[Boatanchors] Novice Transmitter Thoughts?

[Rob Atkinson]

I love my parents dearly and don't want this to sound bad about them
but they didn't give me any money for radio.  They DID take me to
hamfests however, which sometimes involved an all-day trip, like the
time they took me to the Peoria hamfest in either 1972 or 71, can't
remember the exact year.  I clearly recall that was the hamfest where
I bought my WW2 surplus Lightning Bug which I still have and use
occasionally.  We lived in the south suburbs.   All my gear was bought
at hamfest flea markets, and usually didn't work, but local hams (now
mostly SK) showed me how to find the problems and fix them.  That was
when every ham had a bench in his shack.    I got somebody's homebrew
xtal controlled CW rig (all I remember about it was that it was small
but very well built and put out about 15 watts and it worked) for 80
and 40.  My rx which I still have, was an Allied Radio branded solid
state general coverage rx that wobbled the CW note if you banged on
the table.  I got it from a guy with a bonus from the Chicago Tribune
for delivering papers through the winter.  One Saturday I took the
train into the Loop and walked across it to the C&NW station (Chicago
and Northwestern) and got on a train there and took that out to
Wheaton.   I felt like I was way out in the sticks.  Somehow I found
the Wheaton hamfest and spent the day there and then got back home on
the train.  I think that was where I bought the Allied rx but my
memory of those days is pretty fuzzy.  All my money for radio came
from a paper route.   If parents let their kid take a train alone to
Wheaton today they'd probably be prosecuted for child endangerment.

73

Rob
K5UJ