Here are of few of my favorite stories from the book, <"../img/dart.gif">.
If you "../desoto/contact.html"y not print a few copies and give them to your
friends?
Contact!
DX didn't always "happen". The first amateur radio signals heard across
the Atlantic ocean opened t"../img/dart.gif"ldwide ama"../desoto/law.html"nications
using the "worthless" bands below 200-meters. Here is the story of that first
contact.
The Arm of the Law
The chief engineer of one of the larger Chicago broadcasting stations
was only tryi"../img/dart.gif" fellow wh"../desoto/vagabond.html"he nervous young violinist
in conversation. He didn't know that potentially he was saving a man's life.
A Vagabond Ham
CLYDE DE VINNA is a born wanderer with the wanderlust in his veins and a
job that allows him to obey its call. He was home in Hollywood with his
family over the Christmas holidays a couple of years ago, but that was the
first time in six years. Before that he has been in Tahiti photographing Last
of the Pagans, in China for The Good Earth, a"../img/dart.gif" Circle ma"../desoto/ends.html",
down in Africa with Trader Horn or in half a dozen other of the remote places of
the earth pursuing his profession.
To The Ends Of The Earth
TO DATE no radio amateur has yet adventured on Mars or explored
the craters of the moon--at least not outside the comic strips and the
pseudo-science magazines. But there are very few spots on this
little old earth where some ham ha"../img/dart.gif"red, from "../desoto/spirit.html"troposphere to the depths of the Carlsbad Caverns and from the
tangled jungles of Matto Grosso to the ice and snow of the Arctic.
The Final Flight of the Dallas Spirit
There are many thrilling episodes in the chronicle of radio's
achievements, but none more stirring than the 192"../img/dart.gif"ts,
clima"../desoto/onthespot.html"llation of short-wave equipment on Captain Erwin's Dallas
Spirit and the reception of its signals right up to the time of its tragic end.
On The Spot
Back on the American side of the Pacific a furious storm that struck the
Oregon and Washington coasts in late Oct"../img/dart.gif"ttaining m"../desoto/hurricane.html" the mouth of the Columbia River, gave Henry Jenkins an opportunity to
demonstrate all the amazing ingenuity and resourcefulness of the radio amateur.
Hurricane
In 1938 it was a hurricane and tidal wave that put amateur radio to the
test--a tropical hurricane, the first in 150 years, that came screaming over New
England, bringing death and destruction. Over Long Island and into
Connecticut and Rhode Island swept the shrieking, churning vortex of high-speed air.
Across Long Island and inland along an unfamiliar route the storm center sped,
its cross-country velocity the swiftest ever recorded--fo"../img/dart.gif"per
hour. "../desoto/flood.html" gusts of ninety--one hundred--even more miles per hour
demolished flimsy structures, lifted roofs and steeples, snapped and uprooted
hundreds of thousands of trees.
Flood
EACH YEAR the president of the Columbia Broadcasting System, Mr William
S. Paley, awards a trophy to "that individual who, through amateur radio,
in the opinion of a distinguished board of judges, has contributed most
usefully to the American people, either in research, technical development, or
operating achievement." The awards for the years 1936, 1937 and 1938 were each
made on the basis of heroic accomplishment in emergency work. The feats performed
by amateurs in winning this award are epics of courageous public service.