY
The nice thing about the Classic Exchange is that there are several different ways to have fun. If you have only one old rig like Paul,W8TM, there are enough other stations on so that you can make 101 contacts. If you are an idiot like me and have multiple old transmitters and receivers, you can get get your kicks by getting a whole bunch of them on the air. If you have the time you can find enough activity to keep you busy from noon until 10:30 pm like I did. (I did take time out for dinner and several bathroom breaks.) If you only want to get on for an hour or so, you can still find some very interesting people on the air who share your fondness for the old gear.

I wound up "qualifying" with three or more QSOs each 21 receivers and 22 transmitters. I made only 81 contacts, 26 on 20, 31 on 40, and 24 on 80, but my "age multiplier," the total age of all of the transmitters I qualified, was 2603 years. So I will have a nice score as a result.

But the score isn't the reason why I do it. It's a chance for me to get some of my oldies on the air and to talk with other guys who know what they are and who appreciate them. It motivates me to go through the bunch, clean up the problems that have crept in since the last CX, and get them working again.

You don't have to have old gear to enjoy working our old chirping, humming, bouncing signals, but it does make it a little more fun.

Click to return to the Highlights.

FULL CX REPORT

The CW CX out here in New Mexico sounded like the good old days. The bands were jumping with folks working the CX, and I had a great time.

I started off out in the garage on 20 meters. I had a bunch of rigs and receivers tuned up on 20 out there, and in three hours starting at 12:30 local time, I made 26 QSO's and qualified seven transmitters and 5 receivers including my DX-20, Knight T-150A, Viking I, Viking II, HT-20, Apache, and AF-67 and my NC-303, HRO5TA1, 75A3, HQ170A, and SX-73. I was getting cold out there, but I stayed in the garage for another 45 minutes and went on 40 for six more QSO's and qualified my SX-28A and HRO-50R1 and my Globe King 275, and Collins 32RA. Then I went to the inside shack where it was warm, got back on 40 for another two and a half hours, and made 19 more QSO's. Inside I qualified transmitters DX-100, 32V3, Meissner Signal Shifter, T4X, NTX-30 (my oldest transmitter), and BC459, and receivers 75A4, SX-28, RME-69, R4B, NC-173, and BC455/BC453. Then it was back out to the freezer where I made 6 more QSO's on 40, qualifying my Globe Chief 90, SW-3 (one of my oldest receivers) and HQ-129x. I took a 45 minute break for dinner and then started on 80 from the inside shack. I made 24 QSO's there qualifying receivers HRO50, NC-200, NC-101X, HRO, BC454/BC453 and FB-7 (my other oldest receiver), and transmitters Central Electronics 100V, Valiant, Millen 90800, TBS50C/D (it started life as a C and was field modified to a D), CBY52209 (a Navy BC457), and Elmac A54.

I worked a lot of old CX friends including Marty, AA4RM, Jim, W8ZR running his FMP-200, Bob, WA2VMO, Mario, N2AK, Rob, K2TOP, and Fox, W7FOX. There were also a goodly number of new guys working the CX, a very good sign for our contest in these days when CW is supposed to be dying.

In total I made 81 QSO's, ran up an age multiplier of 2603 years, and made a CW score of 210,843.

The phone CX last Sunday was almost the opposite of the CW running activity-wise. I started off on 20 AM around 11 a.m. and found Perry running the Bill Orr memorial station W6SAI. I made 4 QSO's with him using four different pairs (HRO5TA1 and Viking II, SX-28A and Viking I, SX-73 and HT-20, HQ-129x and Apache), and he worked a couple of other guys as well while I was changing rigs and microphones. But all of the AM signals faded out in about half an hour and I was not able to work any other stations or to qualify my AM gear. There was no more CX activity on any of the bands at that point, so I took a break and went for a walk with my dogs. I finally got back on 40 SSB about 3:30 and found a bit of CX activity there. I made 22 QSO's with 6 different stations and qualified my brand new B&W-6100, Eldico SSB-100 (my oldest SSB transmitter), NC-303, HQ-170A and 75A3 in the garage and my Central Electronics 100V, Drake T4X and R4B, 75A4, HRO-50, and Triton IV from the inside shack. At that point it was 5:30 and time to leave for church. After we got back from church and had some supper, I returned to the shack and listened to 80 and 160 where I had gear tuned up. There were a couple of guys running ex broadcast transmitters around 3880 and 1810, and of course there was some SSB chatter as well. But no one was working the CX and I was a little tired. So I just turned off the gear and went to watch TV with my better half.

I had fun in the phone contest, as much getting the gear ready as running it on the air. A mouse had gotten into the SSB-100, chewing up some of the control wiring and peeing on the relay contacts, and the HV choke turned up with a short to chassis. I stood the choke off on some nylon screws and got the HV supply working, and I replaced the relay with a couple of NEC relays from my Bell Labs days. I was really pleased to be able to work Oregon and Montana with that rig! I had also gotten a brand new (to me) B&W 6100 from an old friend back in Columbus. It hadn't been on the air in four years. In the process of bringing it back to life I had to trace down a short in the high voltage line that turned out to be due to an RFC that had shifted and that was shorting out on a control shaft. Must have been due to Fed Ex's gentle handling on the way. I also fixed a few minor problems in my AF-68 and SX-43, and even though I didn't get them on the air it was still nice to have them working properly again.

So my AM score is zero since I have no age multiplier for that mode, but I qualified 567 years of gear on SSB and with 22 QSO's my SSB score is 12,474. That plus the CW score gives me a total of 223,317.

In the aftermath I've taped screening over the holes in the SSB-100 cabinet and on several other pieces of gear, sprayed Deoxit on several reluctant bandswitches, and configured the B&W-6100 control system so that I don't have to throw two switches to get it on the air. I've also put out about a dozen mouse traps. So I should be pretty near to ready for the next CX in September. All we need are a few more sunspots and it should be a great time. Just in case my power goes out again, though, I'll have the battery charged and the Argonaut ready.

73 and CU,
Jim Hanlon, W8KGI

Click to return to the Scores table.

N2AK - MARIO

Well another Winter Classic Exchange has passed . This year, I thought I was prepared for anything, and as usual, I was wrong! There were more CW stations on than I ever heard during CX, but they disappeared quickly after the sun went down. Again I overextended the time I spent on my favorite old radios, so that when the contacts got harder to come by, I went into panic because I still had half the stuff to get on the air. Oh well, it’s supposed to be fun. But it really is great to bring the bands to life with gear from the golden days of ham radio.

This year, I added a third shack to the mix. I was finding it harder and harder to move the Old stuff, so I decided to go with the flow and put all the heaviest stuff in the basement. I had my modern shack there, but no more room for old stuff there. So I bit the bullet and created shack #3.

As for newly restored radios, this year I got my Apache and Mohawk on-line 6 years after acquiring them from a local ham. After 3 hernia operations a few years ago, the Apache at 107 lbs kinda scared me off for a long time. I finally make up a lifting rig and soon had it on the air. I also put a neat Hallicrafters SR-160 on SSB for the first time. My Central Electronics CE 20A is also an new one for me on SSB. Also put on a very nice R-392 which was made in Phila. In the late 1950s by Philco.

I was very happy to work Jeff K3KYR again, after he was down last year with pneumonia. Jeff is a great CX operator, and fun to work. I contacted Howie, WB2AWQ on both 40 and 80m. He has some fb old military radios.

Once again I have Paul, W8TM on most of the combos I own. Paul plugs away with his Heath Twins, the SB401 and SB30. Once he got me with a dupe, but I quickly switched gear and worked him another combo. We had a 16 QSOs in all, mostly on 40 CW.

This year I QSO’d Bunky K4EJQ around 10AM on 40 CW. He usually shows up on Sunday evening, but the bands were different this time. I worked Jim W8KGI and we had a nice string of gear changes from his NM QTH.

Another newcomer to CX is Wally, W9OUY. He has some classic gear as the original owner, including an HRO from the 30’s and a 55w hmbw rig that sounds great. Wally is a guy who enjoys his old gear throughout the year and does a very nice job operating it.

A local new ham Mike, KC2QIL got his first taste of running old boatanchors with his SB 102. Mike was a lot of fun to work and operated in a very professional manner, and being about a mile away, an easy station to work .

One very useful little aid I built before the contest was a hand-held vfo “spot box” . By zero beating a radio to with it, it was then easy to set up multiple rigs on the same QRG. It turned out to be a nice way to get a lot of rigs in the log quickly. Also had a fixed freq. xtal osc box and a PIC microcontroller keyer, programmed to call CQ CX, but that took the fun out of actually doing your own operating, so I didn’t use it much.

I attached some pictures of my 3 shacks; the modern shack (mostly TenTec); the vintage shack on the second floor and athe new battleship boatanchor shack (note the picture of the battleship ! actually its a DDG-51 class destroyer) . Click here to see pictures of Mario's three shacks

Also I am doubtful that the sunspots will be coming soon, but CX is fun in any part of the cycle. I look forward to doing this again next time. Hope to hear you then.

73,
Mario / N2AK
Medford, NJ

RIGS USED CW CX
EICO 720
NCX-5
HT-37
NC-303
HNBW 1961
Swan 350
Ten Tec Omni C
Ten Tec Corsair
Ten Tec Argosy
HW-100
HW-101
SB-400 SB-301
SB-104
Heath DX-60
Collins 75A4
Knight T-60
ARC-5 40 meter Xmtr
T-4XB R-4A
CW Score = 79 QSOs X (1100) = 86,900

RIGS USED AM CX
Yaesu FT-101F
Gonset COMMIII
Gonset GC 105
Yaesu FT-221
Heath Apache
AM Score = 15 QSOs X (210 +160) = 5550

RIGS USED IN SSB CX
National NCX-5
Hallicrafters HT-37
Central Electronics 20A
Swan 350
Ten Tec Omni C
Ten Tec Corsair
Ten Tec Argosy
Heath HW-101
SB-400 / SB-301
Yaesu FT-101
Drake T-4XB / R-4A
Hallicrafters SR-160
SSB SCORE = 61 X (913) = 55,693

GRAND TOTAL : 86,900 + 5550 + 55,693 = 148,093

N2AK Mario

Click to return to the Scores table.

K3KYR - JEFF

Mac and Gang,
Just to let it be known that a more perfect day couldn't have been found for yesterdays cw CX. I also heard more and worked more vintage gear than ever before. Managed to qualify 12 stations, making 65 q's, of which only 13 were using modern gear. Lots of Drake, Collins, Heath, Hallicrafters, Johnson, National, Hammarlund gear used by others, with a smattering of Lafayette, Swan, Ten Tec, Eimac, Stancor, and Military gear mixed in. I quick glance at my notes, indicates Drake gear led the pack, of which I have none.

You picked a great weekend, with with much less qrm than other CX events. It seems there are more and more contests every year, making your selection much harder.

This time around I only worked the CW portion of the CX, but had a great time. Due to basically having the bands to ourselves, it was much easier to pick out other vintage enthusiast. Thankfully we didn't have the RTTY crowd to deal with, who never seem to listen before transmitting.

I qualified 12 stations with a combined age of 1084 years, and with 65 contacts, my score is 70,460 pts. I decided to break down some figures from the days events. Out of the 65 contacts, only 13 were using modern gear, a much lower percentage than when we compete with other events.

I then did a breakdown of the gear other stations used, Drake leading the way with 17 pieces, Heath 14, Hallicrafters 11, Collins 8, Kenwood, Ten Tec and Icom 5, E.F. Johnson 4, National, Yaesu and MIlitary 3, Swan 2, followed by Knight, Elcraft, Elmac, Hammarlund, Central Electronics and Stancor 1 each. One station worked only provided the year of manufacture.

My equipment breakdown follows: Heath 9, Hallicrafters, National, Knight, Yaesu and Hammarlund 2, Eico and Lafayette one each, for a total of 21 pieces. I could have put more stations on the air had time and exhaustion not taken their toll. This time around I fired up my Hallicrafters S 85, which needs some work and a recapping, but was able to use it on air for the first time. I believe I once owned this reciever, having bought it in the mid 70's from a neighbor who was a SWL, reselling it a year or so later, and buying it from a local ham/antique dealer last summer. The reason I believe it is the same reciever is the band switch knob, not original, that I replaced years ago.

28 of my contacts were with just 8 other CX'ers, working Mario N2AK 8 and Bunky K4EJQ 6 times; John N2BE and Wilson W4BOH three each; Dick W3DP, Paul W8TM, Jeff W8KZW and Rich, N4EX twice each.

K3KYR Stns Jan 2009 CW CX:
HW 8
HW 16 ( # 1 )
HW 16 ( # 2 )
DX 60 / HR 10
DX 60A / HR 10
DX 20 / NC 270
DX 40 / NC 109
HT 40 / S 85
T 60 / HE 80
T 150A / HQ 110A VHF
Eico 720 / HQ 110C
Yaesu Twins FL 101 / FR 101

Mac, I want to thank you for the time and effort you put into these events.
Thanks Jeff. It is worth the effort for all the fun we have. Mac

73, Jeff k3kyr

Click to return to the Scores table.

W7ID - JEFF

Hi Mac,
Here is my Classic Exchange report for February 2009.

This year I didn't get much of a chance to prepare ahead of time for the Classic Exchange. So I fired up the gear I always have set up in my shack first such as my KWS-1 and 75A4 Gold Dust Twins, my Hallicrafters HT-32B, SX-115, HT-33B station and my Collins S3-line. It didn't take long to qualify those stations so I was soon running in and out of my shop carrying other pieces of equipment into the shack.

I had to keep removing equipment from the operating table, setting it on the floor (no time to put it away) and replace it with another set of transmitters and receivers.

With so many different rig combinations that I wanted to use I opted for a simple manual antenna switching arrangement. This and the fact that I had not gotten prepared ahead of time didn't allow me to use multiple rig combinations on each station contacted like I would normally do.

Over the last year I had parted company with several of the rigs that I normally use during the CX and to help compensate had purchased several new pieces for the W7ID arsenal such as a Johnson Navigator and a replica of the first receiver I ever owned, a BC-348.

Even though I always enjoy using the big Collins and Hallicrafters stations I have to admit that there is something about making contacts using the little DX-20, Navigator, Meissner Signal Shifter level transmitters along with the old 50 and 60 plus year old receivers that brings me a great deal of satisfaction.

I guess that is why I keep coming back to the CX. It is just plain FUN!

I operated in the CW portion only this year and qualified the following pieces of equipment:
Transmitters
Collins KWS-1 -54
Hallicrafters HT-32B -48
Johnson Ranger -55
Collins 32S3 -48
Kenwood TS-940SAT -21
Heath DX-20- 52
Heath DX-40 -50
Johnson Navigator -51
Knight T-50 -53
Signal Shifter EX -61
Collins 32V3 -58
Johnson Valiant II -47
Total transmitter years 598
Receivers
Collins 75A4 -54
Hallicrafters SX-115 -48
National NC-303 -51
Collins 75S3 - 48
Kenwood TS-940SAT -21
Drake 2B -48
Hallicrafters SX-110 -50
Hallicrafters SX-100 -54
Military BC-348 -67
Hallicrafters SX-28 -69
Collins 75A1 -62
Hallicrafters SX-28A -65
Total receiver years 637

I made a total of 39 contacts with equipment totaling 1,235 years of age. That gives me a score of 48,165.

Thanks for another fun operating event.

Jeff Bishop, W7ID

Click to return to the Scores table.

K2RP - RON

Hi Mac..
Thanks for another great event! I was out of town for the September one, but made sure I had some time for this one!

Again, not to many stations participating in the phone weekend, that I could hear, but did manage to work a few guys with "rice boxes!"

My score and summary attached in Excel format. Hope this is ok. Summary is first, followed by log, followed by key to my equipment as referenced in log.

I repeated last year's "mismatch award," (AT1/75A4), but the only other claim to fame I can boast of this year is that everything worked perfectly-not so much as a blown fuse!

Click here to see pictures of Ron's shack. Thanks again for a great event.

MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM3101303
CW3662022,320
SSB2252411,528
TOTAL34,151

CW Stations
SB401: SB303
HT32: SX101
Marauder: Drake 2B
Viking I: HQ129X
DX35: Drake 1A
AT1: 75A4

SSB Stations
HW12: HW12
SB401: SB303
HT32: SX101
HW22: HW22
Marauder: Drake 1A
Marauder: 75A4

AM Stations
Marauder: 75A4

73
Ron
K2RP

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N6KN - ROCK

Mac,
I worked only the CW weekend, and only part of it. My wife bailed out on taking my son to Mozart's Magic Flute at the LA Opera, so I was elected. I had a great time, but it took out a lot of the CX activity.

I opened the contest on 40 in the morning with the Johnson Desk KW to try to punch a hole through to the midwest and east early on. Lot of good signals out here in California. W7FOX was loud from AZ on 40 with his HB 1625 rig. Heard K4BIZ, Bill, on his Adventurer from FL at 1503Z; that's pretty good for that time of day to Calif. I also worked Bill on his Conar twins, which is equally impressive. Moved up to 20 at 1536Z. Worked three Europeans, which is unusual for out here. Was happy to hear F6CLH on his TR7 (using my SR400A). Always have a warm spot for those radios. Nice note from Rob, K2TOP on his Navy TCX. John, N2BE, made it out here on another Adventurer; I was surprised he could hear my 32V-2 with that SX24, which is even older than the Collins. (I have an SX 24 that I have never used in CX - maybe there is hope there).

SSB notes - zero. Attended my mother in law's big 80th birthday party in New York City. Had a good time, but that wiped out the CX weekend. Family comes first (usually).

So, that's the story. Will try to do better with the scheduling next time. I have recently refurbished several old Collins receivers and transmitters in Colorado, so I might be on from there in the Fall. That brings up the SX-73 I am working on in Denver - found some unusual critters INSIDE the "sealed" RF section. It's a very impressive and ususual receiver.

Final CW and total score: 24,310 pts using eight stations. Only "new" rig this time was a TR4CW/RIT, which performed very well after replacing one of the filters and digging out some nasty bugs. I will send the full score and log by snail mail, as usual.

73,
Rocco "Rock" Lardiere
N6KN

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N2BE - JOHN

N2BE

Good Grief Mac!
I got up on the CW-CX morning, and it was 4 degrees F below-zero outside. The "South Shack" wasn't bad, but the "North Shack", a full 15 feet northward, was absolutely frigid. I turned on the Hallicrafters SX-24 and spent the next 2 hours chasing the usually rock-stable receiver all over 20 meters. The 807-final in my Johnson Adventurer was now blue for another reason. I sent something close to Morse code with the hypothermic fingers that kept seeking out the top of my Collins R-390 receiver. The flux-fields generated by hundreds of CXers tuning up the night before, no doubt, pulled polar air currents southward and frosted the temperate zones!

Once on-the-air though, things tended to happen quickly. I worked "old reliable" Paul (W8TM) on all 3 bands that I was on (80, 40 and 20 meters) and with all 4 stations that I had activated for the CW event. Paul is one guy you can count on to copy you, no matter how bad your signal is. After the first 2 QSOs with Paul, I ran into another CX stalwart, Bunky (K4EJQ). Bunky and I shared 10 QSOs together making him my vote for "CX Chameleon" and "Darn Good CW Ragchewer."

Up on 20 meters, I was fortunate enough to catch up with Rocco (N6KN), who has one of the best equipped classic stations, I have ever heard. Rock was ready to roll, and we quickly completed two QSOs. Then, as if on cue, the AC-line noise that plagues my QTH started roaring, and I had to abandon him on 20 meters. Sorry Rock, maybe next time. The Power line noise continued to be an ON/OFF problem throughout the event. It amazes me how we can land a man on the moon and grow human body parts in a laboratory but cannot make a reliable electrical connection or an arc-proof insulator for a power line. I have NEVER lived at a QTH where such noise was not a MAJOR problem. And people are all worked about BPL!?!

Later, I was able to hook up with Jeff (K3KYR) and made him copy my "pip-squeak" Heathkit HW-7 (Hi). Don't feel sorry for Jeff, however. He got me back about 5 hours later and made me copy his Heathkit HW-8. The QRP thing, with these earliest Heathkit HF-QRP transceivers, was fun. Thanks Jeff. After midnight, I had the pleasure of meeting Dan (VO2FF) who lives in an isolated mining community in Labrador. He talked about ham radio being "a kind of window on the world" for him. When I mentioned -4 degrees F to him, he mentioned -40 F to me. Geez, don't electrons stick to the glass envelopes then ? I suddenly felt warmer. Dennis (N8DL) had the oldest receivers I had logged in the CW event: Navy RBB and BC-342, both from the WWII era. Joel's (W3ZT) Stancor ST-202A (1947) was the oldest transmitter worked. Around 1 AM (EST), I contacted Ron (W0NYQ) in Minnesota. Ron is only 46 years old, young for a CX-er, but teethed on boat anchors. He described how, as a kid, he would fall asleep to the sound of this father sending CW on his Globe Kin 500A, the very same transmitter he was now talking to me with. At the tender age of 12, he was already building superhet receivers. Ron talked about some of the many pieces of classic gear he grew up with. What a terrific QSO to end a CX event with! Thanks for the memories, Ron.

Mac, do you sit buy the glow of a red desk lamp so your eyes can see the darkened dial settings on your radios of years gone by? If it wasn't for fear you'd go right into those radios and replace their long deceased panel lamps. But, to do so might bring down the wrath of Murphy; upsetting the delicate balance of fate's scale and unleashing a tsunami of technical malfunctions. Such would not have occurred to if you had only left well enough alone. Don't fix it if it ain't broke! So you sit and enjoy the warm radiance and darkened dials of your classic tube equipment, through yet another Classic Exchange.

With that said, I wish my only problems in the FONE portion of the CX were just dial lamps. While getting the SBE Model 34 ready for the contest, I noticed that, intermittently, it wasn't modulating correctly. It was the night before the CX and I really needed the SBE to work. My "workhorse" SSB rig, a National NCX-3 had had a "stroke" earlier and was a "goner" for this event. It had a blown audio output transformer, which replaced. However, the 7360 balanced modulator tube was also DOA, and I didn't have a spare. Fortunately, replacing a couple of capacitors on the IF PCB assembly cured the modulator problem in the SBE. I was back in business until Sunday afternoon when I noticed its power output drop seriously below what was already seriously low (Hi). One of the output tubes had gone gassy and was putting on a light show. I replaced it, but the output was so low with the weak tubes that I had to stay on 75 meters where it was best. Later, IO couldn't get the rig to work at all and had to rebuild its OPERATE/TUNE SWITCH. Finally, after 9:30 PM, I was able to start qualifying this rig...Whew!

On AM, the Johnson Challenger developed a parasitic allergy to both 40 and 20 meters, when I tried to tune it up on those bands. So it, too, was stuck on 75. My only other transmitter, a Heathkit DX-100, had 6146B finals that weren’t neutralizing properly about 75 meters. It was also limited to 75 meters. So, all three stations that I had for the FONE event were limited to 75 meter operation. I still had a ball! Dave (W3NP) had the oldest FONE station that I worked. His TX was a homebrew using V-70-D finals with an 811A modulator, for 300 watts out. The RX at W3NP was a National HRO-5-TA1. Nice set-up. The award for the best AM ragchew had to go to Grant (W4BVT). We heated up the airwaves together (part of which was a round table group) for nearly 3 hours. Just think of the great flux-field being generated during that one with my DX-100 on one end and Grant's Viking Ranger and 4-1000 amplifier on the other. The highlight of the FONE event, however, had to be a surprise coast-to-coast AM round table, in the wee hours of Monday morning. This is the "caviare" that binds AM'ers together; or something like that.


To summarize all of this, I would just like to say that the "CX Jungle" is a cold and hostile place, inhabited by the CXosaurs who supply their own source of warmth in the form of the vacuum tube. As this species moves across the noise floor, they encounter many terrifying signals and zones of deadly interference. Armed only with a "lost" technology, they bravely forge forward to establish an oasis of communications nirvana. Alone in the spectrum jungle, they do reach out, however, towards an electromagnetic embrace with others of their own kind.; They call this the 'Classic Exchange." Someday in the future, cultural anthropologists will want to know and understand what the CX'ers did here, as they excavate the most sacred Classic Exchange website and pour over many ancient and forgotten radio logs. For the present day CXosaurs, however, the task is just to populate, enjoy electromagnetic embrace, and bask in the warmth of our "lost" technology.<>/p> Thanks Mac, one again, for the chance to let our technology glow.

73
John
N2BE

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KG0LD - BILL

Mac,

Attached is my log, rig list, and score sheet for the Classic Exchange for January and February, 2009.
While it was a fun time as usual, I sure seem to have a lot of rigs to fix now. Conditions sure could have been better, but it was still fun.

Click here to see pictures of Bill's three shacks. He has some fine classic rigs.

RIGS USED

Johnson Viking Adventurer
Johnson Viking II
Hammarlund SP600 (Army R-274C/FRR)
Heathkit DX-60B
Heathkit HR-10B
Gonset 2M Communicator IV Xcvr
Gonset 6M Communicator IV Xcvr
Gonset 6M Communicator III Xcvr
Kenwood TS-780 Xcvr
Hammarlund HQ-120-X
Collins Army R-390/URR
Johnson Viking Ranger
Drake R-4B Rx
Drake T-4X Tx
RCA Navy CRV-46147 (RBB)
Hallicrafters SX-28
Westinghouse Navy CAY-46077 (RBM)
Heathkit DX-60A

SCORE:

CW: 6,135
AM: 9,540
SSB: 258
FM: 216
TOTAL: 16,149

Bill Wells
KG0LD
Lincoln, Ne.

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AA4RM - MARTY

In my view, the nice CX-thing is embracing excess. The saw that "anything worth doing is worth overdoing" rings true.

I made but 19 qs. Several wound up in conversations. Such as with W8AU while I had my Viking 500 band-burner on 80.

3 stations fielded here and worked several of the St. X bunch in the process. Rig 1 was Cosmophone 35 (1 contact, no "age count")
Rig 2 was Viking Navigator & Drake 2B
Rig 3 was Johnson 500 & Hammurlund Pro 310
Eqpt age is 186 years
QSOs: 19
Score: 3,534

STATES or PROVENCES WORKED: Band/Mode
BC:80/CW
FL:80/CW
IL:40/CW
IL:80/CW
LA:80/CW
NJ:40/CW
NM:40/CW
NM:80/CW
OH:80/CW
PA:40/CW
PA:80/CW
TN:80/CW
VA:40/CW

TRANSMITTERS WORKED: Band/Mode
BC459:40/CW
BC696:80/CW
BW5100B:80/CW
CBY220:80/CW
D-2NT:80/CW
DX40:40/CW
DrC:40/CW
FT990:80/CW
G-Sct:80/CW
Gal5:40/CW
HT37:40/CW
T4XC:40/CW
TCS12:80/CW
TR4C:80/CW
TS520:80/CW
V-Adv:80/CW

RECEIVERS WORKED: Band/Mode
2B:80/CW
75A3:80/CW
AR88:40/CW
BC455:40/CW
BC455:80/CW
DrC:40/CW
FT990:80/CW
Gal5:40/CW
RBC:40/CW
RME45:40/CW
RME45:80/CW
SX101A:80/CW
SX111-:40/CW
SX43:80/CW
SX99:80/CW
TCS12:80/CW
TR4C:80/CW
TS520:80/CW

73s
Marty AA4RM / ex-WN8VFX, St. Xavier class '58

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K4JYS - BILL

Hi Mac,
The CW CX was a lot of fun, as usual. I was bouncing between the AWA Linc Cundall QSO party and the CX. I had plenty of fun in both.

I started out on 40 mtrs, Sunday morning and then went to 20 mtrs around 19Z. To my surprise, 20 was open to the west coast and worked Rocco, N6KN for the first 20 mtr QSO and several others western stations followed. My antenna for 20 is only a homebrew two wire beam at 20 feet high and broadside north/south. I sort of wore down late Sunday afternoon and never did get to do any CXing on 80mtrs.

I think it was Paul, K4SPO, who said he was just getting back on after a number of years off the air...and back on with a nice boatanchor setup. I worked a AWA friend, Harold, KB0ROB who was using a 1929 MOPA at 20 watts. It was also great to work Jim, W8KGI, on 20. It had been a while since I worked him in the CX.

Thanks to all for the great contacts and to you, Mac, and the crew for another great CX.....

73,
de Bill,
K4JYS

EQUIPMENT
VIKING 2: HQ-170
LYSCO 600S: HQ-140X
ELMAC AF-67: SX-100

SUMMARY
MODE: CW
NR. OF QSOs: 40
TOTAL AGE OF GEAR : 332
SCORE :13280

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N8DL - DENNY

I really enjoyed the CW CX. The AM/SSB CX did not cut it this year at my location, darn.
Guess after 49 years operating on the Ham Bands I still need better techniques.

I am sending a couple of photos of my operating position, in one corner of the Radio Room, for the CW CX and also will be for the AM/SSB CX.
You will see a WWII BC-342-N Signal Corps, BC-348-N Army Air Force, and RBB Navy receivers I used for the CX. The other equipment used were the HT-32-B xmtr and AL-82 amplifier.
The keys used were a Civil War era, a J-38, a J-37, and a 1919 bug used by landline op's at Crosley field to send 'play by play' of the Cincinnati 'Red Stockings' and 'Red Legs' baseball games, (some of my collection of 89 keys). Also on the photo on the left is my Heathkit SB-401 and SB-303 that I normally use at least once a week.
One photo, on the far left, shows some of the WWII B-17 instruments from the cockpit that I have mounted on a 2' x 3'+ board.
Unfortunately I had to remove about 200 telegraph instruments from this one corner of the Radio Room to make room for this radio set up.

I always like to see what other QTH's look like and thought I would shoot some outside pix's while we still had ice on all the wires etc this January. The ice and sunshine made it possible to better see most of the wire antennas, coax lines, guy wires, support lines, etc. My back yard looks like it was invaded by a hoard of giant spiders who then went bizerk. The photos show my Radio Room and photos of my house and current antennas with a full 360 degree coverage around the outside of my QTH.

See the attached photo album for some great pictures of Denny's QTH and antennas during a Cincinnati, Ohio winter.
Click here to see pictures of Denny, some of his rigs and a multi-picture look at his QTH and antennas after a Cincinnati snow storm.
Oh the joys of winter hamming in Southern Ohio.

CW RIGS USED
TRANSMITTERS
Hallicrafters HT-32 - 1961 (48 yrs)

RECEIVERS
BC-342N – 1940 (69 yrs)
BC-348N – 1943 (66 yrs)
RBB - 1940 (69 yrs)

QSOs: 24
CW CX Multiplier: 252

CW Score: 6,048

AM RIGS USED
TRANSMITTER
HT-32B: - 1961 (48 YRS)
RECEIVER
: BC-342N – 1940 (69 YRS)

QSOs: 1
AM CX multiplier: 121

AM Score: 0 (3 QSOs required to qualify gear in each mode)

Total Score: 6,048

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K9VKY - BRIAN

Hello Mac and the Gang--
After an all too long absence I was able to return to the CX QSO Party, albeit in competetion with my son's birthday party.

Conditions were fairly good here in western Pennsylvania, and though I missed contacts with a number of the old stalwarts, it was nice to hook up with some old friends again. As usual, Jim, W8KGI, Rocco, N6KN, and Jeff, W7ID had their harems out in full force. I was pleased to get Howie, WB2AWQ, back in the log again running his GO-9 transmitter (from a PBY) which was a new one for me. And a special tip of the hat to Don, W6JL, who was running all homebrew equipment.

Regarding the scoring, it was, once again, far from a sterling performance. 25 QSOs with an accumulated age of 438 on the equipment (10,950 points) x 4 (number of TVI complaints)= 43,800. Nice try Brian but we can't just let you claim those TVI complaints without some backup. Mac & CX Committee

As always, it's great to work guys who enjoy our wonderful facet of amateur radio. Here's hoping we can cross paths again soon, and swap a few stories about our classics of the ether.

Brian
K9VKY
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W8KZW - JEFF

Mac,
Boy, was this ever fun!

My only prior Exchange was just an informal QSO or two last year, I think. While I didn't have much time to devote to it this year, I did log a few more contacts, and took the time to write it down!

I'm sure my score isn't a barn-burner, but it was great firing up the boatanchors in the shack anyway. I typically run vintage gear on those rare occasions that I actually get on the air.

I started off the CW exchange on 20 CW with my Drake twins, but didn't hear much except noise, so I quickly QSY'd.
Sure wish I had had more time for the phone contest, but maybe next year!

GEAR USED
DRAKE 2-B
HEATHKIT HX-10 MARAUDER

HALLICRAFTERS HT-32A
HALLICRAFTERS SX-101A

DRAKE T4XC
DRAKE R4C

COLLINS 32S-3
COLLINS 75S-3B

HEATHKIT SB-401
HEATHKIT SB-301

I'm attaching my logs, but here is my summary:

MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM
CW234339,959
SSB677462
TOTAL10,421

High resolution photos of my shack can be found at W8KZX

Thanks for a great event, Mac.

73,
Jeff
W8KZW
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WB2AWQ - HOWIE

Hi CXers!

Well still not back in a full routine yet with the XYL still needing substantial attention following her long illness, but I had a decent time in February. (CX was one day after my birthday, so it was a nice present.) No sparks, arcing, or fried spiders this year as I have actually been on the air occasionally, enough to keep things free of cobwebs.

Surprisingly, in spite of some zero sunspot numbers, activity on 20 was up from some prior years. 9 stations graced the log before I moved to 40M. Jim W8ZR had his legendary FPM 200, which showed an amazingly clean note. Nice cleanup, but I miss the “distinctive” sound of yore, Jim! Maybe the Drake amp cleaned the signal up????

40M was a disappointment, and I probably should have gone back to 20M, but did manage three contacts there.

80M proved good, with 9 stations worked, and I waS using my current favorites, the GO-9 and HRO/BC348 receivers. Standout QSO’s were Mario N2AK with a Stancor ST-202A, and the mil to mil QSO with Perry W8AU, who was using the classic WW2 setup TCS RX & TX. Ya gotta love relay keying, the radio literally bouncing on the desktop from the relay slamming back and forth at 25 WPM…….I wonder how many TCS units are still on the air?

Drake was the clear winner in popularity this year, with Heath a distant second. So many B and C line radios still chugging along.

Looking forward to the Fall CX, hope to see you all there!

Howie WB2AWQ

WB2AWQ CLASSIC EXCHANGE LOG JAN 25/26, 2009

							
DTG Z	CALL	BAND	HIS RST	MY RST	QTH	NAME	HIS RIG
252005	W5GW	20	559	549	TX	GARY	MOD ICOM756 PRO2
2020	W8ZR		579	599	NJM	JIM	FPM200, L4B
2030	W7ZI		539	559	OR	MIKE	RANGER, 2B
2045	W8TM		589	599	OH	PAUL	SB301, SB401
2055	W4KD		569	579		DAVE	TS820S AGE 93
2118	N5AIT		559	569	KY	AL	LYSCO TRANSMASTER 600, 2B
2145	K7FD		579	589	OR	JOHN	T4XB, R4B
2155	K7NTW		589	589	WA	ROGER	2C, 2NT
2203	W8KGI		339	559	NM	JIM	AF67, NC303
2315	W8TM	40	589	569	OH	PAUL	SB301, SB401
2335	W4BOH		559	559C	NC	WC	COLLINS 310B, R4C
2350	N2CFD		599	599	NJ   	RICH	MOD   
260014	N2AK	80	589	569	NJ   	MARIO	OMNI C
0018	K4BSK		569	579	NC	EARL	DRAKE TR3
0029	K4SPO		579	569	KY	PAUL	APACHE, SX101
0035	W3ZT		559	599	NY	JOEL	STANCOR 202A, 75A4
0045	N2AK		569	589	NJ   	MARIO	CORSAIR
0048	W8AU		579	579	OH	PERRY	TCS12 PAIR
0102	N2AK		569	589	NJ	MARIO	ARGOSY
0105	KG0LD		559	559	NC	BRUCE	T4X, R4B
0110	K4UTJ		589	589	VA	TOM	B&W 5100B, 2B
0116	K3KYR		549	459	NY	JEFF	DX60, HQ140X
0121	K9VKY		559	449	PA	BRIAN	32V2, 75A2

GEAR USED

20M:
Kenwood TW-440S (25 years X 2),
Yaesu FT-101ZD 30 years X 2),
Heath SB-102 (35 years X 2)

40M:
Navigator (57 yrs), NC-125 (57 yrs)

80M:
GO-9 (69 yrs),
BC-348 (66 yrs),
HRO (69 yrs),
SX-101A (60 yrs)

Score: 21 CX QSO's X 489 = 10,269

W8TM - PAUL

This Classic Exchange was the first during which I made more than 100 CW QSOs. I had high hopes for the phone weekend to produce at least a commensurate result, but lousy conditions (especially QSB on 40) prevented a high phone QSO count.

I worked Mario N2AK 14 times on CW, but only once on phone. In fact, I worked no one on phone more than once. Others whom I worked multiple times on CW included Marty AA4RM, John N2BE and Bill K4IBZ (each 4 times), Jeff W8KZW and Don W2JEK (each 3 times) and 13 other operators twice each.

For this CX my equipment was as usual an SB-301 receiver (1967), SB-401 transmitter (1974) and 40-meter inverted vee fed with ladder line. The SB-301 is 41 years old and the SB-401 is 35 years old, for a total age of 76 years.

I put in a bunch of time, CQing mostly because I only have one old rig and it's easier to let those with many rigs pounce on me once with each one. And steady CQing lets passers-by know that there's something going on. Only wkd 12 call signs but about 25 diff 'stations' due to two bands, 80 and 40, and equipment changes.Was on wid Jim W8KGI for over 1/2 hour while he switched from one set of rigs to another--5 different stations, it was very interesting stuff.

MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM
CW101767,676
SSB29762,204
TOTAL9,880

73, Paul W8TM Click to return to the Scores table.

VE7BGP - GERRY
Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association

This is my first Classic exchange I participated in I had a lot of fun with 4 rigs on CW, 3 Rigs on SSB and 3 rigs on VHF FM in my Collection.

Started out with my low Power Ten Tec Argosy, Then Warmed the Shack with my Tube Heathkit SB-101, Then my Yaesu GX Brothers went on FT-757GX and then finished the Contest with my FT-767GX

Rigs used CW:
Ten Tec Argosy 56 yrs,
Heathkit SB-101 84 yrs
Yaesu FT-757GX 52 Yrs
FT-767GX 46 yrs
Total years: 238 years

CW QSOs: 13
CW SCORE: 3,094

Rigs used SSB
Icom IC-751A 38 yrs,
Heathkit SB-101 84 yrs
Ten Tec Argosy 56 yrs
Yaesu FT-767GX 46 yrs
Total: 186 years
SSB QSOs:13 SSB SCORE: 2,604

Rigs used VHF FM:
Kenwood TR7400A 64 yrs
Yaesu FT-767GX 46 yrs
Yaesu FT-208R Handie 56 yrs
Total Years: 166 years
VHF FM QSOs:13 VHF FM SCORE: 2,158

TOTAL SCORE: 7,856

VE7BGP, Gerry
Big Bear Ridge
Nanaimo, BC
Canada

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W4BOH - WILSON

Mac:
Filled 1.5 ARRL pages, had some fun, more than FD.

Did some 40 barefoot, good reports!

Talked to Jim,W8KGI, good sig, said hi.

Didn't get electrocuted! That's good, remember how you did it. Mac

Click here to see the pictures of Wilson's classic rigs.

RIGS used
IC-730
Collins 310B

MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM
CW37893,293
SSB354162
TOTAL3,455

73
WL

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K2LML - BILL

I enjoyed the contest although I am sorry I didn’t hear many phone stations on the second weekend. There were some AM stations on but I didn’t have my AM gear ready on time. I had a Multi Elmac PMR-8 ready to go which developed a malady the day before.

I hope you run this contest again next year. Is there a summer event as well? That would be great.

Best regards from upstate NY

Click here to see the pictures of Bill and his fine shack.

RIGS Collins 32S-1 – 1958 (51 yrs.)
Collins 75S-1 – 1958 – (51 yrs.)

MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM
CW281022,856
SSB3102306
TOTAL3,162

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K2JEK - DON

Here is my entry for the Classic Exchange – CW.

I had a VFO problem with the Ranger – the lowest I could go was 7260 on 40M. Used crystal control for the CX. Later I found that the dial mechanism was misaligned and would not let my frequency down far enough . Corrected this by turning the dial fully clockwise so as to realign the capacitor with the dial pointer. Works OK now.

A comment on my BC-696 liked its chirp to a “saw cutting anvil.”

I made 9 QSOs – three with the Harvey Wells TBS-50C and Hallicrafter S-76; three with the Johnson Ranger I and Drake 2B; and three with the ARC-5 BC-696 and Lafayette HE-30.

RIGS
Harvey Wells TBS-50C + Hallicrafter S-76
Johnson Ranger I + Drake 2B
ARC-5 BC-696 + Lafayette HE-30

SCORE: CW
QSOs: 9m
AGE: 314
Total Score: 2,826

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KC2QIL - MIKE

12 QSOs with N2AK Mario!

RIGS
Heathkit SB-102 – 1968 (41 yrs)
Kenwood TS-830 – 1981 (28 yrs)

SCORE:
MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM
CW
SSB161382,208
TOTAL2,208

KC2QIL, MIKE

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W6SAI - PERRY
W6SAI Bill Orr Legacy Radio Club

20 AM QSOs!

Could not operate much this year and only on 20m AM but happy to support the activity to the extent possible. Got some SSBers to punch up AM on their radios and that is a good thing!

RIGS
Johnson Viking II 1954
Hammarlund HQ-110 1958
Hygain Explorer 14 yagi beam

SCORE:
MODE QSOsTOTAL AGESCORE
AM201062,120
CW
SSB
TOTAL2,120

73
de operator
Perry, K4CWW

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K3MSB - MARK

Soapbox: Didn’t spend a lot of time in the contest, but had fun, especially the 45 minute rag chew with Phil K5OGX!!
Hope to have a “not to often heard” 60’s classic transmitter on the air for the September event!!

Contacts:
40 Meters:
W8TM  Paul OH SB-301 / SB401
K4SPO Paul KY  Apache / SX-101
K5OGX Phil AR Ten Tec Omni (nice rag chew)
KG0LD Bill NE  Johnson Adventurer / HQ-120
W8KGI Jim NM BC-459 / BC-455
W8KGI Jim NM NCX 30 / NC-173
W8KGI Jim NM T4X / R4B
K2LML Bill NY Collins S-Line
N2AK Mario NJ Apache / Mohawk
WD8NHA Mike MI SB-102
W4BOH WC NC Collins 310-B / Drake 2B

80 Meters:
K4EJQ Bunky TN  Heath AT-1, VF-1 / NC-173
W0NYQ Ron MN Globe King 500A / Hombrew HBR-16
RIGS
B&W 5100B (age: 54)
BC-342-N (age: 66)
TOTAL: 120 YEARS

CW only entry
Score: 13 QSOs x 120 = 1560

Click here to see a picture of some of Mark's CX rigs.

73
Mark K3MSB

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K7NTW - ROGER

Great to smell hot dust on vacuum tubes! I ran 1967 era Drake 2NT TX and Drake 2-C receiver. They QSK real FB together.

Only “cheat” was a DDS VFO. Hell, if you don’t zero beat these days nobody comes back! Not like that in grandpa’s day!

Interesting QSOs and rigs:
K6LQ Mike fondly remembers his Heathkit HW-101
W7ID Jeff running Meisner Signal Shifter and Hallicarafter SX-28
N2BE John coast-to-coast on 40 meter novice TX and Novice RX – It just does not get any better than this!

RIGS
TX: Drake 2NT – 1967 (42 yrs.)
RX: Drake 2-C – 1967 (42 yrs.)
TOTAL: 84 YEARS

QSOs:18
CW only entry
Score: 18 QSOs x 84 = 1,512

73
Roger, K7NTW

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WB7QCX - ROB

It was pretty slow for the CX event, but we hung in there, hi
Maybe slow but interesting - Rob had two Japan QSOs and one with AA1QS who is on Moose Island, ME. Wonder if there are any moose on Moose Island? - Mac

RIGS
TX: Drake 2NT – 1967 (42 yrs.)
RX: Drake 2-C – 1967 (42 yrs.)
TOTAL: 84 YEARS

QSOs:14
SSB only entry
Score: 14 QSOs x 84 = 1,176

73,
Rob, wb7qcx

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K4UJT - TOM

I enjoyed the CX event very much. This was my first – am looking forward to next month for the phone portion. This brought back many wonderful memories of how it was when first licensed back in 1958.

RIGS
TX: B&W 5100 - 1955 (54 yrs.)
RX: Drake 2B – 1961 (48 yrs.)
QSOs: 7
CX Multiplier 54 + 48 = 102
Score: 714

73, Tom K4UJT

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KB2DHG - LOU

Again I have to say what a great time I had doing the CQ/CX event this weekend. It has been a long time since I operated those DRAKE 4B lines of mine. I fired them up at 8:50AM and kept them on ALL DAY! I was sure the tubes were going to burn out! My Drakes never worked so hard.

I will not be able to do the AM-SSB-FM run on the 15th. I will be at the DAYTONA 500. BUT I work mostly CW anyway!

Next year. I am going to try my EICO 723. The only reason I did not use it this year was because I did not have the Crystal for 7.045. I will hunt down that crystal for next year. Which brings me to a question? Do I have to stay at 7.045 or can I do the CQ/CX up or down a few kc’s?
You can move around however, it is best to stay near by so folks can find you - Mac.

Well, I am done for today! I had a great time using my Vintage DRAKE 4B Lines. I did not get many QSO's 8 to be exact. BUT I had fun doing so...I am attaching some pictures if you want to use them?

Click here to see the pictures of Lou and his Drake B-line Twins.

Operated on-and-off for a total of 4 hours; I used my vintage J-38 straight key.

Again I have to say what a great time I had doing the CQ/CX event this weekend. It has been a long time since I operated those DRAKE 4B lines of mine. I fired them up at 8:50AM and kept them on ALL DAY! I was sure the tubes were going to burn out! My Drakes never worked so hard.

This was a great event. I look forward to doing it again.

RIGS
TX: Drake T-4B; 41 yrs
RX: Drake R-4B; 41 yrs
All contacts were CW.
QSOs: 8
CX Multiplier 41+41 = 82
Score: 656

73,
Lou, KB2DHG

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WA4BNO - RICHARD

Dates for SX-101 and HT-40 are from date codes on the few original tubes.
I looked up the dates in Moore's COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVERS and adjusted the score. Mac

It was fun to fire up the old stuff and give my Ten-Tec Xcvr a rest. Only had a little time Sunday afternoon to participate in CX.

RIGS
RX: Hallicrafters SX-101 – 1956 (53 yrs)
TX: Hallicrafters HT-40 – 1960 (49 yrs)
VFO: WWII ARC-5
QSOs: 3
CX Multiplier 53 + 49 = 102
Score: 306

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WA3KFT - JOHN

This was the first time I participated in the Classic Exchange. I will certainly be in the next one. I really enjoyed the QSO’s as they were all more than a half hour long. I seldom get a chance to do that in my operating.

Click here to see the pictures of my operating position and the antenna farm.

I have many more rigs not shown, such as Johnson: Adventurer, Challenger, 6N2, Viling I, Viking II, Ranger, Valiant; Swan: 250, 350D, 250C, 500C; Hamarlund: HQ-129-X, HQ-110. HQ-145, HQ-170; Hallicrafters: SX-42, HT-20, S-36, SX-99, SX-100, SR-150; Heathekit: SB-303, SB-401, SB-101; Harvey Wells: Bandmaster, T-90 + matching receiver; and the list goes on…

RIGS
7.2 MHz: Swan 500C
50.55 MHz: Swan 250
PHONE ONLY
QSOs: 7
Years: 82
Total Score: 574

73
John,br> WA3KFT

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OH6MH – Krister

great idea to work CX gear. I have a Harris RF-301 operational, and still working on a Heathkit line HX-20/HR-20, hope to bee operational soon.
There is a problem with crowded amateur bands, I can see that. I thought I'd remind you that in European countries like Finland the bands are even narrower than in US. 80m is 3.5 - 3.8 MHz and 40m is 7.0 - 7.2 MHz. The higher bands are OK, 160m is restricted in OH to 15W on the frequencies you suggest.
Maybe you never thought CX as a wordwide event?
Anyhow, I'll be powering up my Harris on 20m, hoping for good conds.

Krister Andersson
OH6MH
Tengstromsgatan 28
68620 Finland
KP13IQ

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N8OFS - Andy

I'll be around for the whole contest... 50.125USB on a 15 yr old TS-60 into a PAR OA-50...
50.3FM on the TS-60 into the PAR...
50.4AM on the Laf-at-it HA-460 "rocked" into the PAR...
51.5FM on the TS-60 into a 5/8 wave Ground Plane...
52.525FM on a GE MSTR II 6-CH (no idea on age) into the Ground Plane...

If I work more than the 2 usual local stations, I'll submit a log...

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K3TVCT - Tom

tom k3tvc I thought that I would throw out this reminder to those AM lovers out there that the next two weekends will provide opportunities to dust off those old AM rigs and have some smooth sounding AM QSO's in no pressure contests. The Classic Exchange for AM/SSB/FM will be on Sunday February 15th starting at 9 AM EST. Here is a link to that information: http://qsl.asti.com/CX/Feb2009announcement.html The Antiquewireless Association will have their AM QSO Party starting Saturday February 21st at 6 PM EST. Here is a link to their information: http://www.antiquewireless.org/otb/amateur0109.htm I hope to be there on both weekends with my Heathkit DX-100 and Mohawk Receiver. Feel free to forward this message to your friends or other lists that might have an interest in these events. 73, Tom K3TVC

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