THE ANTENNA'S OF MY YOUTH...
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On this dreary and cold morning (for the Gulf Coast), I began to pull out some old dusty files in my memory about the antennas of my youth. Sitting here with my foot up in the air (shattered toe), a cold draft blowing about and nowhere to go, I thought I'd just type a few lines to keep myself and perhaps a few of you amused, especially if you are snowbound.
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My first antenna was a back-of-the-rig job from Lafayette. It came with the used Comstat 23 that my parents bought me for Christmas and I'm sure it was eagerly supplied by the seller of the rig (the "Joker") when he realised that he'd have some kid in his teens just down the road from him, and right in front of one of his radio bud's, the "Bald Eagle". Naturally, this setup didn't work well for me so I forked out some money I'd saved to buy a "Super Magnum" omni-directional antenna from Antenna Specialists.
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This worked great because our house was about 3-stories tall and it was right up on the top roof. The downfall of the omni was (of course) transmitting and receiving in all directions. While I had no issues with the transmit part, I sorely wished for something more directional to block out my less-than-1/4mile-away-nemesis, the "Bald Eagle", who aimed his Avanti Quad right down my voice-changing throat.
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Enter the Joker, once again...this time wanting to sell his Hy-Gain "Long John" 5-element beam. I suppose this where a lot of us learn diplomatic negotiations because I knew that a). he wanted to sell that antenna in the worst way to purchase a new Moonraker 6 (to outdo the Bald Eagle), but b). he didn't want to sell it to anyone really close because that Long John wouldn't do any good pointed in his direction. Lucky for me, I was smarter than I looked, and I had my Dad come along with me so that the Joker would think he was dealing with my Dad, while I'd be passing signals to him....
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The short of matter was that, after about an hour of general BS and negotiations, my Dad and I were walking down the sidewalk with a partially assembly Long John beam! All I had to do was promise not to point it in his direction (East), which was fine by me because everyone I talked to was South, West, and....heh-heh..North (Bald Eagle Land). We had to go by Bridges Lumber Yard (where the Bald Eagle worked as security) and not only could I sense his presense, but I could also catch a glint of sun off his bald head when he got too close to the window.
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I'm sure the phone wires were burning bright red that night between the Bald Eagle and the Joker - after all, I was just a kid right? What did I know about beams or proper radio protocol? The next day though he paid us a visit - make that, he paid my DAD a visit, just to get things straight with him, and enter into negotiations regarding beam direction. By the time he left, I was now restricted to West and South, but he was also restricted to only using his Beam in my direction after midnight. With all negotiations completed, it was now time to put that sucker up!
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On the garage that is. Yes, it would have been a huge monster 3 stories above the ground, but there were FCC reg's regarding how high you could have a Beam off the ground vs. an omin-directional antenna. It took my Dad, the Joker, my friend Tom, and myself....hmmm...maybe even the "Due Sender" to get this antenna up on the roof and guyed down, but when we were through it was truly a sight to see (and I regret not taking an intallation complete photo).
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So here I was, "King-of-the-under20-group", and that front-to-back rejection was great in blowing off my neighbors signal, and we only had issues Friday and Saturday nights because he'd be pointed down my throat with his beam and I'd be up until dawn or later talking with my 'buds on the radio. Shortly (with much emphasis on SHORT) this all came to an end when a strong Canadian front complete with snow, ice, and 80mph winds, came whipping into our part of New England. I was talking to Tom that night and the wind was howling. Suddenly, I heard a terrible crashing noise, while Toms signal dropped from a 20 down to a 1 or 2 at best. Looking out my window...through the blizzard, I could see mangled aircraft quality aluminum all over the place. Switching to my Omni all I could say was "Long John Down...Long John Down". My "Big Beam" days were over...
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END PART ONE
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