Neat old '50s ham radio film

[W7TFO]

Goes on for over 20 minutes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYx8VNzYwRE

73DG

[W3GMS]

That video, which I had seen before really hit home.  The person interviewed in the beginning was my good friend Jim, W3BBB who is now unfortunately an SK.  Jim was a great guy and really put a lot of effort into the Phil Mount Radio Group.  When the Phil Mount Club station was located in the Philadelphia Franklin Institute, Jim built a custom console for the station which was a real work of art.

Besides being active in Phil Mount radio club, Jim, was an active member of our 12 member Frog radio group along with many other notables.  Jack Williamson of B&W fame was also a member and knew Jim quite well.  Jim was a superb building contractor and in fact built Jack's last home before he went into his retirement home. 

Thanks for posting the video! 

Joe, W3GMS     

[K3ZS]

Another member, oddly enough had the call W3BB, he lived down the street from me in Abington Township.   He monitored the club calling frequency, which I remember as 29.500 MHz AM.    You could call almost anytime and he would answer.    When I was a young ham in 1958 I helped out this club on a few events for which they provided communications.   One was a sports car rally that was based in New Hope PA and the cars went up the Delaware River valley.    This was all on 10M AM.  When I was in High School, the club coordinated a car rally that I and a friend had won.

 

[K3ZS]

This video is much later than 1955.   They are talking about an event that some members took part in 1955.   They are talking about repeaters and FM.    They were not using that in the 50's.    This was recorded probably in the 70's.

[K3ZS]

Looks like a video within a video, it does have the 1955 flood in it, and the frequency was 29.493, but if you called on 29.5 the guy down the street would always answer.    I was surprised that the guy could call up a helicopter on the landline phone.   During the Agnes flood in PA in 1972, you couldn't get through on the phone, hams on 2M FM and 75M SSB provided a lot of the communication.   I have a tape of some ham activity during that disaster.

[W3GMS]

Bob,

Are you sure it was not K3BB (sk)?  He use to be W3ADF.  His name was Bill Burton and lived originally on Morgan Ave in Havertown.  Later he moved to Villanova.  His call changed sometime between 1969 and 1970 to K3BB. 

W3BBB is Jim Spencer (sk).  He also held the call of W3QQH as shown in the 1958 call book.  In 1958 he lived on 124 Central Ave in North Hills Pa.  By the mid 80's Jim moved to Lansdale, PA.         

I do see a W3BB licensed according to the 1958 call book.  The name listed is August Kurtz and the address shown is 1051 Huntingdon Pike, Huntingdon Valley PA. 


Joe, W3GMS 

[W4AAB]

The first part was from the 1970's(the young guy's haircut was of that vintage). I really enjoyed the film. Thanks for posting it!! It would be nice for us AM guys to monitor 29.0 or 50.4 like that.

[K3ZS]

Joe,

Yes it was W3BB, I lived in that neighborhood in Huntingdon Valley.  W3BBB lived in North Hills, the other side of the township.   I had a VF-1 and an NC-183.  I used to call him on what was 29.5 as close as I could get, he must have monitored it 24/7.  Didn't know the actual frequency was different.   This was around 1961.

[W3GMS]

Bob,

I did not know W3BB sad to say.  I am sure he was a member of Phil Mount as well, especially if he knew Jim, W3BBB.  You may have heard W3ADV (sk) Fred Shaw back in those days as well.  He was a great guy and worked for Bell Telephone.  Fred was very active in the Philmont Radio Club and was the trustee for the Franklin Institute station in the 50's.

Thanks for passing the info along Bob.

Regards,
Joe, W3GMS   

[Sam KS2AM]

I enjoyed the the footage of the "no traffic net" and I'm happy to see that ham radio tradition continuing today.  I also got a chuckle out of the the guy with the Chris Farley delivery who interviewed w3bbb at the start.

[K3ZS]

Hi Joe,

Before I got my license as KN3EZS, I used to go to the Franklin Institute.    The ham station was always my favorite and sparked my interest in ham radio.   I don't know if W3BB was even a member, it seemed that he was always there.  I still have logs going back to 1958, I'll have to look over them and see who I had contact with.   10M AM was the local band at the time and I spent a lot of time on there.   The PW stations us kids had at the time didn't do so well on phone on the other bands.    They were smaller, more crowded, full of heterodynes and California kilowatts.    I went to the Philmont web site, they have a short history write up, I would be interested in seeing a detailed history.    A few years ago I talked to a ham who was the son of W3BB, but I don't recall the call and can't find a reference in my logbook. BTW you have great audio, I listen to the Sunday AM PM net many times, but don't check in because it runs too late.

Bob

[W3GMS]

Bob,

Yes, it helped to put fire in the wire!  My first xmtr was a 6V6 xtal oscillator so you can see, I started out like a lot of kid's with gear built by stripping down old TV sets.  Very soon thereafter, I upgraded to a DX-60 and wow what a difference! 

I am sure you enjoyed your visits to the Franklin Institute radio station.  I wonder if you remember what rig they were using when you visited as a kid?  As mentioned, W3ADV was the trustee of that station for many years.   

Thanks for the compliments on my audio during the AWA net.  Please check-in when you have a chance.  The net has been moved for the summer season from its usual time of 4pm to 5pm in a attempt to compensate a bit for daylight savings time. 


Sam,
Yes, the interviewer had a unique style indeed!       


Joe, W3GMS       

[KB2WIG]

' The net has been moved for the summer season from its usual time of 4pm to 5pm '
 
 must be why I could not check in last sunday.


klc

[W3GMS]

Sorry you did not get the word.  4PM just does not work well in the summer with DST.  5PM is somewhat better, but 6PM is really the best time so maybe mid summer we will bump it to 6PM. 

Its just a fun time with many old time transmitters appearing on the air.  The AWA has several nets, but this one is specific for AM.   Dave, KA2J is the head NCS and he will be back as NCS in September.  Until then, a few of us are trying to keep the net alive over the summer.  Last week we had about 10 check-in's so not to bad. 

The Antique Wireless Association AM Net is open to all and you don't need to be an AWA member to check in.  The guys and gals just mainly talk about the restoration work they are doing and its a good form to discuss any issues or problems with the various pieces of old gear they are restoring. 

Joe, W3GMS

[KB2WIG]

" Sorry you did not get the word."

Not a problem...I got out of work early. Last time on the net was in Feb.  I normally work untill 4P anyway, and don't normally get a chance to check in.     

Tonight, I'll try the WFD net.....   (gonna cook me up a mess 'o snausages)


klc

[K3ZS]

The station at the Franklin Institute was the old one shown on the Philmont RC website.   It would have been around 1956, can't remember the rig but someone was always operating when I was there.    I looked through some old logs, found out that I talked to W3QV many times on 10M AM from 1958 to around 1960.   One thing I found in one old log is a hand drawn schematic for a 10M AM mobile transmitter.   It used a 6AQ5 final, a 6AQ5 modulator that was directly driven by a carbon mike.   This circuit was described to me over the air as I drew it in the back of the log page.   To this day I am not sure where it came from, but I built it when I was 14 years old and installed it, along with a homemade receive converter in my father's 1955 Pontiac.
I still have a 1955 ARRL Mobile Handbook, from where I got the converter schematic.

[W3RSW]

Yeah, I saw a lot of hb xmitters coupled with commercial receivers in the vid.  As for the store bought stuff, what nostalgia to see your prized, collector Ranger used in primary, everyday useage.

I guess most of us built our own two or three tube xmitters for CW if not FM in those days.

What a cool movie.  Did you guys notice the streamilined dog log loading coil?  -the way cool callsign VO1D?  gotta have both of those 

I also noticed the excessive use of call signs compared to modern operation (and realizing that they were demonstrating HR for the movie.)

Thanks for posting; I really enjoyed it.

[Tom WA3KLR]

Robert (and W7TFO),

Yes, the "Every Single Minute" movie is a classic.  As I recall my father may appear in it once or twice briefly.

My father Paul W3VVS (sk) was a member of Phil-Mont from 1950 though 2009.  I have been a member of Phil-Mont since 1968.  We lived in North Hills in the southwest corner of Abington Township.

There was another channel of activity just up from Phil-Mont's channel 1 of 29.493 MHz.  This other channel was 29.520.  I believe that it may have been associated with ARES? and/or a Bucks County radio club frequency.

W3BB's call did not ring a bell with me at all.  But I did look him up in old callbooks  and found him in the 1961 callbook - August Kurz, a Fairway street address, Huntington Valley.  He is not listed in the 1964 PMRC directory I have.

I do remember car rallys back then.  As I recall they were perhaps put on by the car dealer at the intersection of Jenkintown Road and Baeder Road; Peterson Oldsmobile?.  Perhaps I am getting two different events confused as I was just a little JN then, 59 now.

[Ralph W3GL]

   Tom,

    29.520 was the frequency we used in New Castle County back in
    1952 when the City of Wilmington switched from a 30 mc AM system
    to the new (at that time) 155.13/156.09 mc (wide band) FM system.

     We had a fixed base station located just  north of New Castle city
     that pretty much covered northern New Castle County down to the
     C & D canal with about 13 or 14 mobiles from the old police system.

      I had 10 meters in my '52 Ford cruser in addition to  the new FM radio.

      Left the department in 54 to go back to school full time till 56. Ended
      up in Greenland and other garden spots for the next 12 years...

.

[K3ZS]

Tom,

I was in the rally from that car dealership in 1961 and 1962 as the navigator.   We won the one in 1962.   I remember the Philmont truck handling the communication.   At the time I had a 10M AM mobile, but as the navigator I was in another car.  Looking at my old log I see that I had a few contacts with W3QV.  I may have talked to your dad if he was on 10M AM in the late 1950's.   I have three whole log books full in the years from 1958 to 1960.

[K9PNP]

Glad to see the movie survived.  I used a copy of it in high school [graduated in 1962] as a part of my project in science club.  The other part was my station.  I remember I had more problems getting use of a projector than getting the film.  We used 6M AM around here for our local, pre-repeater, commo.  Many Sixers.  Mostly 50.58, as that was the county Civil Defense net freq.  Secondary was 50.4.  Memories, memories.  The other ham there with me was SK 3 months after graduation.

[Tom WA3KLR]

Walter Bradley "Brad" Martin W3QV of Abington PA was a retired Naval officer, served on Halsey's staff.  He had been the County communications officer for Montgomery County also.  He picked out the Eagleville site for the county radio station.  He was quite an institution in our area serving as a mentor for many hams.

Brad always monitored 29493 almost 24 hours a day.  He also monitored the Pennsylvania CW net frequency of 3610 kHz.  I have his 1935 HRO Senior (which can be seen in the film) and one of his straight keys. He passed away in 1967 if I recall correctly.

[Opcom]

It was a really enjoyable video. The way things were done and those who respected them that did the things that way.

[flintstone mop]

Are WE still preparing every minute of EVERY day for our duties??

Very nice video. sounded like the 'movie' was projected on a Bell and  Howell "Filmosound".....
1950's audio and all.......

Thanks.........the way it USED to be