Ah yes, good old Corky. As a yut, once you encountered him you lived in fear with the need to deal with him for radio stuff. Was he active on the air?
Carl
Hi Carl -
So you knew Corky too? Any stories about him or the store?
He was a legend for sure. He owned a Collins 75S3B, 32S3 and 30-L1 when they first came out. He was Collins' biggest advocate. Whenever anyone axed him his opinion about a radio, he would tell them to get rid of all the bullshit and buy a Collins station. He was right when it came to ssb stuff
I remember a day in 1967 when he was smiling and said, "only one more payment to the Old Man and the S-Line is all mine!"
He was very popular on 20M ssb with a large group early in the morning before his drive to work at Hatry's. I heard him on a few times and he was the channelmaster from E. Granby, CT on a lake. He had a TA-33 tribander.
I remember taking my Novice CW test from him. I met Ed, W1RFI in 1965 thru Hatry's who became a Novice buddy and later met some FB girls from Manchester thru him. There are so many stories to tell.
I had a paper route so had lots of money to buy rigs and kept trading in and out there. One time I bought 170' of Channelmaster telescoping steel mast. I was so dumb (or was it motivated?) I was about to try carrying 17 10' pipes to the bus stop on Main street and get on the bus to Windsor. Corky was leaving, saw my plight and gave me a ride home with the masting in his station wagon.
Another time a ham who just bought an S-line from him said he couldn't get on the air because he couldn't afford the power supply yet. Corky suggested that he homebrew it. The guy acted insulted and insisted that he didn't build his own refrigerator, so why should he build his PS? Quite the analogy.
One time I bought a Gotham vertical from him - my first antenna as a Novice. I filled up part of a logbook calling CQ without a single reply. I had a ham listen for me 12 miles away and he heard nothing. I brought it back to Corky who axed me where I got that piece of crap? He had forgotten he sold it to me a few weeks previous. He showed me how to make a coaxial pigtail for a dipole and the whole world opened up with 599s from IL that night on 40M. BTW, the Gotham vertical was grounded at the top due to my installation error.. another story. It may have worked otherwise.
Corky's health slowly deteriorated... I think asthma from smoking those cigarettes and diabetes. He axed me a few times to go across the street (High St) and get him some sugar donuts. Poor guy. After the Hatry's move to Murphy Rd he lasted a few more years, maybe 68 years old? and that was it.
He was licensed as W1KXM in the early 30's and lived in Windsor, not far from my QTH I found out later.
Hatry's on High St. was a magical place. I have never seen any pictures of it, unfortunately. I'm sure they are around somewhere. The "Old Man" Mr. Hatry, has quite a radio background himself.
Info on early Hatry:
http://www.sparkbench.com/homebrew/Hatry/hatry.htmlT
