The opportunity to spend quality time with family members is at your fingertips. I surely was blessed when my father chose to further my interest in electronics by turning me towards two-way radio communications. There are few things we can choose as a hobby that offer a useful and lasting opportunity to learn. The personal interrelationship with our children creates a strong family and affective bond that lasts forever.

I was the kind of kid who would bring home whatever electronics I could find on the sidewalks on garbage days. Neighbors saw my interest and donated unwanted electronics so I could learn. I had televisions, radios, record player/console radio combinations, etc., in my bedroom and on the kitchen table. I was fascinated by how all these electronic devices worked. Dad saw this and furthered my education by getting me involved in “Heath Kit” products and later obtaining a ham radio base station and license for our house. My world expanded tremendously, and I was wholeheartedly involved in learning it.

At one time we had a radio mast that included mounting a shortwave ham radio antenna, a CB radio antenna, and our television antenna together. It was quite a sight in our neighborhood when dad’s friends; Jocko and Claude, one Saturday morning, brought that mast in a company truck. Dad had built it himself and thought of it as a surprise for all of us kids. He had made the decision to involve us in radio communications as a shared hobby. The mast was triangular, constructed of 1.5-inch thin-walled square aluminum, and measured 35 feet. In Height.

The base of the mast matched the slope of the house’s roof – it was easily removed from the truck bed to the roof, stood upright and secured on our roof, then pulled up to securely attach each antenna. It seemed like everyone in the neighborhood was wide-eyed and fascinated that day, just like me and my brothers and sisters. In fact, we take pride in the appearance of our home that day; we had the only ‘sci-fi’ looking house on the block, and we knew all the other kids in our neighborhood envied us.

About a week after the antenna was erected, Dad brought in an amateur radio base station made up of receiver, transmitter, and amplifier components. All the snaps of ‘Jocko’, who was a communications technician at Phillipeans during WWII, with dad and dad’s wartime friend. In addition, he purchased a ‘Johnson Messenger’ CB radio base unit and a matching ‘Johnson Messenger’ mobile radio which he installed in the family car. Both CBs were identical ‘White Face’ models with the only exception being that the mobile version had a ‘vibrator tube’ fitted which allowed it to run on converted DC (direct current) as the radio had an operating power rating of 110 VAC (alternating current). This made CB Radio mobile, and then allowed me to have a good time using the base station and contacting my father by radio wherever I was.

Over time it became apparent that our radios were not receiving a good receive/transmit distance. This was clear to both the Ham base unit and the CB radio base. The problem of our grounding system. We just put a copper ground rod in the ground outside Dad’s bedroom window. We had connected a ground wire from the base of the mast to that 8′ long copper rod and used it as the ground loop from the antenna transmitter/receiver to the base. We determined that it was not adequate and installed a new grounding system. Dad bought two bags of ‘rock salt’ (sodium chloride), then took out our old ground rod. I then dug a four foot hole, nailed our copper rod down the center where it would be 4-5 inches above the ground when the hole was filled. After this we throw in a bag of salt; he added water, then filled the hole halfway, added the last bag of salt and more water, then filled the hole to ground level.

A test became necessary, so I held a 100W bulb (ground side) against the rod, while holding the mast’s ground wire to the positive end of the bulb. Dad ‘hit’ the CB mic and my light bulb came on bright. The “Messenger Radio” had been ‘bypassed’ in the final output amp, giving us 100W of SSB power. Wow this was really amazing for me. The next test was the “Ham Radio” base transmitter test. Using the same light bulb, Dad ‘pulsed’ the microphone and the light bulb in my hand got too bright and burned out. That base transmitter put out about 1.5 KW (1500 watts of transmit power), which was marginally legal with our current license. Well, we use it anyway. Our new ground tested less than 24 ohms from the antenna mast to the ground. We had a lightning rod situation that we didn’t realize at the time.

To make a long story short, for a period of time our antenna received a lot of attention. We had the privilege of speaking all over the world, the Ham and CB were well marked and I learned a lot more about electronics. Using ‘Continuous Wave Mode’ (CW), I also broadcast ‘Morse Code’ all over the world. Everyone during the 1960s still prided themselves on being proficient in its use. All very well, but one problem seemed to visit us in the first fall/winter season, again during the spring. Our grounding system was so good that it drew violent thunderstorms around our house. We didn’t realize this until the city inspectors arrived. It seems that some of our neighbors had complained that six children lived in a house that was always struck by lightning.

The rock salt created an acid soil that ensured good contact of the copper with the soil. Our antenna mast height was approximately 47′ from the ground, plus the 8′ length of the tallest antenna. This was a total height of 55′, which was taller than anything around our house. It was well grounded and safe, but we were fooled by the city with the total headroom exceeding local codes. We had to lower the antenna mast onto a concrete pad on the ground. This eventually proved effective, but much of the fun of thunderstorms was lost, although there was some serious electrical activity around our house on some days. In fact, we enjoyed the storms, and many children and parents in the neighborhood were also amazed.

I have to say that this hobby changed my life. My sister Larae and brother Steven also developed interests in communications. Larae works as an executive for a television and radio station in Oregon, and my brother Steven works for the Sheriff’s Department as a communications engineer. I have personally worked as an industrial electrician and an instrument electrician for over eight years. This hobby is educational and exciting. The bonds you build with your children will last a lifetime. I can honestly say that the time and money invested in developing this hobby with the family and friends involved will be well spent.

Have fun and good luck in your new hobby if you decide to get involved.