Saturday, March 3, 2012

1947: WHEN THE "BOAT ANCHOR" WAS KING


The above article would have been an interesting program at the January, 1947 meeting of the area's DVRA (Delaware Valley Radio Association) meeting. I got into the amateur fraternity in the 1970's when the "old timers" like Les Allen, Les Wood, Steve Csorgo, and numerous other veteran operators were in their twilight years. What interesting stories they told and could tell! Speaking of boat anchors, that R390 all band receiver was sitting next to me in Germany and Italy as I monitored Russian and Yugoslav military messages back in my ASA (Army Security Agency) years of 1955 - 1958. It certainly wasn't considered a boat anchor back then. They were the newest radio receivers to replace many of those outdated Hammerlund receivers that were stacked in the familiar "rack" of receivers that was at every monitoring post. That R390 happened to be installed at my post during the 1956 -57 season when the sunspot cycle was favoring reception. I recall sitting at my post, turning to 1130 on the AM dial and listening to ground wave broadcasts from the good old U.S.A. That was a real treat back then, before the modern satellite transmissions allows us to listen to radio all over the world without the static. Egads, as I write this, I realize that I was an operator of one of those very hi-tech short wave - all band boat anchors! Time marches on!

1909 AND 1911: VERY EARLY AMATEUR RADIO

As you can see in the article to the right in the graphic, my Father-in-law, Ray Britton was one of Trenton's earliest radio pioneers. Had he continued his interest in radio, he would have been right been right next to Trenton's Ed Raser as a very early devotee of radio communication. Commercial broadcast radio as we know it today, didn't come into vogue until the early 1920's. It must have been truly exciting back in those very early years to communicate via wireless to another radio operator in another town. I also assume it would have been a somewhat dangerous hobby for those who are not familiar with high voltage and primitive equipment.