[Hallicrafters] Hallicrafters] More Cruising (or) Hallicrafters and Ham Radio

[Rich Oliver]

This attitude is puzzling.  I suppose we all wanted to get on the air 
but it never even occurred to me to actually cross that line.   Instead 
I experimented with light beam communications and 100 mW CB gear - an 
Allied walkie-talkie kit - which could be operated legally without a 
license.  To give it a chance while still following the rules to the 
letter I mounted it on top of a tall pole and wired a relay in place of 
the TR switch.  Changing the battery was lots of fun; I couldn't legally 
use outboard power.  It was not very satisfying but nothing else was 
available until I got that ticket.  I think the good buddy up the block 
who ran a KW and a four element quad on the only channel for which I had 
a crystal would have been thrilled if I had jumped the gun and got out 
of his hair.  At least *I* was legal!

It was a serious thrill when a kid in the far corner of Indiana finally 
answered the "CQ DE WN9ANI" from my 5763 homebrew transmitter.  I was 
shaking so hard I doubt he could copy much of what I sent, but it was 
good enough for a QSL.  Sure wish I could recall whether I was using the 
old ARB or my "new" BC-348 for that first QSO.  Oh well, I still have 
both of them, as well as the 5763 rig and the 1625 rig that followed it.

73 de Rich, ex-WN9ANI

>What?  Of course I bootlegged!   But only after I had passed the Novice
>exam and was impatiently awaiting the arrival of my fresh, new "ticket."
>  And, to make it seem almost "ok," I used the call of a friend of mine
>who never found out and would NOT have been happy about it!
>
>But my bootlegging career came to an abrupt halt even before my ticket
>arrived.  Incredibly, my third contact as Bootlegger Extraordinaire was
>a ham who KNEW the real owner of the call I was using!  He began asking
>things I *should* know if I were who I claimed to be!  Did he know I was
>bootlegging?  Could he detect something different in the way my "fist"
>sounded?  I'll never know but I couldn't throw the power switch fast enough!
>