Unboxing a Forty One year old Ham Radio

Figure 1: Unboxing another Alda 103

Another Alda?  I’ll admit to having an affinity for them.  The one I already have is the 80-40-15 tribander (the 103A) – and the one I’m unboxing is the 80-40-20 tribander (the 103).  The package came in a solid little Home Depot box, and no shaking or rattling could be heard during a shake-test next to my ear.  The question on my mind?  Would I hear more from the speaker of the actual 103 when I finished opening the package and plugging the little gem-from-the-past into my supply?

 
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Looking more Deeply at the Alda 103A

Figure 1: Closer look at the Alda 103A transceiver. Click to enlarge.

The Alda 103 is a favorite of mine (it’s a tranceiver from the seventies, that covers the 80/40/20 or 80/40/15 meter bands on SSB and CW, and is entirely analog). I’ve worked up an “unofficial block diagram” for it – since its creators are, sadly, no longer here to create a colorful, official one.  Forgive the crude Gimp drawing.  I think its etch-a-sketch mode works in a pinch 🙂 .

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The Alda 103 on CW

Figure 1: CW oscillator level control on the Alda 103 (see text).

I had been operating the Alda 103 CW/SSB triband ham radio, a gem from the seventies, for a couple weeks on the SSB end of forty meters. I received nothing but good reports, such as “very clear and clean” – and “an easy to listen to signal” since I resolved an issue with the microphone input impedance, which on the Alda is slighty different than *any* other amateur transceiver. This was done by putting a Triad audio impedance transformer between the Alda and the Shure 414A Hi-Z microphone…

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The Alda 103A

Figure 1:  An almost forty year old Alda 103A amateur band transceiver. Click to enlarge.

The Alda 103 has a very interesting history. It was manufactured (IIRC) in 1977 and 1978, which means it has a nice complement of the discrete bipolar transistors that are fairly common (now, almost 40 years later) – and thus replaceable. Readers of some of my other articles may have observed that I like to have the ability to fix …

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For the curious, my Alda 103A rig is on youtube:

Youtube Alda transceiver tour