The Old Car

It was 1957, and as usual a beautiful April Saturday morning in central Nebraska. The sun was nice and warm shining down on us, the birds were singing, everything was right with the world. My friend C. S. KNØYUG and I, KNØIMJ, was walking down the old Lincoln Highway, in search of adventure.

Both C. S. and I had just gotten our novice licenses, actually we got them almost 4 months ago, and were trying out our new "portable 2 meter rigs." We were on the "cutting edge," when it came to ham radio. In fact we were discussing that probably we were the very first to operate as pedestrian mobile in the world. But then C. S. noted that we really weren't the brightest bulbs in string, so probably someone in the "big" city had already done this. By this, he meant that we were walking down the Lincoln highway carrying mobile 2-meter rigs. We had built a pair of Heathkit "Twoers", and had rigged up a vibrator power supply and a dry 12-volt battery to allow us to "walk and talk." I guess a walkie talkie. I even had rigged up a way to hang my mic around my neck so I didn't have to hold it.

They had worked pretty good, in fact we had talked over a mile just a few minutes ago, and had just joined back up to compare notes, and to bemoan the fact that our batteries were getting low. One thing for sure, the battery life on our ped-mobiles was not too good.

As we rounded a slight bend in the highway, we saw a state trooper had stopped an old car. It seemed that the trooper and the driver were having a lively discussion. As we neared, we could hear the driver, who seemed to be an old man, explaining that his old model "A" could barely run, and it was impossible that he was speeding. The state trooper patiently explained that he had clocked him with his radar unit going 65 mph and the posted speed limit was 55 mph so he was speeding. Over and over again the old man protested that his old piece of junk could barely run, much less go 65. Surely that new fangled radar was not right. It just couldn't be.

We approached and could understand what the old man was saying. It really was a beat up old model "A". The fenders were crumpled and virtually no paint on the car at all.

"Sir", C. S. said to the trooper, but by then the old man had jumped in the drivers seat, which consisted of an old egg crate, and started up the engine. It huffed and puffed and backfired and just barely ran. The old man shut off the engine, and exclaimed, "See!" The trooper was dumbfounded. "I just can't believe that this radar is not working right," he said. "At the training session they told us that there just was not a way these things would foul up!" he said. "Well it did," the old man said, "it fouled up royally."

By this time the trooper had noticed us, and all of our equipment, and said, "what's up with you guys?" I explained to him what we were doing with our 2-meter transmitters, and told him that I might have an explanation as to why his radar gave the wrong reading.

"It's just possible that our RF signals overpowered the radar system, and made it give a false reading". "I told him that the signals from 2 meter transmitters were "kinda" close to the frequency of the radar, and that might have caused the problem.

The trooper radioed into headquarters and the radio operator there said that he guessed that it might be possible for this to happen. And between the two of them they decided to let the old man go without a speeding ticket.

"Thanks guys," the old man said as the trooper drove off. He reached under the seat and pulled out a pint of Old Crow, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig. "That was close," he said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "that was close."

He jumped back in to the old car and fired it up, coughing sputtering and carrying on. Then the old man leaned down and flipped a switch. The engine roared. It ran as smooth as a brand new car! We both must have looked amazed, as he explained, "Oh I have a switch that shorts out a bit of the magneto so it runs rough when ever I get stopped for speeding." This time it didn't look like it was going to work, that is until you boys came along!"

We both just stood there with out mouths open, as he roared off at amazing amount of speed.

73 Gary KØIMJ

This story is fiction based on an urban legend from the fifties. Oh, yes the Twoer didn't come out until 1960, so I stretched it a bit. Other than that it is true, I was there! Actually that is when I started collecting Heathkits. I now have over 500 pieces of Heathkit stuff. You can see my Heathkits at http://www.heathkits.com. (look for me on 7040)

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