About

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This blog should be a repository for some of the author’s amateur radio related pursuits.  It rounds out a group of “miscellany” wordpress sites that are dedicated to various of his interersts:

 

Other sites from this author:

 

 

4 thoughts on “About”

  1. Ron,
    Just came across your website. I have two ALDA 105s and a sad 103. As there are not many of these radios out there, it is refreshing to come across someone who has some knowledge of them.
    One of my 105s works on 80, 40 and 20 but not on 15 and 10. Bands being what they are, the other bands can wait.

    The second 105 is dead and bought for spare parts. The RX did work when I first bought it, but has since quit. The PA needs a couple of new MRF454s put in. No time.

    I do enjoy the working 105 on CW. Never checked to see what it sounds like though.

    The 103 I just bought had the original mic with it. Its performance is not good. Low output. I use my trusty Swan 404C mic with all my Swans, Atlas’s, and the 105. Works well and no mods, just plug and play.

    The 103 was bought for the dial, etc and was billed as dead. No disappointments there. It is burned throughout the radio. I have replaced zeners, dropping resistor, amps, etc. Some traces are vaporized and have worked around that as well. The T/R relay now works and the RX on 80M. Calibrator and NB work as well. One or both of the MRF454s are shorted and I have disconnected the DC to the PA. The radio has not had an easy life. Can’t use it for parts now as there is some life in there and it maybe can get on the air again.

    Question is, have you ever seen an extender board kit or a cable extension kit for these radios? I know of one guy, John, Wa1??? who will make you custom extender boards for the ALDAs. I would need two different sets as suprisingly the 105s had more than two additional bands added. They did quite a bit of redesign between the two series. So I won’t interchange the boards as I had planned.

    I can add, maybe a bit to your database on the 103s. They were custom designed by Les Earnshaw of Southcom and Kachina fame. He only did the electronic design, ALD Industries did the rest. He had no input on the 105s. He also originally designed the Atlas radios for the CIA, before licensing them to Herb Johnson, the founder of Atlas Radio. Herb modified them and Atlas radio was born.

    I found one of Mr. Alexander Louichi Duchi’s,( owner of ALD Industries) sons and chatted with him on the phone. His dad had passed away a year or two earlier. His other brother was a fire fighter in the LA area and a ham radio operator. I was looking for a 105 manual and service manual. Don’t believe they ever made any. I have some additional info if you are interested.

    I would like to hear from you on the question above. Thank you.

    73,
    Mike
    ka5dvr

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Mike,

      Wow! Thank you for the additional historical info on the Alda radios. To have spoken with the younger Duchi is pretty cool. I wonder how much he remembered about the operations at Alda? On the extender boards, I saw one Ebay listing for Alda extender boards quite a few years ago. I had not yet gotten full toes/feet/legs/body into those radios at that point, but knew I would probably be doing so in the future, so I thought I’d bid on them. They were out a few days and I figured nobody would scoop them up – but when I returned to the page the day of the auction they were gone. That’s happened a few times to this procrastinator. Nothing is completely obscure – you and I are proof with our lil 103/105 radio collections.

      I saw a basket case 103 a couple weeks ago – and thought it’d be good to have for parts. I put in the minimum bid but a few days later (you guessed it!) – I’d been outbid. It went for more than junk parts Aldas – a hundred I think. You should check the note of your CW. From the factory, I think the CW level settings were not optimal. It wasn’t really sold as CW rig I guess.

      Thanks for the comment. And good luck with your old Aldas

      – 73s,
      Ron

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Hi Ron, sorry I lost you today during our short QSO. The battery on my KX3 ran dry right after I turned it back to you. Sorry about that. You were 589 into Southampton, Ontario. I was QRP portable in my garage, using the KX3 and a 43′ vertical with 30 radials.
    73 de Brent VA3YG

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    • Hi Brent, thanks for the note and sorry I took so long to respond. I’ve been checking the comment section too infrequently. I’ve been working you QRP fellas a lot more frequently since I put up the (low noise) loop. Hope to catch you on the bands again. 73 -Ron

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