Who am I?

First and formost, I'm a dedicated vintage ham radio (a.k.a. Boatanchor!) restorer and operator. I've been an active licensed amateur radio operator since 1966, and am blessed with a wonderful wife and son who tolerate my habit of cluttering up the household and other buildings with old radio gear, parts, and other related junque. Outside of old gear, I also have a strong interest in CW, especially when using little one or two tube hombebrew rigs, antenna experimenting and contesting.

When not occupied with the above, I am employed with Terasys, Incorporated, a Systems Integration and Consulting firm, to which I attribute the ability to afford this hobby, but also the lack of time to enjoy my radios!


If interested, here is a description of how I found my way on this path at a rather young age.

I'm glad you have been able to visit my site, and please say hello if we ever meet on the air or in person at a hamfest!

73! - Mark


The Early Years

By the time I was about 11 years old, I had developed an interest in anything electrical or electronic. Looking back:

Around 1964: I recall constructing a "crystal set", actually a WW II classic foxhole radio receiver utilizing a steel single edge razor blade and a piece of pencil lead held with a bent paper clip as the rectifier "crystal". With the prequsite inductor wound with bell wire on a round oatmeal box, and utilizing a clip to the home telephone dial stop as an antenna (or maybe ground?), it was on possible, on occasion, to hear WJR broadcasting Detroit Tigers games if the proper "hot spot" was found for the pencil lead on the slightly rusty razor blade. Using a high impedance crystal earphone garnered from an electronic experimenter's kit, I'm surprised I heard anything! I don't recall where the inspiration for this project came.

Some time later, I remember my Dad taking me to a local Radio/TV repair shop, where I placed an order for a "IN34" diode. The shop owner was quick to point out that the correct part was a 1N34, and was happy to help me replace that razor blade/pencil lead rectifier with something a little more dependable and sensitive!

Sometime in 1965 I was able to visit a local CB'er's radio shack. I recall being impressed at the number of QSL cards from all over the country that were on display. At this time, I still did not know much about CB or Ham Radio, or the differences between the services. This gentleman (a teenager, if my memory serves me right) gave me a few Popular Electronics magazines, and the first of my dream books, the Lafayette Radio and Allied Radio catalogs from that year.

This certainly caused some confusion. I recognized some of the popular CB transceivers as similar to the ones used in the local operator's shack. However, there were many pages devoted to gear that was much more elaborate, and much more expensive! These were the Amateur Radio sections of those catalogs. A trip to the local library and a couple of Robert Hertzberg's books finally set me straight as to what Ham Radio really was all about!

Thanks to a paper route delivering the Detroit Free Press, I had a little (very little) pocket change available. I discovered what turned out to be a treasure trove at a local used bookstore. Dozens and dozens of copies of old CQ and QST magazines, dating from 1958 through about 1965 were available for 15 cents apiece. All that summer, I picked up at least two or three new ones each week. In this fashion, I became familiar with all of the vintage gear from Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Johnson, Heath, National and others, three decades before I started using them in my ham shack!

It soon became time to bite the bullet in 1966. With the purchase of an Ameco code practice LP record from Allied Radio, I was able to learn the morse code in a fairly short time. I concentrated on the ARRL study guides for the theory, and welcomed the gift from my parents of the 1966 ARRL handbook.

I was ready, but still knew no "real" Ham operators. Finding one of General class or higher was now necessary, as my Novice exam had to be administered by a licensed ham. My parents knew of a possible ham in a neighboring suburb of Detroit, and my Dad and I started driving around looking for a Mosley tribander in the air somewhere in suburbia. We found the QTH, and knocked on the door. I regret that I can no longer recall the name or call of this ham, but I do remember that he was involved in the broadcast industry, as he had archive shelves with what seemed like thousands of LP records on a wall of his family room. I remember taking the CW test and theory tests in different sessions at his dining room table. He reviewed my theory exam, and let me know that I had passed. I still had to wait for the FCC to verify the examination, and those long weeks waiting for my license to arrive were spent getting some equipment ready.

Several weekend bicycle trips to the garbage cans of a local TV repair shop with my next-door buddy resulted in several TV chassis carcasses carried home. These eventually created a single-tube 6DQ5 "Novice Special" transmitter that, for some reason, seemed to generate quite a bit of RF power even though I had no crystals to plug into the octal socket used to hold them. I think my fascination with shorting out the high voltage capacitors made my folks a bit nervous, as it wasn't long before I had my first piece of test equipment, the Heathkit MM-1 VOM, and the real surprise, a Knight-Kit T-60 transmitter to replace my TV chassis wonder. My receiver was a three transistor (CK-722's) regenerative set from one of those 50-in-one electronic experimenter's project kits. I could hear what might have been ham CW, and maybe heard W1AW once or twice with that set! My parents must have sensed my frustration with that receiver, as a brand-new Hallicrafters S-120 appeared under the Christmas tree soon afterwards! My license arrived in due time, and WN8YOQ was on the air. Sort of.

I spent several weeks calling CQ, and trying to answer CQ's from other Novice hams near my crystal controlled freqency of 7160 kc. (No hertzes yet!). At the time, I had no way of knowing that my antenna, which was the Hy-Gain 18V base loaded vertical, probably would not work out very well from a suburban back yard, when ground-mounted next to a chain link fence only 10 feet from a 2-story aluminum sided home, with no ground system to speak of. Finally, an answer to one of my endless after-school calls, from a novice in the next town, maybe 10 miles away at most! He and two of his teenage ham buddies made a bike trip to my QTH the next weekend. The eldest ham, Gary, then WA8VOG, pointed out the inefficiencies of my little 18 foot vertical on 40 meters, and suggested the classic inverted-V as a suitable replacement. One weekend and three 10 foot TV mast sections later, I had a full size 40 meter inverted V antenna up in our little 30 foot wide suburban back yard. And the world opened up to me, particuarly on 15 meters, this being near the peak of a sunspot cycle.

Several crystals and several months later, I had managed to work all but one of the states, and over 25 countries as a Novice. Everybody was fascinated with the envelopes that would arrive from far-off lands with the unusual postage stamps. Of course, I was more interested in the QSL cards contained therein, which begain to cover the walls of my bedroom.

Near the end of my one-year term as a Novice, I entered the ARRL Novice Roundup contest in February, which I believe spanned two weeks time. With 438 QSO's in 68 ARRL sections, I was rewarded with a section award for the Michigan section, and my interest in contesting was firmly established.

During my high school years, Ham Radio probably kept me out of many of the troubles that teenagers in the late 60's could find themselves into. And I still maintain that it was the reputation of the super station W8UM that more led to my desire to attend the University of Michigan than the excellent programs in Electrical Engineering offered in Ann Arbor!


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