Old time Radio

How I got started in radio

James Welch, KK6N

It was 1924 and radio was the current rage. One afternoon my father brought home a crystal radio. It was a simple thing - black sheet metal box about six inches by eight inches, about two inches high. There were four binding posts, two for the antenna and ground, two more for the headphone tip jacks.

The deal also included about 100 feet of bare stranded copper wire, a pair of insulators and the insulated lead-in wire. That little set received KPO, KGO, KJBS and other local broadcasters, but it wasn't long before I started hankering for another receiver. I had the bug!

That was when I discovered that the local Woolworth's carried some simple texts on building crystal sets, and all the needed parts were for sale in the store. The big catch was, I didn't have any money.

That was about the time a neighbor started a new venture and was looking for a delivery boy and I got the job. It was a piece of cake; my neighbor had me deliver packages to his customers around the neighborhood. I was so young and innocent that I realized only years later the nature of the neighbor's business, but I did notice that the customers usually were having a lot of fun.

My life in radio continued; learn the code, get a Ham license, get a commercial telegraph license, work as a ship operator, go to work as a land station operator, work in a vacuum tube factory, go into the service, work in broadcasting and finally, become an aerospace communication engineer.

It all developed from my initial funding working for the neighbor.

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