Happy Days After WWII, HQ-129X

[Tom WA3KLR]

I'm starting to go through some old photo albums of my parents this weekend which I haven't viewed in over 40 years.  Attached is a photo taken in 1946 when my father Paul W8VVS would have acquired his brand new HQ-129X.  I remember seeing the bill of sale one time, dated 1946.  The receiver is sitting on the Hammarlund shipping box.  Above is a Meissner Signal Shifter and a Hammarlund speaker.

The receiver was sold in the late 1960's when my father acquired an NC-183D.

[Tom WA3KLR]

Attached here is a group photo in a communications room at NAS Norfolk, taken April 26, 1947.  There are Collins TDO transmitters on the left and what appears to be some General Radio? or Marconi? r.f. frequency monitors and/or signal generators on the right.  Switchboard at the lower right.

Attached below is a scan of the back of the photo with names listed.  My father is second from the left on the back row.  Second from the right on the front row is Haywood Perry W4DHZ, who I met in the early 1970's.

[Opcom]

Coat and tie in a room that may have got to 90 degrees with only fans to cool it! Tube gear, and a lit cigarette. How things are changed.

That big Collins is an autotune. Probably worth $10-20K today.

[W3GMS]

Thanks Tom for posting the photo's of your Dad.  I sure can tell which one is your Dad. 

Many enjoyable QSO's talking to him about the Meisner and 129 rcvr.   

I have put those pictures in my archives. 

Funny thing, with all the rain last week, I was going through a lot of old photos as well.  Finally got them all organized after many years of just being in boxes.  Some really cool stuff for sure.

Joe, GMS

[Tom WA3KLR]

Hi Joe, thanks for the reply. 

That Meissner VFO in the photo, my father would have gotten rid of when the Model EX came out.  Unfortunately he found out that the EX had less output and then he had to build a buffer amp.  In late years when he became a radio collector, he re-acquired one like in the photo and some other models.

Hopefully I will come across some other photos appropriate for posting here.

[W3GMS]

Hi Joe, thanks for the reply. 

That Meissner VFO in the photo, my father would have gotten rid of when the Model EX came out.  Unfortunately he found out that the EX had less output and then he had to build a buffer amp.  In late years when he became a radio collector, he re-acquired one like in the photo and some other models.

Hopefully I will come across some other photos appropriate for posting here.

I remember maybe 5 or 6 years back he was looking for a particular model of the Meissner Signal Shifter.  I told him the ones I had, but unfortunately none of mine were the model he was looking for.  Around that same time he offered Martha and I a large jack of some type but it was just after we put the lift in the garage and did not need it.  We always appreciated his willingness to pass things our way if we could use them. 

Joe, GMS

[W2VW]

RF pedigree.

Great photos.

Class act.

[Tom WA3KLR]

Here is another photo taken in the same communications room at NAS Norfolk building SP 113.  There is a newspaper clipping in the album describing an impending nationwide telephone strike.  The previous photo in this posting is of the members of the Ocean View Amateur Radio Club who helped put in service an emergency statewide network at the request of the Army and Navy, with the Navy's assistance in providing equipment.  The article mentions that a TDO transmitter, RAO receiver and a Teletype machine were used.  My father is sitting in the background at a Hallicrafters receiver.

And now you know….the rest of the story.

[Tom WA3KLR]

O.k., I’m going to wrap up this thread with one more photo.  My father, who was employed by Philco since WWII, was transferred from Patuxent River NAS doing aircraft radar support to become a technical writer at Philco’s home plants in Philadelphia in 1950.  He bought a Cape Cod in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia.

In this photo, one second floor room floor and walls have been finished and the shack is born.  It is not in its final form yet however.  Home-brew transmitters are at the left and right sides of the photo.  You can see the new Meissner Model EX Signal Shifter sitting on top of the left transmitter (300 Watts pr. 812H’s).  On the temporary operating desk is the HQ-129X and on top of the -129X is a Hallicrafters Panadapter (which I think I only saw in operation once).  The box to the right of the -129X and similar one on top of the Hammarlund speaker are home-brew projects made from 1935 Western Electric 18B 30 MHz AM mobile police receivers.  The box to the right of the -129X is an intercom for monitoring my brother and me in our bedroom below the hamshack.  The box on top of the Hammarlund speaker cabinet is a 10 meter AM receiver for monitoring the Phil-Mont Mobile Radio Club frequency of 29493 kcs.  The right-hand transmitter is on this frequency.

The 2nd harmonic op on the left is me and my fraternal twin is on the right.  We are 2 years old.  The microphones are Astatic JT-30’s.  The one on the left survives today and is in use on my Johnson Viking II.  I have no idea where the other mic got to.  I have the left-hand transmitter/rack cabinet here. 73.

[WA9NQW]

That is a great photo Tom!!

73,

Jack wa9nqw

[W3RSW]

Sure is, ...and would you check out the ears on those cute little Ham-sters! 

Born for the avocation, fer sure.   

I'll bet those pictures bring back a lot of warm memories Tom.

[Tom WA3KLR]

Thanks for the comments Jack and Rick.  Rick, I can hear the weak signals in noise real well.

Well I am going to post one more photo; this one of the shack in its final form about one year later circa 1954.  I have posted this photo on the AM Forum before.  There is a different operating desk, a VHF-152 converter and home-brew AM/FM i.f. receiver in matching cabinet added to the equipment,and ceiling mounted speakers.

[K1JJ]

Very cool pics, Tom!

It was a different whirl back then with that old tube gear. Radio wireless really meant something and was mysterious.

The pics show clearly how everyone wore a suit and tie in those days. You either wore a suit - or overalls. (An exec vs: a worker distinction)

My uncle, who grew up in the depression era, told me that when a boy turned about 15 years old, his father took him down to the men's clothing store and bought him a suit and tie. And the kid wore that same suit everywhere he went until threadbare. He said, "In those days, if you didn't have a suit, you were a bum!"   

T 

[KX5JT]

My uncle, who grew up in the depression era, told me that when a boy turned about 15 years old, his father took him down to the men's clothing store and bought him a suit and tie. And the kid wore that same suit everywhere he went until threadbare. He said, "In those days, if you didn't have a suit, you were a bum!"  

Sure am glad the 60's came along and made blue jeans and casual wear acceptable in the office!

[Vortex Joe - N3IBX]

Tom,
      Terrific fotos, especially the one of you and your fraternal twin holding the JT30's!

      I really liked the 1947 foto of the two TDO's right next to each other!

[W3GMS]

Tom,

Thanks to your postings, my W3VVS Memorial Folder just got a lot of new material! 


Really enjoying seeing all the pictures.

Thanks!

Joe, GMS

[Tom WA3KLR]

I couldn't resist the photo op for a "61 years later" version of me with the 812H rig:

[WBear2GCR]

Really great pix Tom!

Thanks for sharing...

...heck of a grip on that mic in the last shot. 
Hope to catch you on the air with that rig sometime.

                _-_-

[Steve - K4HX]

Great photos Tom. The 812H is a killer tube. Derb built a 1930s style open-frame relay rack transmitter with two of those in push-pull. I had it in my station for a while when he was between QTHs. Those tubes would easily put out 500 watts (no modulation) with about 1500-1800 volts on them. Even with a the key down for 30 seconds to a minute, there was almost no color on the plates. On AM I ran the transmitter at about 300-350 watts output. With 805 modulators, everything was loafing along.