[Boatanchors] So You Want To Be a Ham

[Rob Atkinson]

When I was a kid growing up in the late 1960s I went to the local
library and got out a bunch of books about ham radio.  One of them was
"So You Want To Be a Ham" by Robert Hertzberg.  Remember it?  It was
just the book for a kid, loaded with photos of gear, hams, shacks and
easy to read text on how to get a license etc.  And, all sorts of
exciting descriptions of operating and contacts.  I devoured it and
was one of the things that motivated me to get into this great hobby.

I was thinking about that book a couple of weeks ago and recalled that
it had a lot of 1950s photos of what we now call "vintage" gear.  Now
we have this thing we can do called, buying things on-line, so I got
on the internet and started searching for a used copy of that book.
Found one on eBay, a first edition from 1955.  It came in the mail
today.  Boy is it great to look at.  Open it up and it's 1955 again
(and I wasn't even around until a few years later).   There are a
couple of chapters that are basically buying guides, one for receivers
and another one for transmitters.  Four pages on the 75A-3 and A-4
alone.  Other receivers organized by price from low to high; ditto for
transmitters.    Rx: Hallicrafters S38D, National SW54, Hallicrafters
S53A, S85, S86, S40B, S77A, National NC88, Harvey Wells R-9,
Hallicrafters SX99, National NC98, NC125, Hallicrafters S76, SX71,
SX96, Hammarlund HQ140X, National NC183D, Hammarlund Pro310, Collins
75A-3 75A-4, National HRO60, Hallicrafters SX88, SX73, and Hammarlund
SP600.  Tx:  Johnson Adventurer, Ranger, Harvey Wells T-90, Eldico
TR-2TV, Sonar SRT-120, Gonset Communicator, Johnson Viking 2,
Hallicrafters HT-30, Gonset 500W amplifier, B&W 5100, Hallicrafters
HT-20, Sonar CD-2, Collins 32V-3, 32W-1, Johnson Desk KW.

We all notice some omissions like the NC-300, KW-1 etc. but keep in
mind this edition was published in 1955 before some rigs came out and
after others ceased production.
Chapters on operating, mobile operating, MARS, equipment vendors
(photos of "radio row" stores in NYC).
In the chapter on getting your ticket some great nostalgia photos of
FCC exam rooms and test takers sending CW etc.

Anyway, if you want to have a little vintage radio nostalgia for the
days when this was all regular contemporary ham radio, the FCC gave
the license tests and every ham had a repair bench in the shack, keep
an eye out for a copy of this book either on eBay, abebooks.com or
amazon.com (or any other source).

73

Rob
K5UJ