This article was written for This Week in Amateur Radio by Bill Continelli, W2XOY, who also wrote the Wayback Machine series.

"Over and Out"

In December, 1967, I was still almost 2 years away from getting my ham ticket. However, I was an avid shortwave listener, and casual CB'er. For Christmas that year, my parents gave a Panasonic RF-5000A, a huge "portable" radio that covered AM, FM, and the full 1.6 to 30 Mc shortwave spectrum in 8 bands. The radio weighed 20 lbs, and took 8 "C" cells. It was the greatest Christmas present I ever received. My birthday was 3 days later, and that gift was rather modest, but still nice. It was a subscription to "Electronics Illustrated".

"Electronics Illustrated" (also spelled "Electronix Illustrated") was similar in style to "Popular Electronics". It had separate columns for ham radio, CB radio, and shortwave listening. It also had regular features on stereo receivers, tape recorders, and other non-radio electronics topics. It was a bi-monthly magazine, coming out only six times per year. Still, it was one of my favorite magazines for three reasons, Tom Kneitel, K2AES, Wayne Green, W2NSD, and Charles Rodrigues.

Tom Kneitel, then K2AES, now W4XAA, at that time was the editor of "S-9" magazine, a CB oriented publication that existed from around 1963 to about 1982. In "Electronics Illustrated", Tom wrote a column, called Uncle Tom's Corner, in which he answered questions from readers. The answers ranged from serious to funny, to sarcastic, to downright critical. Tom was always a strong proponent of CB radio, and his opinions often drew the wrath of "QST". He pulled no punches in answering back in the pages of "Electronics Illustrated". Once, a reader took him to task for his anti ARRL comments. "You should have more respect for an organization that was founded in 1914" the reader wrote. Tom's answer? "I don't care when they were founded, I just want to know when they will be losted". Tom, in addition to his column, also wrote many articles for the magazine.

Wayne Green, W2NSD, who was the editor of "73 Magazine", wrote the ham column. At a time when "QST" was still concentrating on HF, tubes, and CW, Wayne was talking about VHF & FM. I first learned about 2 meter FM from "Electronics Illustrated". Like Tom, Wayne didn't pull any punches, and was a frequent critic of "QST". He also attacked some sacred cows in ham radio. I remember one column which started, I think, with the words "Behold the modern DX'er". He went on to describe the typical DX enthusiast, and then proceeded to criticize the entire DX process. The column NEVER would have made it to the pages of "QST". His columns, like his monographs in "73 Magazine", were humorous, and had to be taken with a large grain of salt.

"Electronics Illustrated" was the only magazine, to my knowledge, that contained both Wayne Green & Tom Kneitel. I remember one great debate between Tom & Wayne over a proposed "Hobby" class of amateur radio license, that would allow privileges on 220 MHz only. It was the forerunner of the "Communicator" class proposed a few years later. I don't remember what sides Tom & Wayne took, but it made for very interesting and entertaining reading!

By far, however, my favorite section in "Electronics Illustrated" belonged to Charles Rodrigues. Does the name ring a bell? No? OK here's another clue; "Over and Out". You still don't recognize it? Unfortunately, you are not alone. Charles Rodrigues was a first rate cartoonist. He was able to combine superior artwork, a dark rich humor, and knowledge of the Ham, CB, shortwave, and electronics world, to create outrageously funny cartoons in the "Over and Out" section of "Electronics Illustrated". Whenever the magazine came in, I turned first to "Over and Out". It's been at least 33 years since I saw his radio cartoons, but many of them are etched forever in my memory. Some examples:

1. A distraught man, standing in front of a burning house, begging the firefighters to save the QSL cards on the wall.

2. Two inmates, sitting in a prison cell. One is in front of a CB radio, with the coax going out through the barred windows. He turns to the other inmate and says "What channel is the grapevine on?"

3. Two FCC engineers, entering the FCC office. They are wearing Joe Friday type suits, with hats. One FCC engineer says to the other "Yes, it was a good week. We got two whisperers, three whistlers, a yodeler, and a Woody Woodpecker".

4. A man standing in the doorway of his house, facing (the same?) two FCC engineers. He has a look of shock and surprise on his face as he says "Using CB as a hobby? ME?". His car is covered with CB slogans and huge antennas. His house has CB signs all over it. But the best part was the fact that the house was entirely within the footprint of a huge tower that was probably several hundred feet tall.

5. A man is standing in front of his house guests. They are bored to tears. He is pointing to one of hundreds of QSL cards on the wall. He says (presumably in a boring monotone) "It was 3 am. I was tuning around the 20 meter band. I heard some chanting, a sort of Arabic. Slowly I adjusted my antenna tuner....".

6. A moving van in front of a house. While some movers carry out furniture, two others struggle with an entire wall, covered with QSL cards. The owner, with a smug smile, watches.

7. A large, coarse, burly man is standing in a radio store. His jacket proclaims him "The King of Channel 22". He is holding one of the store clerks by the throat and yelling "Don't youse guys ever sell any more channel 22 crystals. Ya unnerstand Dat?"

8. A party. On the wall is a sign stating something like "Tri-Cities CB Club". One man is dressed in a Batman type costume, complete with mask and cape. The costume proclaims him "The Phantom of Channel 9". Two irate men stand in a corner, glaring at the masked man. One says to the other "It's guys like him who give CB a bad name".

9. An elderly couple stands in front of a stereo store. The sign says "SENIOR SPECIAL...Why pay for sound you can't hear? Try our custom stereo system! 500Hz to 5 kHz frequency response! Pay ONLY for the frequencies you can hear!"

10. A man, standing in the doorway of his house, a look of embarrassment and shame on his face. In front of him stands the mailman, with a look of anger and contempt. The mailman is tossing a "Radio Moscow" QSL card on the ground.

11. A Navy Admiral is standing in a ship's radio room. There are about three sailors, standing at attention, with looks of fear on their faces. Behind the sailors we see the ship's radios. The Admiral, clearly furious, is yelling at the sailors "I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A SLOPPY OUTFIT! HIGH SWR! MICROPHONIC TUBES! TWO I.F. TRANSFORMERS OUT OF ALIGNMENT!".

Remember, this is from my memories of 33+ years ago. I haven't been able to find these comics anywhere on the internet. My descriptions don't do justice to these comics. Rodrigues was a master at pairing funny dialogue with witty artwork. The best way I can describe his style is a cross between Gahan Wilson and Charles Addams. Each issue contained about two or three cartoons, and they were all great.

My parents renewed "Electronics Illustrated" each year as part of my birthday gift. Sadly, around 1973, the magazine ceased publication. Tom went back to "S-9", Wayne went back to "73", and Charles Rodrigues went, of all places, to "National Lampoon", where his comics became "R" rated. I understand he also drew comics for "Stereo Review" and syndicated two comic strips "Casey the Cop" and "Charlie". "Charlie" was a darker version of "Ziggy", in which a small man faced bizarre situations in an unfriendly world.

Internet sources state that Charles Rodrigues died in 2004, at the age of 77. Somewhere, out there, are hundreds of his comics that portray our hobby with a dark, twisted humor. Like all classic forms of art, they are timeless. Maybe, someday, they will be published again.

This is Bill Continelli, W2XOY, for "This Week in Amateur Radio".