Old Time Radio

Innocent Radio

Thomas Ask, AC9L

The tower was my welcome mat but I had no idea that the black coax winding down the tower led to someone who witnessed the infant days of radio in Europe. I had recently moved to a small town and while exploring my new community, I saw one of my neighbors had a proud Yagi on a 60-foot tower. Happy to find a fellow Amateur Radio operator in my neighborhood, I went up to the house near the tower and knocked on the door. I was greeted by an elderly lady who, when queried, said, "No, we are not radio operators, Mr. Hoppe is over there." After retracting her pointing hand she confided in a conspiratorial tone, "and he knows Morse code!" The seriousness of her voice made me smile and I wondered if she thought he was a spy and learned about his Morse code via TVI. I walked over to the correct house where I met Herman Hoppe, WA2HJH. When I told him I was an amateur, he beamed, and excitedly invited me in saying, "I have a story for you." Herman has told me several stories over the last few years and has been able to bring back vivid images of the Detroit Mafia in the '30s, the Ford assembly line in the '20s, and life in his homeland Germany in the '10s - including the first radio he built in 1917.

Herman said, "A man who was helping me said to first find a black rock with a shine to it and use this for a detector." Next Herman made a coil and capacitor from which he fabricated a simple cat-whisker receiver. As soon as he connected it to headphones and an antenna, he was filled with joy and excitement as he heard the signal from Berlin. Herman knew of only three stations in Europe at that time and this high technology had piqued Herman's youthful imagination.

Herman was a miller in Germany and recalled the peaceful days of his youth far removed from the concerns of the next village. So removed in fact, that he learned about the onset of World War I after asking a minister why all the church bells in his village were ringing. The minister told him that Germany was now fighting the French. The innocent days of shiny rocks and unknown wars quickly passed from Herman's eventful life, but his love for radio led him into a career as a radio and TV technician. Most importantly, Herman still reaches out from his home to share friendship and an unspoken fraternal bond with radio enthusiasts of all ages.

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