[BVARC] The Great Harvey Wells Caper - Part 1
Bob H
W5UQ at att.net
Fri Dec 31 14:56:28 CST 2021
So where's the "rest of the story"?
Bob W5UQ
On 12/31/2021 1:39 PM, Rick Hiller via BVARC wrote:
> Just Chevy vs Ford.....
>
> Sent from my i-Thingamajig
>
> On Dec 31, 2021, at 10:12 AM, Gary Sitton via BVARC <bvarc at bvarc.org>
> wrote:
>
>> OK, I'm stupid but why Harvey Wells? I actually have an
>> old H.W. Z-Match Balanced Tuner which I restored and plan
>> to use on a big loop whenever I get one up on my small lot.
>> I did get an O.O. notice in the '50s of severe chirp on 20
>> mtrs using a surplus ARC-5 transmitter. I just ditched the
>> rig and got a Heath Kit VFO which was much more stable.
>> Later while in CA as WB6NDY in the early '70s a nearly
>> Ham complained of my key click on 20 mtr CW. I fixed the
>> cathode keying circuit with a resistor and capacitor in my
>> restored old 90 watt transmitter and all was well.
>>
>> 73, Gary K5AMH
>>
>> On 12/29/2021 10:09 AM, k5hm.ron--- via BVARC wrote:
>>>
>>> *The Great Harvey Wells Caper*
>>>
>>> *Part 1 – The Pink Ticket*
>>>
>>> It was April in New York City. I was on my way home from the
>>> regular weekly breakfast with the Queens County Bagel, Bowling and
>>> Spark Club.
>>>
>>> These were the halcyon days of kid-dom on the cusp of adulthood. I
>>> had my General Class ticket now for about two years. Got my
>>> acceptance letter from college and it was six months before anybody
>>> would hear of Sputnik. Life was good.
>>>
>>> As I walked home from the bus stop, I was thinking about getting on
>>> the air today and rolling up a few new states for my WAS. I needed
>>> South Dakota and my old buddy Ralph from the QCBB&SC said there were
>>> only three active hams in the whole state. I could see that South
>>> Dakota was going to be a real challenge.
>>>
>>> I climbed the front steps two at a time, walked through the front
>>> door and headed directly for my basement ham shack. I am halfway
>>> down the hall when I hear my old man say, “Where are you going?”
>>>
>>> Any kid who has reached the age of five, immediately recognizes the
>>> peril in that question. It’s not a question really, it more a
>>> combination of Red Alert, General Quarters and Take Cover
>>> simultaneously.
>>>
>>> I turned around to see the old man advancing toward me. He was
>>> upset. I tried to think of anything I did or failed to do in the
>>> last twenty-four hours. I aced my Physics quiz, took out the trash
>>> last night, and didn’t leave any wet towels in the bathroom, check,
>>> check, check.
>>>
>>> He was about two feet away when he stopped, thrust a letter in front
>>> of me and said, “What’s this?” His hand was shaking so much, I
>>> couldn’t read the envelope at first, but it looked very important.
>>> Eventually, the oscillation decayed enough for me to see better.
>>> It was one of those business window envelopes with no stamp. The
>>> top right-hand corner of the envelope contained the words, /U.S.
>>> Government Official Business!/
>>>
>>> The old man was really wound up; like a pressure cooker ready to
>>> explode. He’d lived his life avoiding entanglements with
>>> authority. He was 4-F for the draft in WWII, voted at least once in
>>> every election and was an associate member of the Police Benevolent
>>> Association. Any unexpected things that had to do with “Official
>>> Business” made him very nervous.
>>>
>>> Desperately, I tried to think of something that would get him in
>>> such a lather. I had gotten my draft card six weeks ago. Maybe
>>> this was the dreaded, “Greetings from Uncle Sam” letter. Then I
>>> noticed the return address, /Federal Communications Commission,
>>> Washington, DC./
>>>
>>> I stopped breathing. The FCC! This was worse than getting
>>> drafted. Looking through the window of the envelope I could see the
>>> paper inside. A pink ticket!
>>>
>>> The envelope was torn open. At the top of the page, I could see the
>>> words, /Notice of Violation!/ He’d already read it and assumed the
>>> worst; a life sentence for me at Leavenworth. I was doomed!
>>>
>>> Flight was the only response I had. I grabbed the letter and ran for
>>> the basement. I read and re-read the notice several times. Cold
>>> sweat was dripping off me.
>>>
>>> The letter said that my signal had been observed operating at a
>>> frequency out of the band at such and such time and date. It
>>> demanded I explain what happened. That I take immediate steps to
>>> prevent this from happening in the future and that I report those
>>> steps to the FCC within 30 days. No wonder the old man was upset.
>>> Single handedly, I had brought the wrath of the entire federal
>>> government down on our home.
>>>
>>> I pulled out my log and started flipping pages; hoping this was a
>>> mistake. Some other guy with a similar call sign, maybe. The time
>>> in the letter was around 2 AM. Was the FCC really awake that late?
>>>
>>> I ran my thumb down the logbook pages slowly, hoping against hope.
>>> Yikes! There it was. At the alleged hour, I had been on the air.
>>> What could I do? “The old man was right, you’re going to
>>> Leavenworth “, said the voice in my head.
>>>
>>> That night I’d logged several calls to DX stations who were calling
>>> CQ on the other side of the 20-meter band edge. The last entry in
>>> the log that night was a guy in VK-land that I had finally managed
>>> to work. I was so excited I almost woke the old man out of a sound
>>> sleep to tell him. I must have strayed too close to the band edge!
>>>
>>> Maybe I’ll just throw myself on the mercy of the court. /“Your
>>> honor, I’m just a kid. I didn’t know I was committing a crime.” “I
>>> fell in with a bad crowd; they dared me to do it!”/
>>>
>>> In a panic, I called my old buddy Ralph on the land line. Ralph was
>>> a charter member of the QCBB&SC. He knew everything about ham
>>> radio. He had been a ham so long that he said Marconi was his Elmer.
>>>
>>> After an eternity of rings, he answered. Without giving him a
>>> chance to say hello, I unloaded on Ralph in one single breath. When
>>> I finally finished, Ralph calmed me down and assured me that I was
>>> not going to Leavenworth. “Yeah kid (everyone was a kid to Ralph),
>>> I got my first pink ticket in ’36”, he said softly, as if someone
>>> were listening.
>>>
>>> What a relief! My old buddy Ralph, the greatest Elmer of all time
>>> had gotten at least a couple pink tickets and he was still walking
>>> around a free man. There was a ray of hope for me!
>>>
>>> I could swear he was grinning on the other side of the phone. The
>>> voice in my head said, “Yeah, they’ll probably confiscate all your
>>> radio gear instead.”
>>>
>>> It was only two years earlier that I went to the FCC offices in
>>> Manhattan to take my General exam under the watchful eye of Lurch,
>>> the examiner. I still remember the big bullpen where the FCC guys
>>> worked. They were all dressed alike too; white shirts rolled up to
>>> the elbow, black ties and black pants. It was the official FCC
>>> uniform. I didn’t know what would be worse; just quietly going off
>>> to Leavenworth or having a squad of FCC men in black show up at my
>>> house in front of all the neighbors!
>>>
>>> “Listen kid”, he began; his voice had a way of piercing through the
>>> QRM in my head. “You just need an accurate marker for the band
>>> edge. A crystal calibrator. You can pick one up at Harrison Radio
>>> for about ten bucks.” I could hear Ralph take a deep breath. He’d
>>> been a chain smoker for twenty years, so his inhale had a signature
>>> wheeze, just like a good CW operator’s fist.
>>>
>>> Then he continued, “The dial markings on your VFO ain’t worth the
>>> plastic they’re printed on kid. So, when you are chasing DX, don’t
>>> get any closer than three kc to the band edge marker, no matter what.”
>>>
>>> “Hey Ralph”, I said “What about the letter I have to write? What
>>> should I say?” Ralph started in again, “Listen kid, just tell them
>>> the truth, you’ll be fine. See you later kid.” And then there was
>>> a click.
>>>
>>> I sat for a long time; thinking. The U.S. phone band ended at 14200
>>> KC. Most of the good DX was always just below that. We worked
>>> split back then, running full carrier double sideband AM, pushing as
>>> close to the band edge as we dared, calling for that rare station we
>>> needed.
>>>
>>> I wasn’t willing to give up a whole three kc of band, if I didn’t
>>> need to do it. Maybe I could just turn down the mike gain. Just
>>> listening to twenty meters some nights it was easy to see how
>>> everybody pushed the limit. Still, I was willing to do or say
>>> anything get back in the old man’s good graces and the FCC off my
>>> back! Finally, the beginnings of a diabolical plan began to form in
>>> my head. If I played my cards right, I would solve my FCC problem
>>> and then some.
>>>
>>> To be continued
>>>
>>> *Reporting from the Dark Side,*
>>>
>>> *Ron Litt, K5HM*
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Ron, K5HM
>>>
>>> k5hm.ron at gmail.com <mailto:k5hm.ron at gmail.com>
>>>
>>> www.qrz.com/db/k5hm <http://www.qrz.com/db/k5hm>
>>>
>>> <image001.jpg><image002.jpg><image003.jpg>
>>>
>>> *Excelsior!*
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________________________
>>> Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club
>>>
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>>> Publicly available archives are available here:https://www.mail-archive.com/bvarc@bvarc.org/
>>
>>
>>
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>
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