{"id":50141,"date":"2021-09-05T11:42:44","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T15:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=50141"},"modified":"2021-09-05T11:42:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T15:42:44","slug":"bill-rogers-and-the-lost-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/bill-rogers-and-the-lost-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Rogers and the “Lost Radio”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Rogers, for the following guest post:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>“Lost Radio”<\/h1>\n

by Bill Rogers<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was ten years old I lost my first wristwatch and my first radio. I think I have been trying to get them back ever since.<\/p>\n

It was all part of a rather catastrophic family vacation trip around the Canadian side of Lake Huron, Port Huron across to Sarnia and then up around the shores of Georgian Bay all the way to Sault Sainte Marie and points north.<\/p>\n

We had planned to go on around the north shore of Lake Superior too. We drove north to Wawa and saw the Goose statue. Then we headed north from there.<\/p>\n

This was a long, long time ago, so I may misremember. But as I recall it, the Goose memorialized the completion of the Trans Canada Highway, and once past it you were really getting into the back end of beyond.<\/p>\n

Not far past the Goose we came to what looked like a tollbooth, which surprised us. We hadn\u2019t been aware there were any tolls along the Trans Canada. Dad pulled up and stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello,\u201d the uniformed officer inside said. \u201cWhere ya going?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn around Superior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood. When do you expect to get to Thunder Bay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad was curious. \u201cWhy do you need to know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, for your own safety. So we know to send out a search if you don\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad looked around and back at all of us. \u201cI think we should head back instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a wise choice. It had been a fun trip but it had a few challenges, so to speak.<\/p>\n

We were five people in a white 1965 Dodge Coronet 440 pulling an old travel trailer we\u2019d borrowed from one of my cousins. The Dodge was a comfortable car- it had an add-on air conditioning unit that occupied a good chunk of the space under the dashboard, and a radio (AM only of course) that worked well, and these were great luxuries at the time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dad had bought it used from his School District after it had served for a good while as a driver\u2019s education car. First call on surplus vehicles was one of the benefits of working for the school district, but I don\u2019t think being hammered by all those would-be new drivers had done the Dodge any good.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d borrowed the trailer. It was a heavy thing. The Dodge strained to pull it even though the car had a big V-8 engine. The trailer wasn\u2019t big either. I remember wood paneling and too-small windows that kind of opened to let the inside heat and outside heat mingle when you stopped for the night and tried to sleep. Dad grumbled that the trailer weighed twice as much as a newer one would have.<\/p>\n

Having borrowed a trailer to use one time only, Dad hadn\u2019t gone big bucks on the trailer hitch. It simply clamped to the back bumper. Somewhere near Sudbury the bumper started to rip off.<\/p>\n

That was another reason we wimped out and didn\u2019t go on around Superior. We were behind schedule. The loose bumper had made us lose several travel days.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d limped into the nearest campground on Friday and stayed there while Dad wandered around to locate someone to weld the bumper back on. On Monday he did. \u201cGuy said \u2018This isn\u2019t strong enough to pull anything heavy, I\u2019d better weld on a couple bars fastening it direct to the frame.\u2019 I told him that was a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way we\u2019d seen much beautiful countryside and lots of rock cuts for the highway. Rock cuts impressed me since I was from southern Michigan where actual surface geology is unknown.<\/p>\n

We bought a pretty basket of fruit at a farmer\u2019s market and were 30 miles down the road before we found that everything below the top layer was green or rotten.<\/p>\n

I had my transistor radio and was listening to it in the back seat. This was my first radio. It was a prized Christmas gift and made my sister jealous. \u201cI was two years older than him before I got a radio,\u201d she sniffed. She kept track of things like that.<\/p>\n

My radio was branded \u201cSportsman.\u201d That meant it came from the local hardware store where they also sold Sportsman brand outdoor gear and Sportsman brand rifles and shotguns.<\/p>\n

I have no idea who actually made it. I can\u2019t remember what it looked like. I do remember it had a Genuine Leather case and an earphone for private listening.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work well in the back seat of the car, but I could get something if I held the radio up near the window. I listened to the different Canadian radio stations and noticed for the first time that Ontario English sounds just slightly different from my own, in a way that I can\u2019t really describe. The difference is tiny but it is there. In Ontario they do not say \u201cout and about in a boat\u201d as \u201coot and aboot in a boot\u201d as we on this side of the Lake say they do, but there is the tiniest twist to the end of the vowels in that direction. I can\u2019t do it and I\u2019ve made myself crazy trying.<\/p>\n

At one point I picked up a Morse Code transmission at the lower end of the band, obviously a non directional beacon at the upper end of the longwave navigation frequencies. I played it for everyone in the car. They were not impressed. This is the first time that I learned most people aren\u2019t as intrigued by odd radio signals as I am.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But I kept amusing myself with the radio. I borrowed our Province of Ontario official road map. As many road maps did, at the time, it had a listing of some of the more powerful radio stations, by city. That gave me signals to try for. I tried for the nearer ones and even received some of them.<\/p>\n

The campground where we were laid up to have the car welded together was in an Ontario Provincial Park. The place was crowded because of some Boy Scouts gathering, but they found a place for us.<\/p>\n

We went to the beach and did not feed the seagulls, since we were trying to be polite and proper and a sign said not to. But the gulls impressed me. Somebody must have been feeding them; there was a regular cloud of them.<\/p>\n

We came back to find our trailer door pried open and a number of small valuables gone. Among them were my dad\u2019s transistor radio and mine; Dad\u2019s was his constant companion and must have been one of the first. Dad\u2019s cheap wrist watch and my child size, hand-wound Timex watch were gone too.<\/p>\n

The most expensive item missing was Dad\u2019s \u201cPalomar\u201d binoculars. (In case you don\u2019t know, the Mount Palomar Observatory contains what was the largest telescope in the world for many years. It is still there, although with creeping streetlights making sky glare all across Southern California I doubt it is able to do as much research as it once did.) Transistor radios were still fairly costly back then, but binoculars cost a fortune.<\/p>\n

We reported the theft to the park rangers who didn\u2019t care. Eventually one of them brought the binoculars back. \u201cYou left them on a picnic table on the far side of the park, near the Boy Scouts groups,\u201d he said. Which was quite a trick, in that we hadn\u2019t gone to that side of the park. Also he never explained why we would have smeared soap over all the lenses.<\/p>\n

But the soap cleaned off easily and caused no permanent harm. My sister still has that set of binoculars. The watches and radios and whatever other small items we lost which (coincidentally, no doubt) could have fit unnoticed in a Boy Scout\u2019s pockets or pack were never seen again, at least by us.<\/p>\n

Anyway, after the car was welded back together we continued on our way. We got as far as Wawa. From there we headed back south, crossed the International Bridge and the Mackinaw Bridge, and went home.<\/p>\n

The transmission on the Dodge never was quite right after hauling that heavy trailer so far. That contributed to that car\u2019s early demise. (Of course it was the cheaper of the optional automatic transmissions, the two speed model instead of the three speed. The two speed automatic transmissions were always pretty crappy anyway.)<\/p>\n

Today my home is crowded with more radios and watches than I know what to do with. Here at my writing desk I have three of each within sight, and there are plenty more here and there around the place.<\/p>\n

I think I may have them all because I am trying in vain to get back that Sportsman AM transistor radio and that child-size Timex watch, the first radio and watch I ever had, the ones never saw again and never will. The sorrow of their loss might explain why I have collected so may others. It doesn\u2019t explain the fountain pens, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Rogers, for the following guest post: “Lost Radio” by Bill Rogers When I was ten years old I lost my first wristwatch and my first radio. I think I have been trying to get them back ever since. It was all part of a rather catastrophic family vacation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3194,3,305,7566],"tags":[9430,9431,4094,1302,758],"class_list":["post-50141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-posts","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-radio-memories","tag-bill-rogers","tag-lost-radio","tag-nostalgia","tag-radio-nostalgia","tag-radio-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-d2J","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46955,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/nooelec-lana-hf-barebones-ultra-low-noise-lf-mf-hf-amplifier\/","url_meta":{"origin":50141,"position":0},"title":"Nooelec LaNA HF Barebones Ultra Low-Noise LF, MF & HF Amplifier","author":"Thomas","date":"December 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Chris Rogers, who writes: [Here's] an interesting new amplifier that is suitable for SDR\u2019s and antennas like Youloop etc with Bias-Tee provision. Unsure of the specifications. The ad claims made in North America: https:\/\/www.nooelec.com\/store\/lana-hf-barebones.html Thanks for the tip, Chris! Yes, it's a bit of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessories"","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Nooelec-LNA.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Nooelec-LNA.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Nooelec-LNA.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Nooelec-LNA.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35252,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/washington-states-long-lost-magic-radio-santa-gets-new-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":50141,"position":1},"title":"Washington State’s Long-lost \u2018Magic Radio\u2019 Santa Gets New Life","author":"Guy Atkins","date":"December 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is what the announcer said at 4:30 p.m. one day about a week before Christmas 1950 over the airwaves of radio station KELA in Lewis County: \u201cYes, stand by for Santa Claus! The Beacon Store, Santa\u2019s headquarters for southwest Washington, presents the most important radio program of the year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/KELA-Santa-Ad-DEC-1960-620x335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/KELA-Santa-Ad-DEC-1960-620x335.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/KELA-Santa-Ad-DEC-1960-620x335.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59212,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/why-schenectady\/","url_meta":{"origin":50141,"position":2},"title":"Why Schenectady?","author":"Thomas","date":"March 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor,\u00a0Bill Meara\u00a0who writes: Thomas: SWLing Post readers might like this one. Ramakrishnan sent me the Smithsonian article. It is very nice, and helps answer -- I think -- the question about why so many old SW radio dials have \"Schenectady\" on them. Steinmetz seems like a great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/General-Electric-Vintage-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/General-Electric-Vintage-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/General-Electric-Vintage-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/General-Electric-Vintage-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/General-Electric-Vintage-Radio-Dial.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58831,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/the-intercept-watch\/","url_meta":{"origin":50141,"position":3},"title":"“The Intercept Watch”","author":"Thomas","date":"January 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor, Bill Meara who writes: Thomas: I found this in an old radio magazine. SWLPost is on The Intercept Watch! Radio. July 1934 https:\/\/www.worldradiohistory.com\/Archive-Radio\/30s\/Radio-1934-07.pdf 73 Bill How cool! Thank you for sharing, Bill!","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/unnamed.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61611,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/from-ndbs-to-tis-a-dxers-journey-across-1610-1700-khz\/","url_meta":{"origin":50141,"position":4},"title":"From NDBs to TIS: A DXer\u2019s Journey Across 1610-1700 kHz","author":"Thomas","date":"January 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post and asks, \"Wonder who can add to this list?\": A Look Back \u2013 DXing between 1610 and 1700 kHz by Dan Greenall 1. The Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla West Indies 1610 kHz (1985 QSL) 2. NDB stations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/US-Army-test-KTRK-Ft.-Meade-MD-Feb-1996.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42934,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/bruces-passion-for-swling-and-single-transistor-regenerative-receivers\/","url_meta":{"origin":50141,"position":5},"title":"Bruce’s passion for SWLing and single transistor regenerative receivers","author":"Thomas","date":"April 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bruce (VE3EAR), who shares the following: I live in the village of Saltford, ON, Canada, near the eastern shore of Lake Huron. It\u2019s a quiet location signal wise, and I\u2019m lucky that I have enough property to erect some big antennas. My two favourites\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/regenerative-receiver-Bruce.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/regenerative-receiver-Bruce.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/regenerative-receiver-Bruce.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/regenerative-receiver-Bruce.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}