At college

These photos help explain why I flunked-out of college after five quarters.

The first one shows my 1964 freshman desk with a Hammarlund HQ-170 receiver and a Johnson Viking Navigator transmitter. A vacuum-tube keyer sits on top of the transmitter, and a Heathkit SWR bridge stands on its side to the left of the desk. A note on the back of this photo says, "Antenna -- 90 feet of No. 30 wire. 15 feet high." A stealth antenna was a necessity for hamming from a dormitory room.

The following year I returned and brought a different receiver, but apparently no transmitter. My Hallicrafters SX-117 receiver is prominent on the desk, along with an unknown electronic device resting on top of homework papers. There's another electronic device on the top shelf, and the SX-117 speaker.

On the bed is an old Monroe mechanical calculator. Multiplication was done by repeated addition, shifting the carriage with a knob on the front one digit at a time.

This was a two-person room, but I was the only occupant. A photo of the other desk shows my Weller soldering gun on top of papers! Is it any wonder I didn't last in college? I was far too interested in other things!



Updated March 27, 2024