[MCARC] Ernie Wolff's callsign history

[Farren Constable]

Nate:

So, was there any connection between Ernie Wolff and Wolff Radio & TV, the
old Radio Shack store in Marysville?

And who ran that store before Cohorst's took over and changed the name to
AC/DC Electronics?  I spent a large chunk of my life in that store as well
as a large chunk of money, but can't recall who the guy was running it....

-Farren




The Computer Shed
Business Computer Services
785.747.8100



On Wed, Jan 4, 2017 at 9:13 PM, Nate Bargmann <n0nb at n0nb.us> wrote:

> Something I read today made me start looking for resources of old
> callbooks.  I found that the Department of Commerce callsign directories
> from the mid 1920s to 1931 are online.  W0IS has helpfully included
> links on his Web site:
>
>       http://w0is.com/oldcallsigns/oldcalls.html
>
> Way back when I got my Novice, Ernie was the examiner (back then a
> Novice exam was conducted by a single licensed radio amateur holding at
> least a General class license) and he told me he had first been licensed
> in 1926 and then held W9GCJ after international prefixes were assigned.
> After World War 2 the call districts were realigned and the present
> tenth district was created.  At that time Ernie's call was converted to
> W0GCJ which is now held by the MCARC.
>
> My assumption was that he had initially been assigned 9GCJ.  I found
> this evening that my assumption has been incorrect all of this time.
> Searching the callbooks by 9GCJ turned up nothing but I had a few hits
> with Wolff and found that Ernie first appears in the June 30, 1926 DOC
> callbook and again in the June 30, 1927 edition as the holder of 9EJV
> with an address of R.F.D., Marysville.
>
> Evidently, at least the station license was vacated as in the June 30
> 1928 edition W9EJV was reassigned to another station (after the
> international radio conference of 1927 the international prefixes were
> assigned to the various countries as amateur radio was formally
> recognized in the international radio regulations).  As of the 1928
> edition, W9FWF was about the last assigned "three letter" call.  Most
> all callsigns after it in the callbook, with a couple of exceptions, are
> "two letter" such as W9FX which is the next in the listings.  Thus, per
> the book, W9GCJ is unassigned.  Interestingly, there is no comment about
> the addition of the W prefixes.
>
> In the June 30, 1929 edition of the DOC callbook W9GCJ was assigned to a
> station in Chicago.  Amateur radio was growing as the last of the three
> letter calls appears to have been W9GKT.  But then W9GLA is shown two
> places later with W9GL in between.  One must remember at that time the
> individual district field offices assigned the calls and they apparently
> recycled lapsed calls rather quickly.
>
> In the June 30, 1930 edition, W9GCJ was no longer shown in the listings.
>
> In the June 30, 1931 edition, W9GCJ was assigned to Ernie with an
> address of 203 Fourth Street, Marysville, which I gather would have been
> just south of the present day house west across the street from Mike's
> OK Tire.
>
> In those days callsigns were assigned to the station and not the
> operator.  Operator privileges were separate from the station license
> (actually, separate documents if my memory of the history I've read is
> correct).  It is quite possible that Ernie did not have a permanent
> station sometime between his appearance in the 1927 callbook and again
> in the 1931 callbook.  As a result, he may have been required to
> surrender his station license during that time frame.  He may well have
> been able to keep his operator license and could have possibly operated
> from some club, school, or as a guest at another operator's station.
>
> This bit of research answered a number of questions for me.
>
> 73, Nate
>
> --
>
> "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
> possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."
>
> Ham radio, Linux, bikes, and more: http://www.n0nb.us
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