I posted several weeks back about the idea of a HAM newcomer setting
up a vintage station. I came away feeling that it was going to be a
challenge, but is certainly doable.

I am working on sourcing some code training software, and have been
doing a lot of listening with my SX-71. AMing appeals to me on the
surface... it seem more gear oriented, and mostly (only?) vintage. No
matter how well I dial in SSB, it just lacks fidelity compared with
the AM, at least on my receiver. But, I have a long way to go with my
listening.

I saw what seemed to be a reasonable deal (except for shipping) on a
working and mint looking Viking Invader 2000 ssb/cw/am, and bought it.
I have been into tubes from an audio standpoint for most of my life
and happened across a pair of NOS 4-1000a tubes a while back. I had
envisioned someday doing something homebrew with them. Well the
Invader uses a pair of 4-400s, so I will get a taste of what that
might entail. It is running 2200 plate volts, and I have read they
glow orange. Anyway, probably a dumb reason to pick a particular
transmitter, but the 4-400s, the condition, the power capabilities,
the looks all sucked me in. So tell me, am I in way over my head or
can I handle this beast?

Dumber questions.... what else am I going to need to set up my
station? I already have the SX-101a, the Invader 2000, and lots of
test equipment... scope, signal and sweep generators, VTVM w/ HV
probe, etc. I konw I need a key and a mic and to set up a proper
antenna and that is all I know. What else should I be trying to
accumulate while I work on my license? If this is the wrong place to
be asking these questions, somebody set me straight. Thanks for your
help.

Dan

geojunkie wrote:

I saw what seemed to be a reasonable deal (except for shipping) on a
working and mint looking Viking Invader 2000 ssb/cw/am, and bought it.

Yikes! Talking about jumping off the deep end!
:-)
Nice rig. You'll have fun with that one.

-Bill

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 00:00:19 UTC, (geojunkie) wrote:

I posted several weeks back about the idea of a HAM newcomer setting
up a vintage station. I came away feeling that it was going to be a
challenge, but is certainly doable.

I am working on sourcing some code training software, and have been
doing a lot of listening with my SX-71. AMing appeals to me on the
surface... it seem more gear oriented, and mostly (only?) vintage. No
matter how well I dial in SSB, it just lacks fidelity compared with
the AM, at least on my receiver. But, I have a long way to go with my
listening.

I saw what seemed to be a reasonable deal (except for shipping) on a
working and mint looking Viking Invader 2000 ssb/cw/am, and bought it.
I have been into tubes from an audio standpoint for most of my life
and happened across a pair of NOS 4-1000a tubes a while back. I had
envisioned someday doing something homebrew with them. Well the
Invader uses a pair of 4-400s, so I will get a taste of what that
might entail. It is running 2200 plate volts, and I have read they
glow orange. Anyway, probably a dumb reason to pick a particular
transmitter, but the 4-400s, the condition, the power capabilities,
the looks all sucked me in. So tell me, am I in way over my head or
can I handle this beast?

No. Just be careful around the HV. This is serious stuff.

A pair of 4-1000A's in grounded grid, about 3,500 volts on the plate
is the classic "two tuber" or "California Kilowatt". You'll have
to turn down the Invader to keep from overdriving such an amp.


Dumber questions.... what else am I going to need to set up my
station? I already have the SX-101a, the Invader 2000, and lots of
test equipment... scope, signal and sweep generators, VTVM w/ HV
probe, etc. I konw I need a key and a mic and to set up a proper
antenna and that is all I know. What else should I be trying to
accumulate while I work on my license? If this is the wrong place to
be asking these questions, somebody set me straight. Thanks for your
help.

Dan

Antennas. A ham station is the antenna farm. The rest of it is
much less important. Do you have the room to put up a 40 meter
dipole? 66 feet linear length. Get it up at least 40 feet, the
higher the better. For 20 and above, a basic antenna is an
3 element trap yagi. Again 40 feet minimum height, 80 is even
better.

Get on your roof, look at the horizon. Can you see the horizon in
all directions?

Check your ground? Is it sandy, loam, rock, or marine clay? Ground
conductivity is important. The ideal QTH is up about 3,000 feet on
a smooth iron mountain, the ground slopes gradually down and away
in all directions to a salt ocean.

With the Invader, you don't need an "antenna tuner". Tuners are
something to play with if you don't have a real antenna fed with 50
Ohm coax like RG-213.

As an audio guy, you know about speakers. I use Radio Shack metal
speakers, Minimus-7's, on my radios. I open the speaker and unhook
the tweeter. You don't want those highs, good systems roll off the
audio at about 3,000 Hz.

Focus on the speakers, the antenna, and your location. The stuff in
between is much less important. It's fun but it's not as
important.

The microphone and key are important too.

good luck,

de ah6gi/4

Yes, antennas are important, and the bigger the better, but...

I worked Great Britain from Massachusetts on 10 watts with a simple 40 meter
dipole up about 20 feet. It wasn't ideal, but it worked. I worked Estonia
from Oregon on SSB (all tubes, too) with 100 watts with a 10 meter half-wave
loop pinned to the ceiling of a spare room in a 1-story rented house. You
_will_ do _much_ better with a "real" antenna system, but you _can_ do
_amazing_ things with a few pieces of wire and some creativity.

So if you can, by all means put up the heavy metal in the sky, but don't
stop if you can't do it right off. Get a copy of the ARRL antenna book, or
maybe a copy of the Handbook from the year your rig was born. You live out
in the country so you don't need to worry about stealth antennas -- if you
have trees and aren't afraid of heights they make very good supports for
long wire antennas. Just think about who you want to talk to this year and
aim the antenna appropriately.

No Spam wrote in message
news:ifgU75G3LLdo-pn2-IWO2j4d3zUld@localhost...
On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 00:00:19 UTC, (geojunkie) wrote:


Antennas. A ham station is the antenna farm. The rest of it is
much less important. Do you have the room to put up a 40 meter
dipole? 66 feet linear length. Get it up at least 40 feet, the
higher the better. For 20 and above, a basic antenna is an
3 element trap yagi. Again 40 feet minimum height, 80 is even
better.

"geojunkie" wrote in message
om...
I posted several weeks back about the idea of a HAM newcomer setting
up a vintage station. I came away feeling that it was going to be a
challenge, but is certainly doable.

I am working on sourcing some code training software, and have been
doing a lot of listening with my SX-71. AMing appeals to me on the
surface... it seem more gear oriented, and mostly (only?) vintage. No
matter how well I dial in SSB, it just lacks fidelity compared with
the AM, at least on my receiver. But, I have a long way to go with my
listening.

AM is a fine mode, especially for vintage gear. SSB has more punch, and will
get through a pileup better, but nothing beats a good armchair qso with AM.

I saw what seemed to be a reasonable deal (except for shipping) on a
working and mint looking Viking Invader 2000 ssb/cw/am, and bought it.
I have been into tubes from an audio standpoint for most of my life
and happened across a pair of NOS 4-1000a tubes a while back. I had
envisioned someday doing something homebrew with them. Well the
Invader uses a pair of 4-400s, so I will get a taste of what that
might entail. It is running 2200 plate volts, and I have read they
glow orange. Anyway, probably a dumb reason to pick a particular
transmitter, but the 4-400s, the condition, the power capabilities,
the looks all sucked me in. So tell me, am I in way over my head or
can I handle this beast?

That depends on how understanding your wife is ;-J. I've been in over my
head for years, and she's almost, but not quite, used to it.

If you can read a schematic, you're fine.

Dumber questions.... what else am I going to need to set up my
station? I already have the SX-101a, the Invader 2000, and lots of
test equipment... scope, signal and sweep generators, VTVM w/ HV
probe, etc. I konw I need a key and a mic and to set up a proper
antenna and that is all I know. What else should I be trying to
accumulate while I work on my license? If this is the wrong place to
be asking these questions, somebody set me straight. Thanks for your
help.

Well, I don't know as there's a "better" place, so I'll answer them here.

You'll need a dummy load, which is a 50 ohm non-reactive resister used to
tune the transmitter without radiating a signal. Heath "Cantennas" are
excellent, and E.F. Johnson made good units too.

You'll need a _good_ microphone: "communications" quality mikes don't cut it
on AM, so get one that's made for recording and/or broadcast.

You'll need a _big_ antenna. If it survives the winter, it wasn't big
enough! Since most AM operation is on 80 and 40 meters, I recommend a
vertical with a minimum of 64 1/4 wave ground radials. If you can't do that,
just suffer with a dipole like the rest of us: what the hell, you've got an
Invader ...

You'll need a _separate_ area of the house to use for your ham "shack".
Trust me: it _must_ be separate. Pick the place that has the best access to
the antenna farm, the best ventilation, the best view, and the best AC
feed - and make it into your wife's sewing room while you set up a
dehumidifier in the cellar.

Don't ask me how I know.

73, and good luck,

Bill

Don't expect to get it right the first time..... Got my ticket in 1949 and I am
still looking for a good combination for my interest. My interest have changed
a few times over the years. Am now fooling around with QRP.

Thats what makes this a great hobby.... no reason to get bored with what you
have!
(broke=not working, retired=not working, retired=broke)

1) If you're into AM, then go for a quality mic. Make certain the rig is
aligned to give the best audio quality signal you can send.

2) For a good signal, I'd recommend a vertical, with lots of radials. You
can homebrew one or buy one on-line. I've used an 18AVT for 80m and 40m.
Some claim that verticals are more noise sensitive...but that's only if
you're listening to DX-lightning strikes. A low dipole, even one at
half-wave up, will have lots of high-angle...means you'll hear lots of
close-in stations but also close-in static sources. It's probably a
coin-toss.

3) and, keep you're hands off the high voltage!

Good luck!
+++


geojunkie wrote:

I posted several weeks back about the idea of a HAM newcomer setting
up a vintage station. I came away feeling that it was going to be a
challenge, but is certainly doable.

I am working on sourcing some code training software, and have been
doing a lot of listening with my SX-71. AMing appeals to me on the
surface... it seem more gear oriented, and mostly (only?) vintage. No
matter how well I dial in SSB, it just lacks fidelity compared with
the AM, at least on my receiver. But, I have a long way to go with my
listening.

I saw what seemed to be a reasonable deal (except for shipping) on a
working and mint looking Viking Invader 2000 ssb/cw/am, and bought it.
I have been into tubes from an audio standpoint for most of my life
and happened across a pair of NOS 4-1000a tubes a while back. I had
envisioned someday doing something homebrew with them. Well the
Invader uses a pair of 4-400s, so I will get a taste of what that
might entail. It is running 2200 plate volts, and I have read they
glow orange. Anyway, probably a dumb reason to pick a particular
transmitter, but the 4-400s, the condition, the power capabilities,
the looks all sucked me in. So tell me, am I in way over my head or
can I handle this beast?

Dumber questions.... what else am I going to need to set up my
station? I already have the SX-101a, the Invader 2000, and lots of
test equipment... scope, signal and sweep generators, VTVM w/ HV
probe, etc. I konw I need a key and a mic and to set up a proper
antenna and that is all I know. What else should I be trying to
accumulate while I work on my license? If this is the wrong place to
be asking these questions, somebody set me straight. Thanks for your
help.

Dan

Hope you are turning up AF gain control full and using RF gain to control
volume on SSB. Otherwise overloads RX diode detectors and distorts. Harry,
VE3GRO
Harry MacLean, VE3GRO
500 Riverside Drive, London, ON N6H 2R7
(519) 473-1668

Just remember that the Invader 2000 is basically a SSB transmitter,
and not plate modulated AM if you use it in that mode. It probably
takes one sideband (maybe both sidebands) and injects carrier to make
an AM like signal.

I envy you. The Invader 2000 was the object of my amateur radio
dreams when I was 16 years old.

Ray K1XV