Homebrew Night - 1982

It was a Wednesday night many years ago, at the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club’s ‘Homebrew Night.’ In 1982 the meetings were held at the National Research Council’s auditorium on Sussex Drive across from External Affairs. I’d only been licensed a couple of years (1980) and was slowly learning the technology of the day. My home station consisted of a Kenwood TS520 with a matching tuner.

Radio Shack was still a pretty good source of parts for the homebrew enthusiast. I had decided to build a digital GMT clock for my shack. Radio Shack carried the clock module – a self contained LCD display that was programmable with the addition of push button on-off switches. The project box and the battery holder and one ‘Extra Life Enercell"’ custom manufactured in Japan for Radio Shack. You can see the simplicity of this small clock below. 

I know it looks kind of crude with the Dymo lables stuck on like that. The most interesting part of this homebrew project, and why I’m writing about it today is the it has been running non-stop for 28 years. It’s still on the same battery purchased at Radio Shack in 1982. Here’s a photo of the inside with the battery and holder and 28 year old dust.

The display still lights up using the LMP button on the front and it still keeps good time. It’s not anything to look at really but it has been keeping time, in my shack all of these years. The Energizer Bunny would have a hard time keeping up I bet.