AmateurRadio.com

New York City

Most likely, every large city had their own version of 'Radio Row', back in the 30's or later and for many radio fans, a Saturday morning visit was the highlight of the week.



As a young shortwave-crazed kid in the 50's, there was nothing that I looked forward to more than the weekend and being able to stay up as late as I wanted, tuning the bands on my big old GE cathedral ... high up in my third-floor attic bedroom shack. But number two on the list was my weekly Saturday morning trip, by bus, to Vancouver's north Granville Street and then on to the library. There I could read the latest radio magazines as well as look at their huge archived collection of earlier issues.

In the 50's, there was a three block strip of radio shops on the north end of Granville street, just after the bridge into downtown Vancouver.

Granville Street

I imagine that it was similar to many other 'Radio Rows' ... kind of a mix between old and new and a little on the seedy side. It was a six or seven block walk from the bus stop to the radio stores and then another dozen back again to the library. The winters in Vancouver were always wet and dreary and I'd invariably get drenched in the process (I learned very early, that for some odd reason, Vancouverites never carried umbrellas!), but hey ... I was crazy about radio and what was a little rain.

During this same time span, once or twice per year, the family would pile into Dad's old Chevrolet and we would make a road-trip to Seattle. Unlike the present, our Canadian dollar was worth more than the American dollar back then, so there were always some great shopping bargains to be found. I recall there being a number of old radio shops as well as several surplus stores just south of Pike Street, on 1st Avenue as well as a few more, one or two blocks down the hill toward the docks. Maybe these were the last vestiges of Seattle's version of 'Radio Row'.

Of course nothing compares with the original 'Radio Row', located in the lower Manhattan district of New York City. It was born along with radio itself and by the early 30's the Cortlandt Street neighbourhood was blanketed with shops selling radios to consumers and components to builders. A Saturday morning trip to the Cortlandt Street paradise was a ritual for hundreds of radio fanatics for more than four decades, as seen in this timely old film taken one typical (Saturday?) morning on New York's 'Radio Row' ... what an amazing time it must have been!



From "The Death of New York's Radio Row", by Syd Steinhardt :

"Radio Row's popularity peaked in the 1950s. Its proximity to the New Jersey ferry docks and the financial district, combined with the advent of new consumer electronics goods and postwar demand, attracted floods of shoppers to the area every day except Sunday. To service their customers, stores opened at 7:00 a.m. on weekdays and closed late on Saturdays.

Radio Row was not a neat and pretty sight. Block upon block over 300 street level stores, with over three times as many enterprises in the floors above them were jammed into 20 to 25-foot storefronts, up and down streets such as Albany, Carlisle, Greenwich and Liberty. Their shelves and floor spaces were packed with vacuum tubes, condensers, transistors and other high-tech bric-a-brac for ham radio enthusiasts and do-it-yourselfers. It was, as the New York Times called it in 1950, "a paradise for electronic tinkerers." "

By the mid sixties, only a few radio shops remained and after some very bitter court battles, the remaining merchants were 'bought out' and the Cortlandt Street area was cleared so that construction could begin on the World Trade Center's twin towers. Today, the area is now home to One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the U.S.A. and to the 9/11 Memorial ... now all sacred ground.

courtesy: New York Port Authority

I was in New York City, three years after 9/11 and recall looking with much sadness into the multi-block deep hole in the ground ... how much happier it must have been there, back on those wonderful Saturday mornings, on 'Radio Row'.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at ve7sl@shaw.ca.

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As a young man, I was a CW Radio Operator aboard a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (CastleRock/NBZF), I was thrilled everyday to go on watch. It led to me getting a ham ticket in 1955 and thereafter, enjoying the hobby. I always stayed a “CW” operator and never enjoyed the 2-meter FM “thing” as it seemed more like CB to me!

Later in life I got the opportunity to work on Merchant Marine vessels, and after some 30 years, with the exception of Telex, not much had changed.. CW was still alive and well, though many of the shore stations began closing down (i.e. WCC, WSL, KPH, etc.).

The writing was in the wall when more and more ships traffic went Telex.. Frankly, because of the length of a majority of these messages, including ship food stores and engine room parts, my keyer would have blown up!

Then not long after, they brought cell phones aboard — the beginning of the end for the ship’s Radio Officers. In 1999, most of the remaining Coast Guard and commercial Maritime stations went silent.

All I can tell you is that while it lasted , it was a great job. But it’s hard to call something a job when you have loved it all your life.

I am very concerned about our hobby these days: no CW requirement. Why would today’s generation want to study for a test when all they have to do is get online and they can communicate all over the world with no QRM, QRN, QSB etc.?

I can see the increase in FM 2-meter and 450 MHz FM for emergency help and that is great, but on the other hand is it actually “hamming” or “quasi police work?”

This is the trouble we older hams have, we live in the past trying to eek out a weak CW signal from some far off country.

With my 100 watts and dipole antenna, I had nightly CW QSO’S with ZL2LI from Christchurch, NZ while I was in Cleveland, Ohio. We could barely hear each other on some nights pushing the “cans” closer to my ears. But it was a thrill each and every time. Will the kids of today ever experience that?

On 7035 kHz., every night we had high speed CW ops from the “CFO” required minimum speeds of 45 WPM and nomination came from at least 2 CFO operators. This club was started by Jim Ricks. W9TO who had invented the famous Hallicrafters “TO” keyer. There are over 1,500 members.

But most of the ops like me are aging.. We need new young blood to keep the organization going.

The fact of the matter is we need new young ops in our most wonderful hobby to learn and use CW So that this art is NEVER lost.

David Eisenberger, K8KEM, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Ohio, USA.

I got out a bit today to the local park for some more QRP fun chasing SKCC contacts.  I have been using the paddles on the KX3 set to hand mode – but this needs to change.  These seem to work great when using the keyer, but for hand keying it seems like they cut out from time to time while forming the dits and dahs.  A decent hand key is next on the agenda for me!

While I was taking down the antenna and loading up at the end of my session an older gentleman that had been fishing and was parked near me asked if I was some type of weather reporter.  I told him that I was an amateur radio operator and I was using morse code to talk to other stations across the country.  We had a nice chat – I always wonder what people think of me sitting in my car with a 31′ pole and wire strapped to the bollard!

Today I had 4 nice contacts on 20 meters, 3 of them with SKCC members….

NV4U (9744T) – I answered Rons CQ, band was up and down a bit, but he was a nice easy copy from Georgia.

AH6AX (11165S) – Larry was from Maryland and was an easy 599 on my end and he gave me a 539 on his.  Larry answered my CQ.

K2PAY (4304S) – Jerry answered my CQ and gave me a 559.  I had to engage the narrow filter on the KX3 because someone else came on right next to us calling CQ – worked like a champ!  Jerry was in New York and during our first exchange had to take a quick break to help his wife with something – I completely understand this!

KK6GLP – I heard Mike calling CQ around 14.060, and I had time to squeeze in one more before my time was up.  He gave me a 599 and he was also 599 here in Kansas.  Mike was in Roseville, CA and was running 50 watts.  He said he had some bad QRM on his end, so we said 73 and ended our nice contact.  Reading on Mikes QRZ page he can’t have a permanent antenna so he has a “rig in a box” and sets up in his backyard when he wants to operate.

It still amazes me that from a park, with a little antenna and just 5 watts I worked coast to coast today using CW and keying by hand.  I would love to hear a recording of my sending, it sounds good on my end, but I often wonder how the spacing and timing sounds to someone else.  I might have to find a WebSDR and see if I can hear myself sometime.

The strangest thing about today was that I called CQ many times, but I never saw a spot on RBN – this is pretty unusual.

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at burkejones@gmail.com.

I got out a bit today to the local park for some more QRP fun chasing SKCC contacts.  I have been using the paddles on the KX3 set to hand mode – but this needs to change.  These seem to work great when using the keyer, but for hand keying it seems like they cut out from time to time while forming the dits and dahs.  A decent hand key is next on the agenda for me!

While I was taking down the antenna and loading up at the end of my session an older gentleman that had been fishing and was parked near me asked if I was some type of weather reporter.  I told him that I was an amateur radio operator and I was using morse code to talk to other stations across the country.  We had a nice chat – I always wonder what people think of me sitting in my car with a 31′ pole and wire strapped to the bollard!

Today I had 4 nice contacts on 20 meters, 3 of them with SKCC members….

NV4U (9744T) – I answered Rons CQ, band was up and down a bit, but he was a nice easy copy from Georgia.

AH6AX (11165S) – Larry was from Maryland and was an easy 599 on my end and he gave me a 539 on his.  Larry answered my CQ.

K2PAY (4304S) – Jerry answered my CQ and gave me a 559.  I had to engage the narrow filter on the KX3 because someone else came on right next to us calling CQ – worked like a champ!  Jerry was in New York and during our first exchange had to take a quick break to help his wife with something – I completely understand this!

KK6GLP – I heard Mike calling CQ around 14.060, and I had time to squeeze in one more before my time was up.  He gave me a 599 and he was also 599 here in Kansas.  Mike was in Roseville, CA and was running 50 watts.  He said he had some bad QRM on his end, so we said 73 and ended our nice contact.  Reading on Mikes QRZ page he can’t have a permanent antenna so he has a “rig in a box” and sets up in his backyard when he wants to operate.

It still amazes me that from a park, with a little antenna and just 5 watts I worked coast to coast today using CW and keying by hand.  I would love to hear a recording of my sending, it sounds good on my end, but I often wonder how the spacing and timing sounds to someone else.  I might have to find a WebSDR and see if I can hear myself sometime.

The strangest thing about today was that I called CQ many times, but I never saw a spot on RBN – this is pretty unusual.

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at burkejones@gmail.com.

I went over the local park once again today – it was nicer today because the wind was not blowing 40 MPH like the last excursion!

20 meters seemed to be a bit better, and I heard a number of signals around 14.050 (the SKCC hangout), as well as the rest of the band.

I started calling CQ thinking I would have a contact really quick, but not to be the case, but it got more interesting after a bit.

First up was…

NS3C (8284T) – Richard answered my CQ from Los Angeles, CA and gave me a 599 – I was a new number for him.

NQ7K (13913T) – I heard Mike nice and solid replying to my CQ.  What started out as a 579 exchange turned into a 599 booming signal from Arizona.  Mike was running a 1 Watter Rig which is a kit available from Kits and Parts – and seems to be gaining a foothold in the QRP community.  It was fun to work someone running 1 watt on a rig that I have thought about picking up! Nice 2xQRP contact!

KF7YRL (10421T) – I heard a very very faint signal when Steve was calling me.  I was able to make out the necessary info and heard that he was QRP.  His QRZ page says he is in Montana, but I shot him an email for the specifics.  We kept it short because I could just not pull up his signal well enough to copy easily.  Another 2xQRP QSO!

KO1U (7648S) – I heard Mark calliing CQ with a nice 599 signal.  I answered and he got me with a 559 report from Massachusetts.

Another fun day working some of the nicest guys and great operators that are involved with the SKCC.  Thanks for putting up with my new fist, and slower speed!

This puts me 11/100 SKCC contacts as I work towards my Centurion award.

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at burkejones@gmail.com.

I went over the local park once again today – it was nicer today because the wind was not blowing 40 MPH like the last excursion!

20 meters seemed to be a bit better, and I heard a number of signals around 14.050 (the SKCC hangout), as well as the rest of the band.

I started calling CQ thinking I would have a contact really quick, but not to be the case, but it got more interesting after a bit.

First up was…

NS3C (8284T) – Richard answered my CQ from Los Angeles, CA and gave me a 599 – I was a new number for him.

NQ7K (13913T) – I heard Mike nice and solid replying to my CQ.  What started out as a 579 exchange turned into a 599 booming signal from Arizona.  Mike was running a 1 Watter Rig which is a kit available from Kits and Parts – and seems to be gaining a foothold in the QRP community.  It was fun to work someone running 1 watt on a rig that I have thought about picking up! Nice 2xQRP contact!

KF7YRL (10421T) – I heard a very very faint signal when Steve was calling me.  I was able to make out the necessary info and heard that he was QRP.  His QRZ page says he is in Montana, but I shot him an email for the specifics.  We kept it short because I could just not pull up his signal well enough to copy easily.  Another 2xQRP QSO!

KO1U (7648S) – I heard Mark calliing CQ with a nice 599 signal.  I answered and he got me with a 559 report from Massachusetts.

Another fun day working some of the nicest guys and great operators that are involved with the SKCC.  Thanks for putting up with my new fist, and slower speed!

This puts me 11/100 SKCC contacts as I work towards my Centurion award.

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at burkejones@gmail.com.