The best looking rig money can't buy

Just thought I'd share this...
I spotted this on the cover of a magazine and had instant  heart palpitations, then discovered its actually a home made radio.
I don't think I'll be building one but I'll definitely be buying the next 7 additions of the mag to see the full build. The first part of the build is the filters, it will be interesting to see the full parts list to get an idea of what a build like that would cost, 
I love the retro look, what a thing of beauty.

It's got 2019 on it ??.

Alan Pilot wrote:

It's got 2019 on it ??.

I noticed that, I can’t imagine the magazine is released once every 2 years, lol. What’s the story, Mr. Zulu

I only noticed that after posting and instantly went on a frantic internet search to see if I could get my hands on the following issues. I'm surprised I was sent such an old mag with my foundation licence manual, perhaps someone just chucked an old mag in as a friendly gesture... well now I'm hooked
Fortunately I can get previous issues if I subscribe, but I need to become a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia first, I'll need to wait until I'm feeling a bit wealthier, I think it's going to cost around $100 for the year.

Sh1t happens.

Hi Andrew,

Lou VK3AQZ has his own website that might be worth checking out :-

http://vk3aqzkits.com/

Loads of homebrew projects appear to be there, (I'll check it out myself later when I have more time )


Don't forget the WIA magazine archive at the following link :-

https://www.armag.vk6uu.id.au/


Unfortunately the magazine shown won't be in the archive back catalogue being too recent but it's a valuable resource for the 'home-brewer'.

Who knows, maybe drop Lou an email and he may be willing to share some more info?


I've had "extras" such as this turn up with other orders.....shiny unread magazine that turned out to be several years old. Still a bonus.  

(It's when they throw in a bag of sweets that are past their expiry date that's disconcerting! )


But I agree, nice looking radio with a retro feel. Reminds me of an old Heathkit cased item.


All the best,
Victor

Hi Victor

Thanks for the links, Lou's website is awesome, there's some hard core talent going on there.
I'll be firing up the computer to have a proper look at it all.

73's

Hotel Zulu 253 wrote:

I only noticed that after posting and instantly went on a frantic internet search to see if I could get my hands on the following issues. I'm surprised I was sent such an old mag with my foundation licence manual,  perhaps someone just  chucked an old mag in as a friendly gesture... well now I'm hooked
Fortunately I can get previous issues if I subscribe, but I need to become a member of the Wireless Institute of Australia first, I'll need to wait until I'm feeling a bit wealthier, I think it's going to cost around $100 for the year.

At the moment, if you get licensed (or upgrade) they are giving a year's complimentary membership.

https://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2019/20190113-1/

No worries Andrew.  

There's some really helpful people out there more than willing to share their talents.


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Hiya Jeff,

That sounds awesome mate! Is that offer still running?

Hey, Andrew - you've bought the book so obviously interested in that direction, seems like a good offer to tip the balance.

I do believe Jeff is a man in the know when it comes to Amateur Radio exams.

Might be worth a little word in his direction.


All the best guys,
Victor

Thank you for the link 43CT016, I'd better get my backside into gear.

You nailed it Victor, I'm studying for my licence so I can attempt some serious DX'ing without having to compete with all the chicken band nonsense.

I have passed the online test exam on every attempt but I'm not happy with just pass mark, when I can pass with a 100% score without taking a punt on any answers I'll do the real thing.

My introduction into amateur radio book only arrived this week, I'll spend a few weeks studying it properly.

Thank you for the link 43CT016,  I'd better get my backside into gear.

You nailed it Victor, I'm studying for my licence so I can attempt some serious DX'ing without having to compete with all the chicken band nonsense.

I have passed the online test exam on every attempt but I'm not happy with just a "pass" mark, when I can pass with a 100% score without taking a punt on any answers I'll do the real thing.

My introduction into amateur radio book only arrived this week, I'll spend a few weeks studying it properly.

Victor wrote:

No worries Andrew.  

Hiya Jeff,

That sounds awesome mate! Is that offer still running?

Hey, Andrew - you've bought the book so obviously interested in that direction, seems like a good offer to tip the balance.


All the best guys,
Victor

It was 8 months or so ago, and I haven’t seen anything to suggest it stopped.  

I have a horrible feeling I threw all my old mags out, otherwise I’d have been happy to post the old copies with those articles in over to him.

Good to hear Andrew and I wish you the very best of luck with it mate.  

We had a posting here with the W.I.A. questions a while back and loads of us were thrilled we could answer most of them to achieve a pass.

As with any organisation they want to promote the hobby and look for basic competence, not hindrance.

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Jeff,

You are a star mate and I know you would've happily passed on those mags had you still had them.

I'm still thumbing my way through the box of UK Radcom magazines a friend and Ham donated to me. I remembered a VHF Halo antenna feature so dug that out to build one for my recent FT290r acquisition.....that's my weekend planned out!


I've been thrilled with the generosity and helped offered by fellow radio enthusiasts to each other and love to see it on the forum.

You guys have definitely given me a buzz & smile for the weekend!



The very best to all of you,
Victor

Whilst I'm recalling some pretty lovely builds I've seen (includinhg omebrews and home made re-casing of some nice rigs that had originally really ugly cases), I've seen plenty of really decent homebrews ruined by lazy assed finishes - notably a homebrew 100 MHz - 1Ghz example that was about a thousand pounds worth of hours, parts and aggro, bugger all resale value, ruined by a permanent housing made up of ALU foil stuck on both sides of the cheapest card stock on earth.  The logic there still baffles me, along with how the constructor never quite figured out that a proper casing would have solved many persist issues - but what i would know, then as a mere 14 yrs old nobody who happened to be right?

At the other extreme, I know someone who had the other UK example of one of my pro ultra wide gen coverage transceivers (in both cases, how we got them is best not asked) and he wanted to fit it into his modern micro camper but hated the enamelled military finish on the Plessey, so he literally made a perfectly matched replacement shell and framework out of titanium and duralumin.  By the time it was polished, and anti-oxidised by laquer, it was kinda like seeing a a radio with RR Merlin like case finish (he even added fake detailing).  Didn't match his van one bit, but he loved it and ultimately that counted for everything.

Mine's still in it's enamelled classic casing but that's how I prefer my radios as it's timeless and hard wearing and just so easy to clean.

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but it's truly beautiful when it looks and feel and action are equally something you think will never ever exist.

I guess it's like how you perceive the truly remarkable aircraft, it's the whole damn thing that impresses not merely the finish.

You've just given me a great idea, I've got an old HMV Roadhound TX77 18ch that's been modified to 40 ch. The radios front panel and enclosure is looking very second hand... I feel a remodelling project coming on..... its time to clear the workbench and get my imagination to work.

Give it a shot, I can see immediately a few classic VHF sets you could use for inspiration that used a similar control layout and selector. If it's more an exercise in doing than eventually using, how far you can go depends on your sense of reality

My first streaming internet 'radio' receiver ended up being recased in an old Binatone BreakerPhone casing, and I remote mounted the front panel into the old handset. I don't regret doing it as the rig was ally and carbon and nothing left else to make it worth repairing - but I got literal death threats for my destruction of a classic and rare rig of which I was guilty of, but death threats weren't justifiable. Medway is a strange area, way too many nut cases with dubious wiring sadly.

First thoughts are, robust, military style, portable, self powered rig with this for inspiration.

That's definitely a probable candidate, or of that military/pro manpack/vehicle design inspired look.

Now if we're talking about technical exercise as much as a styling rebuild, so even if only as a proof of concept for display and occasional demo, you could find any ex-military item and transplant the guts and control hardware can be a creative mix of military on the surface and original switch/pots behind. A particularly favourably option for early PLL (which used simple binary switching) and multi channel crystal led sets. You could, given how lax and open ended 49mhz LE equipment specs are, even adapt it to 49mhz and put it on permanent low power. One of my favourite childhood toys was a set of manpack style single channel pp3 driven 49mhz radios - and given they ironically had (as I discovered when I found some after decades) a full wound GP radial and the tele antenna was a decent half-wave as a VNA demonstrated, so my recall of good range potential was accurate. Had crappy battery life mind, but it transpired they were 1 watt out and this predated the 49Mhz LE provision *slaps own wrists*.

If it sounds far fetched an extension to the theme, bear in mind that most affordable and obtainable 50mhz gear was, for some years, 4M/70mhz gear pulled down or better high end CB gear repurposed to crude 50mhz use - easier to do with crystals channelised items than PLL synth rigs.

So, if potentially sacrificing the original set fits the bill, go mad as it's mostly an exercise in doing more than a practical mod realistically like most hobby conversions.

@HotelZulu - you know, thinking about it, I could rebuild those toy manpacks I'm sentimental about - after all adding a vfo and PLL synth can be done with off the shelf dev boards, just add decent filtering and replace the ant system with a suitable tactical antenna or sleeve dipole and a decent battery pack and it's a HQ 'toy' older PRC style item.

Not even remotely something you'd do, in my case, for even the most vaguely practical or sane reason - but that said, since when did DIY radio make practical sense since off the shelf stuff became easily obtainable, you do it for the thrill of the chase, your skill vs the challenge.

Admin, please allow, this is not for sale as its an item no longer available on eBay as It sold.

Re PM
Just for you hilly, this will give you some Idea what you can find if your patient, I reckon considering its condition the price was probably fair.