This was written in 1990 50 years after the event.

RADIO NEWS !

HAPPENINGS OF 50 YEARS AGO !

Information From the May, 1940 Radio Log of W9NOY, Washington, Mo.,

One of the very active members of the Franklin Radio Club (So named for Franklin County) was Rev. William Duerr, Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Beaufort, Mo. who held the Amateur Radio Call, W9VBL. His phonetics--Very Bad Lad! It was the custom of the St. John Church group to hold their annual picnic on the last Sunday of May. Many members of the Franklin Radio group got together almost daily during noon hour on 1945 kcs. in the 160 meter band.

Early in May Rev. Duerr suggested that the Club put on a communication demonstration at the picnic! He proposed that he would move his equipment outdoors on the picnic grounds, and we would converse much as we did on week days! By coincidence, at this time W9NOY was completing a 10 meter mobile transmitter, not his first one, but the outcome of previous experiments! A new angle was added to the demonstration! W9VBL suggested why not have the radio roundtable as planned then have W9NOY drive to Beaufort and talk to him cross-band as he approached the picnic grounds!

W9VBL wanted to be sure no one would be embarrassed because something unexpected happened and there was no communication! So W9VBL went to Washington on May 8th. He operated the W9NOY station on 160 meters, while W9NOY mobile drove from his home on James St. to South Point, back to Washington, south almost to Union, back to Washington, West almost to New Haven and return with solid communication! How did W9NOY mobile listen on 160? The Ford-Philco radio was modified so that it still received the BC band, but by turning a switch, it tuned 1.5 to 5 megacycles!

OK, so 10 meter mobile worked in Washington! How about Beaufort? A few days before the picnic W9NOY mobile went to Beaufort for one more test! W9VBL didn't hear the mobile until he was passing the General Store in Beaufort! W9VBL had his equipment set up exactly the way he planned for the demonstration. The antenna for transmitting and receiving was a 160 meter center fed horizontal antenna! Could this be the problem? Writers in QST had started saying antenna polarity becomes important on 5 and 10 meters! Hurriedly a 17 foot piece of wire was hung from the tree over the receiver, straight down to the antenna terminal of the receiver! A little testing right in the vicinity then on the return to Washington (via Union) good communication was had right into Union! We were satisfied, we quit!

(Was the demonstration a success? Was the picnic cancelled?)

(Turn to Page 2 and find out!