The Old Days



Field Day just happened over the weekend. Lots of people on the air. Lots of bands that ops complain are never open seem to open up when there are hams out there using them. Just magic I guess.

But at any rate, it reminds me of my early days in ham radio...and before. As a shortwave listener, or SWL, I used to spend many an hour listening to not just busy ham bands but crowded shortwave frequencies, as well. And always displaying proudly right in my bedroom my certificate from "Popular Electronics" with my SWL call sign of WPE8HVR.


I'd spend so much time digging through the static to get that new station. Putting together a reception report and mailing it off to some exotic foreign address.. Then many months later, a package would arrive in the mail with the colorful QSL card and a wealth of information, or maybe propaganda, from the station and its government. At times, ongoing packages from Radio Peking or Radio Moscow seemed to attract more attention at the local post office than I thought required back in the days of the Cold War. More on that in future blogs.

But to a kid living out on a farm in the middle of nowhere, this was the best way to travel in the early 1960s when you had little money. Well, in fact, we were downright poor.

I still remember the day my Knight Kit R-55A receiver arrived. I'd saved for what seemed like forever to order that $65 radio (if memory still serves.). In kit form, of course. I quickly laid all the necessary parts out and began the painstaking process of assembling this kit that would replace my poor old beaten-up Zenith.

Many hours of work and lots of lead smoke from the soldering gun later, after working through the delicate yet clumsy string tuning arrangement, I connected a long wire antenna, plugged it in and marveled when it came to life.

Wow, I can still remember that day over forty years later.

A special time. And a special hobby. But best of all, just a chance to think once again about that old Knight Kit, that still occupies its honored place in my shack. And yes, on occasion it gets fired up and the warm glow of vacuum tubes and the sweet smell of their heat permeates the room.

As awful a receiver as it was, it's still my favorite. It began a long hobby and a remarkable career.

Thanks Allied Radio. I still miss your old catalogs filled with wonder.


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