Category: Green — Wayne

Hugo Gernsback — Was he Like Wayne Green?

“The Electrical Experimenter” sent to me by Nick M0NTV reminded me of Hugo Gernsback. Many of the radio books I have on my shelf have his name on them. He played a big role in early radio and television, and in science fiction. Check out the Wikipedia article on Gernsback:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Gernsback

I see similarities between Hugo Gernsback and Wayne Green. What do you guys think?

Gernsback’s TV goggles in 1963

That’s Gernsback watching TV in 1928

Knack Story — Tom WX2J

RTTY Model 15

Hello Bill,
Greetings from a fellow ham in Northern Virginia. I have enjoyed the SolderSmoke podcast for a few years now, and I just heard your recent presentation to the Vienna Wireless Society. We have a lot in common so it is about time I reach out to make your acquaintance.
I was born in NYC and grew up in Northern NJ. I was first licensed in 1969 as a high school student (51 years ago! Goodness!). My novice callsign was WN2JFX, and I progressed from Novice and then to General and Advanced as WB2JFX, and then eventually to Extra (in about 1990 — while the 20 WPM code requirement still existed). At that point I put in for a 2X1 callsign and received WX2J, which is a nice twist on my original call.
I was fanatically active in my early years in ham radio. My Elmer (George, K2VVI, SK) set me up with a DX-40, and my parents provided a brand new Hallicrafters S-120 (you could copy the whole 40 meter band without changing the frequency!). I think I Worked all States as a Novice and learned that the human brain is the most amazing audio filter on the market. When I made General, George lent me an old Hallicrafters SX-25, and then I was really in good shape. Besides CW, I was also very interested in RTTY. I had my own Model 15 leaking oil in the basement and had a blast watching the magic of that thing printing messages out of thin air. I have always been a home-brewer, and one of the first serious things I built was a two- or three-tube RTTY demodulator from the Handbook. Aluminum chassis, chassis punches, tube sockets — the whole works. I have no idea what the real inductance was of the inductors that went into the filters but somehow if the signals were strong enough, and on 850 Hz shift, it could actually demodulate signals. I probably still have that thing around here somewhere.
Another local ham bequeathed me his entire collection of 73 magazines – 10+ years starting with the first issue (~1960). I read them from cover to cover so many times I probably have them memorized. I became a real fan of Wayne Green, W2NSD, who was always ornery and controversial but a very interesting guy. I met him at a hamfest many years later and we had a great chat.
In any case I wanted to mention some other things that resonate with me as I listen to your podcast. As a kid growing up in the shadow of NYC in those years, you can bet that the Jean Shepherd broadcast was a regular part of our life. My dad used to listen to it every night — 10:15 p.m. I believe, on WOR — and we both used to greatly enjoy his stories of lighting up the fuse panel and nearly blowing up the house as he and his old man were playing with radios, etc. It was a common theme in our house too when my ham radio signal would blast into the TV set or I dangled new antenna wires off the house and out of the trees — “You’re going to blow this house up!” I studied electrical engineering in college and was commissioned in the Air Force upon graduation. I served a 20-year career in the Air Force and stayed somewhat active in ham radio. I was licensed and operated out of Okinawa (KA6TF) and England (G5ERE) during tours of duty in the early 1980s. Always an HF guy, in about 1982, in Japan, I bought myself a new Icom IC-720A, and this is still my primary rig. I was an early adopter of PK-232 and did some extensive building and experimenting with it. Sadly though, in the last 25+ years, my ham radio experience has mostly been vicarious as my work and family obligations have just not left much time for ham radio. I do have a G5RV wire antenna strung up but very rarely jump on the air — sometimes during contests.
In high school we made a field trip to ARRL HQ in Newington, CT. While there we did all the things people do on such a visit, but one of the high points for me was meeting Doug DeMaw. I can just hear how Shepherd would describe it — “I turned the corner and there he was! In person! The high priest of homebrewing! Doug DeMaw. In the flesh!” Cue the kazoo. I actually also met Shepherd at a book signing (Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories?). I remember presenting him with a computer-printed banner of his callsign — K2ORS — produced by one of the few functioning computer programs I had written in high school. I also heard him on the HF bands one night — I think he was in Florida — and actually made contact with him, if barely being able to exchange callsigns can count as a contact.
Well, more than you wanted to know. I just wanted to let you know that I enjoy your podcast and can personally relate to very much of what you say. Although I am steeped in Hardware Defined Radio, I am also a software guy so I expect that my future includes SDR. I hope you and Pete are able to continue the podcast for a long time to come because I need the full HDR-SDR spectrum to be covered — hi.
73,
Tom Fuhrman, WX2J

Un-modifying an S-38 in 1966, and the Urge to Build

Michael mentioned this article in the Comments section under yesterday’s post. March 1966 issue of 73 magazine. Page 26. Just click on the images for easier reading. Or you can find the article here:
http://archive.org/stream/73-magazine-1966-03/03_March_1966#page/n27/mode/1up

More S38 wisdom from 73 here:
http://archive.org/stream/73-magazine-1976-11/11_November_1976#page/n89/mode/1up
That’s the November 1976 issue, page 88.

I miss “73”.

Navassa Island 1972

The K1N DX-pedition is currently on Navassa Island (between Jamaica and Haiti). This made me think of one of my earliest ham radio memories: The 73 Magazine article on a 1972 operation on that island. Here is a short video on that trip. It is kind of wacky and fun.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

A Very Simple and Stable VFO

From the November 1964 issue of 73 Magazine, by way of a compendium book sent to me from New York City by Dave W2DAB, comes words of wisdom about how to make a simple, super-stable VFO. Lots of great ideas in this article. My favorite was running the thing off D cell batteries and leaving it on all the time! The article was written by Roger Taylor, K9ALD.

Here is the article:

http://archive.org/stream/73-magazine-1964-11/11_November_1964#page/n11/mode/1up

Thanks to Dave, Roger, Wayne Green and the Internet Archive.



Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics” http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

73 Magazine — Online!

Some of my earliest ham radio memories are of 73 Magazine. Perhaps this has something to do with the electro-erotica cover shots of the early 1970s! I used to buy copies at “Electronics 59” in Spring Valley, New York. I remember struggling to understand the magazine: Why were these guys so obsessed about going to Navassa Island? Why was there a column entitled “Never Say Die?” Why was the classified section entitled “Caveat Emptor?” In time, all this would become clear to me. Occasionally, I’ll come across an old issue and will suddenly remember it from when it first came out. I must have read these things cover-to-cover. (Jean Shepherd recalled reading even the grommet ads in the old QSTs.)

I really liked 73. It always had a zany, edgy, kind of “out-there” feel to it. Of course, near the end it went too far off the reservation (Bio-electrifiers? Faked moon walks?)

This morning QRP-L brings us the news that all the back issues are available on-line:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3A73-magazine&sort=-publicdate

I’m hoping that somewhere in there we will be able to find that early 70’s article about the varactor-tuned DC receiver that I tried to build but couldn’t get working.

Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

73 in the 70s

Mike, VK3XL, has been helping me track down the article that led to my traumatic failed teenage receiver-building project. He found this very interesting index for 73 Magazine articles. A quick look through the 1975-1978 period revealed several suspects, and hit me with a wave of nostalgia. What a great magazine 73 was! Sure, it was a bit wacky, but it had really wonderful technical content, at just the right level for truly amateur ham radio operators. Take your own walk down memory lane:
http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/files/ham/73.html

Digital Designers Discover Hands. Wayne Green

Sent in by Mike, kc7IT, here is an interesting article on how software guys are being encouraged to build things with their hands:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/technology/17ping.html

Sent in by our musician, Mark “Moj” Johnson, W8MOJ, here is an update on Wayne Green of “73” magazine fame:
http://www.computerworld.com