[CW] Thorn Mayes, W6VX, spark gap recordings.

[D.J.J. Ring, Jr.]

Thorn Mayes, W6VX, spark gap recordings.

Let this play through, it gets more interesting as time goes on.
Repeat and copy the other stations on 600m.  This is how it was done
in Spark Days!

https://archive.org/download/sending_morse_code_sound_recordings/sowp_spark_tx_thorn.mp3

Thorn Mayes, born April 19, 1903, graduated from the University of
California in 1927 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He was an
avid amateur radio operator, working W6AX, W9AX, 6BDQ, 6AX, K6BI,
K2CE, and W1CX under the handle “Thorn.” He became interested in
recreating the history of the three main, early, commercial wireless
stations on the West Coast. KPH, which I think is by far the most
important of all; KFS who was a competitor, and NPG, which is
sometimes called the NAA of the West Coast because of the similarity
in transmission equipment used at NPG and also at NAA.

In this recording made in 1970 and 1985 we hear giants of the early
radio days recreate the sounds and the procedures of the time when
spark was king.  Thorn Mays, Commander Frank Johnstone and Frank
Geisel all appear on this narrated recording.  Get out your mill and
copy along.   Special thanks to Gregory DeMascio, sound engineer at
KWMR, for his help with this recording.