This was a good Story: Long Forgotten Old Ham (K8AXW) on March 2, 2014 View comments about this article! I just recently turned 78 years old and true to form as old people do, my mind started going back through the years thinking of the past. In this case, it wasn’t just the past but the hams that I knew who have already passed on. One came to mind that I had completely forgotten about. He was Ken, W8ULA the only African-American ham that I have ever known. I found out about Ken purely by accident. As a young boy I had an interest in ham radio, primarily from reading about them in books. I had never actually heard a ham at this point. One Sunday morning I noticed that my Dad’s Grundig floor model radio had a huge dial that was divided up in areas of different colors; each color band had its own set of numbers. Looking closely I also noticed in very fine lettering that some of the bands were labeled, Ham Radio, International Broadcast and others that I no longer remember. I asked for permission to touch the old man’s radio and after the reluctant “OK” I turned it on and switched to the one color that said Ham Radio. I learned later that this was the 75m band. The speaker came alive with very loud voices and as I listened I found that these voices, these hams, were located all within five miles of where I lived. I was listening to my very first ham radio conversations. One of the loudest signals was a guy who called himself Ken, with the call-sign W8ULA. His signals were extremely loud and the quality was very good. Broadcast quality. I listened totally fascinated for about an hour when they all signed off. The Grundig didnt have an outside antenna so no other signals were heard. I listened again the next Sunday and there they were again. I was to learn that they met every Sunday morning at ten AM and usually stayed on for an hour or so. All seemed friendly and interesting to listen to. Although when they started using technical jargon I was lost. Ken, who had the loudest signal, was also very interesting to listen to. I was to learn later that Ken was African-American, had a drinking problem and a set of dentures that didnt fit. It was funny listening to him talk while he was half in the bag and his dentures dropping loose and clattering together. There would be a quick sucking sound while he got them back in place. He laughed quite a bit and I didnt know if he was enjoying himself or if he was embarrassed because of his teeth clattering together. I learned that Ken lived about three miles from me and so one summer day I decided to walk to his house and pound on his door and introduce myself. At this very young age and being very timid, this was the limit of my self-confidence. Going up to his house, and I knew I was at the right place because of the huge doublet antenna with the homemade open wire lead-in trailing off to the house, I knocked on the door. I was first of all startled to see that Ken was black. I grew up living with “colored folk” back in the day and was right at home with them, but this was an area where I didn’t expect to see a black guy. Ken’s smile and pleasant greeting put me at ease as I introduced myself and told him that I had been listening to him for several weeks on Dad’s Grundig radio. He immediately invited me in and on the way to the ‘shack’ he excused himself because he was drunk. I had to stifle a laugh because every time I heard him on the air he was drunk...or on the way. Ken’s shack was located in the pantry off from the kitchen. When Ken pointed out his gear I’m quite sure my mouth was hanging open. The receiver was just a multi-band radio not too different than the big floor model Grundig. But the reason my mouth was hanging open was his one KW transmitter and antenna tuner that was built breadboard style on a wooden book case. The power supply was on the bottom shelf. The power transformer was a “pole-pig” which is a transformer, minus the tank full of oil that one sees daily hanging on the top of a power pole. I learned many year later using “pole-pigs” was very common. The modulator was on the next shelf up and the crystal controlled RF section was on a shelf next to the top. The top shelf held the “anteeena” tuner as Ken called it. Another thing that gave me pause was the shelves were covered with dust so deep that most of the wiring couldnt be seen! The house was immaculate but this breadboard transmitter hadnt seen a dust brush since it was built! As I look back I am still amazed that the whole thing didnt arc and catch fire. I’m also amazed that he or a member of his family, or at least his dog, wasnt killed by the several thousand volts carried by the point to point wiring! I no longer remember what tubes he used except they were very large. I recall that the ATU capacitors and one capacitor on the RF shelf were very large. We had a great visit and many years later I ran into Ken once again at his place of work. He remembered me and we had a nice chat. He was still using the ill fitting dentures. I think he was sober. During a military tour, marriage, children and work I lost track of Ken until one day I learned that he had passed away. Several years after his death I was driving by his house and on impulse I stopped and knocked on the door. He daughter answered the door and I introduced myself, related some memories of her Dad and then asked her if any of his gear was still around. She said everything was dismantled and stored in the attic. This was in the summer with outside temps running around 90°. It was much hotter in the attic and unlike the house; the attic looked like a landfill. After much scrounging around I found the board with the large variable capacitors. I asked for them and she helped me get them off the board. The rest wasnt to be found. A few years later I built the “Ultra Transmatch” designed by Lew McCoy using Ken’s old variable capacitors. It’s still in use today. The capacitors have to be in excess of 75 years old. I like to look at my “anteeena” tuner and think that a part of one old ham’s legacy is still being used.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 03:10:21 +0000
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