Your first radio

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n4yek

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I hope I am not duplicating a thread, i tried doing a search but i am only receiving a blank page.

Anyway, my first radios were: (still have both of them too)

VHF = Kenwood TH215A 2 meter handheld
HF = Ten Tec Century 22 (CW Only radio)

What was yours???
 

teufler

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my first radios were a Ten Tec Triton IV and a Kenwood 7400 That was in 1976. The Kenwood is still a radio that is on line, never had a reason to repair it. The Triton IV was replaced by a Tec Tec Paragon.
 

elk2370bruce

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Mine are a tad (okay a lot!) older. Heathkit AT-1 transmitter, Hallocrafters S38D receiver, and a two meter Goony box III. AT-1 was tuned with a chunk of coax ending on a 100 watt light bulb. / tuned for brightness. The old xtal cw transmitter still works with a replaced 6146. Have my original J38 key and a Vibroplex bug classic.
 

AK9R

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Yaesu FT-23R handheld (purchased in 1989), Kenwood TM-241A mobile (purchased in 1991). Sold both a long time ago to move up to bigger, badder, more capable radios. I think the radio in my current collection that I've owned the longest is a Yaesu FT-50R handheld that I've probably had for more than 10 years.
 

K2KOH

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Wow...my first radio was an old Radio Shack shortwave receiver back in the '60's. My first ham radio was a Yaesu FT470.
 

elk2370bruce

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Wow...my first radio was an old Radio Shack shortwave receiver back in the '60's. My first ham radio was a Yaesu FT470.

Before my first ham rigs, I was goven an old Lafayette tabletop receiver for SWL. Later got a WWII surplus National rack-mount receiver used by the Navy. Great radio and it heated my bedroom in the winter. Damned thing weighed more than I did and had a huge footprint. Used it with the S38D until the power supply (paper caps) sent smoke signals out the window.
 

K2KOH

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Before my first ham rigs, I was goven an old Lafayette tabletop receiver for SWL. Later got a WWII surplus National rack-mount receiver used by the Navy. Great radio and it heated my bedroom in the winter. Damned thing weighed more than I did and had a huge footprint. Used it with the S38D until the power supply (paper caps) sent smoke signals out the window.

Dems were the days!!!
 

N8IAA

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My first radio was a Swan 350C. Man, did it eat finals! After my upgrade to Tech/Gen, I got a Yaesu FT-203R and a brick for mobile use. Not too many repeaters used PL back in '86 in Ohio.
Second HF rig was an Argonaut 509 QRP rig that I had the most fun with.
Larry
 

mrweather

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First transceiver after getting my ticket in 1999 was a used Kenwood TM-261A. First new transceiver was an Alinco DJ-180 handheld. First HF transceiver (also bought new) was a Kenwood TS-570D.
 

slapshot0017

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First scanner was a radio shack pro 24 from my grandfather and first radio was a Motorola ht1000 given to me by my parents friend.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 

k9rzz

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1975 when I was 15 years old

Receiver: Hallicrafters S-40B my neighbor dug out of his garage for me. (freebie)

Transmitter: 6AQ5 single tube transmitter built from an article from (?) Popular Electronics Magazine (actually, I think it was a different mag, but can't think of it) Similar to this one but mine had a built in power supply (probably all of 6 parts) and Pop (who was an electrician) took me to Lafayette Electronics to buy the parts we didn't have on hand from stripping old radios apart: 6AQ5 CW transmitter for 40 meters

All of 7 watts output to a "dipole", but one side was probably 45 feet long, and the other side 15 feet (SWR? What's that?) but the rig loaded into it fed with 20 feet of "Coloraxial" TV feed line, and I worked 14 states with one crystal (7114khz). Eventually, I got a second crystal 7121khz and I was DX KING! Oh, I had the shortwave broadcast schedules of any station that transmitted on 7110 and 7115 memorized so as soon as they signed off the air, BANG I was there calling CQ.
icon10.gif


There's more to the story than that, but I'm keeping my mouth shut for another 10 years before telling any more.

6aq5_1.jpg


hall02.jpg


That's it. J-38 straight key running all CW and had a BLAST.

CQ CQ CQ DE WN9UAI WN9UAI K

Edit: It was Elementary Electronics

n1109580.jpg
 
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N5TWB

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Sand Springs OK
I hope I am not duplicating a thread, i tried doing a search but i am only receiving a blank page.

Anyway, my first radios were: (still have both of them too)

VHF = Kenwood TH215A 2 meter handheld
HF = Ten Tec Century 22 (CW Only radio)

What was yours???

My first handheld was also the TH215A and I still have it, too.

My first HF was/is a Yaesu FT-746 all-band that still does a great job for me. I'd love to upgrade to either a Flex SDR or an Elecraft K-3 w/accessories.
 

elk2370bruce

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I have a good friend and elmer who recently picked up a K-3 and he got rid of all of his other rigs. I picked up a cherry Hallicrafters SX-99 for my grandson to use on his own. I have him on the air every chance i get. So far he has 15 country's QSL cards hanging on the wall. As soon as he's iold enough and has a little more math, we'll work on him getting his Tech ticket.
 

Moto_user

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First radio was a Radio Shack 3 channel handheld TRC-219 CB with channel 14 in it. I then had a Radio Shack handheld AM / Aircraft radio, Radio Shack Pro-41 10 channel portable scanner. Had a few more portable CB's before getting into ham radio and had a HTX-202 and then a Yaesu FT-530. None of those radios remain, but I've moved up to a GRE PSR800, Yaesu dual band mobile, and a bunch of Motorola gear :)
 

vagrant

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A Sears Road Talker 40 CB radio. $25 at a parking lot sale in '79. Well...wait, I guess I did have some walkie talkies before then. You know the kind that you end up breaking the antenna on and end up using a wire coat hanger shoved into what's left.
 
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