[ARC5] Magic - was Field Day musings...

[Bill Cromwell]

On 06/26/2013 01:37 AM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>    I love hearing these stories.  I never got to a field day until was 
> an adult. I heard plenty of signals on Saturday and none at all on 
> Sunday.
>    I suppose the kids now find things to be fascinated with but I 
> wonder if its anything like radio was for us. people don't seem to 
> understand that ham radio works all on its own, while cell phones and 
> computers need a vast system of equipment and networks to connect. We 
> don't even need the power company and field day is one of the 
> demonstrations of that. My antediluvian RCA receiver on 25 feet of 
> wire hung over the rafters in the garage will hear Spain, Germany, 
> England, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, all over South and Central 
> America, not to mention all those non-DX stations (and I mean hams, 
> not broadcast). I wonder what it would do with a decent antenna.  To 
> me this is still absolute magic.
>
>
> -- 
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles
> WB6KBL
> dickburk at ix.netcom.com

Hi Richard,

With a "decent antenna" you would hear Spain, Germany, England, Italy, 
Australia, New Zealand, all over South and Central America, not to 
mention all those non-DX stations (this mean hams, not broadcast). <evil 
grin>

The magic struck me when I was about 11 or 12 when my father dragged 
home an old free standing (four feet tall?) Zenith console radio with 
short wave bands. He set it between two windows and that night with the 
window screens for an antenna we prowled the SW bands in near darkness. 
At one point, by the light of the old dial lamps we found a team 
attempting the Matterhorn in Europe. What we heard was their tactical 
radio traffic (in English) and we listened to them for a while. About 
three days later that team was in the newspapers and on the radio news 
(maybe the TV news, too, we got the news on the radio ya know). That 
night the hook was set and eventually I went through SWLing and into 
Amateur Radio. It's still magic.

73,

Bill  KU8H