L.W. Hatry of Hatry's Hatrford background info

[K1JJ]

http://www.sparkbench.com/homebrew/Hatry/hatbio.jpg
 
http://www.sparkbench.com/homebrew/Hatry/hatry.html


The local guys will probably find this info interesting. It's about Mr. Hatry, who started the Hatry's of Hartford ham store.  I didn't know he worked at the ARRL, produced a shortwave receiver and was so involved in the technical aspects of the hobby.  I never met him, though knew his son who later managed the store.

T

[WA1LGQ]

Thanks Tom, good find. Everyone old enough around here remembers going to Hatry's to by ham supplies. I think I bought my first store-bought xmtr there, and it was the local place to get parts and crystals. I might still have a parts catalog from there. I have and old one from Sceli's.
Larry

[K2AEP]

Thanks for the Memory Tom...I often drove down to Hartford from the Berkshires and purchased a very clean Heath Apache and SB10 Adapter from the legendary Store.        k2aep

[W3GMS]

Very interesting story and links Tom.  I have often heard you guys speak about Hatry's and this gives me more insight into the man.  I also enjoyed looking at his 30's vintage superhet with the regenerative detector.  Yes, this simple stuff does indeed work and pretty well! 
Joe, GMS

[W1AEX]

Thanks Tom. I never knew the background behind Hatry of Hatry's in Hartford. I sure spent a lot of money at Hatry's over the years buying component parts when my junk box wouldn't provide them. I loved browsing the used equipment shelves the most.

The guy in the article did a beautiful recreation of the Hatry & Young receiver. Looks great and probably sounds pretty sweet too.

Rob W1AEX

[K1JJ]

Thanks Tom. I never knew the background behind Hatry of Hatry's in Hartford. I sure spent a lot of money at Hatry's over the years buying component parts when my junk box wouldn't provide them. I loved browsing the used equipment shelves the most.

The guy in the article did a beautiful recreation of the Hatry & Young receiver. Looks great and probably sounds pretty sweet too.

Rob W1AEX

Yep, it was fun reading.

Hanging around there on Saturdays listening to Corky - fantasizing about owning some of that used gear - there was so much to that store.   I went thru a lot of new and used gear there. Wanted to try everything out. All except the S line. Too expensive. They gave FULL credit on your used gear towards another piece when trading up.  The problem was there was no service shop and the problems had to be fixed by the hams or it just got passed around.

Does anyone know when L.W. died?   For some reason I remember Corky referring to the "Old Man" in the mid to late 60's.  One day Corky was smiling and said, "It's all MINE!"  He was referring to making his last payment to Hatry on his Collins S line.

Maybe I saw L.W. a few times, but can't be sure until I know when he checked out. It would have to have been after Oct 1964. I figure he was about 70 years old in 1965.

Anyone remember "Doc" the store mgr, and Ward the other ham salesman?    Then there was a guy named Tom down the cellar in the parts area.  Al Tarbel / ex-K1UJB worked there for awhile while attending elec engr school. One day Al stamped my arm with a rubber stamp that said, "bullshit."     He told me to get rid of all the crap and buy an S line. His aunt had just died and left him an inheritance. Guess what he bought right away?

T

[W1AEX]

I sort of remember speaking to Corky and also with a guy named Ward a few times. He tried to school me on proper line termination being total nonsense with coax. I remember just nodding and my eyes glazed over pretty quickly because I was a novice without much experience or background in electronics. I do recall a guy named Dave who worked the ham counter. I believe he was big into 2 meter FM.

The one "lucky" purchase I had at Hatry's was when I was grabbing parts to build the grid input circuit for my 4-400 amp. I had gathered a pile of parts from their racks and went over to pay for them and one of the ham salesmen said, "Wait a minute, let me check something." He walked over to the used equipment shelves and reached way up to the back of the top shelf and pulled out a low power B&W tank circuit for 160-10 meters. He walked back over and said, "Looks like you're building something like this. Why don't you just buy this?" It was selling for around 10 bucks and all the parts I had gathered were about twice that. It was a lucky "score" for me!

When Hatry's closed up, I started hanging out at Sceli Electronics in West Hartford when I needed something. They had a pretty good inventory, but there wasn't any special stuff for hams. I think they finally closed up shop in the 90's. As far as I know, there's nothing like those two shops anymore. The closest thing is "Cables and Connectors" which does have a very good line of NTE electronic components, but they're fairly expensive. Good to have them around though when you're in a hurry to fix or build something. My other favorite hangout was the Heathkit shop up in Canton. For some reason I couldn't take my eyes off that big Susan Anton clock they were selling. My wife would have killed me if I dragged that thing home...

:O)

Rob W1AEX

[K1JJ]

Rob,

Yep, that Cables and Connectors place is pretty slick. I keep forgetting to go down there when I need stuff and usually go to RS instead. Gotta get down there soon.  It's amazing a store like that can stay afloat these days, but hope they continue.


Yep, the old Hatry days. I still remember the afternoon I "discovered" the old store on High Street in 1964.  I wandered around for a few hours mesmerized.  Those tables full of ever-changing used gear  were the coolest thang going.

The ham personalities coming and going all day were amazing.

T

[K4RT]

Thanks for posting the links. I enjoyed reading about Hatry as well as construction of the replica receiver and photos.

[WA1QHQ]

I have fond memories of Hatry's as a teenager. This was in the early 70s and by then Corky was gone and Ward was running the Ham department. I took my Novice test at Hatry's, bought my first receiver from the used equipment shelf. When I got my drivers license that was the first place I drove to solo. It was suppose to be a short trip but I ran into an old High School ham club buddy there and drove over to his place to check out his shack. I guess about 3 or 4 hours later I arrived home and my parents were worried sick that I had been in an accident because I had been gone for so long. I also remember Dave, I remember he got busted for jamming a 2 meter repeater and think he might have lost his job over that.

[N1CLW]

I recall Hatry's on 500 Ledyard Street in the south end of Hartford, not far from Brainard airport. This was 1970s to 1980s. Not only were Corky and Ward there in the ham corner (back right as you entered the store), but on Saturday mornings say 10:00 to 12:00 a group of hams would hang out there, talking about these new things called repeaters or discussing what was on the used ham equipment shelves. I recall Corky always had stories to tell. Often the group would head out when when the store closed at noon to the 99 restaurant on the north end of the Berlin Turnpike. While most of the group was my father's age, they let me be part of the crowd. Two things I remember buying from the used ham shelf (and still have them and are still working) were a National NC-303 and a Hammarlund SP-600.

I recall someone at that informal lunch once mentioning that the ham job was Corky's retirement job, and he originally was a meat cutter?  I also recall Corky saying to me once when we were talking about price that he works for Lou Hatry junior. I think his point was that he was not there to discount for hams but to make money for the owners.

Yes, Sceli on route 5 in South Windsor had a big parts department, covering ham and TV and radio repair customers, but no specific ham orientation. This was decades before I-291 came in, and Sceli was on the other side of the Bissel Bridge, which was toll. So they'd give out bridge tickets.

Now, without Radio Shack in every town, and then Cables and Connectors (where I bought a lot during their closeout) we are in a parts desert in Connecticut. It is annoying when you're repairing some of your vintage equipment to wait a week for a mail order part. Though I did discover recently that the Ace store in Windsor and the NAPA store in Bloomfield stock 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 amp instrument fuses, as used in a lot of vintage equipment (both ham and stereos).   I also recall something in Bloomfield center named Dressler's Electronic Jungle, but didn't go there often.

[Carl WA1KPD]

I only remember the store down by Brainard as I was from Essex and it was a long trip to snag a parent for and too far away for me to drive when I got my automotive license.

I remember my mom had to go to Hartford one day and I convinced her to swing by and get me a MARS (brand) dual meter SWR meter. I waited in anticipation all day having sent her off with the Hatry's Ad. Boy was I crushed when she came home and told me they were out of them.

I was there one time (lste 60s) and met 3 hams my age in the parking lot. There were no local hams near my age at that time. They had the biggest new black Caddy or Lincoln I had ever seen. One of the kids told me that the kid driver's father was a contractor. I occasionally wonder who the three were.

Most of my career was in downtown Hartford and I would take off from lunch some days and wander the aisles and the dwindling ham section. I saw my first digital rig, the Icom 735 there.

There was a pretty good store in the late 70's just off the Berlin Turnpike in Newington. Not much in the way of parts but plenty of gear. It only lasted several years. Bought a Drake SSR-1 and a Yaesu Memorizer there.

Anybody know who the Young was in H&Y?

[KD1SH]

Thomas Communications, maybe? I was there a few times.

There was a pretty good store in the late 70's just off the Berlin Turnpike in Newington. Not much in the way of parts but plenty of gear. It only lasted several years. Bought a Drake SSR-1 and a Yaesu Memorizer there.

[Carl WA1KPD]

Thomas Communications, maybe? I was there a few times.

Sounds like it. There was also another place more recently (2000?) in Newington for a while. Lentini? Even saw them at NF a few times.

[KD1SH]

Yes, Lentini was a fixture for decades, and just closed up not many years ago.

Thomas Communications, maybe? I was there a few times.

Sounds like it. There was also another place more recently (2000?) in Newington for a while. Lentini? Even saw them at NF a few times.

[Carl WA1KPD]

More history on LWH

[Carl WA1KPD]

And then there was Corky.

[K1JJ]

"And then there was Corky."

FB Carl!  I've been looking for a picture of Corky for years. All I had was a mental image of him from the 60's...   TNX.

He lived with his wife in East Granby on a lake IIRC.  He grew up in Windsor, CT.  (same as me)

He gave me the Novice written  and CW test on the glass display case at Hatry's in 1964.  I was bringing in a few bux each week from my paper route to hold various rigs until I got my ticket. My first rig deposit was for a Globe Scout for $30.  A few weeks later I got power greedy and transfered the deposit to a Ranger I for $125.  Then tried to get Corky to let me pay down on a Valiant for $125. I couldn't even lift that rig.  He refused to sell it to me sayng I'd be running 275 watts in the Novice band... who me?  :-)    Finally settled on the Ranger. When the General ticket arrived 6 months later, I found the AM phone mode did not work.  The hams in that day just traded gear in and out whether it worked or not. No test or service shop at Hatry's....

Those were golden days with lots of FB memories.

T

[KD1SH]

  Lentini's operation had no such qualms; from the late 70's into the 90's there were steady streams of CB ops either bringing their rigs in for "outband" modifications or walking out with brand new CB linear amps.

 He refused to sell it to me sayng I'd be running 275 watts in the Novice band... who me?  :-)    
T

[Opcom]

What a great story!

[K1JJ]

Corky was W1KXM from the early 30's.  He ran a Collins S line with a 30L-1 linear into a Moseley TA-33. He was well known on 20M.

Another Corky story:  I was waiting for my Novice ticket to arrive in December 1964. I knew nothing about ham antennas. There was a used Gotham 80-10M vertical taped together on the used rack for $15.  I axed Corky about it and he said it may do the job for me.

I brought it home and planted it right next to the house on a steel pipe in the ground, 1' away from my bedroom window, no radials. (first mistake)   I then added a bare wire from the top of the vertical to the icy roof as a guy wire in case of tornados. (second mistake)   So, I had an antenna that was being absorbed by the house structure as well as grounded at the high impedance top.  The loading coil at the bottom was set for 80M according to the manual- no swr bridge to tell me if the swr was 1:1 or 30:1.  (third mistake)

My WN1DGK Novice ticket finally arrived and I called CQ for three days straight without a response - on 3716 CW at 75 watts out.  The rules said I needed to log ALL CQs, so I did. After a while the log started to fill up and I stopped logging. Not a soul came back to me over 3 days of calling.  I had a general class ham listen for me 8 miles away and he heard nothing.  Hams I called acted like I wasn't there.

I brought the Gotham back to Corky in disgust.  His comment was:  "Where did you get THAT piece of crap?" I told him he sold it to me a few weeks ago. He said nothing and then proceeded to  show me how to make a coaxial pigtail for a dipole.  I strung a 40M dipole between two trees at about 40'. That evening I had all kinds of pileups on me. I was working WN9s and even a few WN0s. Thousands of miles away! I was up until 2 AM on a school night until my father walked in and pulled the AC plug out of the wall.  I told him I may get in trouble from the FCC for not signing out.

There's so many other stories. Corky was a ham's ham and a mentor to many.
 
T

[Carl WA1KPD]

I brought it home and planted it right next to the house on a steel pipe in the ground, 1' away from my bedroom window, no radials. (first mistake)   I then added a bare wire from the top of the vertical to the icy roof as a guy wire in case of tornados. (second mistake)   So, I had an antenna that was being absorbed by the house structure as well as grounded at the high impedance top.  The loading coil at the bottom was set for 80M according to the manual- no swr bridge to tell me if the SWR was 1:1 or 30:1.  (third mistake)

My WN1DGK Novice ticket finally arrived and I called CQ for three days straight without a response - on 3716 CW at 75 watts out.  The rules said I needed to log ALL CQs, so I did. After a while the log started to fill up and I stopped logging. Not a soul came back to me over 3 days of calling.  I had a general class ham listen for me 8 miles away and he heard nothing.  Hams I called acted like I wasn't there.

Great story.

While waiting for my Novice I spent weeks searching through my handed-down copy of the Handbook and "How to Become a Radio Amateur" to answer one question. My dipole would run from the roof above my bedroom shack to a tree in the backyard.
Which side of the dipole would be attached to the center?
A poor suffering Novice, sans mentor, could not find that addressed anywhere.
56 years later and I still can't find out!
73
Carl