Radio Society of Greater Bixby

First of all, that’s not a radar dish. It’s a huge parabolic reflector antenna for Gc freqs, possibly for an astronomical purpose. SAC headquarters in Omaha had one, a 45 ft model on 2.2 Gc to send comms to a stationary satellite in 1970. Prior to becoming operational, the techs in charge used it to listen to Neil and Buz on the moon in 1969 (verified by WA0ZQG). We didn’t mention radar at the meeting, instead consumed by several Show n Tells, Larry W5LQF’s (like new) 1969 tube tester With Manual and tube listing. Cute little thing with both 7 and 9 pin miniature sockets along with traditional octal and other larger tube sockets. He was offering a pair of V/UHF telescoping whip antennas with right angle Motorola plugs on the bottom. No one had a matching receiver at home so Larry took them back. Rich ZQG brought in the Lindsay Graham funeral video and handed out a couple of Tic Tac packages (as DJT had done at the funeral). That was the advertised ‘political joke’,

Walgreens doesn’t have a tube tester any more, and in fact, buying tubes is a problem (unless you know an older Ham who still has stock). But if you do need a tester, Larry W5LQF has this nice ‘new’ one. Speaking of tubes, Tom WA5MAZ has a new QRP Labs rig, the one with digital freq readout and a whole bunch of other features (kit form for $165) and is making his own Linear using an 814 tube and some old components. He’s mounted it all in a worn out HP upright desk computer case that leaves room for the QRP rig in the old floppy drive bay. The 814 tube is mounted horizontally, and yes, it’s the right way up (plates to the side so the filaments don’t sag into the grids). We also shared eBay experiences, Tom having bought some (Chinese copy) real nice wire strippers. Mike KI5YX asked, Do the cutter jaws touch evenly? Answ: Yes, at first.