After nearly a full half-century of active participation in many facets of this wonderful attraction called “Ham radio,” what I find myself still the most drawn to, surely, is the potential of working DX on the different bands. It all stems from my very early years of exposure to radio --- at the age of 15, in 1967, to be specific --- at which time I received a pair of “Lloyds”-brand 100-milliwatt CB-band walkie-talkies from my parents as a Christmas gift...
Growing quickly bored and dis-interested at the limited prospects of merely exchanging hello's with my younger sister from different rooms in the house with them, I would venture forth upon long treks around the block, and to an adjoining vacant farmer's field across the street, to test the capabilities of the sets for some “...real DX.” In time, the potential of these radios was put to the test when, one day, a rather prominent base station operator in the local CB scene actually responded to my on-the-air call to him. This well-established CB'er graciously engaged this inquisitive kid in a most interesting, and intriguing conversation about the CB genre. I can still remember the callsign of that specific operator --- XM421333 --- which hearkens back to a far simpler time when CB call letters were not only mandated by federal licensing authorities, but actually served as a matter of considerable personal pride for their licensees, too.
My amazement at such a feat inspired me to go to the local book shop, and to purchase a large outline street map of my hometown that they had for sale there, and to place a dot upon the specific location of XM421333 --- I then traced an arc on the map, with its centre being my specific location, and with the line of the arc touching the “QTH” of my newly-worked “DX” station. As I gamely encountered more and more CB base station operators willing to converse with a kid with a walkie-talkie on the air, I would dutifully repeat the process, in ever-increasing arcs. I was amazed at the range that 100-milliwatts could actually achieve --- several miles, in fact, to the very outskirts of the city. I would stare proudly at that map that I had taped to my bedroom wall...how I wish that I still had that large piece of paper in my personal possession, to-day!
In time, however, I came to learn that even the accomplishments of CB radio could simply not compare to the potential of short wave listening. This reality was driven home by my reading, and then re-reading, (again) dozens of old issues of “Popular Electronics” magazine from the 1950's and early1960's that were given to me by the self-taught neighbourhood TV repairman and electronics enthusiast (didn't every neighbourhood have one back then...?!). In fact, I applied for, and received, my very own “Pop-Tronics”-issued official SWL callsign and certificate, and spent many gainful months faithfully submitting my reports to the SWL column editor at the magazine, under the call of “VE3PE2RT.”
But all this was, of course, well after the time that I convinced my parents to purchase me a genuine short wave radio, by way of a want ad that I had placed in the classified section of my father's monthly trade union paper. The receiver that finally came my way wasn't really all that much, in hindsight --- just a $40.00 third-hand single conversion “Hallicrafters S-77A” AC/DC general coverage outfit that boldly proclaimed “...superior reception” well above 40-MHz(!). But it served to open-up a brand new, and entirely spell-binding world, to this wide-eyed enthusiastic neophyte, as the Lloydswalkie-talkies were relegated to gathering dust, parked atop a shelf in my bedroom...
After the usual evolutionary process of applying for, and receiving, foreign BC station QSL cards, I one day stumbled upon some real DX, and on a somewhat more personal level, too, specifically, AM Ham radio radio stations on the 10-meter band --- a frequency allocation that was simply teeming with activity in those halcyon high sun-spot days of 1969. My amateur radio SWL'ing was effectively restricted to listening to AM stations only: I simply had zero appreciation of the code back then, and the limitations of the S-77A would permit successful AM-only operation above about 13-MHz...and 10 back then was simply incredible. Any AM station heard was practically guaranteed to be a bonafide DX one, because of the very long skip distance characteristics of 28-MHz propagation. And high-powered operation there was hardly mandatory for a commanding signal, either. Well do I remember sitting back, slack-jawed with amazement, my “Trimm”-brand “cans” fixed atop my head, listening to an S9-plus New Zealand amateur holding court engaged in effortless QSO after QSO, with stations from --- literally --- around the world. Simply amazing...!
By 1970-71, I had finally made-up my mind to become a Ham radio operator myself, and to join-in on some of this on-the-air fun. To that end, I dutifully threw myself into the task of mastering CW (thanks to the ARRL's “Learning The Radio Telegraph Code,” along with Newington's live on-air practice sessions), and studying the electronic theory necessary for me to secure a “Basic Amateur Radio Operator's Certificate” from our Canadian licensing authority (thanks again to the ARRL and its incomparable “Understanding Amateur Radio” book).
In retrospect, looking back at the intervening span of just four short years from the time that I first toyed with my Lloydswalkie-talkies, to when I took my seat in front of the Department of Transportation licensing examiner, it all seems to have been so very brief a journey. But in the midst of those thrilling formative years, for me it was all an absolutelifetime! Each and every day heralded something new, fascinating, and oh-so-very exciting. Those early steps in my radio “...career” will surely never ever have an equal, again --- and I really and truly miss them so, in the midst of to-day's “...been there, done that” cynical time. I mourn their passing.
But, just as equally, I am forever indebted to their having touched my life, and effectively blessing it with an enduring life-long passion that, quite simply, never seems to completely fade, or to ebb away.
“Even the longest of journeys begins with but the very fist step..” How so very true, indeed...!
-Edward “Eddy” Peter Swynar (VE3CUI – VE3XZ)

| VE3CUI | 2020-07-25 | |
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| Re: Even The Longest Of Journeys | ||
| Isn't that just about the oddest thing...? I can recall as a kid having favourite family friends' places that I especially liked to go to, whilst being dragged along for visits by my Mom & Dad --- & those domiciles were the ones that invariably featured a HUGE 1930's-style upright wooden Philco / Zenith / RCA / ETC. console radio in the kitchen that featured an omnipresent mysterious & magical "...airline dial" that had all the different capitals of the world imprinted therein...but only on those specific bands that were marked "...Short Wave." And YES, I recall the time that I & the son (about my age, too) of one of these families attempted to connect the family TV aerial wire to the back of one of these behemoths. too... Lucky that we weren't both instantly propelled to the "...short waves of the sky" through our ham-handed, but innocent, efforts...! Reply to a comment by : KC6RWI on 2020-07-24 Good read, some of us just have that curiosity about radio. We had a large wooden box 40's hi fi but it had that extra band "SW" and what does someone with radio curiosity do? they connect it to the tv antenna Reply to a comment by : W9YW on 2020-07-24 Thanks for the very personal story. Each ham seems to start from such a journey of endless curiosity. I was the kid in the 'hood who fixed TVs and radios, at first journeying to a local drugstore to test tubes, twiddle knobs, and slowly absorb how to fix things whilst not killing myself or others nearby with various high voltage discharges. There was the Novice test, and distractions meant I didn't do much in radio for a while save listening. The CB era seemed fun, and a local shop had an actual First Class Radiotelephone Engineer. He was amazingly patient with my questions. Then I took The Test. I kept listening to broadcast stations, and spend hours on SWL across the dial. How exactly did antennas do their magic? Like you, I read ravenously. 73 Magazine sent me to the computer side of things, where I excelled for decades, returning to amateur radio not too long ago. Except for a handful of changes, when I returned, amateur radio was like an ancient fly preserved in amber, the fun waiting for me across the decades. Those were glory days, and today is a glory day-- and the fight against commercial interests impinging on spectrum, and the not-invented-here vendor attitudes are still the same. Thanks for the experiences. 73 W9YW | ||
| KC6RWI | 2020-07-24 | |
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| Re: Even The Longest Of Journeys | ||
| Good read, some of us just have that curiosity about radio. We had a large wooden box 40's hi fi but it had that extra band "SW" and what does someone with radio curiosity do? they connect it to the tv antenna Reply to a comment by : W9YW on 2020-07-24 Thanks for the very personal story. Each ham seems to start from such a journey of endless curiosity. I was the kid in the 'hood who fixed TVs and radios, at first journeying to a local drugstore to test tubes, twiddle knobs, and slowly absorb how to fix things whilst not killing myself or others nearby with various high voltage discharges. There was the Novice test, and distractions meant I didn't do much in radio for a while save listening. The CB era seemed fun, and a local shop had an actual First Class Radiotelephone Engineer. He was amazingly patient with my questions. Then I took The Test. I kept listening to broadcast stations, and spend hours on SWL across the dial. How exactly did antennas do their magic? Like you, I read ravenously. 73 Magazine sent me to the computer side of things, where I excelled for decades, returning to amateur radio not too long ago. Except for a handful of changes, when I returned, amateur radio was like an ancient fly preserved in amber, the fun waiting for me across the decades. Those were glory days, and today is a glory day-- and the fight against commercial interests impinging on spectrum, and the not-invented-here vendor attitudes are still the same. Thanks for the experiences. 73 W9YW | ||
| W9YW | 2020-07-24 | |
|---|---|---|
| Even The Longest Of Journeys | ||
| Thanks for the very personal story. Each ham seems to start from such a journey of endless curiosity. I was the kid in the 'hood who fixed TVs and radios, at first journeying to a local drugstore to test tubes, twiddle knobs, and slowly absorb how to fix things whilst not killing myself or others nearby with various high voltage discharges. There was the Novice test, and distractions meant I didn't do much in radio for a while save listening. The CB era seemed fun, and a local shop had an actual First Class Radiotelephone Engineer. He was amazingly patient with my questions. Then I took The Test. I kept listening to broadcast stations, and spend hours on SWL across the dial. How exactly did antennas do their magic? Like you, I read ravenously. 73 Magazine sent me to the computer side of things, where I excelled for decades, returning to amateur radio not too long ago. Except for a handful of changes, when I returned, amateur radio was like an ancient fly preserved in amber, the fun waiting for me across the decades. Those were glory days, and today is a glory day-- and the fight against commercial interests impinging on spectrum, and the not-invented-here vendor attitudes are still the same. Thanks for the experiences. 73 W9YW | ||