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 They were the newest radio receivers to replace many of those outdated Hammerlund receivers that were stacked in the familiar "rack" of receivers that was at every monitoring post.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!