The AM Forum

I have been sent the picture below by a fellow AMer.  The photo is of a well-known AMer from the 30s through the 70s.  The gentleman has passed away, but his call has not.  In fact, it is still active on AM.  Anyone who can guess the identity of the gentleman in the photo who is tuning his homebrew rig in 1939 with shirt, tie, and vest on, will be given a can of chocolate goat milk at the next hamfest.

vH

Wonder how many hams REALLY operated their stations wearing a white shirt and neck tie back in the pre-WW2 days.

I seldom even wear the damn things to work any more.

I don't know Herb, but anyone who works radio while wearing a vest and tie is OK in my book!

That's a mighty old buzzard looking rig, in the basement or so it appears from the photo.

73 Bruce

Well, here's the Mystery Ham18 years later tuning his BC-610E, and now wearing a bow tie.  Hint:  If you look real close, his call letters appear somewhere in the picture.

That's quite a call sign plaque above the 'A4.

I think the name there is Harriet.

The goat that is.

Pretty much a give away on the mystery man.

 Clifford V. Richmond, the original owner of callsign "W8MNQ".

Just give me the milk straight Herb.
I'll make a strawberry shake with it !!! :P

A number of years ago I went to a small 'fester here in CT and at that time I was looking for an antenna tuner.   I couldn't find what I was looking for and was about to leave the 'fester when I discovered a section of the place I had not noticed.  In the back was an elder gent, I'd say in his eighties with a modest table of equipment.  He was dressed up in a suit and tie.  I ended up chatting with him for the greater part of 30 minutes or more while many a ham dismissed his table.  Eventually he asked me what I was looking for and I told him but was unlucky to find anything.  He pulled out of a box a Dentron tuner that was essentially new in it's original box.  He said he used it a few times but no longer had any use for it.  He said he'd let it go for $50.  I said OK but thought momentarily to myself that it was worth a little more so I slipped in an extra $20 in the exchange.  As I was walking away he stopped me to tell me I gave him to much.  I said no, please take the extra $20 the tuner is worth the extra.  It probably was worth more than $70 but having a nice chat with this gent about radio and the old days was worth the extra $20.  I never did know his callsign and have often wondered what happened to him.  I remember seeing pictures of hams dressed in their Sunday best but never at the time thought I'd see it in person.  That was probably back in the late 80's.  I have yet to see that again.  Maybe someday if I'm lucky.

BY golly, they figured it out, especially Buddly.  I was posting one more pic of Cliff on here, but you guys kept jumping in ahead of me, and I ended up posting it three times.   Anyhow, here it is one more time, our Mystery Man; Mystery Ham in 1964.  The next post will be the prize, which you all have earned, especially Paul, WA3VJB.

And now, the prize, which actually must be shared, as several of you had figured it out.  Meet Harriet, the goat that gave chocolate milk, and whom Cliff always included in his QSOs.  He would say, "Harriet's here.  She's glad to hear your voice, Herb.  In fact, she's wagging her little tail."  He was known far and wide as "The Old Goat Herder."

His son Bob, of course, is W8MNQ, 2nd from the bottom of Lake Huron, and many of you have worked him.

"Just give me the milk straight Herb.
I'll make a strawberry shake with it !!!" -- from Buddly

Can't Buddly.  She only gave chocolate milk.

And now, HEEEERRR'S HARRIET!

Yeah but really needs to be told is did anyone get Cliff's goat???

Can't say much about those days but I can tell you vjb wears same while operating.....got me photos!

Heck,--that was "standard" back then.--pre WWII, from what my dad used to tell me, who lived through
the 20`s and 30`s.

He mentioned to me (when I was a kid in the 50`s) that people always "dressed up" and wore
a tie just to go downtown on a Friday or Saturday night to go shopping.

A "self respecting" person would never go in jeans.
Nowadays most people don`t even "dress up" to go to Church,(thats IF they even go at all).

                                                       73, K1MVP 

When I was about 20 I did repair work for a number of older hams. Some had big bucks and some were just regular guys. The one thing they shared was they all had class.
They all gave me the feeling of visiting grandparents. 

My dad (86) still puts on a tie when he flies (about 4X per year).
Just what you do

Grandpa wore his suit to dinner, nearly every day...
No particular reason, he just dressed that way.
Brown necktie, matching vest, both his wingtip shoes....
Built a closet on our back porch, put a penny in a burn out fuse.

Grandpa was carpenter, he built houses, stores and banks.
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes and hammered nails in planks.
He was level on the level, shaved even every door.
And he voted for Eisenhower, 'cause Lincoln won the war!

Well he used to sing me 'Blood on the Saddle' and rock me on his knee.
Let me listen to the radio, before we got TV.
He drove to church on Sunday, and he take me with him too.
Stained glass in every window, hearing aid in every pew.

Grandpa was carpenter, he built houses, stores and banks.
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes and hammered nails in planks.
He was level on the level, shaved even every door.
And he voted for Eisenhower, 'cause Lincoln won the war!

Grandma was a teacher, she went to school in Bowlin' Green.
Traded in a milking cow for a Singer sewing machine.
Well she called her husband, "Mister", and she walked real tall with pride.
She used to buy me comic books, after Grandpa died.

Grandpa was carpenter, he built houses, stores and banks.
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes and hammered nails in planks.
He was level on the level, shaved even every door.
And he voted for Eisenhower, 'cause Lincoln won the war!


......John Prine......

OK, now take a look at how we Western New York Hams dressed to attend the Rochester Hamfest in 1960.
vH

            "attend the Rochester Hamfest "

They suits and tie may be gone, but notice the beer-in-hand...............   klc

Yep, guess the 'beer' spans generations.

Herb, what a handsome bunch of devils you guys were! Bet you had your own brand of 'trouble' from the facial expressions.

Dont forget, guys, In our parents generation, "the clothes were the mark of a man" In many cases one's clothes were the sign of affluance or social stature (or at least what they wanted to think it was) My late stepdad was a friggin fanatic on being formally dressed. (If he was still around, he would have been 92.)  I remember that he would put on a white shirt and tie to go outside and cut the grass!! My how the times have changed!!

                                                                                   The Slab Bacon

Yep, and upon closer study, two lit cigarettes.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3