[BC] What brought me into radio

[Cowboy]

On Tuesday 29 July 2014 01:50:43 pm COURYHOUSE at aol.com.INVALID wrote:
> 
> For me it was the Tom Swift Series... Discovered them in 4th  grade 
> But  I was already hooked  by then! I had built a crystal set   in third grade already and was obsessed! 

 I know this has come up before....

 My dad was a radio operator second class, USS Vogelgesang destroyer escort.
 Code. "Press" at 60 WPM for hours on end.
 My dad could sit at a mill and copy 100% 60 WPM literally in his sleep, or while
 holding a conversation with someone else in the room.
 At some extremely young age, he got me a code practice set.
 Basically, a buzzer with a sorta key. The premium version with the #47 lamp
 for "silent" messaging !
 Didn't mean much to me, until he grabbed one, wired them together through
 the snap clips provided, and banged out something at what was slow for him.
 About 40 words per minute or so. That got my attention.
 That vibrator buzzer could be heard on an AM radio. *That* got my attention !
 It could be heard on a crystal set. That got my attention.
 So could AM radio stations ! ( in that day. Not so much noise then )
 The seed was planted.
 ( it would still be many years before I achieved 60 WPM, and the various
 licenses that came with having some understanding how it all works )

 Sometime later, he and I visited a ham radio operator.
 Transmitters ! That *really* got my attention ! And voice ! 

 Sometime later, I interviewed the chief at the local TV station as part of a
 class "career" assignment, or some such.
 As a part of that, I got to tour the transmitter plant. 5 megawatts ERP. Unreal !
 To a small boy in whom the seed was germinating, things were starting to happen.

 Some years later, at some forgotten radio station, someone let me push 
 "the button" !   Me ! Just a kid. Wow ! What a rush !
 *Almost* like coming off the clutch in a nitro-fuel burner, but not as harsh.
 A gentle push on that spring loaded inch or so diameter button....
 Contactors go BANG ! A status indicator lights. Blowers wind up. That
 friendly yellow orange glow emanates from behind those moments before
 very dark glass panels in the front doors. More status indicators. 
  Meters haltingly swing up scale.
 Another BANG ! Something starts to groan. Then another BANG !
 The common point meter jumps to about 32 amps. 32 friggin amps !
 Not 32 miliamps. Not 320 ma. Not even 3.2 A.      32 AMPS !
 ( must have been a 50. I can't really remember, but some details will never fade )
 The sounds of radio suddenly spring forth from the monitor speakers,
 and we are ON THE AIR !!

 To this day, it's the contactors and the blowers that do it for me.
 Soft start is for wimps !

 Only recently ( last ten years or so ) did I find a copy of "Of Mics and Men"

 Man, what a ride !

-- 
Cowboy