Snap, Crackle... Pop. If you're old enough, you immediately associate these words with Kellog's Rice Krispies (R) (yeah, with a "K"). But... if you're a ham, well these words take you to just about any receiver on any band (unless it's FM). My alternate introduction to S,C, & P was with a crystal set; a wonder of the neo-modern world, enjoyed by multitudes for years. At first, I only heard of them, then saw designs in Popular Mechanics - I endeavoured to look through enough trash-barrels in KCMO, to find an old coil of wire, a thrown-out transformer, or maybe some REAL wire to wind the coil with. The real stopping point was to find a pair of 2000 ohm headsets... GEE! Two Thousand Ohms? My meager mind at the age of 7 had difficulty comprehending the difference between Volts and Ohms, as Mr. Ohm was not yet, my friend, and I envisioned 2000 ohms as a "whole bunch", not easily obtainable by a boy of seven, and no doubt Very Dangerous.

To my rescue, came my Uncle Ben. Ben was the serious Uncle; in the Navy since 1941, Ben had actually gone ashore WITH the Marines on Guadacanal. He was an aircraft mechanic... they would need them RIGHT AWAY, so he went along. One of the things he brought back was a set of Telephonics 2000 ohm earphones (we didn't call 'em headsets, back then), with leather enclosing the spring steel bands across the head. He told me that they came out of either a PBY Catalina or TBM Avenger... he couldn't remember which. I begged, I cajoled, I prostrated myself at his figurative feet... lamenting my need for "only a pair of earphones". The begging worked - I was presented with these lovelies (which I STILL have), and it was off to the races. I recall putting them on, pretending I was John Wayne in the Flying Tigers, flying a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and shooting down "japs" in trails of flaming smoke and debris. It was then I happened to accidently brush the tip of the 1/4" phone plug on a metal surface, and heard "static"... the mysterious S, C, & P. Unbeknownst to me, it was a simple case of discovering the principle of the ANTENNA... still, it was awfully cool, and neat to demonstrate to my friends.

Ultimately, my Uncle Bill (another Navy aircraft mechanic) gave me a piece of galena ore in a slug of lead (Joila' - a CRYSTAL - Huzzah!), a roll of wire (he felt sorry for me), some REAL Fahnstock Clips (crystal sets cannot possibly work without the use of Fahnstock Clips, can they?) and a mica capacitor of some uknown value (I hadn't learned about "Bad Boys.... etc." yet). I located a piece of wood, my Dad's wood screw collection, and set to work. Winding the coil, entailed many, many turns of No. 24 wire on a Quaker Oat's box (they were round - guess they still are)... how to perform this act? I finally tied the wire onto a doorknob, and walking WAY OUT to the back of the yard, I walked back toward the doorknob, winding as I went. This went well, until Mom INSISTED on knowing what the heck I was doing with a wire on the door - I screamed "Don't take it off!", as Mom insisted on everything in it's place, and WIRE definately did NOT belong on doorknobs, at our house. I prevailed, and by some mystery, I actually didn't have much wire left over at the end of my required number of turns. The box & wire was then painted with shellac, and left to dry. Only a couple of bugs stuck to it, and they were easy to pick off. The "slider" or movable tap (if you will) was made from a piece of a Strongheart dog-food can. I cut the snot out of myself, folding the edges over, and it was too soft, anyway... so finally used a piece of that springy steel banding that you find on packing crates - Ahhh, Municipal Trash Collection Day in KC MO during 1950 was a wonderful thing for a boy of 7 years.

All went well, until I required a "cat's whisker". For those of you who do NOT know what contrivance this might be, it is a relatively sharp piece of wire, set into some manner of holder that enables you to move the point around on the surface of the piece of lead ore, to find the "sweet spot". (what you're actually doing is finding the point where it acts as a diode-detector)... Alas! I had NO "cat's whisker"... heck, the closest cat was on the farm, and that was in Topeka! Back to the Popular Mechanics, and I was guided to one of Mom's safety-pins... ONE of the greatest wonders of the World. Enough bending (I used up 3 before I got one bent the right way) and pushing, then screwing it down in the circuit. I held my breath, I moved the slider on the coil, I "adjusted" the "cat's whisker"... nuthin!

Careful examination of the "circuitry" revealed zero - no mistakes, I could find, anyway. Finally, I asked the Grand Wizeer... the Knower of All Things... He Who Knew All... my Dad. Knowing "diddly" about radio, He perused my drawings, he investigated my "construction"... he read the Popular Mechanics article, and then simply pointed to the coil - "Isn't this winding supposed to be hooked to those pieces, and this winding to your antenna and ground?" Gad, how amazing! What a total droll I felt like - indeed, a blithering idiot with a drool cup. I loosened the screws, placed the appropriate wire endings where they were supposed to be... harumphhh... and there it was! KMBC 980 - Wow, Gee, Oh Man, Golly, Neat-o, and whatever else we used to say in exclamation, back 57 years ago. It was SO loud you could hear it across the room! ...and it was FREE... nobody could yell at me for "using electricity up". This went well, until it was found that I preferred listening to "The Lone Ranger", "Gangbusters", "Lash LaRhue", "Hopalong Cassidy", "Sky King", and the myriad of other radio shows that transported me to far-off places. Schoolwork came first - Dad would take the earphones, and only give them back when I'd "earned it"...... rats! Another modern method of punishment for my erring ways.

My antenna was the left-over wire, wrapped around everything I could reach (which wasn't very high back then). I finally discovered that the heating ductwork made a very good antenna, and it didn't involve my Mother's admonition "Arghhhhh! More Wire! - That radio junk will never make you a penny!" (I LOVE to remind her of that statement... to this day).

I made better-and-better crystal sets, learned to abbreviate crystal with "xtal" (so I could look very cool), and ultimately scored a longer cord for my headphones (aircraft phones come with a pretty short cord at the helmet - they plug into longer ones in the cockpit and other positions) (I graduated - no longer did we call 'em "earphones"... they were now "HEADphones"). Then came a 1-tube radio, broadcast DX'ing (my Rushton Grade School buddies admit to doing it too), and finally the day that I heard a guy on top of WDAF, saying "CQ CQ CQ this is WØQQ WØQQ in Mission, Kansas.. calling and by". By this time we lived in Mission, Ks. I rigged the best (and smallest) xtal-set on my bicycle, and rode around, until I heard him really loud, and then saw his antenna farm... Ohhhhhhhhh it was beautiful... I'd finally met a "HAM"... thanks to Mertin Reeves WØQQ (SK) - 5412 Sycamore Drive / MISSION, Carl Bruns - KGOZ (SK), Stan Linder - KVLZ (SK), Eddie O'Dell - KJLP (SK) and the ham station at Shawnee-Mission North HS - WØZLK (SK), I became one, myself.

...and it all started with a piece of lead ore - something my Father always alluded to, that I had too much of, in the dorsal vicinity of my trousers.

Straight Key Night lives - this year with a Multi-Elmac AF-67 "Transciter", and a BC-348 receiver.

March 18, 2008