Collins Collectors - restoring a classic
Last weekend, my dad (K0GVG) and I went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Collins Collectors Association annual convention. This was a great opportunity to learn a bit more about the history of ham radio.
Dad has several pieces of vintage Collins amateur radio equipment including a sick 75A-4 receiver that had been given to him. Butch, K0BS, offered to demonstrate the troubleshooting process using dad’s rig as a live demo at the convention - so we loaded the boatanchor in the car and made the 1+ hr trip.
Collins Radio Company (now Rockwell Collins) was once the premier ham radio manufacturer. Founder, Arthur Collins, demanded that his company produce the best radios money could buy and his team in Iowa advanced the state of radio communications (including products for military, space and commercial use). Collins Radio was responsible for the development of SSB among many other advancements. Eventually, Collins Radio was acquired and settled into the world of avionics and stopped producing its ham radio product lines.
I was privileged to have grown up in a house with Collins equipment… often using dad’s S-Line in my novice days. Dad’s KWM-1 (transceiver) and 30L-1 linear amplifier were rarely used. Eventually, the ease of use of dad’s (solid state) Atlas 210-X made it the rig of choice in my teen years, however, in college, I frequently used the engineering department’s Collins KWM-380 dream rig.
Those who are new to our hobby should take some time to get to know its history… the people, the equipment, and the evolution of ham radio. Watching these guys troubleshoot the 75A-4… section by section, tube by tube was like watching a team of heart surgeons work on a patient. Relying on years of experience and a certain amount of intuition, they could pinpoint the problem to a faulty filter section and identified several other “opportunities for improvement” along the way. Art would be proud.
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