AWA Journal
(used to be The Old Timer’s Bulletin or OTB)
The AWA Journal is AWA’s quarterly publication mailed to dues paying members. Its content is a mixture of columns, radio related news and feature articles on many different facets of communications history, personalities and technology. The Autumn issue features a discussion of upcoming AWA on-air events along with a review of past events; the Winter issue contains a retrospective of the AWA Annual Conference, with the Summer issue containing full details for that event.
The Summer 2023, Vol. 63 #3 Issue
From the Editor
AWA has had a busy Spring and early Summer!
We had an excellent Spring Meet on a perfect Spring day. I participated in a very active Flea Market, finding new homes for some of my excess equipment and parts. Of course, the Flea Market is a great place to socialize, and I greatly enjoyed greeting friends I hadn’t seen since last year’s event. Even though I’ve been trying to clear out excess “projects,” I bought a “new-to-me” item at the auction! A Spring Meet retrospective appears in this issue.
AWA “On-Air” events have continued with revised dates and adjustments to contest rules, and have seen increased participation. These changes have made AWA events more participant-friendly, and have helped to avoid dates when other Amateur events are competing for band space. Com- plete reports about the Linc Cundall and John Rollins events appear in the “Amateur Radio” section. Many thanks to Joe Fell and the event coordinators for making these annual events successful and fun. Check out “AWA Nets” and the 2023-2024 on-air dates in “Membership News” and mark your calendars.
After an overwhelmingly positive response to the Autumn dates of the 2021 and 2022 AWA Conferences, the 2023 Conference will follow a similar schedule. As de- tailed in this issue, this year’s Conference theme will be “The Broadcast Boom Years of the 1920s.” Conference details and registration forms are enclosed, and also may be found on the AWA website. Geoff Bourne and Chris Bacon have planned another fan- tastic Old Equipment Contest. Equipment categories have been consolidated and expanded for this year’s contest, and special youth categories provide special opportuni- ties for young builders and hobbyists to display their projects and collections. Once again, a talented group of presenters will host seminars on topics ranging from “Radio Club of America Helps Invent Radio” to “The Enemy Radios of the Viet- nam Wars.” The final Conference event will be a large Auction, featuring member items along with surplus and duplicate Museum items. I have been helping with sorting and checking out some of these items, and can assure you that we have some real treasures waiting for your bids!
If you are not receiving AWA updates, or have changed your preferred email ad- dress, please contact AWA Membership Chair Caroline MacMillen at membership@ antiquewireless.org to update your information. Likewise, if your organization is listed in “Membership News,” please check your listing and contact me with any needed revisions. If your organization is not listed, we’d be glad to add it to the “Recurring Meetings” list—contact me.
Best wishes for an enjoyable late Sum- mer and early Autumn, and I hope to see you at the Conference.
— David D. Kaiser, Editor
Table of Contents
From the President
Hi Everyone,
AWA Spring Meet
The 2023 AWA Spring Meet was held on May 13, and was well-attended. A retrospective appears in this issue of the Journal. The 2024 AWA Spring Meet will be held May 4, 2024, returning to the traditional first Saturday in May.
2023 AWA Conference
The 2023 AWA Conference will be held September 26 to 30, 2023 at the RIT Inn and Conference Center. Details about the Conference are available here. Chairman Mike Migliaccio and his team have been hard at work planning the Conference. Mike has already arranged for an excellent set of presentations. It is always great to gather with old friends and to make many new friends. Don’t miss it!
AWA Shares – AWA Monthly Meetings on Zoom
AWA presents monthly Zoom meetings/presentations on the third Wednesday of every month at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on a wide variety of topics. These one-hour meetings are open to all and are FREE! After most AWA Shares, a recording of the presentation will be posted on the AWA YouTube Channel.
The AWA Shares Zoom calls are free and open to all. Participants must pre-register for each session so that we may be certain that we have sufficient Zoom capacity. Registration details will be posted on the AWA website as available here.
Antique Wireless Association News
Each month, Mark Erdle sends out the Antique Wireless Association News via email. This publication contains the latest AWA news and items of interest to AWA members. It is sent out free to those AWA members who have provided an up-to-date email address. If you have not been receiving this newsletter, please provide your email address to membership {at} antiquewireless.org.
AWA PCB Sales
The AWA “Skunk Works” team has de- veloped ten bare printed circuit boards (PCBs) and one PCB-based kit for sale. These high-quality PCBs are sold on the AWA website and on eBay, and have been very popular. Information and ordering may be found here. The latest PCB enables easy upgrading of all diodes, capacitors, and resistors for extended life of your Heathkit HP-23 power supply.
To date, AWA has sold over 1300 boards and has shipped to all 50 states and 21 countries. This is a great way to relive the days of kit building and create very useful devices. Through these sales of PCBs, AWA has touched over 1000 customers with our products.
AWA’s Member Forum
Do you have a question or want to share a news article or video of interest to members? The “AWA Member’s Forum” is a great way to keep in touch with other members. The forum is open to AWA members only. Members may apply to join the group—it is free—by emailing Mark Erdle at Mark at antiquewireless.org. You can also register online at https://groups.io/g/Wireless-History.
AWA Website and Social Media
For ongoing contact information, membership applications, news, announcements, program schedules, AWA history, and lots of useful links to other radio sites, please visit:
AWA YouTube Channel at: YouTube
AWA Facebook page at: Facebook
AWA Twitter handle is: Twitter
AWA Instagram name is: Instagram
AWA Staff is working to enlarge our reach on social media outreach, thanks to the efforts of Mark Erdle and Criss Onan.
— Robert Hobday, N2EVG
Amateur Radio Column
Bruce Kelley 1929 Memorial QSO Party and
AM QSO Party Announcements along with the Results for the Linc Cundall Event and the John Rollins Memorial DX Event for 2023
By Joe Fell, W3GMS
Hopefully everyone is getting ready for the AWA AM QSO Party which begins on September 30th. The September time frame seems to be working out well for this event. The AM QSO Party is the only AWA “On Air” event whose score sheet is not dependent on the age of the equipment, so as long as it operates AM, you are good to go! The QSO Party’s main thrust is to get on AM and enjoy not only the conversations, but the high-quality audio that AM exhibits. Full operating details are explained in this issue by the AM QSO Party event coordinator Ron, W8ACR. All the details are also on the AWA website. Remember to send in your log regardless of how many stations you work!
After you have rested up from the AM QSO Party, it will be time to tune up your favorite 1929 or earlier breadboard trans- mitter and put a “little fire in the wire”for the Bruce Kelley Memorial Event in November. This event is the most popular of all our AWA “On Air” events. Full details are explained in this issue by Dave, WA7WHG, who is this event’s coordinator. Thanks to all of those who participated in the Linc Cundall event this year. Congratulations go to Jerry, W1ZB for earning first place using his ARC5s and SX-28 receiver. In descending order after Jerry were K9VKY, W1TS, N4GJV and W8PU.
This year’s John Rollins event participa- tion doubled from what it was during 2022! This is great news for this event. Once again, John, N2BE created some excite- ment this year running 100 milliwatts! I enjoyed working John on both 40 and 80 meters. Congratulations go to Ron, N4GJV for achieving first place this year. Ron was followed by W3GMS, W1TS, WK3A and N2BE. Our event coordinator Gary, W8PU did a fantastic job preparing the material and handing me a summarized package, which made my job easy. Remember, if you operate in any of the AWA “On Air” events, it is very important to turn in your log. We make it as easy as possible with online and mail-in log submissions. Let’s set a goal to double the participation in next year’s event just like we did this year! Pre- 1970 gear is quite readily available, so let’s set some new records!
Thanks go to Dave, WB7WHG for composing the announcement for this year’s Bruce Kelley 1929 event and Ron, W8ACR for documenting the details for the AM QSO Party.
Hoping to see as many of you as possible at this year’s AWA 2023 Conference in September. I will be presenting my typical Amateur Radio “On Air” session along with another small surprise! If you would like to bring in any of the gear you use during the AWA “On Air” events we can have a show-and-tell during my Amateur Radio presentation.
Now over to our AWA “On Air” Event Coordinators for their reports and announcements. (There reports can be found on this website page.)
The most current information regarding each of the contest events is located on this website selectable from here.
Journal Editor Contact
To contact The AWA Journal Editor, please use the contact from below.