Globe Scout, Heathkit DX-60, Viking Valiant, Viking Ranger, HQ-180, HQ-120

BOATANCHORS

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W8JI   on 
Straight Key Night
January 2010

2010 was my
48th year of amateur
radio

HQ-120

Globe Scout 65A

rock-bound radio

My early
equipment was all
homebrew, mostly
built from old
radios collected
from a local
landfill. Among the
amateurs
contributing to my
pursuit of Amateur
Radio were:

W8IQC,
Fred Mahaney on
Hanson Street in
what is now
Northwood, Ohio.
Fred had a Viking
Ranger transmitter,
SX-99, and pair of
813’s.
I remember Fred’s
windmill tower he
towed home, and his
potent 160 mobile
signal. Fred took me to
radio meetings of
the TMRA around
1962. At that time,
there was
considerable mobile
activity on 160
meters. 

K8LRJ,
Scotty. Scotty lived
on Anderson Street
just behind Fred.
Scotty gave me a
code practice
oscillator to learn
CW. I always had to be careful how the plug was plugged in, because it used a
117L7/M7 tube and ran directly from the power line!

K8KYB,
Connie Morgillo.
Connie gave me tube
sockets and other
parts to build rigs.

My first rig was
a 6L6 used in
a Colpitts
oscillator that directly fed an antenna. Actually, I’m almost positive that rig
started as a 6V6GT, until I finally found a 6L6.

I later
added a 6AG7
oscillator. It was
built on a peg board
chassis covered with
aluminum foil. After a few weeks I
upgraded it to
a real transmitting tube, an
Tung-Sol  (nothing
to do with the current Chinese name knock-off) 807 PA tube that I bought from
Lifetime Electronics on Adams Street in Toledo. The people at Lifetime were very helpful to newcomers, and
the building had a wonderful “old radio” smell.

My receiver was a
gutted and rebuilt
Zenith radio from
the dump. I added a
BFO, narrowed tuning
range to just 80 and
40 meters, and added
a few more IF
stages.

A few months
later, I was loaned
a DX-60 Heathkit by WA8CTN,
Vince. Vince was a
sailor on lake
freighters. He lived
by the WSPD-TV tower
near Bay Shore Road.
I had the DX-60 for
a very short time
after I became a
General. 

The first
“commercial
transmitter” I
actually owned was a
Globe Scout 65A
purchased used from
World Radio
Laboratories. 
The Globe Scout was a gift from
my father for
passing my
General.  It
arrived via the Railway
Express office on
the ground floor of
New York Central’s

Central Union
Terminal at 415
Emerald Ave. in
Toledo, Ohio.

I used
this rig with a Heathkit
VF-1 purchased
from Jim McCormack, W8WTW.
Jim lived near the
river in east
Toledo.

This is my
restored Globe Scout
65A. I still use it
on the air. 

Click
here for more Globe
Scout restoration
pictures.

Push-pull self-excited 45’s:

300 volts DC on the copper coil, plates of the left side variable capacitor,
and white clip lead.

This transmitter actually works, but does not run much power. Just a watt or
so when “stable”.

Modern Boatanchors

I have the
following Boat
Anchors in my
“collection”,
plus a few more now:

as well as
various Command
sets, broadcast
radios, and homebrew
amateur equipment

Also see 160 meters

Since
Sept 19, 2004