Millen's Early Station

These pictures are of the ham station that James Millen operated in the late 30's. Photographs were obtained from the book "Notes on Amateur Radio Transmitter Design" that was compiled by Jim and published in 1937. I was fortunate to obtain an original copy of the book that was sent to the editorial department of Radio-Craft magazine in 1937. I even have the letter that was sent to Radio-Craft along with the book. The station equipment still exists today at the Museum Annex of the Antique Wireless Association in Bloomfield, NY. For a detailed description of this see the article "W1HRX - A Ham's Paradise" located elsewhere on this website.

A Picture of the famous "hilltop" bungalow that housed the amateur radio station. In the center clearing you can see the 34 foot tower that holds the 20 meter wire beam array. Also noticeable on the left side is the smaller tripod mounted 5 meter beams that Millen used in experiments with the ARRL staff in Hartford some 128 miles away.

A full view of the inside of the bungalow. The unit on the left is a high power transmitter/amplifier that is link coupled to a low power exciter located in the main operating position on the right (described below).

The main operating position at W1HRX in the late 30's. Just above the small operating desk is an early National HRO receiver. To it's left is the complete low-power transmitter/exciter using a pair of RK-20's in push-pull final.

Return to Main Page