Why I like Radio

 

The picture above shows My first CB radio I purchased when I was in high school.It was a used radio that cost Me $75 which was a lot of money back then but a used radio was cheaper than a new purchase. It also was only a 23 channel CB because the FCC had not authorized the additional 40 channels common today. I think I bought this before I had a drivers license so I had it on my desk in my bedroom and used a 12v power supply. My Father allowed me to put up a small vertical antenna attached to the gable end of the house and I remember running a ground down to a short ground rod.It worked and I used it until I finally had a car to install it into.I still have this radio although I haven't used it in years.

  Like many Ham Radio operators My love of radio started with CB radio and shortwave. My father inadvertently introduced me to both- first he showed me a CB radio installed in his car on loan from the Police department which He was a reserve member. It was an old tube radio but listening to him talk to the station really peaked my interest. I also saved enough money to buy walkie-talkies from the local Holiday gas station. Holiday gas stations back then had an abundance of hunting,fishing and outdoor supplies. Those holiday walkie-talkies used CB channel 14 and I was able to talk to older kids using CB radios in their cars. The FCC required a license back then to operate CB radio and I still remember my call from those days!

   The next radio was a Zenith Transoceanic H500 which He brought home for me to try and fix. He was gifted this radio from a local bus service owner who also had a junkyard and it just so happened my father needed some car parts and in addition to them he brought the radio home too. I still have this radio! The outside leather/canvas was dirty but the inside chassis was pristine. It worked just okay and I wasn't able to make it 100% until vocational school electronics when I was taught enough to figure out several simple problems. It still works to this day!

  My home town was small and I think several Ham Radio operators might have been active during that time. I remember some gossip about a guy across town who spent lots of time in his basement talking around the world. I never met him or was introduced so I missed out on possible "elmering" into the Ham radio hobby. That would not happen until my career at the local utility companies electronics division where I worked with several Ham's. Fun times learning and operating on radios was just ahead . 

73--Tim N0UJJ