[CW] Thorn Mayes, W6AX, spark gap recordings.

[Richard Knoppow]

    I don't think this can have been Dave. He was from San 
Francisco originally. He lived in a house on Irving Bl when I met 
him as a kid (I was the kid). He and his family moved to a house 
in Brentwood sometime around the mid 1960s and continued to live 
there until both died. Dave seemed to know everyone in early 
wireless. He and Connie were second family to me. I wish I 
remembered more of the stories he told me. Later people did oral 
histories but at the time it never occurred to me. Probably I 
thought everyone I knew would live forever.

On 3/21/2020 10:21 PM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
> Sorry, Thorn Mayes was W6AX.
>
> My error. W6VX Dave Atkins was a friend of mine. He was born in 
> the same house in LA as he spent the rest of his life in.
>
> He held W9AX, 6BDQ, 6AX, K6BI, K2CE, W1CX and W6AX.
>
> 73
>
> DR
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 22, 2020, 01:03 Richard Knoppow 
> <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com <mailto:1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>> wrote:
>
>         How interesting. My mentor and friend David Atkins was
>     W6VX
>     but told me someone else had held the call before he did. I
>     don't
>     know what year he got it (I should know). That was evidently
>     Thorn Mayes.  Now, you give Mayes calls as W6AX so I wonder
>     if VX
>     is also correct or a mis type.
>
>     On 3/21/2020 6:42 PM, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
>     > 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.
>     >
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>     > =30=
>
>     -- 
>     Richard Knoppow
>     1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com <mailto:1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
>     WB6KBL
>
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-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL