I Finally Got It

[David Dunlop]

Well, after five weeks of classes earlier this year, along with a massive amount of studying, I have obtained my Canadian Basic Amateur Radio Licence. Got Honours with a 90% and as of a few moments ago am now officially logged on the Industry Canada website and good to operate under my call sign. Official paperwork will be out to me in the mail shortly.

Not bad after 40 years away from a classroom environment. The plan is to get my 19-Sets back on the air later this year, hopefully in a semi-regular net of other 19-Sets located in and around Winnipeg.

Think I have to take my better half out for dinner tonight to celebrate!

Cheers,


David

[Johnny Canuck]

Congratulations!

Geoff

[Bruce MacMillan]

Congrats VE4DTD.

These guys used to have a weekly net but I don't know if they are still active. Check with Bob and see.
http://www.qsl.net/ve3bdb/

There are a few of us in the southeast of Blighty that run our 19 sets.

You may be surprised at the distance that can be reached with just a barefoot set. My best dx was Vancouver to Kingston, Ont. using only issued set and aerial.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Bravo Zulu!

de VA3 CIC

[Mike Kelly]

CQ CQ CQ de VK3CZ

Well done on your new call sign ......

73's

[maple_leaf_eh]

Are civilians allowed to use No.19 set frequencies? (If there are others doing it, I suppose yes.)

[Bruce MacMillan]

Originally Posted by maple_leaf_eh

Are civilians allowed to use No.19 set frequencies? (If there are others doing it, I suppose yes.)

Only if you are properly licenced. There are 3 amateur radio bands that fall within the coverage of the 19 set. There are many ham operators that like to use old military gear.

Bruce M0SOE

[Mike Kelly]

I got into ham radio because I had a 19 set and a few other military sets that I wanted to use on air . I got a novice call in 1984 .......My first QSO , I fired up the 122 set late one night and had a AM contact with two old timers on 3.580 khz ..... my signal was very weak so I changed over to CW and they managed to copy all of my CW . In those days there were many ex servicemen from WW2 on the air , they would usually be delighted as I told them about the set I was using .

I actually never got around to using a 19 set on the air , I thought it was rather bad form , in those days the bands were very busy and a 19 set would have been a disaster causing QRM to others .

I liked the xtal locked sets as you could always be on freq.

One chap I recall was a wireless operator on the HMAS Nizam , I met him in person and he told me of his harrowing experiences , his ship was supplying besieged Tobruk at night time , he said the harbour was littered with sunken ships . He said he had nightmares for years after the war .

Another chap was a wireless op in DC3's in New Guinea, he said his mate took off in a DC3 and he watched it crash into a hillside .

I also used a coastwatchers set for a while ,a 3BZ , it worked very well on AM .

Before I had a call, I used to listen to the Morse practice sessions , the novice pass speed was 5 wpm .

Listening to the SW bands was fun, I sometimes could hear ships in Bass Strait communicating with Cape Shank in Morse .

[David Dunlop]

Thank you all for your kind comments. I have some painting chores scheduled for the windows of the house and trim on the garage this Spring and ten it will be aerial design and installation time, along with laying out the transmission line and I should be good to go.

Mike. Morse is no longer mandatory for a Basic Licence here in Canada. It can be added to your qualifications at any time, however, and the speed required is also 5 wpm.

The 19-Set can indeed be a challenge to run 'tidy'. assuming all the components are all in good working order. It does help a great deal to fire it up a good 20 minutes to half an hour before going on the air to let things warm up and stabilize as, as you alluded to, they can drift quite a bit after the power is first turned on. Also, prior to the advent of cable TV, over the air Channel 3 TV used to be really prone to picking up harmonics from the 19-Sets operating range. Not nearly as common today and with the right filters on your transmission line things run pretty smoothly.

David

[Jon Skagfeld]

Yes, warming up a 19 set was wise. Getting those 807s in the front end good and warmly stabilised made for more successful rx/tx.