Amateur Radio - G8EBK
So, there I was in September 1970, a licensed Radio Amateur sporting the callsign
G8EBK - with no transmitter. I still had the Lafayette KT320, 144MHz converter and
8 element yagi antenna, all I needed was the transmitter.
Tradition and indeed the licensing conditions 'demanded' that I should have a go at
building one. VHF equipment was in its infancy in those days and transmitters were
generally AM (or FM) and crystal controlled. You started with an 8MHz crystal and
multiplied it up to get to 144MHz. So, a suitable circuit was obtained from Short
Wave Magazine, a box of bits collected and my father constructed a chassis for me
and away we went. It was a disaster... the crystal oscillator wouldn't.... although
the final amplifier did (oscillate that is!) Looking back, there was no wonder it never worked, the
layout was all wrong, with no screening or decoupling. Think of all the bad RF design
and practice you can and that transmitter had it all. It even had an exploding power
supply, I never thought of bringing the electrolytics up to voltage, I just whacked
the full monty on them. Lethal!
Eventually, I had to admit defeat and I saw a small two metre AM transmitter advertised,
the Echelcom 2, which was a crystal controlled 10W transmitter using the ubitquious
QQV0-310 valve. This was duly ordered and my first 'QSO' was with the Leyland Hundred
Two Meter Net... G8EBK had arrived.