Issued February 2015 Issue No. 61

Club Website: www.qsl.net/k7jar

S-Meter e-mail: parcnews@hotmail.com

Club Repeater: Output 146.62 MHz; Input 146.02 MHz, No Tone

Next Meeting Friday March 20th 2015

Meeting QTH is: Hawthorne and Walnut - Colville

CLUB NET: Sunday Evenings 8:00p.m. Local

Join us at Rancho Chico for “The eating before the meet-in”

6:00 pm

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The President’s Corner

Tom Howe KE7TEG

Announcements

Northwestern Division Scholarship Fund For more information on the Scholarship or to make a contribution, go to

http://www.nwarrl.wetnet.net/node/132 or contact your Section Manager.

Why are Amateur Radio Operators also called “Hams”?

Ham: a poor operator; a “plug” (G.M. Dodge; The Telegraph Instructor)

The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal

stations. They brought with them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession. In those

days, every station occupied the whole spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships,

coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy

in each other’s receivers. Many of the amateur stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working each other

across town, could effectively jam all the other operations in the area. Frustrated commercial operators would

refer to the ham radio interference by calling them “hams.” Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real

meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it to themselves. As the years advanced, the original meaning

has completely disappeared.

www.arrl.org/What-is-ham-radio

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Highlights from our February meeting……. Attendance : 26

Meeting was called to order by Tom KE7TEG, at 19:30 hours on February 20th 2015. A quorum of Officers was present. Introductions were made and the minutes of the January meeting were read and accepted.

Treasurer's Report – $8874.59 Randy N7CKJ

ARES – No Report - Dave WD7K PARC Net – George W7WBN reported that he got a new

operator Larry KR7LRJ. George said the Simplex tests went real well, Larry spoke up and said it would be nice to have a map with everyone’s location pin pointed on it, that way in an emergency you would know who was the closest in your location.

Board Report – No Bruce KC7h Announcements: Tom KE7TEG got a Tech class set up through the Community College that will begin on

Monday April 13th for two nights a week, Mondays & Wednesdays, until May 20th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Anyone interested will need to register through the college. Tom will need V.E.’s for the test which will be on May 20th.

A discussion followed about the price the college was charging and if no-one signed up then look to do the class privately.

Silent Key “K3NO”, Inchelium area, Randy N7CKJ asked if anyone would step up and help the widow price and sell all of his radio equipment. Randy is too busy to do it himself. Contact Randy is interested.

Old Business: Clean out your Ham Shack spring auction will be held at the March 20th meeting. Proceeds go

to the club, unless you have a consignment items then the club takes 20%. Reminder that if your item does not sell it must go home with you that night – nothing can be left behind!!

New Business: Tom KE7TEG started the discussion on Field Day, which will be June 27th and 28th. There was

talk about sharing the event with NEWARC and the location. Several people did not like 49o North and preferred Lynn Miner’s place. Tom asked Diane to call Lynn Miner to see if we could use his location, and maybe Chewelah would join us up there.

Tom KE7TEG brought up the subject of building J poles and selling them at the Spokane Ham Fest in September. How many would we need and what do they cost to build? John KL7LL volunteered to check on the cost and find one of the old ones that were built before. Larry, KR7LRJ will also check with a friend on the cost and if there’s any plans.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 pm. Respectfully submitted by: Edward L. Zeiser KF7DVL, Secretary

Jim Tills W7JWT Gave about a twenty minute presentation on how to restore your Ham radio. He bought in one he restored along with a slide presentation as he restored this radio. I hope everyone came away with some sense of how the insides of a radio work and what makes good replacement parts for those hard to find pieces.

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ARES Report by Dave - WD7K

ARES Net is every Sunday at 7:45pm local. The Stevens County ARES net can be heard on the 146.620 repeater located SW of Colville on Monumental Mountain and, when linked, the 147.060 repeater (which has a PL tone of 77.0) located NW of Spokane on Lookout Point. The Washington State Emergency Net (WSEN) – anyone with HF privileges is welcome (encouraged) to check in when Stevens County is called. Saturdays at 0900 on 3985 kHz and on Mondays at 1830 also on 3985 kHz. Dave Klimas - WD7K Stevens County ARES Emergency Coordinator H (509) 738-6876 C (509) 675-8843 wd7k@hughes.net

PARC Sunday Night Net PARC Net Simplex Tests

George, W7WBN

If you want to give your hand a try at Sunday night Net Control which is at 8:00 pm on the 146.62 send George an e-mail at audax@gotsky.com

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PARC BIO – February 2015 – sorry nobody stepped forward this month.

California Living!

Where is he?

Corporal Gomez is stationed at Camp Pendleton in

Oceanside California.

For February and March he will be on and off the

ship as they ready for deployment.

Mailing Address: CPL Gomez, Alberto

CLB-15 TSLS

Box 555717

Camp Pendleton, CA 92055-5717

Jim-WW7DD watches for that first bike! Jim WW7DD awaits that first bike!

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The Radio Corner by Jim W7JWT

Introducing the “ALL TRANSISTOR”

Royal 1000 & 3000 Trans-Oceanics

Do you remember when the first transistor radio came out? No it wasn't the 1960s. It was late 1954, in the Regency TR-1. It had four germanium transistors and worked poorly. But the TR-1 set the stage to what followed VERY quickly. The Royal 1000 was introduced in December 1957 in the last big advertising blitz implemented for any Trans-Oceanic. The headline read:

“Introducing... the World's Most Magnificent radio... The New All Transistor (TUBELESS) Trans-Oceanic!”

The Royal 1000 was to be the last “cutting edge of consumer electronics technology” radio for Commander McDonald and Zenith. It was perfected over an intense two-year period of engineering development. Zenith tradition has it that McDonald was determined to maintain the position of the Trans-Oceanic as the world's best portable radio. He was also determined to maintain its commitment to excellent reception while traveling (providing for a removable Wave magnet) and rugged construction for use in the field. For McDonald and his designers, these commitments meant an all-metal cabinet with doors which completely covered the front face of the radio and an unusually thick metal chassis.

Even though the Royal 1000 was a completely new Trans-Oceanic in all respects, it owed much to the design ideas developed for the tube models. Zenith designers of the Royal 1000 retained the concept of utilizing a hinged door to protect the delicate front panel of the receiver while in transit. In fact, this idea remained the “signature” of the Trans-Oceanic designs throughout their production. The commitment to electrically bandspread, separate shortwave bands focused on International Broadcasting, was also retained, as was the continuous coverage from 2 MHz to 8 MHz, primarily for yachtsmen and shortwave hobbyists. In fact, the spectrum coverage of the Royal 1000 was exactly the same as that of the H-500 and 600 Series tube models. The dial and bandswitching arrangement, however, was all new. The nine frequency bands of the dial were printed in slide rule fashion on a translucent plastic cylinder which was lit from its interior. This dial cylinder was mounted on the same shaft as the new rotary bandswitch. Thus, as the operator turned the bandswitch, the dial rotated automatically to expose the proper dial markings for the band in use.

The design team adopted a number of relatively new materials for the cabinet and front face. Long-term, some of these decisions turned out to have been unfortunate. Steel, with a thickly plated polished chrome finish, was chosen for much of the frame of the cabinet. A similar brushed chrome finish was used on the upper portions of the cabinet sides and top. Both finishes have deteriorated badly over time, with major pitting of both types of surfaces now being common. Further, and more disastrously, many receivers now exhibit brushed chrome finishes that are delaminating from the steel substrate, resulting in a blistered appearance. The selection of plastics was considerably more successful. The crystal clear acrylic molding of the dial escutcheon has maintained excellent color and clarity over the years. The first production runs of the Royal 1000 used black “Genuine Cowhide” covering (rare). All later versions of the Royal 1000 used black plastic to cover the steel cabinet. This dense, but flexible, sheet plastic material has held up well. Early versions of the Royal 1000 also used a fixed internal battery box of clear rigid acrylic plastic. This box proved too fragile and cracked. Later Royal 1000s were equipped with a removable battery box of flexible plastic. Also, remember the early “D” batteries? They often leaked and destroyed the electrical connections in the box. Lastly, Zenith hid the telescopic short wave antenna in the handle. This required the handle to be hollow. Unfortunately Zenith went too far. The thin plastic has gotten brittle with age and if you pick up the radio too quickly, it will crack. The cracks are not easy to see and require a close inspection.

Randy N7CKJ hands

John KL7LL

The Gift Certificate

For the HRO Raffle!

The Gift Exchange

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So if you are a collector, you focus on Cosmetics! Look for a Royal 1000 with no chrome problems, black material marked as “Genuine Cowhide”, with a clean uncracked hard plastic battery box and an uncracked carrying handle. Sometimes the seller doesn't realize the importance of these cosmetics, and you can still find them at a reasonable price. But it may take some time.

There were six different chassis for this model. This large number of chassis reflects the continuing rapid development of new transistor technology. This also makes restorations a challenge. These early radios used Germanium Transistors. They were not very rugged and often failed. And since there were so many different chassis, it makes it hard to find a “parts radio” to buy that has the same transistors that can be used as replacements. I have several radios yet to restore and we'll see how they go. This WILL be an issue.

The Royal 1000 sold for $250.00, and that was a lot for 1957. In 1958, the Royal 1000-D came out. It included the “Long Wave” band for an additional $25. In 1964 Zenith finally put in a connection for an AC Adapter. It was the Royal 1000(D)-1. I can't believe it took so long to provide the AC Adapter. Batteries weren't cheap and they didn't last very long back then.

The Royal 3000 Trans-Oceanic came out in 1963. With increases in FM transmitter power and the introduction of rock music to the FM band, FM became a feature that consumers expected on new portable radios. Zenith management and engineers sought to meet this new market by updating the FM-less Royal 1000 / 1000-D with a new FM sub-chassis. The only space available in the Royal 1000 cabinet was that occupied by the removable Wavemagnet. This last vestige of the original Trans-Oceanic Clipper was abandoned and a new FM sub-chassis was inserted. Room in the cabinet was so limited that it was necessary to add a curved back door which bulged enough to add almost an inch of front-to-back depth to the lower portions of the cabinet. The circuit design of the Royal 3000 approximates the Royal 1000-D, with an additional transistor to provide more IF amplification and an innovative two-transistor sub-chassis for FM RF amplification and mixing. It included the “Long Wave” band like the Royal 1000-D. It also had the AC Adapter option included in 1964 as the Royal 3000-1. There were no major changes in the cabinet design.

The Royal 3000 sold for $275. When it came out in 1963, the Royal 1000 was dropped to $199.95. The Royal 1000(D)-1 was produced until 1969. The Royal 3000-1 was produced until 1971. Zenith also came out with an AM / FM companion radio, the Royal 2000. It was around from 1961 to 1966. At its introduction it was $189.95, but was dropped to $149.95 a year later. It had good fidelity, but kind of pricey for what you get.

This article was based on info obtained from the book, ”The Zenith Trans-Oceanic, The Royalty of Radios”, by John H. Bryant and Harold N. Cones.

I remember when I was a kid in the 1960s, I wanted one of these. I couldn't afford one, but I wanted one. Now that I have them. I just need to spend more time restoring them. I did restore one or two so far and they're pretty gosh darn neat to play with. So go right out and get one. They are a piece of history. There are only two models of Trans-Oceanics left for me to discuss. So until next time, find the oldest transistor radio you have, replace the batteries, and give it a try. Remember the day you got your FIRST transistor radio? It was pretty neat, wasn't it? Have fun! CUL & 73s Jim W7JWT

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Here are pictures of a Royal 1000-D. A couple things you can see if you look closely are:

• A removable Wavemagnet. You can see the red extension cable and the suction cups of the Wavemagnet to put it on a window.

• A Phono input jack. Just below the wavemagnet you will see a black slide switch and phono jack. You could use the radio as a phono amplifier.

• The rigid battery box. Most of these have cracked tops radiating from the four screw holes. Battery leakage was a problem too.

Here are pictures of a Royal 3000-1. A couple things you can see if you look closely are:

• No removable Wavemagnet. This accessory was removed to make room for the FM band electronics.

• A Tuner output jack. About in the same location as the Royal 1000-D there is a jack. But on this radio it is used to output the tuner so it can be used as an input to an external amplifier. This is probably because it tunes FM and could provide output to an amplifier that has no FM tuner.

• The improved battery box. The lid is almost like tupperware. Battery leakage is still a problem here too.

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The above picture shows an accessory for the Royal 3000-1. If you look in the upper part of the picture, right behind the tuner dial, you'll see a small square box with a screw in the middle. There is a slide switch below it. This is the BFO accessory. You turn it on and it creates a 700 Hz oscillation to allow you to hear SSB or CW. It was crude at best, but at least they tried. I have a couple of these I need to transfer from parts radios to working radios.

Here's a picture of the flip down front panel of the Royal 1000-D. In the lower right you can read the “Genuine Letter” marking. This indicates it was from the early series of the Royal 1000-D. Above this you see a pull out “log” book. It gave lots of info including operating instructions, weather broadcast schedules, major AM radio stations in the US and a listing of international short wave broadcast stations – everything the SW listener needed. The one in the Royal 3000 also included major FM radio stations in the US.

This is the antenna idea that went bad. The shortwave telescopic antenna is hidden in the carrying handle. Unfortunately this made the plastic handle thickness too thin. Many of these TOs have cracked carrying handles. The plastic got more brittle with age.

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This is the antenna idea that went bad. The shortwave telescopic antenna is hidden in the carrying handle. Unfortunately this made the plastic handle thickness too thin. Many of these TOs have cracked carrying handles. The plastic got more brittle with age.

Here are pictures of the AM/FM Royal 2000. I have no idea why the chassis is mounted upside down. Again, up near the top, you can see the RCA phono jack. On this radio you can send tuner output out to an amplifier OR bring in phono input and let the radio act as the amplifier. Kind of strange they are all different.

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Calendar of Events – - 2015

March 2015 1st Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – Tom KE7TEG 1st National Peanut Lovers Day 3rd Woodlands Theatre presents: “Seussical” Tickets on sale Main Street Floral or 684-9096 7th 34th Annual Mike & Key ARC Electronic Show & Flea Market see flyer below 6th National Oreo Cookie Day 8th Spring ahead for Day Light Savings time begins! 8th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – George W7WBN 14th 4-H Sensational Saturday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Community College 15th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – Courtney KE7ZDL 17th St. Patrick’s Day 20TH PARC Monthly Club Meeting at 7:30 pm Colville – Snacks by: Lauren KL1LC 20th Home and Garden Show – Community College Colville (3-day) 21st ARRL International DX Contest CW 21st Micro Hams Digital Conference in Redmond WA ARRL sanctioned event 21st Women in Agriculture Conference 21st National Single Parent Day 22nd Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – George WA7MLS 29th Knights of Columbus Founders Day 29th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – Cynthia WW7CA

April 2015

1st April Fools Day! Guess who’s pregnant?

2nd SPDX Club Meeting (Argonne Library) 4322 N. Argonne Rd Spokane Valley 7:00pm 5th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – Jim WW7DD

5th Easter Sunday 11th Yakima HamFest

11th Communication Academy in Seattle www.commacademy.org 12th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – Larry KR7LRJ

15th Wild Turkey Daze 17th PARC Monthly Club Meeting at 7:30 pm Colville – Snacks by – Cynthia WW7CA 18th CQ Manchester Mineira DX Contest

19th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – Tom KE7TEG 19th ARRL Rookie Roundup SSB

26th Sunday Night Net 8:00 pm - Net Control Operator – George W7WBN 26th SPDX RTTY Contest and Florida QSO Party

o Calendar of events will be an ongoing part of the news letter, submit your dates to parcnews@hotmail

Woodland Theatre Productions --“Suessical” the Musical Tickets on sale at Main Street Floral. Show dates

are March 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, and 22. March 6, 7, 13, 19, and 20 are at 7 p.m. and March 8, 14, 15,

21, and 22 are all at 2 p.m. matinees. Ticket prices 12 & under are $7, Students/Seniors $12, Adults $15.

Opening night is March 6 and tickets will be $10 on this day only. For more information call Nancy 684-6811

or Sean 935-0892.

Check out that grill –

thanks Karl & Cleo!

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