[Heathkit] OT: Nostalgia: Question on Tommy Rockford Ham Radiobooks

[Ian]

Tommy (the author who is also the main character as Tommy "Rockford") did
NOT have an ARC-4 on 2 meters.  I think I was the only one among the Santa
Barbara 145.8 2 meter group with an ARC-4.  Tommy and Doc both DID have
Gonset Communicators and it was common to have dual vertically polarized 2
meter beams.  Most were Gonset beams if I remember correctly and my dual 8
element skeleton slot was an odd ball at the time.

Yes, the characters, including Doc were actual hams.  Doc was an MD,
pediatrician as I recall, and he used to do house calls driving with one
hand inside his coat so it'd be warm when he examined the kids on a cold
winter night.  My recollection is that he often had his Communicator in the
car.

Tommy (Tompkins) the author got permission from many of the 2 meter group in
Santa Barbara to use both their call letters and their first names or a
suitable pseudonym.  By the time that most of the books were written I was
in graduate school and not in Santa Barbara all year so I sort of lost track
of who was actually in the books.  I guess I should find some of the
original versions of the books and read them to remember who was part of the
2 meter group and what their calls were.

Tommy was not very technically inclined.  His expertise was writing and his
job was at the Santa Barbara News Press where he did a lot of local history
stuff and general news.  He also wrote a few TV shows that he sold.  ($5,000
a script as I recall for some reason.)  Mostly his scripts were westerns I
think.  His call, K6ATX, when I last looked was held by a young boy in Utah.

I don't ever remember him having a tower but a push up mast with his 2 meter
beam/rotator on it.  I think his ham activity was mainly on 2 meters (AM of
course in those days) and there were few evenings that he failed to check
into the 145.8 net.  I don't remember if he was also active on 10 meters
with the fairly large AREC group that gathered once a week at the upper end
of ten meters for a net controlled from the Red Cross building.  For a fair
period I used to do the net control duties.

If you're familiar with the Santa Barbara and Goleta area you can easily
pick out landmarks and places in the books.  You would also, even with a
disguised name, recognize local hams from the 1950s and 60s from some of the
descriptions though I think just about everybody Tommy asked to use in the
book said yes so many, if not all, of the calls were real.

Ian, K6SDE
On the air in Santa Barbara from 1955-56 to 1968 with a couple of breaks
when away at college during the school year.




> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: heathkit-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:heathkit-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
> >>On Behalf Of Bwana Bob
> >>Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 2:41 PM
> >>To: Paul
> >>Cc: List-Heathkit
> >>Subject: Re: [Heathkit] OT: Nostalgia: Question on Tommy Rockford Ham
Radiobooks
> >>
> >>Hi Gang,
> >>
> >>I have completed my research on "SOS at Midnight", by rereading the 1971
> >>edition and taking notes. The original publication date was 1957. I
> >>first read it when I was a kid, around 1964. It was reissued in
> >>paperback by Peregrine Press (Sagamore Books) in 1971. The 1971 edition
> >>appears to have only minor edits, which do not change the radio
> >>equipment types or detract from the story. I found the following edits:
> >>
> >>"... but these are the 1970's, not the 1920's."  p 26
> >>
> >>"The trend now is for single sideband all transistorized equipment."  p
126.
> >>
> >>"That clock's ticking had an eerie sound; like the pulsing of a dying
> >>heart or the count-down of an Apollo moon launch."
> >>
> >>The radio equipment descriptions were unedited in the 1971 edition, so I
> >>can state the following with authority:
> >>
> >>Tommy's equipment: DX-100, crystal mike, matchbox, all-band
> >>communication receiver (unnamed), Q-multiplier, standby transmitter
> >>(unnamed), ARC-4 for 2 meters.
> >>
> >>Tommy's antennas: 80 foot tower, 15 meter bowtie beam, twin-5 2 meter
> >>beam, vertically polarized, folded dipole.
> >>
> >>His mobile antenna: 10 foot chrome-plated whip on the rear bumper, with
> >>a "gleaming copper loading coil".
> >>
> >>2 meter mobile gear used by Tommy and Doc: Gonset Communicators with the
> >>green tuning eyes.
> >>
> >>Doc's HF receiver is a "Hammerlund" [sic].
> >>
> >>There is a nice endorsement of Heathkit equipment on page 124: "You can
> >>buy transmitters all ready to go, but you miss out on half the fun,
> >>doing it that way. These Heathkit jobs use top-grade components, too, so
> >>when you're finished you've got something that will last indefinitely."
> >>
> >>There are literally dozens of names and call signs mentioned in the
> >>book. I wonder if these were friends of the author. It would be
> >>interesting to look up some of them. I wrote them all down, but that's a
> >>project for another day!
> >>
> >>If there's any interest, I'll go through "CQ Ghost Ship" (The first one
> >>I read as a kid, and my personal favorite) and "DX Brings Danger". I
> >>don't have a copy of the fourth book, "Death Valley QSO."
> >>
> >>
> >>				73 and keep it green!
> >>
> >>				Bob WB2VUF
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>Paul wrote:
> >>> Back in the late 50's early 60's I read several books about a teenage
> >>> ham named Tommy Rockford, K6ATX (the author, Walker A. Tompkin's
> >>> personal call). At a hamfest I happened across a few of the books that
> >>> had been reprinted by the ARRL and picked them up to reread. It
appears
> >>> that they have been rewritten to bring them up to date equipment-wise,
> >>> so that from a "nostalgia" perspective, they didn't fit my time frame.
> >>> Does anyone have a copy of the originals, from the 1957-1964
timeframe?
> >>>
> >>> What I'm trying to determine is what equipment the hams in the books
> >>> were using at that time. Some of it, primarily transmitters, I recall,
> >>> but I can't seem to remember what receivers were in use.
> >>>
> >>> For example, in the book SOS at Midnight, I'm pretty sure Tommy used a
> >>> DX-100 transmitter. In CQ Ghost Ship, Tommy's uncle had either a KWM-1
> >>> or KWM-2 he used mobile, and Trudy (K6ZNT) had a DX-35, but again, I
> >>> don't remember what receiver she used. Likewise Noisy Noyce had a
> >>> homebrew transmitter, but what receiver? In DX Brings Danger, Tommy
used
> >>> the equipment of W7RDR but I can't recall what gear.
> >>>
> >>> Anybody have these old books or rememeber the original series and what
> >>> gear was used by the characters in the books?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks, 73, Ray W2EC
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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> >>** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
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