[600MRG] the neon bulb

[lstoskopf@cox.net lstoskopf@cox.net]

Worse than that.  I built one of the board frame 6AG7 oscillator and separate 1625 amp setups from the 1950s ARRL Handbook.  Used light bulbs in series with the B+ to tune for dip plus a lead pencil to draw and arc from the final.  You didn't want to touch the brass around the eraser.  Dad was always complaining about the lead in the pencils being so hard that he could barely write.  Only one finger burn that took weeks to heal.  N0UU  Would build another if I could find some bell wire.

> 
>     On December 1, 2017 at 3:08 PM Rudy Severns <n6lf at epud.net> wrote:
> 
>     I just remembered my solution (and other peoples too) for this problem when
>     I was a boy first getting started in ham radio (>60 years ago). I couldn't
>     afford an RF ammeter. On the advice of a older mentor I used a simple neon
>     bulb with a loop of wire between the terminals. In the initial tuning I
>     placed the bulb fairly close to the base and tuned for maximum brightness.
>     Very soon the brightness saturates but all I had to do was progressively
>     move the bulb/loop further away to keep the sensitivity. In my case I was
>     using a tuner and I could see the antenna base from the shack window.
>     Working at night so I could see the brightness at a distance, the bulb/loop
>     worked like a charm, with a few trips to and fro.
> 
>     John's suggestion of an SWR bridge is very post WWll but also a very good
>     idea and well worth the small effort required. I seem to remember some of
>     the older ham, who were still using open wire lines, using two bulbs and
>     some wire loops to create an SWR indicator. Cheap, cheap, cheap!
> 
>     73, Rudy N6LF
> 
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