[SFDXA] My Story: July 17th 1964,(IT’S JUST A HOBBY!) - from eHam

Bill bmarx at bellsouth.net
Mon Nov 10 08:22:45 EST 2014


       From eHam...


      http://www.eham.net/articles/33055


      My Story: July 17th 1964

from Steve Fetter, WA8UEG on November 4, 2014
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*My Story: July 17th 1964
(IT’S JUST A HOBBY!)***

*By: Steve Fetter, WA8UEG *

50 years ago this month, that was the day I received an envelope from 
the FCC containing my Novice licensee. It was also the day that 
eventually determined my path in life. Some say Amateur Radio is “just a 
hobby” for me, it is, and always has been much more than a hobby.

In 1961 I was sitting at our kitchen table finishing up my homework when 
my brother walked in carrying a strange looking box. “What’s that.” I 
asked? A 2 way radio he explained followed up by “you wanna help setting 
it up”? A friend of the family, Tim had sold the property and buildings 
his Dads plant sat on when his Dad passed away and became a 
multi-millionaire at a very young age then retired. My brother said that 
Tim had a bunch of 2 way radios left over and had given him 2, one for 
the home and one for his car. He also gave a couple of my brothers’ 
friends one for their cars so they could all keep in touch.

As it turned out he needed to install an antenna for the radio to work 
and my job was to dig the hole for the pipe that would hold it, I should 
have known!

Once everything was set up we could hear other stations talking, I was 
fascinated and asked if I could talk to one of the stations. That’s when 
my brother informed me that you needed a CB licensee and to get one you 
had to be 18 years old. He then showed me a document that stated that 
any illegal operation of the radio would be subject to a fine, removal 
of all equipment and could result in being sent to prison. He said I 
could listen all I wanted but if I ever pushed the mic button Feds would 
be at our house within the hour, I believed it and think he did also. 
Well listen I did, in 1961 CB in a small Midwest town was very 
respectable. Everyone used call signs and all conversations were polite. 
Sometimes “skip” would come in and I would hear stations in Texas, 
Florida and other states, I spent hours monitoring.

One day while listening Tim came over and sat down, he explained that CB 
was for just talking local, what would be of much greater interest would 
be Short Wave listening and Amateur Radio. He proceeded to explain 
SWL’ing and the difference between Ham Radio and CB. He also left a 
number of Popular Electronics (at the time there was a section on short 
wave listening) along with some 73 & QST magazines for me to look over.

After reading the magazines and with Christmas just around the corner I 
made it clear that the only thing on my list was a short wave receiver. 
My parents were at best on the low end of middle income and they made no 
promises that a short wave receiver was a realistic Christmas gift. I 
told them Tim could probably advise on a low cost receiver that would 
work and kept my fingers crossed.

When Christmas morning arrived I bolted out of bed and ran to the tree, 
my heart sank as there was a headlight for my bike, a couple of model 
cars and the wrapped boxes appeared to be clothing boxes. I opened the 
first box, a turtle neck sweater. When I opened the 2nd box my heart 
skipped a beat, in it was a Knight Kit Span Master shortwave receiver 
kit. In another box marked “from Santa” was a soldiering iron, soldier, 
wire strippers, diagonal cutters and a assortment of screw drivers. I 
later learned that these had come from Tim.

When my parents got up I was reading and trying to understand the 
assembly instructions. My dad said before I started I was to give Tim a 
call, which I did, and he asked that I read and study the instructions 
and match everything in the kit to the parts list to make sure nothing 
was missing. He said he would be over the next day around 10AM and help 
me get started.

When Tim arrived the next day he had a bag with him, we went upstairs to 
my desk where I planned to assemble the Span Master and set up the 
station like the stations I had seen in the magazines. In the bag was a 
plate with terminal strips mounted on it and some wire. He first showed 
me how then had me cut & strip all the wire pieces on both ends. Next he 
explained and showed me how to tin the wires and finally had me install 
the wires on the terminal strips he had brought after which he 
demonstrated the proper way to solider. I must have soldered more than 
60 wires on the terminal strips.

Before we started assembly Tim took each component and explained what it 
was and what purpose it served, resistors, disc capacitors, 
transformers, each tube, variable capacitors everything. It seemed like 
it took a lifetime as I wanted to start building but it was actually a 
just over an hour. Finally we began; he made sure I was careful to make 
sure everything was done proper and neat. All leads had to be as shot as 
possible; all wires had to be bent at right angles and neatly ran. After 
he was convinced I had everything down pat he left and told me to take a 
break every 45 minutes. He asked that I call him prior to plugging it in 
and giving it the “smoke test”.

A couple of days later the kit was complete, I had a 100 foot long wire 
antenna installed and ready to connect so I gave Tim a call, he was at 
my house in less than 30 minutes. He spent a while looking everything 
over and praised me for a job that looked better than most store bought 
receivers he had seen so we connected the antenna and plugged it in. 
After it warmed up and I set the regenerative control and with a small 
turn on the band spread I heard a station, it was the BBC in London. Tim 
said he had to run but had something in the car for me, it was a headset 
“so I wouldn’t drive my parents crazy.”

For the next couple of months I sent and received QSL cards from 
broadcast stations but started to listen more and more and more to the 
ham bands, I sent out several SWL cards to hams and received a return 
card for everyone I sent out, most had a note saying they hope to meet 
me on the air some day. One day I heard a very strong station and 
thought it had to be close to me but his call was not in my very old 
callbook that Tim had given me so I had no way of knowing where he was. 
I told Tim about it and he said not to worry he had a cure and dropped 
off a newer call book to me. I looked up the call and sure enough he was 
only a couple of miles from me, it was now spring so it would be an easy 
bike ride. On Saturday I went looking for the house and it was easy to 
spot, a huge antenna on a tower in the back yard, I introduced myself 
and gave him my SWL card filled out with the contact info I had heard. 
He said “welcome, my name is Tony” and spent the next hour with me 
explaining his station, antenna, amplifier, etc. then he got on the air 
and let me talk , no more listening to the broadcast stations for me 
after that. He had a novice licensee manual and gave it to me on my way 
out.

I told Tim I was going to start studying for my Novice and he suggested 
I learn the code first. The following Monday there was a code practice 
oscillator, a hand key on a heavy base and a ARRL book on learning morse 
code, I started immediately. Once I had learned the code he suggested I 
listen to the W1AW practice sessions. I tried but to say tuning W1AW in 
on my Span Master was tough was an understatement. Tim told me he had 
something that should help and a few days later brought over a BC454, a 
schematic and all the parts to build a power supply for it. He later 
admitted he had a power supply but wanted me to learn how to read a 
schematic plus the practice of building the supply from scratch. With 
his help we had the BC454 running in a few hours, W1AW code practice 
sessions were no longer a problem and before I knew it I was copying 10 
WPM and studying for the Novice. Back then the licensee manual gave a 
question then a brief explanation of why the answer was the correct 
answer. It also referenced a section in the ARRL handbook to go for 
further information. You guessed it; Tim supplied me with a handbook and 
insisted I know the reference material in the handbook then quizzed me 
on it.

In the spring of 1964 I was on my way to work at my summer job and there 
was an accident, which made me pedal an alternate route through the 
ritzy country club housing division. From a distance away I spotted a 
5-element beam on top of a very tall tower and made a mental note to 
come back the same way and check it out. After work as I was approaching 
the house when I saw a man parking his car in the driveway, I pulled my 
bike next to him “are you a ham?” I asked. “yes, my name is Jim and I 
have been one for over 20 years.” He replied. I explained I was working 
on my Novice and he invited me in to see his station. By now I had been 
in several area ham shacks but this one was special, a custom console 
housed a Collins S line, rotor indicator, antenna switch and most 
impressive was the room itself. Thus far all the “shacks” I had been in 
were in the basement with wires and cables running everywhere, this was 
a room on the main floor and no visible signs of wires anywhere!

He explained that his wife’s mother was in Colorado and very sick and 
she was with her family in Colorado for the next several weeks so he had 
lots of time for the radio. We arranged to meet on Saturday after work; 
he said not to worry about dinner as he would have a pizza delivered 
while we hammed it up. I said I was not sure if my parents would approve 
but he said just to give them his name as he knew both my oldest brother 
and dad well. When I told my parents they said no problem, seems he 
owned the largest Oldsmobile dealership in central Ohio. During our 
visits he operated CW at slow speeds and had me write it down as he 
copied it in his head then he would put the dummy load on and send while 
I copied, Then he would have me send and fine tune my wrist. He also 
went over the theory with me asking questions and then explained what 
the answer would be used for in the real world, if was still unsure he 
would explain further. 3 weeks later I was over and he said lets 
practice at some higher speeds and so we did. When he was done and 
looked over my copy he said congratulations, you just passed your novice 
code test at 13 WPM, the same as the general requirement. He said he 
would send away for the written portion and should receive it in a week 
or so. I told him that he should hold off for a few months as I needed 
to save enough for a transmitter. He asked me to wait a second and 
disappeared. About 10 minutes later he returned with a transmitter 
(Globe Scout) and said “this should do just fine” and told me it was not 
a gift but a loan that I could use at long as I wanted, it had been his 
novice transmitter. He went through the crystals he had in a box and 
removed all that were not in the novice bands, there were quite a few 
but only two for 80 meters the only band my BC454 would work on but that 
was just fine with me.

Feeling pretty confident about passing the novice written exam I began 
thinking about a 80 meter dipole. Here I was very lucky, my brother 
worked at a company that made ballasts, when they would get toward the 
end of the large spools of wire they would discard the remaining wire on 
the spool which was usually 100 to 150’ of #14 solid copper. Near me was 
a surplus store that sold 2’X2’ sheets of 1/ 2 inch polycarbonate very 
cheap. I cut a rectangle piece from the sheet and rounded the corners 
then mounted a SO239 in it drilling 2 holes on both sides of the SO 239 
for strain relief on the wires. I then cut 2 more rectangles for the end 
insulators. The very first ham I had met (Tony) often stopped by and 
happened to going by when he saw me in the yard working on the antenna 
and stopped to see what I was up to. He asked how I planned on tuning 
it, I said I cut it to the formula 468/FQ in MC I had learned. He said 
that may or may not be close but that he had a grid dip meter and we 
could check and tune it with that. He also was impressed with the 
homebrew dipole and asked what I was using for the feedline, I told him 
I still needed to buy some coax. He had a deal for me, I make him an 
80-meter dipole and he would give me the coax I needed. That night I 
made another center connector and two more end insulators then cut and 
assembled a duplicate 80 meter dipole except cut for the center of the 
phone band per his request. After we checked both with his meter 
(neither needed any adjustment) Tony helped hang it in the trees and get 
the feedline through the upstairs window to where the shack was located. 
As he was leaving he said I should make up Novice band 80 & 40/15 meter 
dipoles and sell them at hamfests.

While waiting for my “ticket” I began making dipoles, Tim suggested I 
also make and sell just the center connector and end insulators so I 
made a lot of those also. At the first hamfest Tim and I attended I sold 
enough antennas to purchase a Heathkit Cheyenne receiver and power 
supply plus a DX40. I returned the Globe Scout and Tim said to keep the 
BC454. The new receiver made a huge difference and now I was also on 40 
& 15. I decided to build a 2-element beam that I had seen in QST for 15, 
when that was in the air I began working DX on 15. The hole I had dug 
and the pipe I helped to install for my brother was well worth my time 
as it was now my tower for the beam as my brother had graduated and 
moved out, he had left the small rotor attached to the pipe.

At the next hamfest I sold enough antennas to buy a brand new Heathkit 
DX 60 kit and a new HM102 SWR/watt meter kit, which I had assembled and 
on the air in about a week.

Prior to Dayton Tim took me to Detroit where I passed my General 
followed by a trip to the Ford Museum, it was a great day, a day I will 
never forget!

At Dayton I sold a ton of antennas, my DX60 & Cheyenne and bought a 
Heath TX1 Apache & RX1 Mohawk along with the SB10 sideband adapter. In 
the flea market I found the 6 and 2-meter converters for the Mohawk at a 
great price and bought those also. At the Cincinnati hamfest I picked up 
a TA33 & Warrior amp with the money I made from antenna sales!

A year Later a friend told me about a ham near me who had a Marauder and 
was in poor health so was selling his station at a very low price; I 
went over and took a look. I couldn’t pass it up and the Apache and SB10 
were on my tailgate at the next hamfest, I decided I had the station I 
wanted so did not make or sell any more antennas. The Apache and SB10 
sold quickly and I was going to make an early day of it when I saw a 
Seneca for 6 & 2 meters for sale along with a Mosley 6 element wide 
spaced 6 meter beam, It was the missing piece to the station and both 
the antenna and beam went home with Tim & I.

Fast-forwarding a couple of years I will complete the rest of the story.

My brother got me an sfter school job in the engineering department 
where he worked; my job was cleaning up the labs and putting equipment 
and tools away. It was only my 3rd day on the job and a Friday, the lab 
Techs were trying to hook up a light fixture and measure volts, amps, 
and watts with separate meters at the output of a mercury vapor ballast 
operating a light fixture. They were frustrated and it was after 5, the 
manager of the department was there trying to help to no avail. I asked 
if I could give it a try, he looked at me like I was nuts but I assured 
him I was pretty sure I could get all the meters working where they 
needed to make the measurements. He said, “go for it.” I drew out a 
schematic of the circuit and where to attach the leads from each meter, 
and it worked. That night when I got home I became nervous and 
double-checked what I had done. I was convinced everything was OK.

When I went to work the following day the manager said that Jack wanted 
to see me in his office, Jack was the Senior VP of Engineering and in 
charge of all the labs. Ought oh, what went wrong, did I kill a meter, 
start a fire, mess up the test somehow? I went up to his office and told 
his secretary he asked to see me and she told me to go in that he was 
expecting me. I knocked on his door and he said “come in” then he said 
“close the door and have a seat,” beads of sweat were forming on my 
forehead. He pulled the schematic I had drawn from his draw and said 
“this is very good” and asked how I knew so much about electronics. I 
explained that I was an Amateur Radio operator and had passed the 
General exam at the Federal Communications Commission office in Detroit 
Michigan and that I had also passed a 13 WPM Morse code test. I went on 
and told him that I had built transmitters, receivers, test instruments 
and antennas and that my interest started when I was 12. He said he 
never thought he would say this to a part time high school student but 
that I was over qualified for cleaning out labs and if I would be 
interested in working part time as a lab technician, my pay would be 
doubled. After working out the summer as a lab tech I was offered a full 
time position till the fall when I started college. Further, they let me 
work as many hours as I could while attending college. Five years later 
I was working as senior test engineer for their Photometric Lab when I 
was offered a position as Manager of Engineering for another lighting 
company based in Pennsylvania and accepted the job at the ripe old age 
of 26. Still I loved the time I spent wheeling and dealing and selling 
at the hamfests a few years earlier and found myself becoming more and 
more involved in the sales end of the business. After 5 years with the 
company I left and started my own independent rep agency for commercial 
light fixtures back in Ohio.

In Ohio I met several new hams and we all became good friends. The 6 of 
us went to up state Michigan every year for more than 35 years, set up a 
station and fished for 3 or 4 days. We still arrange to meet for a long 
weekend a couple of times a year with our XYL’S and set up schedules 
during the year to chat. The 6 of us have now been good friends since 1977.

Today I’m still in the business, although winding it down, and working 
as an Independent Sales Representative in the lighting industry.

To me Amateur Radio is a passion. It has been responsible for my career, 
along with lifelong friends and introduced me to new friends almost 
every year since obtaining my licensee. None of this would have happened 
or even been possible were it not for Ham Radio. Amateur Radio has been 
much much more than “just a hobby” for me.

Although he never smoked or drank and only ate healthy food my dear 
friend Tim passed away at the age of 59 from cancer, we remained close 
friends up to his last day. A few months ago I read in the silent keys 
section of QST that Tony had passed away, after I moved from Ohio we 
talked on the air for a few years then lost contact. Jim, sold the car 
dealership and moved to Arizona 30 years ago and we never were in 
contact after he moved, his car dealership is still going strong and 
still bears his name in my home town.

Me, well after 50 years you can find me on the air most everyday 
somewhere between 160 & 6 meters rag chewing on CW or SSB, chasing a 
DXpedtion or new country, operating a contest, checking into a 60 meter 
net or chasing a new grid or country on 6.

http://www.eham.net/articles/33055



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