World Radio Labs - Novices in the Summer of 1979

In the summer of 1979 my friend Kenny Woods and I were both sixteen years old. I was bitten by the Amateur Radio bug at the age of 13 (thanks to my Dad- KC4KM, ex KA4AIT). Kenny and I were best friends and he also gained an interest in the hobby and got his novice ticket. I had recently moved from the community of Cradock in Portsmouth, Virginia to Virginia Beach- so we were both excited about the prospects of keeping in touch via ham radio. Ken?s call was KA4HMI; mine was N4BKT. Ken had bought a used HW-16 transceiver and we scrounged up a couple crystals from a few of our other ham friends in the Tidewater area. Now that he had a rig, it was time to assemble an antenna- in those days no one thought to BUY a dipole- it?s just a piece of wire after all. (In fact, after leaving the hobby for about ten years- I thought a G5RV was some new model Hy-Gain Trap Vertical- who would BUY a dipole, after all). Since we were both teenagers, we had no budget at all. We got a roll of wire and some RG-58U from Radio Shack and built an inverted V antenna for 40M using a piece of wood as a center insulator. We hoisted it up to Ken?s second story window and stretched the legs out across the yard. We had the antenna reasonably close in length but we had a problem- neither of use had a SWR meter. How would we tune the antenna? Another of our ham friends suggested we use a 60 watt light bulb. It would take two people to tune the antenna this way, but we decided to give it a try ? we certainly had the time.

Ken went upstairs to his rig and tuned it as best he could into the antenna. He then sent a quick CW ID and began sending a series of Vs in CW while I held a light bulb in my hand with the base toward the antenna wire. As I moved the base near the wire and along the wire, the peaks and valleys of energy became evident in the intensity of the bulb?s light. It was a simple matter then to find the null spot, mark it, (with the transmitter off, of course) and perform the same on the other leg. After we tuned both legs of course, Ken had to try this bulb-in-hand trick himself as he could not see the end of the antenna from his operating station. I have to admit that this exercise was instrumental in helping us truly visualize how radio works. You could actually see the RF on the antenna.

Ken made a few contacts over the summer but eventually the antenna had to go- it was in the way as the legs ended up slightly in the neighbor?s yard. He eventually upgraded to general and the last I saw him was in 1982 just before he joined the US Army. His (and my) family moved away from Tidewater.

Ken is now a Silent Key as he is listed in memoriam for the Cradock High School Class of 1981 - I have no idea when or how Kenny died- but I will always remember the fun we had with ham radio in the Summer of 1979.

We did make a few contacts from his QTH- in fact we both worked KA4JQZ in North Carolina within a couple of weeks of each other as you can see in KA4JQZ?s published log here: I am number 38 on the list and Ken is number 87. I have no idea if I worked KA4JQZ from my QTH in Virginia Beach or if I was at Kenny?s QTH.

My hat?s off to Franklin Skinner, KA4JQZ as his log file is what prompted me to pen to paper.