30W Transmitter

The 30W is a 30 watt, crystal controlled, four band (160, 80, 40 & 20 meter) CW transmitter.  It will operate on AM phone by adding a Collins 9C modulator.

The following is transcribed from a 1965 issue of CQ Magazine…

“A Sunday  afternoon  during  the  hot,  humid  Iowa  summer  is  usually  not  conducive  to  much  activity  except  relaxing  or  rec­reation.  The often oppressive heat and sunshine place a mantle of stillness over the landscape, broken only by a gentle breeze.

Such was the case back in 1932 when Benton White, W4PL, and his wife were driving through the Iowa countryside.  The heat and weariness from travel led them to call a halt and find a hotel when they reached Cedar Rapids.

After getting accommodations, W4PL went out for a walk, just to look the town over, while Mrs. White stayed in the hotel room to cool off.  Passing a newsstand, Benton noticed a QST magazine which he picked up, casually glancing through the pages.  By chance his eyes fell on an ad for “Collins Transmitters,” made in Cedar Rapids by Arthur A. Collins, W9CXX.

With nothing more important to do, Benton decided to locate the Collins’ factory even if it was a Sunday afternoon.

Returning to the hotel to get his wife, they drove around town with her as navigator until they arrived at the given address, a house on a quiet shady street.  Despite her protests, “You must be mistaken, there is no factory here,” Benton decided to ring the doorbell anyway and see for himself.

A lady answered the door and replied to his question, “Yes, this is the Collins factory.  Just a minute and I will call Mr. Collins.”  Benton returned to the car to inform his XYL that he would be inside for a while.

As he again approached the house he over­heard a man talking on the telephone to a Mr. Miller and urging him to hurry over, saying “I think we have a customer.”  Benton had no in­tention of buying anything that Sunday after­noon, and as he silently debated whether to go through with his visit a jalopy pulled up outside with a squeal of brakes.  Before he could change his mind, Benton was whisked inside and down into the basement; the Collins Factory.

In one corner stood the furnace, a cat curled up next to the cool steel base.  Around the walls were neat, clean workbenches.  On one bench was a nearly completed transmitter, and as the three men gathered around it, Mr. Collins and his partner, the only other employee of the firm at the time, fired up soldering irons and started working.

Benton recalled that as members of the ham fraternity they sat on stools and chatted.  He pressed with the transmitter as a high quality piece of gear, which be decided then and there he wanted for his own.

Informed that the transmitter was being built for someone else, Benton nevertheless was able to negotiate an immediate deal when he produced on the spot the $97.50 which was the price.

Everything apparently was working out just as Mr. Collins and his partner had planned, and in a short time the three of them were loading the transmitter in Benton’s car so he could take it home to Chattanooga.

It is believed this was the first or second full-sized transmitter, not a kit, which the Collins Company sold, and a forerunner of thousands of Collins electronic units used for many applica­tions throughout the world.

Down through the years the transmitter re­mained a treasured possession of Benton White.  Complete in its original condition except for replacement of a condenser.  He operated the transmitter for a good many years until it be­came semi-retired as a low power emergency and field day rig.

Several years ago Mr. White died.  The story of this incident was related by W4ARP, now W6ARP, Harry Heibeck, and brought to the at­tention of Mr. Collins.  With a brief lead, the Collins Company started to track down the early production transmitter.  It had changed hands since the death of Benton, but was located and arrangements were made to obtain it for an ama­teur equipment display room at the Collins plant in Cedar Rapids.”

Written by: Ed Marriner, W6BLZ
Publish in the August 1965 issue of CQ.
Reprinted by permission from CQ Communications, Inc. – Hicksville, NY