[TA Forbes]

I recently had these two "things" given to me. I know that they have to do with HAM broadcast, but that's about it. I have always wanted to get my HAM ticket, but just have......not.

First pic is a Knight 50 Watt Transmitter:

   

Second is a Knight VFO:


   

Anyone out there know how/what they do? Are these worth getting in working order?

[Radioroslyn]

Hi Tom
Yes I do know how they work. If you had a ham ticket it's a fair entry level transmitter by 1960's standards. The T 50 is a cw only transmitter. No voice just code. It will run 50watts input power. 500V x 100ma on the plate of the final tube = 50watts. True RF output is about 60 percent of the input power. So it puts out about 25-30w. This RF power can be used on the ham bands 80 thru 10 meters. Plenty enough power to dot and dash all over the world from NC

The VFO allows you to adjust the frequency that you are transmitting on. Back in the '60s the entry class licensee (novice) operator could only use crystal to set the frequency. One crystal one frequency. The VFO is continuously adjust across each of the ham bands 160-10mtrs.

Since that pair have been made lots changes have been made. No more Novice ticket no more Morse code exam on the tests ect. If you scratch off the get ham ticket off your todo list it would be something to play with. Otherwise clean them up and put them on display or sell. Both look to be in good shape without extra holes in them. The knobs aren't standard issue. Probably worth $100-150 for both. The VFO maybe worth a little more than the T-50.

Terry N3GTE advance class since '94

[exray]

Go for it, TA. Plenty of resources for testing and help in the Raleigh area. A license nowadays isn't difficult at all.

We'll help you with the jargon Hams don't broadcast, they transmit. And the name is not capitalized HAM, its ham. Not an acronym for anything.

[TA Forbes]

Terry/Xray: thanks for both the info and the corrections with respect to the jargon.

I've been into this radio thing since the '60s but as you can see I am pretty green when it comes to HAM, oops, I mean ham stuff.

I saw that there are sites that deal with getting your Technician's Ticket. Although Code is no longer required, I actually used to know code as it was often the best way to get messages across long distances using a Military PRC-47 and later PRC 104 HF radio. The 104 only put out 20W max, but you could send and receive traffic over hundreds and even thousands of miles provided you understood wave propagation and antenna construction and orientation. My best was from a country on the South American Continent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Funny the stuff you have to do during a "live" operation. Satillite Comm equipment (SATCOM) was a godsend, especially when the "higher-ups" allowed us to use them and their respective channels on distant operations.

[exray]

Code is still very popular on the ham bands even though its not part of the licensing requirement. Some guys (including me) use code only

[Radioroslyn]

That's why I haven't heard you on the air. I passed the 13wpm in '93 but didn't use it much. Lucky to do 5wpm these days. Would like to get better that it but no pill for it.
Terry

[Radioroslyn]

Hey Tom
Here's a movie done by a local ham club circa 1958. Ignore the first 3 min or so. Dig them old cars and radios!!! Sounds like they got Edward R Morrow to do the narration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYx8VNzYwRE
Enjoy
Terry N3GTE

[BrendaAnnD]

I learned code to get my novice license back in '82. Never once used it. I barely broke the 5WPM barrier. To even do that, I had to write a BASIC program that would 'send' me a character as I typed it on the keyboard. My problem is that I can't do instantaneous processing, I have to 'translate' what I hear into English before I can process it. Same thing with other languages. I took Spanish for three years, and have a fair vocabulary, but I can't listen fast enough to talk to a native speaker because I have to translate what they say into English and then translate what I want to say from English into Spanish before I respond (all in my head, of course.)

Got my Tech as soon as they would let me test for it. Finally got my General when they dropped the code requirement to 5WPM in 2000. Of course, since then, I've been in Korea, and have done very little ham work. I can't hear anything other than Korean, Japanese, Russian and Chinese on the bands (HF). They finally put in a 70cm repeater here for 'foreigners', and I get on there once in a blue moon.

[Radioroslyn]

I got my Novice in '88 although I started in 1968. I'm a slow learner. The code was the hang up for me too. In '68 I used 33rpm records to learn the code but I didn't quite get it.
Finally made the commitment to study hard in the fall of '88. Was granted the call KA3TSY in Oct. Upgraded to tech by Feb '89 and got the GTE call. Back then I upgraded you code learning method to using a R/S Color Computer. Someone had written a Morse program that would send the character you typed. With that and a cassette recorder I made up my own practice tapes. Could even use them in the car! That RSCC really had an awful tone very raspy. 4 years later passed the 13wpm in the spring '93 and picked up the general ticket. Funny thing I never did any cw work till after I got the general ticket. On one hand I didn't really like it but on the other it really gave me a sense of accomplishment to use a different language to communicate via the radio.About 9 months later I passed the advanced test with flying colors. Never thought about getting the extra, privilege wise I don't gain enough to make it worth while. Never change calls as this one is really pretty short in cw.
Every once in a while I'll flip on the old SW-3 crank up the regeneration and listen to '1AW code practice. So did you get your ticket here in the states?? Or did you get a foreign call sign?
Terry N3GTE

[BrendaAnnD]

Got my ticket stateside. Original was KA7OUM, when I passed my general, I kept it for a while, but later got a vanity call K7BAD. Also pretty short in code. I have it set on my Icom 7000 to send it out as an ID. When I first got here, I applied for and got permission to operate in the ROK, and was assigned HL2/KA7OUM, later HL2/K7BAD. I let that lapse due to no activity. Then, two years ago, they changed the rules to allow foreigners to apply for an ROK license. I did so and got assigned HL2ZBO.

The only HF contact I've gotten since getting here has been with a ham in Japan on 40m. All I can use is a vertical antenna, and no ground system. My original antenna was destroyed in a typhoon. When I replaced it, I got a different style with less wind resistance, but have never yet bothered to install it, since my QRM level tends to be around 10dB/S9. BCB DXing here is no fun. Most interesting thing I've picked up was out of Japan, a recorded loop message about moving to high ground that was broadcast during the quake/tsunami/H**l. I still have a recording of that somewhere on my computer.

[exray]

For most of us there's a lot of similarities in learning the code and learning a foreign language. Its a struggle at first and the only pill available is practice-practice-practice. You reach a point where it all clicks and you don't have to do any more 'translating'.

I speak Spanish tolerably and sometimes a gringo buddy will ask impromptu 'what did he say?'. Although I understood it perfectly I find my self looking for the gearshift knob to translate it back to English.

With code common words become a sound, just like a spoken word. Especially at higher speed. No dits and dahs involved. It becomes fun!

[Radioroslyn]

Hey Bill you sounds just like one of the clubs novice instructors. He drilled the practice theme for learning code. Back in the early 90's there was guy who would run a code practice net on a local (Pottstown, about 50 miles away) 2M repeater. Was great fun to copy code and then be able to use a more familiar mode to see how well you did. Most of the folks learning code to upgrade from no code tech to get voice privileges on 10mtrs or 20wpm for the extra. Also there was a certain comorodery as you would build speed. It really helped me along to get to 13wpm.
Sorry to hear that it tough to keep an antenna up over there in the ROK. Have had the same problem here in Pa. It gets pretty windy in the spring and fall. Not like a tsunami or anything but enough to damage whatever I have up in the air. Don't have any verticals up just dipoles that are laying on the roof now. Need to get the slingshot out and get them back up in the air.
Terry

[exray]

Hey Bill you sound just like one of the clubs novice instructors

Its on my resumé - haha. I helped teach code in our club's novice classes back in the 70s.

Its interesting to see how people learn - or don't learn. I recall two young fellows about 10 years old who came from an outlying town every week for the classes. They picked up the code like a magnet mainly because they practiced a lot with each other.
On the other side of the coin there was an arrogant CBer who stood up in the middle of practice, yelled out some cusswords and stormed out.

I guess its also fair to say that mental attitude means a lot as well. Some folks are almost convinced they can't learn it and that sometimes becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[TA Forbes]

Funny thing, when I have to "think" about a response in another language, it messes me up. But if someone comes up and asks a question or just says something to me, I respond in a fairly coherent manner.

It's inside my head, it's just how I go about getting it out.

An old radio bud/mentor from back in the '70s was a morse operator on a ship back during WW2. His wife said that sometimes she would find him tapping out what appeared to be code messages in his sleep when they were in bed.

Code made sense to me and it was important to learn it and use it because it was pat of our life-line via radio with re-supply, fire-support, dust-off, or extract. But as I write this, I must admit that speaking code as a ham operator to an experienced ham on the other end is daunting.