Harry W3FDY's Radio Shack

[Tom WA3KLR]

I attended an annual QCWA picnic today in the Parkesburg Pennsylvania area, west of Philadelphia.  This property was originally the QTH of Harry Davis W3FDY, SK.  Then the QTH was bought by Bill Finley W3FEA SK, and now owned by Woody W3TTW.

Harry was a mainstay on 75 meters AM in the Philadelphia area.  Many of us who grew up in the 1950's and 1960's listened to Harry on the air with "super modulation".

The property is on the ridge of a good sized hill.  There are 5 masts with many wire antennas including a Sterba curtain.  Several vertical antennas and 1 or more repeaters.

Below is a photo of his shack in true early radio meaning :

[W2DU]

I used to work Harry often during the 60's, before I got my first SSB rig, an HW-100. I was then living in NJ.

Walt

[wa2pjp]

Tom,

When I was a very young JN and only had a Star-Lite A-120 five tube 4 band shortwave receiver with a whip on the back for an antenna that I got for Christmas in 1964, one of the first stations I heard was Harry W3FDY. He had one of the best sounding signal and the strongest on 75 meters. I remember getting home from school and running to my room just to see if I could hear Harry on the air and who he was talking to. I would listen to him for hours on end and just be fasinated with his antics and stories. I never got to work or meet Harry or vist his shack, but he influenced me tremendustly in becoming an amateur, pilot and doing radio for a living. I have seen some pictures of his shack and of Harry, but really feel that I missed meeting person that to me was larger than life.

[kc2ifr]

Many memories for sure......
Besides Harry, I used to listen to W3EBM..........3 empty beer mugs

[W9GT]

Many memories for sure......
Besides Harry, I used to listen to W3EBM..........3 empty beer mugs

Me too....I think he was in Scranton....he was running a Johnson Desk KW...Wow! what a signal into Indiana back in 1959-60.  Brings back fond memories.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

W3EGC (3 Empty Garbage Cans), Scranton.

[kc2ifr]

Steve,
That should have been 3 FULL garbage cans............
What ever happened to him???

Bill

[W9GT]

W3EGC (3 Empty Garbage Cans), Scranton.

Sorry!  Definitely not the same guy!!!  I'm sure there are (were) multiple hams in Scranton.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[kc2ifr]

Jack,
No NO NO....not the same guy.......I guess u were never splattered by egc! Thats a joke between us folks on the east coast!!!

[W9GT]

Jack,
No NO NO....not the same guy.......I guess u were never splattered by egc! Thats a joke between us folks on the east coast!!!

Yes!  I have been, that is the point...NOT the same guy as EBM 

73,  Jack, W9GT

[Tom WA3KLR]

W3EBM was Roger, who lived in the western suburbs of Philadelphia also.  I did not know Roger but as a kid at Field Day in the 1960's I do remember club members talking about him.

Harry W3FDY was the radio mentor for young Joe WA3GMS (now W3GMS) and others.

[Ralph W3GL]

Last I heard about  Johnnie, EGC, he was confined in a NUT HOUSE!

Bill, W3DUQ, keeps in touch with a cousin of  his but I haven't ask Bill lately
what is happening with him.

[kc2ifr]

Last I heard about  Johnnie, EGC, he was confined in a NUT HOUSE!

Now there's a surprise...

[kc2ifr]

I was just notified that I was a bad boy by the original poster of this thread........
I will not make anymore posts about egc....even though it was not me that brought him up.


Sorry,
Bill 

[kc2ifr]

OK Tom,
Understood......I will remove them.

[kc2ifr]

Tom,
My purpose was NOT to degenerate the topic of the post.....Im sure u read my first post............many memories.... anyway I removed the stuff u dont like.,
Bill

[Tom WA3KLR]

Thanks Bill.

[W9GT]

Things kinda deteriorated in the discussion, but I wanted to call attention to that little stand-alone ham shack.  That is really cool and I wouldn't mind having something like that myself.  I think such outboard ham shacks used to be fairly common.  Might be a little unhandy in the winter though....wading thru snow to get to the shack and having to provide heating and cooling, as well as ....perhaps....some plumbing capabilities.  How many times, however, I have longed for some way to be able to operate in the "wee hours" without disturbing the household.  The out-building would surely provide that capability.  Only problem is...especially in the city...might take an Act of Congress to get the necessary permits or approvals to build such a structure.  At least presently...we don't have any tower restrictions, but ya never know.  I wouldn't want to call too much attention to the situation by adding another questionable structure to the back yard.  Anyway...sure looks like a nice little shack!

73,  Jack, W9GT

[k4kyv]

That is a cute little ham shack, but I don't think I could get many of my rigs to fit inside.

Mine is 24' X 32' with 12' ft. ceiling.  I have to wade through mud in winter, and occasionally, snow.  Heating it to a cosy warm temperature is out of the question, since it would be roughly equivalent to heating the interior of a barn, so I only strive to get the chill off with a propane heater, and use a small electric radiant heater near the operating position for comfort.  If I tried to warm the whole thing above about 60° in cold wx, the gauge on the propane tank would descend towards zero about like the second-hand on a watch.  A  couple of ceiling fans and on hot days, a window air unit, keep it tolerable in summer.

No plumbing.  Plumbing in the main house is PITA enough to maintain, especially when it drops below about 16° F and pipes start freezing.  But the purpose is adequately served by the open space behind the shack.  I like being able to turn up the volume on the receiver at 3 AM without waking up everyone else in the house.

I live out in the country outside city limits, and no permit was needed for the 127' tower, but I did get a permit (no questions asked) for the house mover to relocate the building onto my property in 1990.

[W3SLK]

Jack said:

Things kinda deteriorated in the discussion, but I wanted to call attention to that little stand-alone ham shack.

I had one of those shacks. It served double duty. Half housing the mower and other gardening implements of destruction. The other side was a 8'X12' room that became my ham shack. Those of you will recall references to the "steaming holly bush". I ditch the shack for reasons as Don stated. No plumbing and no heat. I would have to fire up the filaments about 2 hours prior to transmitting in order for it to be sufficiently warm Tom, any pictures of the inside of this guys shack?

[W4EWH]

That is a cute little ham shack, but I don't think I could get many of my rigs to fit inside.

Mine is 24' X 32' with 12' ft. ceiling.  I have to wade through mud in winter, and occasionally, snow.  Heating it to a cosy warm temperature is out of the question, since it would be roughly equivalent to heating the interior of a barn

I suggest you add some partitions to separate the operating position from the rest of the space: you might be pleasantly surprised, as I was, at how much difference a roll of R-17 makes.

73,

Bill W1AC

[W3GMS]

Alan,

Wow, I had never seen that picture of me operating Harry's rig before!  If you could send both of those in jpeg format to me I would like to get them printed! 

Alan is already aware of all of this but for those that don't here is a summarized version. Other's on the board maybe would not have the insight into Harry's giving generous nature in passing along wisdom. 

Harry, W3FDY was not only a mentor to me, but to other kid's as we were growing up.  We called ourselves "The Friday Niters".  Harry and his lovely wife Marian would open up their home to us each and every Friday night and this went on for years.  CW classes in the kitchen and theory in the living room.  The dinning room was reserved for food which Marian always kept well stocked for us.  Harry guided not only my Ham Radio path, but was equally influential in guiding me professionally as well.  He was a very positive influence on all of the Friday Niters and as a group we were extremely fortunate to have a guy like Harry guide us.
 
Harry and Roger, W3EBM were great friends.  I will never forget Roger talking about the Western Electric "Salt Shaker" microphone.  Harry had many good friends and some may remember these calls which are just a sampling of the folks that would come up and visit Harry---W3SCC, KZ3AB before Al had that new call, George W3YAM-later W3OW, Jake W3QQV, Bob Lewis W2EBS, Sam (Floyd) K3DUM, and many others. 

Harry was always pushing the envelope with bigger antennas and not only building big rigs but developing new topologies that always had a clever twist. 
As you can tell he truly was my second father!  One of the greatest things he did was to teach you how to think.  He would not give you the answer to a question but talk you through the thought process and have you come up with the answer yourself. 

Sorry for the long post but I could not resist telling all the tremendous impact he had on many of us...

Joe, W3GMS   

[W3GMS]

Alan,
Yes we were all a lot younger.  A lot of water over the dam since then!  I still have that photo from the Daily Local News.   Bob Wick, formerly WA3JYT, now N2HM is due to stop up this week.  I have a sprained ankle and he offered to do some antenna climbing work for me up at the old W3FDY site.  When the old gang gets together Harry is still the major topic of conversation.
Joe, W3GMS who is now 57!
 

[kc2ifr]

Wow,
Thats Roger? Its funny to actually see the guy I used to listen to almost 40 years ago but never met.
Thanks for all pics guys.

Bill

[W2XR]

Harry, W3FDY was not only a mentor to me, but to other kid's as we were growing up.  We called ourselves "The Friday Niters".  Harry and his lovely wife Marian would open up their home to us each and every Friday night and this went on for years.  CW classes in the kitchen and theory in the living room.  The dinning room was reserved for food which Marian always kept well stocked for us.  Harry guided not only my Ham Radio path, but was equally influential in guiding me professionally as well.  He was a very positive influence on all of the Friday Niters and as a group we were extremely fortunate to have a guy like Harry guide us.
 
As you can tell he truly was my second father!  One of the greatest things he did was to teach you how to think.  He would not give you the answer to a question but talk you through the thought process and have you come up with the answer yourself. 

Hi Joe,

Nice words, indeed.

It is particularly refreshing to hear of a man (and apparently Marian as well) who was so unselfish and giving to those who were of a younger generation than he. Obviously, Harry made such a profound positive impression on you and several others to the point where career paths were influenced by his mentoring. I suspect this was one of his goals all along, and we could all use more men like Harry nowadays, regardless of the field of interest.

He must have been quite a guy. I do vividly recall listening to him on 75M on my parents Sony all-band transistor radio in the late '60s just before I obtained my license. Harry was truly a member of what Tom Brokaw called "the Greatest Generation" in his book of the same title. A real Renaissance man by all accounts; a pilot, radio amateur, volunteer police officer, etc. Apparently a man who gave his time back to his community as well.

It has been my experience that the most interesting people in this world are those who are intensely and passionately interested in many different things, versus perhaps only one or two different things.

I for one would have liked to have known him.

Thanks for sharing this.

Best 73,

Bruce