73, de N2HTT

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Novices.

Posted: 09 Oct 2016 11:55 AM PDT
https://n2htt.net/2016/10/09/novices/


Lately, I have been completely preoccupied with the completion of my Novice
station at the alt-qth (Otego, NY). ItÂ*all started with participation in a
vintage rig event last February, the Novice Rig Roundup. Since then I have
been obsessing a bit about creating a fully functional Novice station,
first by experimenting with refurbishing a transmitter/VFO pair, then the
Heathkit HX-1681/HR-1680 twins.

Well, the Novice station is now complete and on the air, and later in this
post I will describe the additional gear I added to complete it. But before
getting to that, lets consider the history of the Novice license that gave
rise to this niche. It is a fascinating history, and actually before
learning about it, I wasnt even aware that the Heathkit gear was a Novice
station. Here follows a much abridged history of the Novice license:

(The following information is drawn largely from a Wikipedia article here,
but also from this page, and this page.)

Starting with the Radio Act of 1912 amateurs in the US were required to
obtain a license. At the outset, there was basically only one license
(well, two actually, but the conveyed the same privileges, just different
method of application) and all licensees had the same privileges. This
license was known as Amateur First Grade in 1912, then became Amateur Class
in 1927, then Amateur First Class in 1932.

The alternate license in 1912, Amateur Second Grade, allowed applicants who
could not get to a Department of Commerce field office to attest to their
operating qualifications, and then later be examined by a licensed amateur
to become First Grade. This license was renamed Temporary Amateur in 1927.
In all cases though, the privileges granted were the same, not a novice in
sight.

In 1933, the licensing scheme was reorganized by the Federal Radio
Commission to comprise Class A, B, and C licenses. Here the first notion of
class privilege arrived.

Class A licenses got the whole enchilada, and the Amateur First Class
licenses were grandfathered into this group.

Class B licensees were excluded from certain reserved radio-telephone bands.

The Class C license roughly corresponded to the old Second Class licenses,
with exams performed by other licensed amateurs rather than at a field
office, but the existing Second Class licenses were not grandfathered in
and had to re-apply because the examination had been made more stringent.

The Communications Act of 1934 created the Federal Communications
Commission, the FCC we know and love today which replaced the FRC. No
change in amateur licensing accompanied this event.

It wasnt until 1951 (a year particularly importantÂ*to me) that the FCC
restructured amateur licensing to create six license classes, including the
first Novice license. The new Novice license was restricted to CW only
portions of the 80, 40, and 15 meter bands (but also phone and CW on 2
meter band), with input power restricted to 75 watts. (Power restrictions
were specified in terms of input power, as this was easier to measure than
output power or effective radiated power. The net result was that Novice
transmitters with typical efficiencies of 30 50% would put out a maximum
signal of around 40 watts.)

The Novice license was a one-year, non-renewable affair, it was upgrade to
General or out at the end of the year.Â*In addition, Novice transmitters
were required to be crystal controlled, restricting operation to one fixed
frequency at a time. This gave rise to an operating style where one would
call on the crystal frequency, and then listen up and down the band for a
reply on someone elses crystal frequency, resulting in a full-duplex QSO.
All kinds of quaint calling conventions arose to indicate listening up or
down 5kc. I am not up to speed on these, having heard of them but never
used them.

Post-war surplus crystals in the ham bands were relatively plentiful but
considered a big expense for a ham just starting out (usually a teenager
with a paper-route budget) giving rise to all sorts of clever techniques
for moving the frequencies around a bit. Crystal munging was definitely
part of Novice culture.

In 1964, the FCC and the ARRL came up with Incentive Licensing, which
removed some privilege from existing licensees as an incentive to upgrade.
This really annoyed a lot of hams, some of which left the hobby rather than
upgrade. The term of the Novice License was extended to two years in 1967,
and they lost their 2 meter privileges.

In 1977 the power restrictions in the Novice sub-bands were changed when
all license classes were granted a maximum of 250 watt output in these
bands, and the crystal controlled requirement was removed. (This change is
what qualifies my Heathkit gear as a Novice rig.) In 1978, the Novice
license was made renewable with a five-year term.

As of 2000, no new Novice licenses can be issued, but existing Novice
licenses can continue to be renewed. I couldnt find a preciseÂ*number, but
somewhere around 1% of licensed amateurs continue to hold Novice licenses
today.

So the 1951 Novice license is the model for the Novice nostalgia genre,
with restricted power and crystal controlled transmitters. Ive tried this
kind of operation, and can tell you that it isnt easy I have a lot of
respect for any op that learned the ropes this way. Thus my intense
interest in a vintage station with the frequency agility afforded by a VFO,
and how I wound up with my 1977-street legal Novice rig.
Complete Heathkit Novice Station

Centering around the HX-1681/HR-1680 transmitter-receiver twins, I have
been building out my station with carefully selected vintage acquisitions,
to make a state-of-the-art 1980s Novice station.Â*Most recently, I have
added three pieces of gear.
HS-1661 Speaker

The first is a Heathkit HS-1661 desktop speaker. This unit was made to
match the HX/HR twins, and puts out booming audio connected to the HR-1680.
Ironically, this is the third HS-1661 I have owned; one I gave to a good
friend to use with his HW-16, and the other I sold as part of the package
when I sold my HW-16 station. These are really nice speakers about 57 inch
oval in a nice metal cabinet, with an impedance of about 4 ohms. They clean
up nicely, and are impossible to kill, making them a good bet when one
comes up at auction or in the classifieds.
HM-2140 Watt Meter

The second piece of gear is a Heathkit HM-2140 dual watt-meter. The one I
found was in pristine condition, and is working perfectly, not even needing
recalibration. They show forward and reflected power (or SWR) on two meter
faces, and if you are a SSB op, can read in peak power as well with the
addition of a 9v battery.

Finally, I decided to add a manual antenna tuner. If you read my last post,
you know that I had intended to use an auto tuner with the station, but at
the last moment I decided that would just be too anachronistic. I looked at
the various Heathkit tuners that were common in the time period: the
SA-2040Â*and SA-2060, but did not find anything that filled the bill. These
tuners are all physically large and apparently very robust, and I dont
think people part with them. Those who do seem to want prices that do not
seem reasonable to me, so I broadened my search.

I was delighted to come across a Cubic Communications ST-3B tuner. I had
never heard of this tuner (or company) before, but apparently they were
around in the 1980s and contemporaneous with my Heathkit gear, The reviews
I found of this unit were all very enthusiastic. From some additional
research, it appears that Cubic Communications made mostly commercial gear,
and not much ham stuff, and are still around and kicking today having
nothing to do with amateur radio.
Cubic Communications ST-3B tuner

The unit I found was dirty and scuffed on the outside, but pristine on the
inside, and clearly built like a tank. Some work with a Mr. Clear Magic
Eraser, and using an ultrasonic cleaner on the knobs, resulted in a very
presentable exterior. I will probably paint the cabinet at some point, but
its fine as is for now. It has two charming features: the capacitors are
driven by 6:1 reduction drive verniers, and if you apply 12 vdc, the meters
illuminate. With the little red cube logos in each meter, the dials look
like illuminated eyes, kinda cute in a spooky way. It really does load up
the end fed half wave that I usually use very well.
Spooky, but cute

This weekend saw the running of the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, one of my
very favorite operating events, and marked the maiden voyage of my new
vintage Heathkit station. I was delighted to discover that I could crank
the drive level way down and operate the transmitter stably at 5 watts out,
thus combining all of my ham radio favorites: CW, QRP operation, and radios
that glow (at least partially) in the dark.

It doesnt get much better than that.

73,

de N2HTT