[NLRS] July,1976 with the Realistic UHF FM portable

[kg0vl at aol.com]

    Good evening all.
Back in the summer of 1976 I was fortunate enough to use a Realistic UHF band FM receiver. It was "on loan" from my Elmer Jack, KØWOW from Waterloo, Iowa.  It was small, used internal batteries, and had a telescoping whip antenna.  My family and I were traveling to Minneapolis and ended up staying at the old Thunderbird Hotel In Bloomington, right next to the Minneapolis International Airport. 
     At that time, I was into everything "airport". Recalling from memory, I think the rig only covered roughly 440 to maybe 470mcs FM.  It didn't take too long to figure out that there were not too many airport operations in that frequency range.  I listened all evening, never once hearing anything related to the airport.  It was time to retire for bed, and I thought I had one chance left.  This new Tandy radio had "squelch" so I went just above the threshold and the radio remained silent.  It had a generic (analog) radial dial VFO.  Being a teenager, I took the "best guess" approach to where I thought the frequency should be set.  It was borderline witchcraft, as the dial was so vague one was nearly, "spitting into the wind".  I didn't know (or care) what I would hear, as long as it involved the airport.  That night, I was hoping I could hear perhaps a ramp agent, ground personnel, tug operator or anything to do with the Metropolitan Airport Commission. Keep in mind this was only six years after Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin tried to land the Trans Global 707 on runway two niner instead of runway two, two into the wind.  That story however, is for another time.
      The overnight came and went.  Much like today, the MSP airport grows quiet in the small hours.  The Realistic radio sat along the bedside, still programmed to the "best guess" scenario with squelch set and the radio remained quiet.  Golden slumbers occurred and the night passed peacefully.
      'Round about 4 am, the radio came to life, and boy did it come to life.  After a whole evening of quiet, this machine started to belch out terms and phrases I was not ready or able to copy.  Somehow, just somehow, I landed upon an active frequency.  While still in nocturnal slumber, I recall terms of "Lange" to North Central "Green".  The voice was loud and clear, 100% on frequency.  Since it was early morning, the volume was strong enough to raise the dead.  Next came terms of "Claude" Northwest Orient Gold. By now I had regained my senses and tired to figure out what was going on.  The next transmission came from someone called "dispatch".  The verbatim went on and on for what seemed like hours. The signal was so loud and clear, you could hear it over the window air conditioner.  I finally thought I had found the rainbow's end. Was this it?  Did I finally stumble across the airport?  About that time, my poor mother (whom was sleeping in the bed next to me) gave out a loud response.  "Shut that damn thing off". 
    By now, to me, I had "London Calling", so I had to act quickly.  I took the radio under the covers, turned down the volume and tried to figure out what was gong on.  As time went on, a local ragchew began.  There was talk of baseball, the weather and whatnot. The signals became very loud and were even distorting the audio.  It is something I will not forget. 
     After about ten or fifteen minutes of nonsense, the truth came out. It seems the signals that I thought were appearing from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport, were nothing more than the local taxi cabs that had assembled outside of the hotel in the circle near the Marquis. They were so close I could see them out the hotel window. 
    Heartbroken?  Yes, but at that time, I did hear them.  In those days not many could have done even that.



73, de KGØVL
Jeffrey Leer
Fairbank, Iowa. USA