• You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
  • Click here to find out how to win free radios from Retevis!

Some people you just can't reach

Super Cathode Modulation . @N2EY an oldie but a goody. Hard to believe W6SAI got wrapped up in that considering the body of work . W2NSD Was a proponent as well so there's that .
I don’t know about the “Super” part, but back in the day, applying cathode modulation to a basic CW rig was once popular among Novices after they upgraded to General. It was considerably cheaper than buying or building a plate modulator. I still have my home brew cathode modulator that I attached to a Heathkit DX20. I used a schematic out of a 1955 Radio Amateur’s Handbook to build it. That book was also one of my first study guides. From all my past endeavors, the front cover has a soldering iron burn that’s three pages deep and the binding is held together with duct tape. I still cherish it none the less, and reference it on occasion.

Sorry, before I hit the sack I couldn't help commenting on at least one of those items on that long list of yours . Hopefully I'll have pleasant dreams thinking of the contacts I made from that setup.:) :sleep:
 
https://www.w8ji.com/vhf_stability.htm

scroll down to super cathode drive

"There are obviously several major flaws with the super-cathode drive concept. Grid current causes grid-to-cathode impedance to constantly vary with drive level. When grid current is absent, the grid-to-cathode impedance is nearly an open circuit. Grid-to-cathode capacitance dominates the upper half of the divider, and everything appears to work as planned. Unfortunately, a problem appears whenever the grid draws current. Even the tiniest amount of grid current causes grid-to-cathode impedance to decreases rapidly. With only a few dozen milliamperes of grid current, grid impedance drops to a few hundred ohms or less. As grid current is drawn, the decreasing grid impedance dominates the upper leg of the voltage division circuit!"

~W8JI
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rwb
Reminds me of a long winter's night ages ago. Had my Heathkit HX11 novice transmitter tricked out with a Bogen PA amplifier to modulate the CW transmitter's final tube. Found a power transformer from a derelict TV that did the job of the modulation transformer.

A buddy on the channel was going to the Navy induction center the next day, and he wondered out loud about something he had always wanted to try.

In those days a "novice" transmitter was CW only, and used a quartz crystal to set the frequency. Had a crystal socket on the front, or sometimes a handful of sockets inside with a front-panel selector. Every brand that sold these transmitters also sold an external VFO that was set up to plug into the crystal socket. Not sure why, but most of these had a 1/4-inch phone jack in the rear marked "key", as in morse-code key. Was wired between the oscillator tube's cathode and ground. A normally-closed contact in the jack would pass this connection through to ground until you inserted a phone plug. My Globe VFO had 11 meters marked right on it. Worked on CB just fine.

Zeke wondered what would happen if you hooked the secondary of an audio transformer into this "key" jack and pumped in your voice audio. Said he figured you would get wide-band FM that way. As it happened, my Globe VFO had that same jack. I had patch cords and the Bogen PA amplifier right there.

Long story short, that's just what this setup got. Had folks from other channels asking me what was going on. Tried to break me on the channel where they heard me, but got no answer. Some of them asked "What kind of sideband radio is that? I could understand the audio just fine on my AM radio but there was no carrier".

Zeke went off to the navy. And came back in one piece years later.

Any time someone says "cathode modulation", I think back to the old Globe VFO.

73
 
Happy mothers sons day kop.
Other nite was talkin to my neighbor on 2m. This soul jumped in n said cut it off net starts in 5 minutes .the responce priceless friend said " YEP,IM RUNNIN NET TONITE" we carried on 2 more minutes,never heard that soul on net ...
 
  • Like
Reactions: WECSOG
While we're on pet peeves, how about people who write ham radio as "HAM" as if it were an acronym. Which it's not.


Hey WECSOG , Winkdogg 4-2-Zero here ! Hey bud nice to meet you but sometimes I type ham operator sometimes I type Hams ? I think of it more as using Hams as a proper noun as apposed to saying I like and respect what Hams do even though Im a CB guy :( I know what is grammatically correct and WHAT AINT BE RIGHT lol I honestly just do it to define what Im saying to other 11-Meter operators :ROFLMAO: (not always the sharpest tools in the shed :D) just kidding of course but sorry if I have done that in the past I meant no disrespect . I really can appreciate what you and other ham ops are about , I suppose Im just not ready to commit . Actually I was ready 5-6 years ago but when I went to some shack in North Jersey to sit down for the written , I just could not stand (or respect) the dick bag instructor / proctor guy haha :LOL: . If that guy was a little bit less of a douche I would be all over the bands right now ;(

Ill get to it eventually , again no disrespect intended my friend !

73 and 10-4 My friend !

Winkdogg aka 4-2-Zero NJ
 
Hey WECSOG , Winkdogg 4-2-Zero here ! Hey bud nice to meet you but sometimes I type ham operator sometimes I type Hams ? I think of it more as using Hams as a proper noun as apposed to saying I like and respect what Hams do even though Im a CB guy :( I know what is grammatically correct and WHAT AINT BE RIGHT lol I honestly just do it to define what Im saying to other 11-Meter operators :ROFLMAO: (not always the sharpest tools in the shed :D) just kidding of course but sorry if I have done that in the past I meant no disrespect . I really can appreciate what you and other ham ops are about , I suppose Im just not ready to commit . Actually I was ready 5-6 years ago but when I went to some shack in North Jersey to sit down for the written , I just could not stand (or respect) the dick bag instructor / proctor guy haha :LOL: . If that guy was a little bit less of a douche I would be all over the bands right now ;(

Ill get to it eventually , again no disrespect intended my friend !

73 and 10-4 My friend !

Winkdogg aka 4-2-Zero NJ
None taken, my friend. I hope I didn't offend you by pointing that out. Hope to see you on the bands; CB as well as ham. It's all radio.
 
I just had too.....

9780394800165.jpeg.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rwb and WECSOG
Wow kopcicle !! You get another year older and now your one of those pretentious Hams that makes fun of me for saying 73's lol :LOL::ROFLMAO:;) Just kidding buddy I'm just a lowly 11 meter op but I know what you mean , that's why I only throw fire in the wire on the "STUPID BOWL" on rare occasion haha ! Even amongst CB guys some can respect and understand the basics . My father once said "Just because you own a WELDER , that does not mean you are a WELDER" rest his soul . I suppose not every Ham should have a ticket hell even some cb guys should be shut down and that's the "Citizen Band" lol not every person is a human . I cant stand people but I love spending time with human beings ;)

Happy Birthday buddy I hope life lets up a bit and gives you a break ! We all get fed up and frustrated but keep in mind if every person was a good one , you wouldn't be able to spot the bad ones:) lol

So in closing 73's and Happy Birthday my long distance radio friend !

Brian


Hey kopcicle , I hope all is well !! 'This is one of my funnier posts ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rwb

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.