Fall Back Down Memory Lane

[Jeff K1NSS]

I associate radio with fall more than any other season, especially in my early ham years. Wonder if others do the same?

As an EOM (Extra Old Man) the feeling is a more complicated mix of melancholies, some less comfortable than I remember as kid. Radio was a part of the mix and remains so, such that I enjoy woolgathering about it, just looking up at antennas against the autumn sky. They bring back memories of going to the small town library in lengthening after school shadows, straight to good old Dewey Decimal section 621.384, where the same old books, and I mean do mean old, fit right in with the mood. I always stopped by the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelves too, where I discovered Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, a profoundly spooky October tale that became part of my old mix as well. If this sort of rumination strikes a chord, I do go on a bit more, currently at www.dashtoons.com (http://www.dashtoons.com).



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[N8YX]

Spring brings back more SWL and ham memories for me than any other time of the year.

While a sophomore in high school I was given one of these as a Christmas present:

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There's only so much one can do with an indoor antenna. Springtime saw the snow and ice disappear, allowing me to get onto my roof safely and establish anchor points for several random wires which would soon fill the back yard.

Learned a good bit about homebrewing antenna matchers, switches and other station peripherals - including an RF-sensed mute switch which I used in conjunction with a later arrival, a Royce 1-641 CB rig. The DX160 allowed for receiver muting when run with a transmitter and this proved to be a neat combination - one of the scales on the receiver's Bandspread dial was even marked with 11M nomenclature.

Rainy - not stormy - summer days were another favorite, especially if I didn't have to work: Pull the dark drapes closed and pull the day bed close to the operating desk, flip on the radio room's night-time lighting and spend a relaxing day tuning the bands while the rain kept nearby power-line transformers from arcing.

[KK4AMI]

Spring brings back more SWL and ham memories for me than any other time of the year.

While a sophomore in high school I was given one of these as a Christmas present:

10739

There's only so much one can do with an indoor antenna. Springtime saw the snow and ice disappear, allowing me to get onto my roof safely and establish anchor points for several random wires which would soon fill the back yard.

Learned a good bit about homebrewing antenna matchers, switches and other station peripherals - including an RF-sensed mute switch which I used in conjunction with a later arrival, a Royce 1-641 CB rig. The DX160 allowed for receiver muting when run with a transmitter and this proved to be a neat combination - one of the scales on the receiver's Bandspread dial was even marked with 11M nomenclature.

Rainy - not stormy - summer days were another favorite, especially if I didn't have to work: Pull the dark drapes closed and pull the day bed close to the operating desk, flip on the radio room's night-time lighting and spend a relaxing day tuning the bands while the rain kept nearby power-line transformers from arcing.

It was spring for me as well. I started listening to an old console radio with shortwave bands at my Uncles hunting camp. My father figured out I liked listening to SW, so I got a Realistic DX-150A for my birthday (Generation Gap before the DX-160). I tried listening to it all winter with an indoor antenna, but KDKA was my best bet. By spring, my father and I put up a long wire antenna that fed into my bedroom window, with the radio on my nightstand. I had to use headphones because my parents were just down the hall.That was it, I was off and running listening to the whole world. The lights were kinda bright on that damn thing, my Mom said she knew most of the time when I was listening, just from the light under my bedroom door.

[Jeff K1NSS]

That's the stuff. Enjoyed your recollections. Mighty nice ways to start out too. I actually got my Ocean Hopper in spring as well, as a birthday present. The antenna thing was a bit mysterious. I got the official Allied Radio SW Antenna Kit just to be sure I had all the proper gear, including two huge porcelain stand off insulators and a "lightning arrestor" that never found their way into my installation. Did use the flexible conductive strip with a Fahnestock clip on each end to pass through the window. Messed around with goofball tuners with variable caps torn from old radios. Experimented adding antenna wire extensions with wire stripped out of junkbox transformers. Set up the OH with an old Majestic AM/SW as backup, plus an outboard speaker cabinet on a card table next to my lower bunk. Waited till my brother was asleep and got up and DXed with phones, while contemplating my Poptronics SWL call WPE2GEP, painted on a masonite board above the radios. Heaven.

[W3WN]

I first got interested in SWL when I was over at a friend's house, he had (IIRC) a Lafayette receiver similar to the DX160 (much older and full of tubes, of course), and he tuned in Radio Moscow, BBC, Kol Yisrael and all the rest. Hooked almost instantly.

Saved up my money for over a year, Dad took me down to the local Lafayette store (I was about 11). Wouldn't let me buy the receiver I wanted (General Coverage with a "fine tuning" section for the Amateur bands), had to settle for "saving my money" and buying a receiver called the "Starfire VI" 6 band solid-state unit, that included a VHF-HI band segment.

He thought I wouldn't last with the hobby, and didn't want me "wasting" my money.

I'm still here. And I still have the receiver. (Still works, too)

[KG4NEL]

I'll be the young whippersnapper that ruins the fun, but no, radio doesn't particularly have anything seasonal with it for me. Some of my best, earliest experiences were during the winter 6M F2-skip season of the last solar cycle, but summer belongs to Field Day :)

[W2NAP]

always been winter around here for me. winter time radio is super active. spring radio dies off as it warms, summer radio is all but dead, fall the slow move to radio starts. (course were talking VHF 2m but it was also the case on 11m back in the day)

Nothing really to do in Indiana in winter BUT talk on a radio.

[kb2vxa]

"Did use the flexible conductive strip with a Fahnestock clip on each end to pass through the window."
So you had one of them too! Mine came with the crystal radio kit an uncle gave me for Christmas and spring brought copper to the trees in the back yard. SOOOooo... for me spring began my radio hobby listening to the one station I could receive, WOR with the tower lights visible at night from my bedroom window. Naturally I got quite a few ideas from Jean after the last strains of the Bahn Frei Polka died. Next came a Sonomatic from a '56 Buick, then the radio chassis from a TV/radio/record player combo and, and, AND... SHORTWAVE! That put me on the bahn frei and I'm still running.

"Nothing really to do in Indiana in winter BUT talk on a radio."
Funny I can say the same thing about winter in this shore resort town where they roll up the boardwalk and put it in storage until spring. Just a bit farther south on Long Beach Island or simply LBI they turn off the traffic lights, kid thee not.

[W2NAP]

"Nothing really to do in Indiana in winter BUT talk on a radio."
Funny I can say the same thing about winter in this shore resort town where they roll up the boardwalk and put it in storage until spring. Just a bit farther south on Long Beach Island or simply LBI they turn off the traffic lights, kid thee not.

aye, but at least in general. where you are dont generally get below zero with a strong NW wind at 30MPH. so winter would be a tad bit tolerable even with the nor'easter (nothing worse then minus 10 or 20 with 30mph winds....)

[Jeff K1NSS]

I'll be the young whippersnapper that ruins the fun, but no, radio doesn't particularly have anything seasonal with it for me. Some of my best, earliest experiences were during the winter 6M F2-skip season of the last solar cycle, but summer belongs to Field Day :)

No fun ruined, all good, just stirring the pot. I have recollections linked to all seasons, like tuning a Gotham vertical on a snowy evening in my pajamas and as a lid, kid, space cadet operating Field Day hours scorned by beer drinking club members, even as I was locked in a death struggle with an iambic paddled keyer, until that night having only operated a bug. My thing with fall is probably more linked to the earliest radio years and more about setting a theme for the gathering of wool.

Wow Warren, WOR tower light visible from your bedroom? Remember Shep telling stories about some chicken farmer near the towers whose coop lights were lit (pulsed?) by the signal. Must have been able to listen to John Gambling and Carlton Fredericks on your teeth. Good thing all that Clear Channel RF never affected you one bit, although I think all my RF burns made me smart.

[W3WN]

I spent many a weekday night listening to Shep on WOR. Often got busted by my older sister, who dutifully reported me to the folks... she always did love being a tattle-tale.

It's truly a shame that most people only remember him as the narrator of A Christmas Story. They don't even realize he wrote the stories it's based on, let alone that he & his (last) wife have a cameo.

[kb2vxa]

"Wow Warren, WOR tower light visible from your bedroom?"
Those towers were very tall, my guess about 380 feet and from my south facing window on the ground floor they were only 1.8 miles to the southeast. I remember the spot well, the foot of Pauline Street just across the Rahway River in Carteret, the land was cleared and they dare call that bit of swamp a park. I don't know about flickering lights in a chicken coop, as I remember the property was bordered on three sides by a residential neighborhood and in the north side was the river. The towers went up in the '30s so it's quite possible there was a farm nearby and that old knob and tube wiring often made quite a large open loop so a loop antenna is quite likely. If the farmer were smart he would have run the supply side of the light switch to ground and let RF do the work. Why pay for what you get for free? Eh, I wasn't quite close enough to hear the Fitzgeralds or Bob and Ray on the fillings of my teeth, didn't have any anyhow. Not quite like Lucille Ball who during the war could hear a Japanese spy station in the San Fernando Valley sending Morse code on hers... or so she said on the Johny Carson Show.

"It's truly a shame that most people only remember him as the narrator of A Christmas Story."
The same people don't remember Shepherd's Pie on PBS which featured a tour of Rte. 22 from the back of a limo where the quote featured below came from.
"They don't even realize he wrote the stories it's based on, let alone that he & his (last) wife have a cameo."
Well, if they saw him at any of his appearances or book signings they'd recognize his character.

FYI, the tower photo was taken in 1935 just as construction was being completed, the "dog house" tuning units approximately 8'X8'X8' and the 4" hard line not yet installed.

[Jeff K1NSS]

Whoozat signing the book? That Shep? The book "Excelsior You Fathead" was written by some Shepherd scholar but I really don't know what Shep looked like after his PBS show was shot, so I dunno.

I liked him better on radio than TV, that ol' theater of the mind thing. Couldn't say exactly how I pictured him, just a regular guy I guess but the aviator glasses, muttonchops and hokey getups were never part of my picture, playing a little too much into his blowhard side, though his running off at the mouth was the whole point, so I take it all back.

WOR, great picture, TNX! So was that a T antenna, fed at the base of the center vertical wire?

Oh yeah, and when do Shep and Lea appear in Christmas Story? Didn't know that.

[W3WN]

< snip >
Oh yeah, and when do Shep and Lea appear in Christmas Story? Didn't know that.The scene when Ralphie is about to get in line to see Santa. Shep has the line:

"Hey kid! The line ENDS here! The line starts..." Shep points behind him "... back THERE!" Leigh is standing next to him.

[kb2vxa]

Yep, I recognized Shep by his voice but had no idea who that lady was, thanks. Here's a still from the scene in question to awaken sleeping memories.

"Whoozat signing the book? That Shep?"
No, that's Gene Bergmann, I don't know how that slipped into my Shep archive and confused me.

"The book "Excelsior You Fathead" was written by some Shepherd scholar but I really don't know what Shep looked like after his PBS show was shot, so I dunno."
Here's your aviator glasses, muttonchops and hokey getup from the Rte. 22 episode of Shepherd's Pie.

"WOR, great picture, TNX! So was that a T antenna, fed at the base of the center vertical wire?"
Newwwp, that's not a Marconi T antenna, they had one atop Bamberger's in Newark though previous to moving studios to New York and the plant to Carteret. That's a three element vertical array, the wire suspended from the catenary is insulated from it and the towers and is a phantom tower. By 1935 broadcasting had seen the last of the Marconi antenna but hams use it to this day in the classical put your 80M dipole on 160M trick. Since you like the picture so much I went back and edited my previous post removing that irrelevant picture of Eugene Bergmann signing his book Excelsior You Fathead! The Art And Enigma Of Jean Shepherd and replaced it with two that make sense filling in the timeline. Here is WOR at Bamberger's in Newark 1932. Remember the Carteret towers are shown in 1935 before the area was developed and looks like one huge swamp, it was. When I was there last before the site was demolished, across the river in Linden could plainly be seen the tank farm behind Linden Airport and the towers were curved at the top toward each other, bent by all those years of those 4 ton concrete block weights inside them tensioning the catenary.

SOOOooo, you thought Jean was only on WOR or always K2ORS? Heh heh heh, guess again! Look at the date on the card, he was just 17 and one year from graduating Hammond HS. For those who don't recognize the callsign, KYW is in Philadelphia but he bounced around a bit, WSAI, KYW, WLW, and after WOR WCBS and WBAI where Shepherd's Pie started and continued on NJN TV Network where that screen shot came from. Speaking of TV, did you know that briefly he and Ernie Kovacs co hosted The Tonight Show? Hey, if you want more look it up, I haven't got all night.

[N7YA]

For me, fall and dead of winter is my magical time of year. It reminds me of when i first became a ham, it was October of 1983 in Alaska...winter was already there. Getting my very own callsign and dreaming about DX. I had already been a longtime SWL and ute dxer. Something about those long, dark and cold nights in the shack with crackling signals coming in from far away over the ice fields. Dreams of palm trees and blue water, old world cities and various cultures. I still have that sense of wonder and excitement today. Fortunately, experience hasnt dulled that edge. :)

[Jeff K1NSS]

For me, fall and dead of winter is my magical time of year. It reminds me of when i first became a ham, it was October of 1983 in Alaska.... :)

Well, as an avid follower of Sgt Preston of the Yukon (and once landowner of several square inches according to deeds I fished out of Quaker Puffed Wheat and Rice) Alaska is enuff magic said. The notion of a Klondike radio shack is about as romantic as it gets so you, you rascal, had a catbird seat! Tip o'the phones, Sgt KL7! On King! On You Huskies! I think I tried "Open up in the name of the Crown" when playing guns with my mates, but it didn't cut no ice. They were New Jersey mates and didn't know from Crowns.

[N7YA]

I loved being up there. The rain, the weird light and dark at odd hours, the sub zero temps, earthquakes, gale storms, skeeters, moose peering through the kitchen window, black ice, parkas patched up with duct tape, mud, prehistoric scenery, fresh salmon, smoked salmon, salmon jerky, salmon milkshakes, salmon birthday cake, mooseshit earings and key chains, couches on the side of the highway...with people sitting in them, more mud, float planes, ice crystals hanging in the air, volcanoes, bore tides, Sorels and bunny boots, throat beards, rifles, fresh crab legs, folk music, snow machines, whiskey, bears, cops show up at your camp in airplanes, $6 gallons of milk, container ships, the random airstrip in the middle of absolutely nowhere, fugitives, fresh berries, dog teams, great weed, musk ox, half sunken abandoned cabins, good hockey players, Northern Lights, kids that can fire a gun and gut a deer before the age of 12, most military installations can fit into a city block because its mostly a radar dome, yagis on every other house yet you are still the DX, crystal clear lakes, truly drinkable tap water....love all of it!

[Jeff K1NSS]

Really enjoyed your response! Tom Bell, a newsman buddy of mine in Boston days packed up his old green Pontiac and roared off to AL (I meant AK, at least I did after my howler was kindly pointed out in private)in the eighties and got a job reporting for the Anchorage Daily News, lot of feature writing. Did pretty well for himself, got to fly all over the state, eventually taking off again to Pacific Siberia where he wrote freelance for the ADN, married the Snow Queen in Siberian Christmas pageant and came back to the states, now writing for the paper in Portland ME. His letters from Seward's Folly and Russia were keepers, full of adventures and characters. Your list of Alaskan Solid Gold rang a lot of bells. Did you grow up in the homesteading world? Very romantic to us suburbanoids, but maybe if have it all that way as a kid, you get the itch for sidewalks and what passes for, ahem, civilization, then again, me be not so much.

Sweet Home Alaska :muhahaha: Where Ice Worm Cocktails are so blue...

[kb2vxa]

In summer Alaska is beautiful, in winter... not so much. States have their pet comments about the weather, in NJ it's if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes. Alaska's is more foreboding; when it's -20 degrees it's a warm day, -30 it's cold and -60 it's GD cold. Oh, a howler? That's par for a dog face ham. (;->)