[QCWA] Fiction - sort of

[N0UF]

FYI:

Dan isn't subscribed to the QCWA Reflector.
I allowed his posting because of the great content.
To contact Dan use dmetzger at monroe.lib.mi.us

I invited him to Join QCWA and the Reflector.
Bill, you can join too!

73,
Bob N0UF
Reflector Admin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Metzger" <wmetzger at earthlink.net>
To: "Discussion of QCWA" <qcwa at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [QCWA] Fiction - sort of


> Dan,
>
> What a great story!
>
> While I am not a member of QCWA (I should be though after 31 years of 
> being a ham) I continually read all the postings.  Yours in particular 
> brought back memories of my own childhood in Northern New Jersey.  Once 
> day I was hiking in the woods in back of my parents house and found this 
> unusual pole in the middle of nowhere.  It was about 6 inches round and 
> seemed to be 60 or 80 feet high (I was only about 13 at the time so it was 
> pretty darn high to me).  At the top there was a wire.  I followed this 
> and came across a house on the next street.  In all the wire was pretty 
> darn long.  At the end there was another one of the poles with ladder-line 
> leading down to a glass enclosed porch.  Being a kid, I went up to the 
> house and knocked on the door.  An older German gentleman came to the door 
> and I asked him about the wire.  That was the beginning of my interest in 
> Ham Radio.  He brought me into his "shack" and there was all this 
> equipment, some of which was about 6 feet high.  He had a full Collins 
> line, receiver, transmitter and I remember a floor mounted amplifier which 
> was a Henry.
>
> I spent a number of hours with him listening to stations around the world. 
> Several times he took me into his basement where he had all sorts of 
> electronic equipment.  He would always give me something that I liked.  At 
> one point he gave me a glass tube that was about 24 inches tall and 4 
> inches round.  I kept it for years but now have no idea where it went. 
> Sure wish I had it today.  Unfortunately I don't remember his call or for 
> that matter his name.  I'm sure he is long gone.
>
> My second Elmer, and the one who really got me going was Hank Clark, W2IQ 
> (K2DS).  Hank lived about 3 miles from my apartment in Totowa, NJ.  One 
> day I pulled out an old receiver and was tuning around when I heard some 
> very loud CW.  I slowly got all the letters down, went to the local radio 
> store and looked up his address in the callbook.  I visited Hank and spent 
> a lot of time with him.  He is the one who gave me my Novice test.  Hank 
> was into AM and had a BC-610.  What a neat unit.  He had Collins and 
> TenTec equipment and even loaned me his Omni D when he went on vacation. 
> Hank could carry on a CW conversation with someone while he chatted with 
> me.  Unbelievable to me yet today.
>
> I eventually moved away and learned that Hank had moved to Tennessee (near 
> TenTec).  I corresponded infrequently and lost contact for quite a few 
> years.  Recently I found that he passed away a few years ago in a fall. 
> I've found pictures of him on the internet and was going to change my call 
> to his in memory of the great conversations we had.  That call is now the 
> club call to which he belonged.  Fitting for a man who gave so much to me 
> and others.
>
> Well, this is the new year and my first reminiscing.  Again, your story 
> was great and brought back these memories.
>
> By-the-way, any relation to any Metzger's from the Long Island, New York 
> area?
>
> Bill KF0OH (now St. Louis)
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