[Lowfer] Lowfer history

[ED]

We almost crossed paths.  I lived in Sierra Madre [on Michillinda, 
couple of blocks below SM Blvd from 1950 until 1970 and was very active 
in 2M and HF RTTY.  Also did LF listening but didn't build a transmitter 
until a few years later.  I did modify the first BD-453 to cover 160-260 
kHz just before I moved to San Gabriel.  I used to look at all the 
goodies C&H picked up on bids from the various companies who disposed of 
stuff regularly for tax purpose but didn't buy much except a few HP 
power supplies because of lack of room.  Henry told me once that, in 
effect, they always bribed guys in company 'property' groups to get a 
chance to be the first and hopefully only bidder.  They started out in 
an open lot across the street from Dow Radio, further west on Colorado, 
and when I first ran into them they had big tables sitting out in a 
vacant lot.  Later the moved east and had their warehouse near the 
freeway, long before the one on Garvey.  One of their early hits was a 
couple of freight car loads of variacs which had been cleaned out of a 
warehouse at the Logan AFB after a big fire.  Most of them were 
salvageable with replacement of brushes, a little cleaning, and black 
spray painting.  When I first heard about that from a friend who worked 
there they had some high school kids doing this after school.  I suspect 
the profit from that got them going strong.  I was really sorry that 
Carl ended up shutting the place down.  The building is still sitting 
empty with the 'C&H Surplus' sign on the roof, or it was the last time I 
drove by.  There is a much smaller version of C&H out in Arcadia, run by 
Henry's sun 'Froggy',.  You may remember him because of his 'froggy' voice.

Not exactly lowfer I guess..................


Steve Dove wrote:

>Wow!  C&H Sales!
>
>A lifetime ago (late '70s) I lived for a while up in Sierra 
>Madre and C&H was a weekly adventure.  I scored a Rohde und 
>Schwartz SWOB2 (hands up who knows what that was!) but the 
>real treasure was a Bird wattmeter mounted on a 19" rack panel 
>engraved "Spacecraft Power".  As cool as it gets.
>
>         Cheers,
>
>                 Steve      W3EEE
>
>
>On 7/9/2012 2:18 AM, KD7JYK DM09 wrote:
>  
>
>>: Maybe the start of a Lowfer history page?
>>
>>In the early to mid-80's I ran into a fellow at C&H Sales in Pasadena, CA
>>that told me there was a large LowFER community in SoCal since the 1960's.
>>I'm pretty sure he mentioned the Downey Amateur Radio Club (possibly San
>>Gabriel?) and that they met at a fire department.
>>
>>Kurt
>>    
>>
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