My attention has recently been diverted from radio as I have finally got started on writing a new book. I’ve started this work multiple times through the ages but have never followed through to printing. This particular calling happens around the 4th of July every year because that was the day when a family tragedy took place and spun off an alternate universe for my family as well as an unknown number of others. In the early morning hours of July 4, 1978 a rollover Jeep accident claimed the lives of three close friends, one of them my fiancé’s twenty-three-year-old...
W.A.Z. This is the story of C.Q. ham, Born with an oscillating diaphragm. He shocked his parents quite a bit, For his first clear words were, “Da, da, dit.” His ear was sharp, and his eye was keen, And he cut his teeth on an 813. They sent him to learn how to read, write, and spell, But little C.Q. didn’t make out so well. He had built his own station when nine years old, But English and History left him quite cold. The years sped by, and so he grew, And fell in love, as all boys do; He...
I tried my best to stir up something in the monthly Spartan Sprint last night, and wound up hearing nothing. Again. I looked a little later on 3830 and noticed there were only eight total scores there from SP entrants. Summertime is radio doldrums time and I’m pretty certain that accounts for some of the low turnout. Still, the old QRP events aren’t nearly as popular as they once were and it makes me wonder how long this decline will continue before they all go QRT? Since I was in the shack I worked a couple of POTA stations and...
Since subscribing to the CQ Magazine archive a few days ago I’ve already spent hours spelunking through the early days of the print publication. Lot of things leap out, like how voluminous the magazine was during the 1950’s. Certain monthly editions ran over 200 pages, some even more than that. Not that there was more content, but there were a lot more advertisements — there were a lot more manufacturers. That seems to indicate a healthier amateur radio ecosystem though it’s difficult to make direct comparisons between then and now as the internet and online sales have changed the game...
Words I never thought I’d hear myself say, “I remember fifty years ago like it was yesterday”. My goodness, but I’m getting old! Fifty years ago I was a junior in high school and incredibly excited because it was 1976, America’s bicentennial and celebrations of that major milestone were everywhere to be seen. It felt as though I was living in a very special moment. Though it would still be one more year before I would receive my ham radio license, I was preparing for that day. I had worked Field Day with the local club (hand logging in the...