Peder
Well-Known Member
Frequencies
Oddly,
My passion for the Internet began
long before the Internet was even a dream
in anyone's mind, before the generation itself
was even born, while I was still a child
in my parents home.
Oddly, I say,
Because back then at age ten or twelve
I was still a very shy child with a shyness
that would last well into college
and even into early career before I finally
broke through it with a life-changing course
in public speaking with Dale Carnegie.
But earlier in my parents home I was reticent
around strangers and often tongue-tied
when introduced to friends of my parents
or asked to have speaking parts
in school plays or productions.
Nevertheless, and quite fortuitously, even perhaps
because, my father was interested in things electrical
and himself had been interested in radio
in its early days a generation before, as broadcast
stations and networks were coming on line
and the earliest radios were becoming available
to the general public (KDKA's first broadcast was in 1912,
my father was nine years old; the first commercai broadcast
of a baseball game in 1921, my father eighteen).
So, perhaps fortuitously, because of my father's interest,
our family radio had two short-wave bands
in addition to the ususal AM broadcast band
and thirty years later, in about 1942, at age nine
I became an avid short-wave listener. To what?
To broadcasts from Europe, of course; World War II was raging
and short wave brought the news of the Battle of Britain
to American listeners -- Thomas, Sevareid, Cronkite were the names.
The desire for news was overwhelming
And hearing stations directly from Europe with weak signals
through the crushing static was thrilling beyond belief.
And in among all those frequencies I found the bands
set aside for amateur radio, for sending and receiving signals
between ordinary people interested in radio
who had built their own short-wave transmitters and receivers
and could speak to each other across great distances,
even around the world.
A network centered in Hartford Connecticut became my main attraction
and I listened every morning as W1AW came on line and the members
roused themselves, chatted, had coffee, and started off to work.
I got to know about them as people, and I wished
how I wished that one day I could be a part of that group.
So began my interest in electronics and talking to people around the globe.
Why an extraordinarily shy child should develop such an interest
to talk to strangers is beyond me, but it happened and for many years, until college,
learning about electronics and dabbling with electronic equipment became my hobby.
But college demanded close attention to other subjects, and then starting a career also,
and amateur radio receded into the background.
Until many years later, when the first personal computers and the early Internet
burst into my consciousness, a disc from ATT arrived in the mail, and I logged on.
Suddenly all of the amatuer-radio short-wave thrills of my childhood came alive again.
And I was on the air!
"peder"
3/25/2013
512 words
Oddly,
My passion for the Internet began
long before the Internet was even a dream
in anyone's mind, before the generation itself
was even born, while I was still a child
in my parents home.
Oddly, I say,
Because back then at age ten or twelve
I was still a very shy child with a shyness
that would last well into college
and even into early career before I finally
broke through it with a life-changing course
in public speaking with Dale Carnegie.
But earlier in my parents home I was reticent
around strangers and often tongue-tied
when introduced to friends of my parents
or asked to have speaking parts
in school plays or productions.
Nevertheless, and quite fortuitously, even perhaps
because, my father was interested in things electrical
and himself had been interested in radio
in its early days a generation before, as broadcast
stations and networks were coming on line
and the earliest radios were becoming available
to the general public (KDKA's first broadcast was in 1912,
my father was nine years old; the first commercai broadcast
of a baseball game in 1921, my father eighteen).
So, perhaps fortuitously, because of my father's interest,
our family radio had two short-wave bands
in addition to the ususal AM broadcast band
and thirty years later, in about 1942, at age nine
I became an avid short-wave listener. To what?
To broadcasts from Europe, of course; World War II was raging
and short wave brought the news of the Battle of Britain
to American listeners -- Thomas, Sevareid, Cronkite were the names.
The desire for news was overwhelming
And hearing stations directly from Europe with weak signals
through the crushing static was thrilling beyond belief.
And in among all those frequencies I found the bands
set aside for amateur radio, for sending and receiving signals
between ordinary people interested in radio
who had built their own short-wave transmitters and receivers
and could speak to each other across great distances,
even around the world.
A network centered in Hartford Connecticut became my main attraction
and I listened every morning as W1AW came on line and the members
roused themselves, chatted, had coffee, and started off to work.
I got to know about them as people, and I wished
how I wished that one day I could be a part of that group.
So began my interest in electronics and talking to people around the globe.
Why an extraordinarily shy child should develop such an interest
to talk to strangers is beyond me, but it happened and for many years, until college,
learning about electronics and dabbling with electronic equipment became my hobby.
But college demanded close attention to other subjects, and then starting a career also,
and amateur radio receded into the background.
Until many years later, when the first personal computers and the early Internet
burst into my consciousness, a disc from ATT arrived in the mail, and I logged on.
Suddenly all of the amatuer-radio short-wave thrills of my childhood came alive again.
And I was on the air!
"peder"
3/25/2013
512 words
