(oh yeah, I put that there...I'll take it now thanks!)
COLOGNE, GERMANY—According to a Live Science report, archaeologist Erich Classen of the Rhineland Regional Association and his colleagues were looking for a Roman villa in western Germany when they unearthed a Soviet spy radio that had been sealed in a metal box and hidden along a path through what was the Hambach Forest, just a few miles away from a nuclear research center and military air base. Manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1987, the shortwave radio, which was still covered in factory wrapping bearing notes on dial positions in Russian script, is a model R-394KKM capable of transmitting and receiving messages over a distance of some 750 miles. “We think the radio will work if a new battery is available,” Classen said. The radio itself is labeled in English with the Roman alphabet, and was perhaps intended for use by a German or English speaker before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Classen and his team suggest the radio was never used, however, and may have been stowed away as a backup device. To read about the discovery of Soviet nuclear warhead bases in the forests of Poland, go to "Cold War Storage."
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If, like me, you enjoy flipping through old issues of 73 magazine from the 60s, you're bound to have at least seen the ads for the Transcom SBT-3 three-band SSB tranceiver. Being made in Escondido CA in the mid-60s, my guess has always been that engineers from other San Diego SSB compnanies such as Don Stoner, Les Earnshaw from Southcom, Herb Johnson, founder of Swan or Faust Gonsett may... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/16/2021
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This short article about the AWA Forestphone was the last one put on the Midwest Classic Radio Net website by for former webmaster George K9GDT before he unfortunately became a Silent Key. MCRN articleNow that a longer version has been published in Electric Radio magazine I thought I'd include it here as well.Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's leading electr... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/13/2021
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Alexander M. Lewyt died in 1988 at the age of 79, a holder of patents on scores of inventions. His penchant for invention, he once said, was so strong that he had chronic insomnia from lying awake at night envisioning new products. When he learned of undertakers’ difficulty in fastening neckties on corpses, the teen-age Lewyt devised a new kind of bow tie that clipped on. He sold 50,000 of t... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/08/2021
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The Korean-war vintage AN/GRC-9 is one of the most useful and fun military field radios for ham use, as with AM and CW modes and 2-12 MHz coverage and a VFO it's all ready to go on several ham bands. The battery tube superhet receiver is also power-friendly and sensitive and stable enough to copy CW and SSB but has one annoying flaw - the 4 volt bias battery used by the audio... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/03/2021
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Halogen type MR-16 lamps are commonly used in track lights and other spot lighting applications so what would be cooler than to drop in LED replacements! A lot, as it turns out. The LED replacements are HORRIBLE RFI emitters that totally trashed several ham bands when I unknowingly installed them.Halogen spot lights are 12 volt devices so it's long been common prac... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 01/02/2021
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Ham radio operators honor legacy of Mars Hill companyHammarlund was an industry leader for generationsCategory: Historic
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/12/2020
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Ham radio operators honor legacy of Mars Hill companyHammarlund was an industry leader for generationsCategory: Historic
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/12/2020
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The Japan Radio Company JSB-20 SSB Radiotelephone10 watt portable SSB lunchboxCategory: Vintage Ham Radio
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/12/2020
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Like most people who received a catalog from International Crystal in the 60s, I was always intrigued by their assortment of PC board kits. There were boards for every stage in a radio transmitter or receiver and they could be combined to make almost anything - from converters to complete radios. But little did I know that International actually did just that when they went... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 12/01/2020
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Incredible trove of Radio and Electronics BooksFree for downloading - pdf filesCategory: Vintage Radio
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 11/02/2020
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