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News from QST
2/3/2012 10:12:26 PM
News from January 1924 QST
Came into possession of a cache of QST magazines from the mid to late 1920s. They were nearly sent to the recycling bin. Don't have the space to keep them but couldn't bear to see a piece of amateur radio history tossed in the trash. So I carted them home.
Opened up the January 1924 issue and the big news was new records in DX. The first transatlantic QSO between radio amateurs, 1MO and 1XAM in the US working 8AB in France on 100m (2.998mhz). Also was the first transatlantic QSO by anybody on 100m.
New DX phone record from the ship Bowdoin wintering in the Artic during the MacMillian Artic Expedition. 1TS on the ships station WNP had a 15 minute phone QSO with 6CEU in Hawaii. Distance of 4600 miles.
The prize table for the Fourth Transatlantic Tests is announced. Grand Prize is a Grebe 200 watt CW, ICW, Phone transmitter with a value of $1100. A value of $14,500 in 2011 dollars. What was interesting was a part of the Group D Third Place prize. "Remington .22 cal. rifle equipped with Maxim Silencer." Being that Hiram Percy Maxim besides being the president of the ARRL is also the inventor of the firearm silencer and owner of Maxim Silencer Co.. it just makes sense.
In international news the granting of calls letters has reached the letter E in France meaning now over 100 amateurs are authorized to use transmitters. Extremely restrictive rules in Brazil are being loosened so that getting a license for a RECEIVER is now easier. Amateurs there hope to be able to transmit in the near future. Japanese amateur JFWA is hearing US signals on a regular basis and hopes to make the first Japan-US two way contact in the near future.
Then the tidbits.
In the editorial was an admonishment to play by the rules. Don't operate outside of your amateur frequency priviledges. Observe the "Quiet Time" rule of not operating between 8:00 and 10:30pm. Never pirate someone elses call.
In the "Junior Operator" piece it described what it took to get the amateur radio licenses. Yes plurl. The operators license required a written test on radio theory and regulations. Drawing a complete diagram of an amateur sending and receiving set and explaining the function of each part. Finally a practical test of SENDING and RECEIVING morse code at 10wpm. If you fail any part you had to wait three months before you could retake the tests. Once you passed and your operators license arrives you're still not done. On the back of the license was an "Oath of Secrecy" that had to be signed in front of a notary and the license returned to the Supervisor of Radio for his signature before it became valid. But wait, there's more. Now you can gather details of your station including dimensions of your antenna, power, wavelength used, etc., and file for a station license. Once it passes examination then the station is issued it's call.
Personal observations.
-There is a lot of listening. All over the mag was references where this or that was heard. Organized tests are being run to stretch the radio art and it involves listening for signals from different geographic areas.
-Most amateur stations of the era operate around 20w. Having 100w would put you in the big gun category. With that 100w you can just about work from the East Coast to the West Coast. Not quite, but almost.
-Traffic relay is a huge part of the hobby. Being range is typically less than 100 miles for the vast majority of the amateurs it makes sense to have a net set up to pass traffic.
***More to come as I start reading these treasures.***
Came into possession of a cache of QST magazines from the mid to late 1920s. They were nearly sent to the recycling bin. Don't have the space to keep them but couldn't bear to see a piece of amateur radio history tossed in the trash. So I carted them home.
Opened up the January 1924 issue and the big news was new records in DX. The first transatlantic QSO between radio amateurs, 1MO and 1XAM in the US working 8AB in France on 100m (2.998mhz). Also was the first transatlantic QSO by anybody on 100m.
New DX phone record from the ship Bowdoin wintering in the Artic during the MacMillian Artic Expedition. 1TS on the ships station WNP had a 15 minute phone QSO with 6CEU in Hawaii. Distance of 4600 miles.
The prize table for the Fourth Transatlantic Tests is announced. Grand Prize is a Grebe 200 watt CW, ICW, Phone transmitter with a value of $1100. A value of $14,500 in 2011 dollars. What was interesting was a part of the Group D Third Place prize. "Remington .22 cal. rifle equipped with Maxim Silencer." Being that Hiram Percy Maxim besides being the president of the ARRL is also the inventor of the firearm silencer and owner of Maxim Silencer Co.. it just makes sense.
In international news the granting of calls letters has reached the letter E in France meaning now over 100 amateurs are authorized to use transmitters. Extremely restrictive rules in Brazil are being loosened so that getting a license for a RECEIVER is now easier. Amateurs there hope to be able to transmit in the near future. Japanese amateur JFWA is hearing US signals on a regular basis and hopes to make the first Japan-US two way contact in the near future.
Then the tidbits.
In the editorial was an admonishment to play by the rules. Don't operate outside of your amateur frequency priviledges. Observe the "Quiet Time" rule of not operating between 8:00 and 10:30pm. Never pirate someone elses call.
In the "Junior Operator" piece it described what it took to get the amateur radio licenses. Yes plurl. The operators license required a written test on radio theory and regulations. Drawing a complete diagram of an amateur sending and receiving set and explaining the function of each part. Finally a practical test of SENDING and RECEIVING morse code at 10wpm. If you fail any part you had to wait three months before you could retake the tests. Once you passed and your operators license arrives you're still not done. On the back of the license was an "Oath of Secrecy" that had to be signed in front of a notary and the license returned to the Supervisor of Radio for his signature before it became valid. But wait, there's more. Now you can gather details of your station including dimensions of your antenna, power, wavelength used, etc., and file for a station license. Once it passes examination then the station is issued it's call.
Personal observations.
-There is a lot of listening. All over the mag was references where this or that was heard. Organized tests are being run to stretch the radio art and it involves listening for signals from different geographic areas.
-Most amateur stations of the era operate around 20w. Having 100w would put you in the big gun category. With that 100w you can just about work from the East Coast to the West Coast. Not quite, but almost.
-Traffic relay is a huge part of the hobby. Being range is typically less than 100 miles for the vast majority of the amateurs it makes sense to have a net set up to pass traffic.
***More to come as I start reading these treasures.***
2/3/2012 10:51:25 PM
Pretty cool. Thanks for saving that stuff, and for sharing it with us.
2/3/2012 11:40:55 PM
I have a complete set of QST going back to 1915, and I agree that it's great to read the breathless excitement in the pages when records are broken, new discoveries are made, and world events unfold...
2/4/2012 2:23:56 AM
Somewhere i have the entire collection of qst from the first issue up until dec 2010. Waiting to pick up the 2011 disc and i will have last year too.
