Ernie/KB7HCW SK

Part 3

By Scott Laughlin / N7NET

2007

Erie’s radio shack/service center became our clubhouse.

One Saturday, shortly before noon, while I was visiting Ernie, a mutual friend, George, arrived. Though it was a warm day he was wearing a field jacket with baggy pockets. Ernie was so involved with a signal probe on the bottom side of a transceiver he hardly noticed. Penetrating his concentration was like trying to pound your way through the side of a Sherman tank with a ball peen hammer.

George asked how it was going. Ernie grunted. Does that mean things are good? Ernie grunted again. Then George asked if it was okay to turn on his HF and received the same response.

George began turning the frequency dial and I was surprised how quickly he found a CW station. The code was faster than I could copy, so I was getting only fragments of it. Ernie seemed not to notice as his eyes moving from the probe then the oscilloscope and back again.

George said he thought that he’d found s a Chinese station. Ernie grunted. The code stopped, and I realized George was rewinding a tape recorder he had in his pocket. A moment later the code began again.

Ernie! That’s a Chinese station, alright, and it’s sending your call, George said

Ernie dropped his probe, spun around on his stool, reached for his J-38, and began sending. He paused, mentioned that there was no side tone, and began sending again. Something drew his attention to the transceiver. I watched his eyes focus on the power switch. The radio was not on. He wilted when he discovered he’d been the object of another one of George’s pranks. When I will ever learn, he muttered, reaching for the probe.

The End