DX RXThe Doctor of DX prescribes the |  |
DX RXThe Doctor of DX prescribes the | |
For those who remember (not too many real old old timers left), or for those of you who are history buffs, it would seem highly doubtful that the growth and development of Amateur Radio of the 20s could be equaled or surpassed in the 30s, especially given that the United States - and the world as well - were in the depths of a Great Depression. And yet such was not the case. During the period from 1929 through 1936, Amateur Radio in the United States enjoyed an unprecedented period of growth, with the ranks of licensed hams growing from 16,829 to 46,8501, an increase of nearly 200%! During the late 20s, based on speculation of the growth of commercial radio, many companies had spent great sums to ramp up production of tubes, radios, and parts. The Depression caused many to go out of business or to have on hand vast stocks of parts no longer destined for the commercial market. As a result, an amateur could literally build a very nice amateur receiver using Armstrong's superregen circuits, and a 10-50 watt CW transmitter for less than $50. VHF was becoming popular, and occasionally you could find AM phone operations on the bands, but the greatest preponderance of operations was still in the CW portion of the HF bands using crystal controlled transmitters.
For those of you who are real DX phone buffs, the following action is certainly of interest. The January, 1930 issue of QST announced that the Federal Radio Commission, after a petition submitted by the ARRL was accepted, had issued General Order No. 76, "in which it modified its last general order on amateur telephony in such a way as to include the band 14,100 to 14,300, 'provided, however, that operation in the band...will be permitted only by operators holding extra first class operator's licenses or, lacking such licenses, by operators who in their applications for station licenses show special technical qualifications and ability to operate within the limits prescribed herein.'"2 This solitary event would accelerate the pace at which phone development was taking place. And as we all know, today the 20 Meter phone band is arguably the popular band for Phone DXers.
In 1932, the January issue of the QST Editorial Page focused on information about the impending "Madrid Radio Conference". Once again, there had been some question about whether or not amateur frequency allocations would remain intact, especially the 160 Meter band. During the Fall of that year, QST ran a continuing series of updates on the conference, and by December it was reported that the Conference had not made any inroads into the spectrum allocated to amateurs. During that same year, many hams were beginning very serious work in the VHF/UHF range, as more tubes were manufactured which could operate in those frequency ranges, and as amateurs continued experimenting with the "sticky wicket" issue of frequency stability.
1933 saw the first ARRL Field Day held. This particular year also saw Congress working to reorganize the Federal Radio Commission. The May 1934 issue of QST (20th Anniversary issue) provides the first inkling that a new organization to replace the FRC, the Federal Communications Commission, is being pondered in the halls of Congress. It is strange, but the first real mention I could find of the Communications Act of 1934 as having been passed was in a side piece to the QST editorial in the October, 1934 issue3. I remember once reading a piece by another researcher who was taken aback by the lack of information in some issues of the magazine at that time.
The inception of the FCC brought with it three classes of amateur license; Class A, Class B, and Class C. But that would change again, as we've learned. And as we've previously discussed, 1934 was the year that Major Edwin Armstrong introduced the world to FM Broadcasting.
In April of 1934, I found the first article in QST relating to the 11-year sunspot cycle. At that time it was a prevalent theory that only one hemisphere of the sun was involved, and that it alternated every 11 years. 1934 was also interesting in that the now-familiar RST system was introduced and adopted. It later became a world-wide standard of signal reporting. The mid-30s finally began recognizing that there were also YLs on the earth! For the most part, though, the ARRL's editorials always addressed the "OM", "Old Sock", or "Old Man". Oh well ....progress!!
The year 1936 was a watershed year for amateur radio, as first Charlie Stewart, W3ZS, the first Vice President of the ARRL, became a Silent Key on February 12th. He was followed immediately thereafter by Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, founder and first President of the ARRL on February 17th. Both men were in their 60s. Sadly, HPM's wife also passed away only ten days after HPM died. However, the work that HPM, Stewart, and others had done was of sufficient character that the League carried on and flourished. It wasn't until after HPM had died that the world of ham radio learned that HPM himself had been the famously notorious "The Old Man". Regardless of one's feelings regarding the ARRL, it is a certainty that we amateurs of today would be engaged in some other hobby, for surely we would have lost all privileges during the turbulent 20s, were it not for the work of HPM and the League. As "The Old Man" would say, "Don't complain; get up and get atom!" It's easy to grouse; much more difficult to be pro-active.
The Cairo Conference of 1938 saw amateur radio lose its exclusive use of 40 Meters, as any good 40 Meter DXer will tell you. Much of that spectrum was now to be shared with commercial short-wave AM Broadcasting. And throughout the mid to late 30s, the work of enthusiastic hams in the 5, 2-1/2, and 1-1/4 Meter bands had not gone unnoticed by commercial interests. Throughout 1939 and 1940 this exclusive territory was also invaded by FM and TV. The first FM Band allocation at 42-50 MHz saw stations W1XPW, W2XMN, and W2XOY running experimental broadcasts; and the first TV Broadcast Band at 60 MHz saw stations such as W2XBS operating from the New York area. Shades of the 20s all over again. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
With the onset of World War II in Europe, the opportunity for international QSOs became curtailed, as many European countries went "radio silent". And with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, all amateur activity ceased.
Next month we'll discuss the 40s and the remarkable post-war boom of our hobby.
Until then, best 73, de K7CTW
1"The Wayback Machine" Bill Continelli, W2XOY, http://hudson-loop.org/timeline.html.