On Oct 23, 7:24?am, Doug Smith W9WI wrote:
On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:53:39 -0400, AF6AY wrote:

Believe it or not, in 1974 I took my General code test on the same
paper-tape code machine you saw the inspectors fussing with in 1956.

Heh, heh, I'll bet the government-issue furniture was the same...:-)


The pitch jumped briefly about halfway through. Didn't faze most of us,
but when the tape was over one of the guys being tested protested loudly &
insisted on being tested again. Don't know if he passed on the second try.

(the rest of us all passed on the first try, even with the jumping pitch)

I would insist the group would have to be interrupted by a fire
drill... :-)

By the time I took the 20wpm for the Extra two years later, they were
using a cheap portable cassette player. It worked, but most of the "soul"
was missing.

Well, according to Phil Kane, money is the real soul of the FCC.

I don't think it is that bad. I moved from the Midwest to California
in November of 1956. The Field Office of the FCC is in Long Beach,
CA, and that office doesn't look furnished in WWII-surplus.

I rather like my local area's Communications Auxilliary. It seems to
have been put in place some time around the Attack on America
("9/11"). The Old Firehouse had been replaced by the LAFD years ago
by a larger station somewhat close by...to all intents and purposes it
looked like an unused building. But, inside there is a converted bus
as a mobile radio station and there is a permanent base station in the
rear of the firehouse which can do HF to UHF comms. The LAFD is
responsible for the Communications Auxilliary and they kindly let the
VEC do test exams there. Seemed like the Old Firehouse is still kept
up nicely as if it could house a regular crew of firemen. We couldn't
get to inspect the Auxilliary's radio stuff but could see in through a
window set in the door.

From the listing of amateur radio test sites, I could have gone to a
Denny's Restaurant reserved room near me or a private residence
somewhat farther away. At a mile away, the Old Firehouse and on a
Sunday afternoon was better. Getting a closer look at one of the
Communications Auxilliary's stations was a plus.

The train ride was from Milwaukee; I suspect the Federal Building was
somewhat taller; and there was a Sears Tower along the walk from the train
station, but I suspect it was a similar experience

Heh, probably. I haven't been back to "The Loop" since then but been
through Chicago Midway and, certainly, O'Hare, many a time since then,
even a trip to Meigs Field right on the lakefront. But, 51 1/2 years
ago I was just out of four years in the Army and could walk just about
any distance needed. :-) I wouldn't think of trying that walk
now. :-)

One thing I remember being amazed at in a 2001 trip back to northern
Illinois for the Big 50 Reunion of our high school class of '51 was
that WMCW in Harvard, Illinois, was still operating. I worked there a
few months in 1956 when it was literally a converted farmhouse. 500 W
daylight only, it was "the voice of Boone, McHenry, and Walworth
Counties" sitting just off a two-lane highway and I did the whole
works as the only employee. The 'studio' was the old living room and
the control room was converted from the former dining room. :-) The
farmhouse is gone and the studios for WMCW are now 'downtown' in
Harvard, a bigger wide place in the road than it was 45 years prior.
Only the single vertical for 1600 KHz remains, where I once replaced a
mandatory warning light bulb that had gone out as a favor to the
station owner, Esther Blodgett (of Blodgett Broadcasters).

73, Len AF6AY