Yesterday, at the Dayton Hamvention Flea Market, a Hallicrafters SX-11 caught my eye. I don’t often see the SX-11 in such excellent shape. The seller wanted $500–quite steep for a flea market find.
Then I noticed a plaque on the side of the cabinet.
This Hallicrafters SX-11 has been in the seller’s family since Bill Halligan himself gave it as a gift in the mid 1930s.
This is what I love about the flea market–you never know what you’ll find.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Cuff, who writes:
“Thought the blog might enjoy this…it’s actually longwave related more than SW, but I know you often include historical items in blog posts.”
Indeed I do, Richard! Thanks for sharing. Here’s an excerpt from the Bangor Daily News:
Former radio relay station in Houlton may lead to new connection to England
HOULTON, Maine — Rugby Radio Station, a radio transmission site in the United Kingdom that once had ties to this Aroostook County community as part of a transoceanic communications network in the 1930s, is being re-imagined as a new city in England that will be aptly named: Houlton.
Rugby Radio Station was a radio transmission facility near the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. From 1927 to 1957, Houlton served as a relay station for long-wave transoceanic transmissions between New York and London.
Located on the County Road, the Houlton site was decommissioned on Oct. 1, 1957. That property is home to Roger and Carol Hand.
James Scott, who is the director of planning and communication for Urban and Civic, a property development and investment company based in London, was in Houlton on April 29 to meet with town officials and local historians to get a better feel for the American community that will bear the namesake of the new development.
[…]The Rugby site, which will be renamed Houlton, is 1,100 acres and over the next 20 years it will be developed into 6,000 homes, three primary schools, one secondary school and 1 million square feet of commercial floor space.
“The radio station [in England] was in operation from 1926 until 2005,” Scott said. “The site is really interesting in that it is mainly open fields, with some very large buildings and 12 800-foot masts. It was a very emotive site for a lot of people, but it was not very well developed.”
The masts have all been torn down, but some of the buildings were preserved for historical purposes.
[…]In the early days of transoceanic transmissions, a crew of five individuals worked at the Houlton station from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to a November 1957 article in Long Lines, a company magazine produced by employees of American Telephone and Telegraph. As demand for service increased, coverage was extended from 4 a.m. to midnight.
Houlton was chosen as the relay station because the signal could not reach all the way from England to New York directly. The local site did not have massive antennae reaching upward such as the location in England. Instead, the transmission lines here were placed horizontally and stretched for many miles.
By the mid-1930s, long-wave transmissions declined because of technological improvements in short-wave radios. The Houlton site was also used in the 1940s as a ship-to-shore service.
Read the full article, at the Bangor Daily News site.
Weather yesterday morning at the Dayton Hamvention was quite pleasant–cool and partly cloudy (the rain moved in by afternoon).
As I walked around the Hamvention Flea Market yesterday, I snapped a few photos. Here they are, in no particular order: 
The fellow who owns the military radio truck mobile unit (above) allowed me to take a few photos inside:
I hope to post some photos of the inside exhibits tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes:
This just came to my attention. It seems that William McClellan (Mac) Thornberry, the Republican representative of Texas’s 13th congressional district and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, proposed an amendment to H.R.4909 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 that would revamp how the Voice of America, RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, etc. are managed:
https://www.congress.gov/amendment/114th-congress/house-amendment/1018/actions
Text of amendment is here:
http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/GECv3517161723182318.pdf
It appears the amendment was accepted by the House and the House passed the amended H.R.4909 — National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 and it has moved on to the Senate:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4909
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Walker, who writes:
You’ve posted shack photos before from other readers.
I guess this is a shack, so here’s mine. By the banks of the thawed and now flowing Yukon River.
Paul braves some pretty cold weather in the winter to snag elusive DX from this very listening post in Galena, Alaska. He’s shared photos and a video of the frozen Yukon before–click here to check it out.
And, once again, thanks for sharing a little part of your world, Paul!
One of the benefits of being an inside exhibitor at the Dayton Hamvention is the ability to visit with vendors and exhibitors on Thursday, prior to all of the traffic that happens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Elecraft’s booth is always epically busy during the Hamvention–and this year will be no exception, I’m sure. It was nice to visit and get one-on-one time with the KX2 with no crowds.
Many thanks to the staff at Elecraft–especially David Shoaf–who gave me a quick tour of the KX2 and allowed me to take a few photos.
The KX2 is smaller than it even appears in most of the photos Elecraft has published. It’s roughly the size of the KX1, but somehow manages to fit the same backlit display of the KX3. They’ve done a pretty good job of designing this rig to accommodate a lot of features–but to be clear, it doesn’t have as many features of it’s “bigger” brother, the KX3.
The KX2 is actually much smaller than the KX3.
I am very tempted to purchase a KX2 for review, but may hold out for a few months. I would like to review it after my summer travels, though.
In truth, I love my KX3 and it serves me well: since I like the KX3 form-factor, it covers more bands than the KX2 and has a great general coverage receiver with AM mode for SWLing, I have no need for the KX2. The price point for a KX2 is a tough one, as well: after adding an internal ATU and paying taxes, you’re staring at $1,000 US.
Still: if you want almost all of the features of the KX3, yet something even more compact–something that can even be operated as a handheld!–the KX2 will serve you well. It’s certainly a clever piece of kit.
I will plan to review the KX2 later this year. Click here to download the Elecraft KX2 spec sheet.
En route to the 2016 Dayton Hamvention, I’m doing a few National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) activations with my my buddy, Eric (WD8RIF).
Eric is currently the number one activator in the state of Ohio.
NPOTA is a great excuse to get outdoors and play radio.
For me, it’s a great excuse to test the LNR Precision LD-11 and my new QRP Ranger portable power pack.
The QRP Ranger (left) and LNR Precision LD-11 transceiver (right)
I am loving the new QRP Ranger power pack–it is the solution I decided on after publishing this post a few weeks ago. It’s a little pricey, but it’s built like a tank, very lightweight, includes a charge controller made specifically for the LiFePo cells, and made here in the USA. It also had a very readable LED display that my buddy Eric says is, “reminiscent of the displays on the Apollo 11 module.” He’s kind of right!
It’s so nice to have both a volmeter and ammeter on the front panel.
We just finished activating the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (I’m writing this post while Eric drives us to our next activation). I made 12 contacts running SSB at 8 watts. Eric made 16 contacts via CW at 5 watts.
We have planned two more activations this afternoon:
I’ll be calling CQ on 14.290 MHz and 7.290 MHz +/-.
Please hop on the air listen and/or answer my call if you’re a ham!
Of course, tomorrow through Sunday, you can find us at the Dayton Hamvention in booth SA0359 in the Silver Arena.
Hope to see you there!