SolderSmoke Daily News -- Ham Radio Blog: When Hams Wore Neckties, and AM Transmitters Were in the Living Room

Friday, January 25, 2019

When Hams Wore Neckties, and AM Transmitters Were in the Living Room

Jeff Murray K1NSS had this on his Facebook page. Great stuff. But I felt like yelling out, "Stay in the basement OM! Stick with your haywire rig!"

2 comments:

MichaelJanuary 25, 2019 at 7:09 PM
It was also a time when comic strips were used to sell things. All those correspondent course ads, Tandy had comic books to sell leather and later electronics. There must have been others.

But that was always the tradeoff. A "radio shack" was needed to keep the "junk" out of sight. It was commercial equipment, especially SSB since it was smaller, that allowed for those fancy layouts so loved by ham magazines as filler.

Of course, over time more people were in cities, away from rural that allowed for a real shack and massive antennas. Even cities expanded into places that had been "rural". Howard Armstrong had space as a kid for antennas, but I thought it was more urban than rural.

Michael
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AnonymousJanuary 26, 2019 at 9:48 PM
The haywire rigs with their rats nest of wires was all part of the allure. Being in the basement or shack had some benefits as well!
Vince
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