I earned my Novice Class license WN2RQG before I was 13, during the early 1970s. I was a member of the radio club at my youth center WA2PJO, in the southwest corner of Nassau County on Long Island, New York. There I got a taste of Morse Code, radio theory, practical operating, and propagation. I was excited that we could talk to folks in places as far away as Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Those were several times more distant than what I heard on AM broadcast radio. Unlike broadcast radio, I could have real conversations. And with my technical curiosity and interests, I realized I had much more in common with folks on amateur radio than on broadcast. I enjoyed noticing how the propagation changed with time and seasons on the different bands.
WA2PJO was in the basement of the youth center, with old school desks and a blackboard, and a Collins WA2PJO was in the basement of the youth center, with old school desks and a blackboard, and a Collins line of vacuum tubed radio equipment along one wall. On the roof was a dipole antenna. Being in a basement underground, I felt aware the club could have hidden us away from the world. Yet instead, the radios, made essentially from materials dug from underground, arranged those materials so that the world opened up — and we talked with that world! And there was something about the nature of the materials and something about the nature of space that let us do that.
I was a member of the club for two years. The club advisor when I first joined was Mr. Bob Lieberman W2DAH s.k. (silent key). For my second year at the club we had a younger ham advisor. He was the one who gave me my theory foundation and who taught me for my Novice test. Unfortunately I don’t remember his name or callsign now. At the end of the second year I earned my Novice Class license. But I was the only one left, and the club discontinued. At that point I didn’t know anyone else with an interest in radio. I was thrilled, but also disappointed, that I didn’t see electronics in school until 12th grade physics. Until then none of my classmates knew what I was talking about. Well, they probably didn’t understand it afterwards either.
My curiosity in radio at first took me by surprise, as I had no exposure before to practical radio. This interest though did give me something that was missing. Meanwhile I had other interests that were developing too since I was little: in spaceflight and science and art. In the 1960s there were wonderful children’s books about space that a child could immediately grasp and relate to, and their illustrations were thoughtful and mind opening. I was fortunate to have a school librarian who recognized my interest, and who pointed out to me every new book she got on space and later science — well into my middle school years. And I was fortunate later to have an earth science teacher who invited me to do experiments with her on the side. Unfortunately, they were exceptions in an environment that could be otherwise very stifling. In my teens I went on local geology field trips with the American Youth Hostels. I then took two semesters of astronomy classes at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. I didn’t fully realize until years later that my instructor, Kenneth Franklin, was one of the co-discoverers of natural radio signals from Jupiter. I took all of the regular science courses my high school offered, including the electives in ecology and bacteriology, and a summer course in field oceanography in another district. But those were all life science oriented — I enjoyed those, but they didn’t offer anything extra in physical sciences, which is what I was more deeply interested in. (I wondered if there was pressure by parents in the community to send their kids to medical school.)
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When I took European History in high school, I had a reaction to its apparent abstractness and dryness, that I started to explore European Art History on my own. (I had already been exploring science history.) At least by putting myself in the shoes of artists through each epoch of history, I could more easily grasp what it was like to be alive back then, and from that perspective I tried to imagine why I saw everything else. The art clearly had been changing over several thousand years, and that was a clue that how people saw things was changing. This was much more fun and intriguing than trying to remember remote events and people in contexts I didn’t relate to. More deeply, I got tired of reading how people kept fighting each other. Was humanity learning anything? I find the answer is yes, but you have to look for it and you have to pay attention to it.
One thing I realized exploring history this way was that events could have turned out differently; individual people do really play roles in steering what happens and in interpreting it. History isn’t just recognizing the past. It is also realizing that the stream of events and experiences can have many possibilities. Our lives today are the result of how the streams have played out so far. And we are still steering. Consider, there are many ways we might not have had radio today. Nor many other things and understandings we have. I am glad I steered to learn history this way.
There was something else I started to recognize too. Sometimes civilization’s achievements occurred only because there were previous combinations of other events, and that these achievements might not have occurred otherwise. For example, Renaissance perspective art — the ability to accurately convey a view in 3D space using a geometrical understanding — derived from a number of historical threads coming together. And those threads coming together then also had consequences — perhaps even for radio. Let me parse this out so you can follow the pieces. I see in the Renaissance:
- Individuality and self-accomplishment developed significantly, which broke away from medieval subjugation. (Think: what otherwise would you have looked forward to as a serf.)
- Religious experience evolved towards an emphasis on more private devotion instead of rituals led for a group by a priest.
- Intellect, aesthetics, and creativity were lifted with the closer study of Classical literature and art, starting with the translations in the 12th century.
- Related to that, critical and diverse thinking developed in the new cathedral schools and universities–becoming more independent from dogma, and more independent of religious and ruling leaders. Strong methods and standards developed for analyzing and disupting ideas.
- Art moved towards better realism (instead of merely idealism) — especially in religious art — to help the viewer grasp more spontaneously and more fully the spirit of the experience. The personal experience of the viewer was paid attention to and valued.
- Geometry and perspective art became part of this.
- The economy significantly improved after the Black Death, due to increased demand and a tighter supply of labor — which increased trade, banking, merchants, and the growth of towns and cities. And the drastic reduction in population after the Black Death enabled labor to gain more economic leverage and to have more independence.
- This enabled the rising affluence of lower classes who could then also afford art, and whom the artists then also marketed t0.
- The artists’ diversity of subjects and depth of experiences then expanded greatly. The boundaries were pushed more and more, in subject matter, in technique, and in engagement with personal experience.
- Renaissance artists developed multiple skills and talents; they were typically also skilled craftsmen, and some were engineers and architects too.
- Scientific and technical problems needed and got more accurate solutions, for example in sea navigation for trade, engineering, ballistics, medicine and mathematics.
Look at the portraits of people, especially in the north European Renaissance. They became less iconographic, and instead probed more deeply to reflect back who these people were. The depths of the personalities, the relationships, the locations, and even the moral stories, could feel more immediately real. And you might get back even more than what you expected. Magic starts to happen not when you realize someone else is clever but when you surprise yourself.
With all these developments people came to realize more and more that one needed to see what is really there. And then one might want to ask, why do you see what you see, and does what you think really work? How could you tell? What would be a fair test in reality? How do you bring all this together to solve your problems better (whether for your spiritual needs or practical needs)? The developing ways of thinking and the developing skills, and the discoveries that came with these, enabled new kinds of answers that never existed before. These are some of the significant streams that led to the Scientific Revolution in the West. (What was happening in the rest of the world was very different.) Consider that Copernicus and Galileo were medical students in north Italy where these developments were particularly strong. What motivated individuals like Galileo and Kepler to look at and develop evidence, and then to pursue wherever that took you? These were also part of the foundations which led to the creation of the United States with its values of democracy, justice, and independence. And you can consider, would the 19th century have discovered electrical theory and radio without such a background?
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My family didn’t have people with much technical background. But it did have a couple of artists. And it did have some business folks with deep values. One of my uncles had a passion for photography and travel, and I felt comfortable to try what he did in my own way. Then in high school I was connected with a visiting teacher from England, and he introduced me to communicating in simple but meaningful photo essays in black & white. As for developing myself with science and technical things, that was more of my own journey.
While in high school I joined the radio club there, WB2EJZ, and I became its president during my senior year. I looked forward to Friday afternoons, our club time, to see who and where I could contact on CW (with Morse Code). It was quality time. The WB2EJZ club adivisor was social studies teacher Mr. Marvin Fricklas W2FGD s.k. I eventually earned my General Class license with my current call sign, WA2JQZ. I took the test at the FCC office in downtown New York.
A coworker of my mother who was a ham, Arthur Short, kindly helped me buy equipment at Harrison Radio in Farmingdale, NY and helped me set up at home. I operated briefly at home with a Swan 350 transceiver and a Hustler trap vertical antenna, mostly on CW. Then I went away to college, and I was inactive for many years. But during the last few years I have become active again.
In the coming pages I’ll share some more about me, with some of my interests I’ve pursued, with where I have lived, and what I’ve done with radio since.
Life is a story you write as you go.
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