On 7/6/06, W5OMR/Geoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip>
I know Mike sold his KW-1, I know that Darrell/WA5VGO still has one, but I don't know what happened to the prototype that the two of them worked and slaved over, to get it on the air.
According to the list that W0YVA keeps, Darrell still has #66. I think he was one of the guys pictured in the KW-1 issue of Electric Radio that Barry put together a number of years ago, standing there with the transmitter, a National NC-400, with a carved wooden callsign on top. A very good article with a lot of information on the transmitter. IIRC, the prototype you mention was the one used by Art one weekend before it was completed, final assembly being done at his home during dinner. Think that story is also in the ER issue along with the original list of owners started by Ed Bolton, WA3PUN (not K0BS, who took the list over from Ed). Bob's list: http://www.isquare.com/personal_pages/kw1-list.htm
Luckily for us, Darrell/WA5VGO is a reader of the list. Perhaps Darrell would give us the complete history/rundown of the prototype KW-1?
It's now in Belgium with ON8PO, Mathieu. I seem to remember hearing about this sale a few years back. What's amusing is that Mike is one of the guys in the ER article who said he'd never part with his KW-1. Bill Wheeler (former pres of the CCA) said this also, but sold his to Jim Shoemaker a few years back who then flipped it on ebay. What's the old saying...'never say never'? (o: Collins made some very nice equipment over the years, very high quality and leading edge stuff. Overbuilt for amateur service, really. The major flaw isn't with the gear itself, but in the way some choose to worship it or use it as a means of claiming some perceived superiority. Gives the gear a bad name, but makes it a lot easier to identify the real idiots in the hobby. ~ Todd, KA1KAQ
