{"id":6174,"date":"2013-04-11T15:30:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T19:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=6174"},"modified":"2013-04-11T15:52:08","modified_gmt":"2013-04-11T19:52:08","slug":"harolds-ja7hj-tower-was-not-your-average-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/harolds-ja7hj-tower-was-not-your-average-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Harold’s JA7HJ tower was not your average tower"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following post was copied from my ham radio blog, QRPer.com<\/a>. I thought that SWLing Post readers would enjoy this article about Harold Johnson (W4ZCB) as well:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Harold's<\/a>

Harold’s 30′ JA7HJ tower (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

I meet some very interesting people in radio circles.\u00a0 My friend Harold Johnson (W4ZCB) is undoubtedly one of them.<\/p>\n

Last year at my local ham radio\/DXer club meeting, members were asked to bring photos of shacks and rigs, and describe our evolution as ham radio operators. In the series of photos that arrived at the following meeting, one in particular stood out: Harold Johnson’s radio tower in post-war Japan.<\/p>\n

Johnson’s tower stood almost thirty feet tall and supported a 20 meter Yagi which you can see in the above photo.\u00a0 Johnson, who at the time operated under the callsign JA7HJ, also had a\u00a0little ham shack built. The shack materials–including the tower, Johnson recalls–cost him “three bottles of Scotch for the army quartermaster…I paid\u00a0the Japanese builder $15 or $20 for the complete \u00a0enchilada.”\u00a0This tower was built entirely of wood: the vertical members were 2′ x 4’s, the slats were 1′ x 3’s.<\/p>\n

Of course, the tower didn’t have a mechanical rotor; instead, Johnson climbed inside the tower, lifted the wooden boom, rotated\u00a0it manually, and placed it back on the uprights.<\/p>\n

When asked how he powered his station,\u00a0Johnson pointed to the wheeled generator in front of the radio shack in the photo. “The generator was called a B6B–it produced 24, 120, 240, and 480 volts, and was rated 10 kW.” When I asked how he managed to procure the generator, he replied that he “borrowed it from the flight line, which was about 300 feet away.”<\/p>\n

\"Johnson's<\/a>

Johnson’s Nashville, TN shack, circa 1955\/56. (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

I always enjoy hearing personal histories in radio and I didn’t doubt for a moment that Harold Johnson’s would be intriguing, so I asked if he’d tell us how his interest in radio began. So, here’s Johnson’s story in his own words:<\/p>\n

As a preteen, (and poor as a church mouse during our previous
\nDepression), I would visit my aunt and uncle in the summer, likely due\u00a0to the fact that they were farmers and had food to eat. They owned an\u00a0old Philco radio that had shortwave bands and I was intrigued with the phone amateurs on the 80 and 20 meter bands. Often, I could hear both\u00a0sides of the conversation, after I found out that they were on various\u00a0different frequencies, being crystal controlled back then! My…How times have changed.<\/p>\n

In high school, I found another afficianado, and can recall melting\u00a0“Woods metal” in boiling water and floating a piece of Galena on it\u00a0until it returned to a solid and [thus] made my own crystal set. WWII had\u00a0started by then, and I would listen to the ground-to-air\u00a0communications between ships in Lake Michigan and pilots taking off\u00a0and landing on them. Great DX, perhaps 10 miles away.<\/p>\n

In 1943, I had graduated from high school and joined the US Army Air\u00a0Corps. Went through training and was still in training (…to be a\u00a0pilot until they counted airplanes and pilots and decided they had\u00a0enough of each […so instead] turned me into a B-29 gunner). The war was over\u00a0whilst [I was] still in training and I “retired” in November 1945. Went home\u00a0and found my high school sweetheart, married, went back to school to\u00a0finish my education and started the Johnson family. Still married, and
\nto the same girl. What a sweetheart to have put up with me all these\u00a0years. [No kidding, Harold!]<\/p>\n

Went back in the US Air Force in 1949, this time became a pilot, and\u00a0just in time to go to Korea for a year. However, during training, had\u00a0to learn the Morse and if you learned to 13 WPM, you had a free hour\u00a0and didn’t have to attend class. That overcame my obstacle to amateur\u00a0radio, and I took the exams in 1950 and became W9PJO. Our rules at\u00a0that time were that you had to hold a “class B” ticket for a year\u00a0before you could take the “class A” exams. That year I spent in Korea\u00a0and Japan and managed to obtain my first foreign call, JA7HJ.<\/p>\n

\"W4ZCBqsl\"<\/a>Returning home to wife and by that time two children, I took the class\u00a0A exams and became W4ZCB. I decided that I enjoyed flying, (at least\u00a0most of the time), and decided to make it a career. The ensuing years,\u00a0I was always on and in the air, and usually spent the winters in\u00a0Alaska and the summers in the Canal Zone, anything to practice how to\u00a0be miserable. Lebanon in 1958, Vietnam in 1968 and by 1969 decided\u00a0that I should start doing something else before my luck ran out.<\/p>\n

During my last 4 years of service I flew an Army four star around the\u00a0world four times. Fortunately he was Ted Conway, W4EII, and we\u00a0mutually enjoyed operating under a couple dozen different call signs\u00a0from a lot of exotic (and several not so exotic) places. Had G5AHB\u00a0back when the 5 was reserved for foreign nationals. We were good\u00a0friends after we both retired (on the same day; I always liked to say\u00a0that he couldn’t stand to serve without me) until his death in 1990.<\/p>\n

I started a small company manufacturing electronic test equipment for\u00a0public utilities; spent the next 20 years doing that (and enjoying a\u00a0much more stable life with family and radio.) Managed to work all the\u00a0countries (entities these days) there are, win a few contests from a\u00a0contest station I built and operated for 10 years. (80, 40, and 20 in\u00a0the front room, 15 in one bedroom and since 160 and 10 were seldom\u00a0open at the same time, they shared the other bedroom. To change bands,\u00a0you just changed chairs. Five big towers and Yagis, a VERY \u00a0high\u00a0maintenance hobby in the lightning prone state of Florida. (Let’s not\u00a0mention hurricanes!)<\/p>\n

Retired again to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina in 1986. A\u00a0much more modest station these days, but active on all the HF bands. I\u00a0really enjoy building homebrew radios and maintaining daily schedules\u00a0with friends worldwide. Can be found daily on 21.203 with G3XJP and\u00a0often joined by other builders of the magnificent PicaStar transceiver\u00a0designed by him. Sixty-three years a ham, still enjoying it. It’s\u00a0guided my careers and interests. What a wonderful hobby!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"W4ZCB's<\/a>

W4ZCB’s shack today is based around his home brew SDR transceiver, the PicaStar. (Click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past few years, I’ve gotten to know Harold Johnson; I must say, he has to be one of the very few hams I know who knows the inner workings of tube\/valve radios as well as he does the highest tech radios on the market, a rare talent indeed. If you’re trying to learn a bit more about the BC-348 series of radios and trying to diagnose a problem with it, Johnson’s your guy. If you’re trying to build an SDR from scratch, he’s also your guy.\u00a0 And clearly, if you want to hear a fascinating account of a life influenced by radio, this is most definitely your guy.<\/p>\n

Thanks, Harold, for letting me share your story!<\/p>\n

Check out Harold Johnson’s website by clicking here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following post was copied from my ham radio blog, QRPer.com. I thought that SWLing Post readers would enjoy this article about Harold Johnson (W4ZCB) as well: I meet some very interesting people in radio circles.\u00a0 My friend Harold Johnson (W4ZCB) is undoubtedly one of them. Last year at my local ham radio\/DXer club meeting, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[8,305,43,158,5],"tags":[4102,1843,1845,1844],"class_list":["post-6174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-nostalgia","category-shortwave-radio","category-software-defined-radio","category-swlers","tag-ham-radio","tag-harold-johnson","tag-qrper-com","tag-w4zcb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-1BA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49637,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/a-simple-guide-to-portable-radio-power\/","url_meta":{"origin":6174,"position":0},"title":"A simple guide to portable radio power","author":"Thomas","date":"July 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Over on QRPer.com, I just published a post on portable power that was The Spectrum Monitor magazine's April 2021 cover article. This article is essentially an overview of a few different types of rechargeable batteries including pros and cons of each chemistry. While this article focuses on use in ham\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\/2021\/07\/TSM-Cover-Batteries-rotated.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/TSM-Cover-Batteries-rotated.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/TSM-Cover-Batteries-rotated.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/TSM-Cover-Batteries-rotated.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42127,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/03\/radio-waves-bw-to-color-antenna-wins-hearing-voices-in-the-walls-and\/","url_meta":{"origin":6174,"position":1},"title":"Radio Waves: B&W to Color, Antenna Wins, Hearing Voices in the Walls, and Beached Whales","author":"Thomas","date":"March 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0readers.\u00a0 To that end:\u00a0Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019sRadio Waves, a collection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Shorpy.1-e1582372975823.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Shorpy.1-e1582372975823.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Shorpy.1-e1582372975823.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50251,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/09\/anatomy-of-a-field-radio-kit-series-on-qrper-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":6174,"position":2},"title":"“Anatomy of a Field Radio Kit” series on QRPer.com","author":"Thomas","date":"September 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"If interested, I've now published both parts of my Anatomy of a Field Radio Kit series over on QRPer.com. This series was originally featured in the June and July 2021 issues of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Here are links to both articles: Anatomy of a Field Radio Kit Part 1:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/TX-500-Red-Oxx-Micro-Manager.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/TX-500-Red-Oxx-Micro-Manager.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/TX-500-Red-Oxx-Micro-Manager.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/TX-500-Red-Oxx-Micro-Manager.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49325,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/guest-post-great-news-from-cfvp-alberta\/","url_meta":{"origin":6174,"position":3},"title":"Guest Post: Great news from CFVP Alberta!","author":"Thomas","date":"June 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following guest post: Big news in these days of declined shortwave by Dan Robinson It is rare -- no super rare -- that we get any good news these days about shortwave broadcasting. Remember the excitement a few years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/CVP-eQSL-Letter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/CVP-eQSL-Letter.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/CVP-eQSL-Letter.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/CVP-eQSL-Letter.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16517,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/star-wars-sound-designer-is-indeed-a-radio-enthusiast\/","url_meta":{"origin":6174,"position":4},"title":"Star Wars sound designer is, indeed, a radio enthusiast","author":"Thomas","date":"January 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"SWLing Post readers may remember a post I recently published\u00a0in which I believed I'd identified a familiar shortwave time signal station in the Battle of Hoth scene from The Empire Strikes Back. If you haven't read this post, feel free to do so and listen to the embedded video\/audio clips.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"StarWars-Logo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/StarWars-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/StarWars-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/StarWars-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/StarWars-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59760,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/05\/photos-from-hamvention-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":6174,"position":5},"title":"Photos from Hamvention 2024","author":"Thomas","date":"May 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I once again attended Four Days in May and the Dayton Hamvention this year--it was an amazing event and I believe attendance was at a record level (over 35,000 attendees!).\u00a0 I stayed quite busy speaking with readers of the SWLing Post and QRPer.com. 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