ham radio history
 

continuing the discussion...

I got interested in ham radio about 1960. I built an R-55 and a
DX-60. At the advice of a fellow, John, who was really, really
interested in ham radio but could not pass 13WPM at the FCC, I got
my novice station together and working before I took the novice
exam. Sound advice from him, "You only have one chance in your
life to get your code speed up, the only way to do that is on the
air. Have your station ready to go, the minute the license comes."

John was stuck with a useless Technician license. This was in Hawai'i

where if you could not get on 15, 20, and 40, there's no point to
Ham radio.

I got my Novice in 1963. I was on the air with the DX-60 and an
SX-101A. I could not get the R-55 working well enough to use as a
40 meter CW receiver, forget 15. It just didn't work above about 10
mHz.

My recollection was that the license exams were hard then.
I passed the general with a few months to spare.

About 1964, the years are blurring together, incentive licensing
degraded my general and I took the Advanced. I still did not have
the 20 WPM for the Extra.

I lost track of John. He was rebuilding a Superpro, experimenting
with UHF because with a tech, in Hawai'i, the only way to get out
was Moonbounce.

I find it odd beyond words that John's 1960'ish Technician license,
schematic diagrams, hand calculations of series and parallel
circuits, 5 WPM sending and receiving with 1 minute of solid copy at
the FCC, no question pool, is arguably a more difficult exam than
the current Extra.

I operated a lot between 1963 and 1970 and then tapered off until a
couple years ago. I did get to two Daytons around 1980.

In the 1960's radios were very expensive. A DX-60 kit was about
$70. I paid $200 for the used SX-101A. I clearly remember
carrying it in the front door. At that time, all the old-line
manufacturers were still going strong. The HQ-215 solid state
Hamarlund had come out and folks were waiting for a solid state
Drake.

Collins prices were climbing fast.

Someone mentioned RIT. It's important if you're working
transceiver to transceiver. It's much less important if you're
using a transceiver and working an HT-37/SX-101A. The station with
the HT-37 won't re-zero when he retunes his receiver.

Also boatanchor receivers like SX-101A's had BFO pitch controls so,
again, it wasn't obvious that a transceiver needed RIT until
transceivers became common.

The 1960's were the transition from the big heavy radios to the
relatively smaller Collins S-Line profile.

From this vantage point, there were dozens of U.S. manufacturers in
the Ham Radio market in the 1960's.

Looking at the historic record, there is a layer of Iridium in the
strata about 1970 and after that, the radio firms died off. It was
parts, retail outlets, the entire sector collapsed. Again from
today, 2004, it looks instantaneous although it took years.

Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

In the late 1970's, I did a brief turn as the rep to the Foundation
for Amateur Radio, paid for an AMSAT life membership, but just
didn't have time to operate and didn't buy the magazines.

In the 1970's, I bought a VVF accu-keyer kit. I wish those were
still available, the nice big SSI TTL parts and the good circuit
boards. I built it in an LMB box.

I saw folk running around with their Drake TR-22's. Seemed that
everyone had one. I ended up with a Wilson WE-800. Whatever
happened to Wilson???

de ah6gi/4

--

No Spam wrote:


Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

Same hear, running around fixing 360 main frames and related I/O kept me
too busy to ham much.

"JJ" wrote in message
...
No Spam wrote:


Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

Same hear, running around fixing 360 main frames and related I/O kept me
too busy to ham much.

Both of you (as well as myself) *WERE* the die off....

jak

jakdedert wrote:

"JJ" wrote in message
...
No Spam wrote:


Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

Same hear, running around fixing 360 main frames and related I/O kept me
too busy to ham much.

Both of you (as well as myself) *WERE* the die off....

And, I suppose, I: my Novice lapsed while I was off at school, then
I started working in the space program (read "6 or 7 12-hour shifts
most weeks"), then went in the military (read "no time while in tech
school, then no time while out of country") and then got into ...
working on MFT-II, MVT, and MVS systems, like No Spam.

Then I started acquiring boatanchors, after my late wife died. Some of
them actually have been known to work.

But I'm gonna get my General ticket Real Soon Now!

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet?

"Mike Andrews" wrote in message
...
jakdedert wrote:

"JJ" wrote in message
...
No Spam wrote:


Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

Same hear, running around fixing 360 main frames and related I/O kept
me
too busy to ham much.

Both of you (as well as myself) *WERE* the die off....

And, I suppose, I: my Novice lapsed while I was off at school, then
I started working in the space program (read "6 or 7 12-hour shifts
most weeks"), then went in the military (read "no time while in tech
school, then no time while out of country") and then got into ...
working on MFT-II, MVT, and MVS systems, like No Spam.

Personally, I got intensely involved in the music scene and became a sound
engineer. Traveling around the world with various musical groups gave me
little time/place/incentive to raise an antenna farm....

jak


Then I started acquiring boatanchors, after my late wife died. Some of
them actually have been known to work.

But I'm gonna get my General ticket Real Soon Now!

Probably too late for me. However in stories like these, there might be
some hint of an idea where ham radio failed us--and we--it. The common
threads seem to have to do with time, money, interest, space...perhaps
relevance to the lifestyles we chose.

In hindsight, perhaps better minds than mine could have come up with a
solution in time....

jak

--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet?

"No Spam " No wrote:
I find it odd beyond words that John's 1960'ish Technician license,
schematic diagrams, hand calculations of series and parallel
circuits, 5 WPM sending and receiving with 1 minute of solid copy at
the FCC, no question pool, is arguably a more difficult exam than
the current Extra.

The Tech and General were the exact same written test at the time. The General
had to be passed in front of a FCC examiner whereas the Tech could be taken by
mail.

I think the present Extra test is much harder than that General was then as far
a *technical questions* are concerned. However the current ham tests are easier
to memorize and pass without knowing anything. I will admit that as a high
school student I was able to pass the General test in 1958 without knowing
much... ;)

About 1964, the years are blurring together, incentive licensing
degraded my general and I took the Advanced.

Yep, did the same thing, although somewhat later than you. A guy by the name of
Bash got me going. Seems he published a book with the *exact* questions and
answers for the exams. Everyone seemed to think that was cheating at the time.
How things change...

On Fri, 2 Jul 2004 17:44:23 UTC, "jakdedert"
wrote:


"Mike Andrews" wrote in message
...
jakdedert wrote:

"JJ" wrote in message
...
No Spam wrote:


Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

Same hear, running around fixing 360 main frames and related I/O kept
me
too busy to ham much.

Both of you (as well as myself) *WERE* the die off....

And, I suppose, I: my Novice lapsed while I was off at school, then
I started working in the space program (read "6 or 7 12-hour shifts
most weeks"), then went in the military (read "no time while in tech
school, then no time while out of country") and then got into ...
working on MFT-II, MVT, and MVS systems, like No Spam.

Personally, I got intensely involved in the music scene and became a sound
engineer. Traveling around the world with various musical groups gave me
little time/place/incentive to raise an antenna farm....

jak


Then I started acquiring boatanchors, after my late wife died. Some of
them actually have been known to work.

But I'm gonna get my General ticket Real Soon Now!

Probably too late for me. However in stories like these, there might be
some hint of an idea where ham radio failed us--and we--it. The common
threads seem to have to do with time, money, interest, space...perhaps
relevance to the lifestyles we chose.

It's not too late. I got interested again when a hand surgery went
bad and my doc said to work my fingers or he'd send me to physical
therapy (PT = Physical Torture).

I bought a beater SB-303 off eBay and began cleaning it up.

Fortunately it had been owned by a smoker and smelled of tobacco.

I had to wipe down the components individually, wipe the wires,
clean the boards between the components. I spent a couple days
learning the ins and outs of the Heathkit SB drive. I replaced the
main cap, fixed a few other problems.

When I was done, I had a terrific SB-303, a better receiver than my
old SX-101A. 1 kHz analog readout, 2.1, 3.75, and .5 crystal
filters, better than 200 Hz/week stability from a stone cold start.

Re-invigorated, I downloaded the question pool, glanced over it for,
oh, 1 or 2 hours and made the final upgrade.

I've dragged out my VVF accu-keyer from the 1970's and my Brown
Bros. dual lever paddle. In spite of arthrytis and incipiant
geezing I'm slowly rebuilding my code speed. I dropped out
operating at about 15-20 WPM.

Probably like the rest of you, my health is an up and down thing. I
clocked BP 250/100 on a thallium treadmill but passed the
cardio-scan and logged a resting BP 110/78 a month later.

I don't think I let Ham Radio down. I did my turn as a rep to the
Foundation for Amateur Radio. Even when I wasn't very active, I
bought occasional parts and radios. My Wilson WE-800 has 10-20
hours of use. I built a Heathkit HO-10, AA-14, HW-2021, etc.

Between the early 1970's and today, other than 2 meters, I logged
maaaaay-be 20 QSO's but in that time, I spent about $4,000, half in
the early 1980's for an ICOM IC-720A and accessories. In
retrospect, perhaps I should have gone for a Triton IV digital a few
years earlier, the QSK.

I think the new HF entry license will help. I sure hope so. I've
been listening to HF and it is not what it was in 1965. Too many
round tables, too few stations calling CQ. Not enough fun.

It was fun working stations on 40 and 15 CW as a novice.

de ah6gi/4

"No Spam " No wrote in message
news:ifgU75G3LLdo-pn2-GoQsdvr9nTZr@localhost...
continuing the discussion...

I got interested in ham radio about 1960. I built an R-55 and a
DX-60. At the advice of a fellow, John, who was really, really
interested in ham radio but could not pass 13WPM at the FCC, I got
my novice station together and working before I took the novice
exam. Sound advice from him, "You only have one chance in your
life to get your code speed up, the only way to do that is on the
air. Have your station ready to go, the minute the license comes."

John was stuck with a useless Technician license. This was in Hawai'i

where if you could not get on 15, 20, and 40, there's no point to
Ham radio.

I got my Novice in 1963. I was on the air with the DX-60 and an
SX-101A. I could not get the R-55 working well enough to use as a
40 meter CW receiver, forget 15. It just didn't work above about 10
mHz.

My recollection was that the license exams were hard then.
I passed the general with a few months to spare.

About 1964, the years are blurring together, incentive licensing
degraded my general and I took the Advanced. I still did not have
the 20 WPM for the Extra.

I lost track of John. He was rebuilding a Superpro, experimenting
with UHF because with a tech, in Hawai'i, the only way to get out
was Moonbounce.

I find it odd beyond words that John's 1960'ish Technician license,
schematic diagrams, hand calculations of series and parallel
circuits, 5 WPM sending and receiving with 1 minute of solid copy at
the FCC, no question pool, is arguably a more difficult exam than
the current Extra.

I operated a lot between 1963 and 1970 and then tapered off until a
couple years ago. I did get to two Daytons around 1980.

In the 1960's radios were very expensive. A DX-60 kit was about
$70. I paid $200 for the used SX-101A. I clearly remember
carrying it in the front door. At that time, all the old-line
manufacturers were still going strong. The HQ-215 solid state
Hamarlund had come out and folks were waiting for a solid state
Drake.

Collins prices were climbing fast.

Someone mentioned RIT. It's important if you're working
transceiver to transceiver. It's much less important if you're
using a transceiver and working an HT-37/SX-101A. The station with
the HT-37 won't re-zero when he retunes his receiver.

Also boatanchor receivers like SX-101A's had BFO pitch controls so,
again, it wasn't obvious that a transceiver needed RIT until
transceivers became common.

The 1960's were the transition from the big heavy radios to the
relatively smaller Collins S-Line profile.

From this vantage point, there were dozens of U.S. manufacturers in
the Ham Radio market in the 1960's.

Looking at the historic record, there is a layer of Iridium in the
strata about 1970 and after that, the radio firms died off. It was
parts, retail outlets, the entire sector collapsed. Again from
today, 2004, it looks instantaneous although it took years.

Unfortunately, I dropped out of Ham radio to work on S/360 OS/MVT
and then MVS systems so I didn't have the first hand experience of
seeing the dieoff.

In the late 1970's, I did a brief turn as the rep to the Foundation
for Amateur Radio, paid for an AMSAT life membership, but just
didn't have time to operate and didn't buy the magazines.

In the 1970's, I bought a VVF accu-keyer kit. I wish those were
still available, the nice big SSI TTL parts and the good circuit
boards. I built it in an LMB box.

I saw folk running around with their Drake TR-22's. Seemed that
everyone had one. I ended up with a Wilson WE-800. Whatever
happened to Wilson???

de ah6gi/4

--


Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember well the up or out of the
Novice. I was lucky....I was able to get on 40cw as soon as my ticket
arrived. I jumped over the Technician and got the General in three months.
That was in 1961.

Dan/W4NTI

"Aaron Jones" wrote in message
...
"No Spam " No wrote:
I find it odd beyond words that John's 1960'ish Technician license,
schematic diagrams, hand calculations of series and parallel
circuits, 5 WPM sending and receiving with 1 minute of solid copy at
the FCC, no question pool, is arguably a more difficult exam than
the current Extra.

The Tech and General were the exact same written test at the time. The
General
had to be passed in front of a FCC examiner whereas the Tech could be
taken by
mail.

I think the present Extra test is much harder than that General was then
as far
a *technical questions* are concerned. However the current ham tests are
easier
to memorize and pass without knowing anything. I will admit that as a high
school student I was able to pass the General test in 1958 without knowing
much... ;)

About 1964, the years are blurring together, incentive licensing
degraded my general and I took the Advanced.

Yep, did the same thing, although somewhat later than you. A guy by the
name of
Bash got me going. Seems he published a book with the *exact* questions
and
answers for the exams. Everyone seemed to think that was cheating at the
time.
How things change...

It was cheating, and still is.

Dan/W4NTI

In a recent posting about Ham Radio History, "No Spam"
wrote that he wished there were still Accu-keyer kits,
using small-scale logic chips.

I have a bare, drilled, "accu-keyer" board made by by WB4VVF,
with a sheet of his corrections.
I bought the board in the mid 1970's, then gave up
keyers when I realized that my bug fist had gotten lousy.

Interested?

email to k4pf at juno dot com

73,
Ed Knobloch