July 2019
Note from President Dave
Greetings to all!!
I hope all of you enjoyed a happy and safe Fourth of July holiday, as our country celebrated 243 years. May God continue to bless America - the greatest country on earth!!! June was an active month for the Society. Thanks to our friends in the Shelby County Amateur Radio Club (SCARC) for inviting us to participate in their first indoor hamfest. The Society had two sales tables and one display table. We displayed the very early receivers and spark gap transmitter, expertly built and donated to the Society by member Pete Sides. The attendance was good and all indications are the event was very successful for SCARC. Congratulations to them. We closed out the month with another membership auction. Once again almost all items were sold. I want to thank Ray Giles and Willie Henderson for managing the event and also all of you who helped clean, repair and check the sale items. Thanks to all who purchased these sale items. All funds collected go to the operation of the Society. Shortly after the tables were cleared after the auction, we received another large quantity of radio equipment from the Dave Holder family. Dave was a longtime member of the Society. We were told that more items may be coming later. These donations can be seen at the shop and will be in a future auction. We were recently contacted by Scott Benton from Robertsdale, Alabama about a large radio estate sale later this month. He said there are about 200 radios, mostly small table radios. I have pictures on my phone, so if you have any interest I can show you what is for sale. The Society has been invited to participate in the annual Alabama Broadcasters Association Conference here in Birmingham in August. Our own Ed Boutwell will be involved in the induction of Patti Wheeler and Tom “Doc” Atkinson into the Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. Also, the Society will have a booth in the trade show. I will have more details at a later date. That is all for now. Enjoy your summer vacation trips and be safe!!!
See you at the shop! Dave
What's happening at the society
Submitted by Steven Westbrook
A few years ago I had the pleasure of dealing with Gary Stork, an enthusiast of all things relating to V-M Corporation, known to us as The Voice of Music. VM was a manufacturer of high-end electronic sound equipment such as tape records, amplifiers, turn tables etc. Gary is the best source for information, sale brochures, schematic diagrams and parts for all VM equipment. His website is https://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/ During my dealing with Larry he sent me this article, written by V-M Corporation Founder & President Victor Miller and published in his VM Newsletter “Collector’s Voice”. He graciously gave me permission to include the article in our newsletter.
Member News
Submitted by Steven Westbrook
Gear up Bham gives students who attend public schools in Birmingham opportunities to attend free summer camps hosted by Alabama universities and colleges. This year (AHRS member) Milo Jones went to Auburn’s Chef Tech Camp. He worked for a week with 32 other rising 11th graders to learn knife skills and sauces with Chef Sidney. They also visited the Legacy Museum, an urban farm, a fishery and learned about nutrition with Dr. Brown. Three students were awarded Top Chef Awards at the end of the week and Milo received one. Chef Sidney said Milo made an amazing béchamel, something some of his own chefs in Atlanta can’t do. Milo is a man of many skills and interest. Congratulations Milo
Projects
Cleartone 110 Project (cont’d)
Submitted by Jim Rogers
Frank Roberts made all the adapters to substitute the type 27 tubes for the rare and expensive McCullough 401As. Frank also repaired and updated the power supply. Since the radio needed a 22 ½ V battery bias supply, the decision was made to do the initial power up with the shop universal power supply and begin the evaluation with the audio stages. First, the filament supply (2.5 VDC) was connected. The two type 27s lit up. Frank’s adapters were spot on. Moving on the -22.5 VDC bias supply was connected and a check of the vacant sockets proved the bias supply was present, until we checked the two audio amp stages. No -22.5 VDC. The two inter-stage transformer primaries were open. There was nothing to do at this point, but to put the project on hold until we could replace the two transformers. Stay tuned!