[BARC-List] Catalogs, etc.

[W1OHM at aol.com]

As a boy, I would spend hours looking through the electronics catalogs and  
buying components in the mail.  There were three I used in the early  60's, 
Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio Electronics, and, in Chicago where I  grew up, 
Allied Radio (later acquired by Radio Shack to become Allied Radio  Shack).
 
Allied gave ham radio classes one night a week, and that's where  I learned 
Morse code and radio theory over several months.  After  getting my novice 
ticket through them, I bought their Knight Kit 50 watt  transmitter and picked up 
three crystals (no VFO allowed).  Used  my Dad's Hallicrafter's Super Skyrider 
receiver (model S-9) and began  working 40m CW.  Still remember the very 
distinctive fists of some of the  operators using their bugs - WN5INZ comes to 
mind.  I assembled  a keyer kit using vacuum tubes and a mercury relay.  Still 
use  it.
 
The other catalog I carried around with me all the time was a mini  hardcover 
book of tubes, fit in my shirt pocket.  A good complement  for the slide rule 
(Post Versalog) on my belt.  Even years later I  preferred a slide rule over 
a calculator.  You could see the answer  converging and you were never way off 
due to a keying error.
 
W1OHM (ex WN9KSZ)