[Elecraft] [K3] One Last Hearing Story

[Al Lorona]

I tell this story every so often, and a recent thread about hearing reminded me of it. It is directed primarily to those of us that, thank God, still have most of our hearing.
 
Many of you know of Rick Campbell, KK7B, who is an avid QRPer and backpacker, brilliant engineer and designer of the famous R1 and R2 series of direct-conversion receivers. About 14 years ago, when he worked at TriQuint in Oregon, I happened to be visiting there on business the day Rick was scheduled to speak to the ham club to encourage its members to homebrew a simple project. I was invited to stay for the lunchtime meeting.
 
He handed out a 1-page schematic of a simple receiver he designed -- which I still have-- and showed us how he had layed it out on a plank of wood using brass nails and bare wire, 1924-style. Though a young man himself it was obvious that he had tremendous respect for the ham pioneers of the early days, not only for their homebrewing spirit but also because of their 'ears' -- their ability to copy fantastically weak signals. As he talked and told stories of those early days, he casually stripped some wire. He talked some more while stringing the wire through the room, and some more as he hooked up a battery and headphones to his little rig. Having thus completed a 40 meter dipole he then invited us to go up and slip the headphones on to hear how the receiver's single 2N2222 audio stage sounded.
 
The first guy to listen pulled off the phones after about a minute and said in a frustrated tone, "Gee, Rick, how can you hear anything coming out of that thing?" Well, that was Rick's cue. He then went on a rant about how we abuse our ears by playing the radio, the TV, our rigs and everything else way too loudly, and about how precious the gift of hearing is and how we should cherish it. "You get in your car and turn on the radio," he said. "Then when you get on the highway you have to turn up the volume some more. Further down the road, you find you need to turn it up even more, and what you don't realize is that little by little, you're making yourself deaf!"
 
He exhorted us to practice the art of listening by turning down the volume of our receivers until almost inaudible... just like in 1924. He said that's how he would practice and hone his 'ears'. It was an impassioned and moving speech given by a guy who appreciates the magic of radio and wants to enjoy it as long as he can. I was impressed that a man so talented and so respected could find value in the simple act of sitting and listening with Zen-like concentration. Then again, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the guys in 1924... they would just call it 'wireless'.
 
We live in a world that is far too loud under normal circumstances, but when I think of all the times I cranked the volume, whether I was listening to loud music in a closed car or to 40 meters in a noisy shack or sat through a ridiculously loud concert, I am ashamed at how I have treated my poor ears. I hope that they have enough left to allow me to enjoy the gift of hearing and the magic of radio for a long time to come.
 
 
Al  W6LX