My Experiences in the Civilian Conservation Corps, and How I learned Telegraphy and Became a Radio Amateur and a
Download 4.5 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Noel Vaughan, my assistant operator, copying a message at our new station location.
O ne day Noel Vaughan was operating, and he thought he had sent a message. However, unknown to him, the transmitter’s plate voltage was off. He could hear the side tone, but there was no power output. He was patiently waiting for an acknowledgement when I spotted the problem.
Sam Talbert, our clerk, was a good cartoonist. He also had a good sense of humor, and he sketched this cartoon to record the event. Sam was a pipe smoker who nearly always kept his pipe in his mouth. Since the three of us were buddies, Noel and I had also acquired pipes, but I didn’t take to it and soon quit. Noel was still smoking his pipe when I left the C.C.C. While at Torch Hill, I was very happy and proud when I received my amateur radio license (on Aug 2, 1938), with the call W4FOK, which I still have. Capt. Phillips gave me the test. At Torch Hill, we had a standby radio station equipped with a RME-69 receiver and a Harvey 80T transmitter, the same setup as shown in the previous photo of Dalton Hildreth at WUGO. Most of the outlying stations had the same equipment. I could also use the standby station for amateur radio when not on duty. It had a “club call” of W4EQI, and I used it before I was licensed. Such operation was legal when done under the supervision of a licensed amateur, and Noel Vaughan held the call sign W4EUO. When the C.C.C. camp at Torch Hill C.C.C. camp, where we lived and where WUGA was located, closed down, WUGA was moved to a centrally located site on the Ft. Benning Army base. We moved into a small building that contained a new 400-watt Harvey transmitter, an office, a classroom, a shop, a storeroom, and a dormitory room. Although the new radio station was immediately put into operation, the sleeping quarters were not ready, so for several weeks we slept at a vacant C.C.C. camp at Harmony Church, about three miles east of the main post. Like the Army companies in those days, the C.C.C. camps were either black or white, and the Harmony Church camp had had black enrollees, but white officers. We lived in what had been the officer’s quarters. There was a recreational room with a pool table, so we played a lot of pool in the evening while we were there. We had a military truck for commuting between camp and work. We ate at an Army mess in walking distance from our new location, so once again I enjoyed excellent food. The Post Theater and the army PX were close at hand, so we could take advantage of things that were not available at Torch Hill. Compared to our previous living conditions, the Army was ‘first class”. The only thing that was not good about our new facility on the army base was that we were not equipped for amateur radio operation. We didn’t have the W4EQI club station that we had had at Torch Hill. There was also no place for Capt. Phillips to install his amateur station, so he moved it to his home in Columbus. A  photo of me standing beside a giant WW-I tank that was on display near our Net Control Station building.
O  ur store room contained not only our spares, etc., but also some old surplus radio equipment that had been brought in from the stations when they were upgraded. I wasn’t allowed to take one of the old transmitters, as they had not officially been declared junk, but from the junk I collected some parts, including an old inoperable pair of headphones, which I fixed. The prize, however, was an old National SW-3 regenerative receiver, which was inoperable, but I knew that I could repair it. Without it, I would probably not have been able to put a station together, as I had no parts with which to build a receiver. The National SW-3 was an old three-tube battery set that was identical to the receiver that had been at Greenville when I had first arrived there. One man's junk was certainly another man's treasure. I also found enough parts to build a power supply for the transmitter. My foot locker was filled with radio stuff, and I had to keep my clothing and other personal things in my barracks bag.
Noel Vaughan, my assistant operator, copying a message at our new station location. In the photo, Noel is using his right hand to send with a “bug”. In his left hand he is holding a pencil with which the writes on the message, while still sending, the time sent, the sign of the operator to whom sent, and the date sent. That was a trick that took some practice. Noel’s call sign was W4EUO, and I talked with him over ham radio after WW-II. I also saw him at a ham fest in Melbourne, Florida, in 1988. I received a letter from his wife in 1998 saying that Vaughan had died of cancer on August 5, 1997, at age 83. His career was in aviation radio repair and maintenance. In accordance with Melvin’s and Mother’s invitation, and my plan, I left the C.C.C. on Sept. 1, 1938, and went back home to Letohatchie. Noel Vaughan became the Chief Operator at WUGA. As expected, I was allowed to enter the 12th grade even though I had only attended the first semester of the 11th grade. The first thing that I did after I arrived at home was to enclose the back porch for which the materials had been previously bought and stored in the feed house. I hired a colored boy for 50 cents per day to help me for several days so that I could quickly have a room of my own. Directory: ccc -> files files -> From Data to Knowledge to Action: Enabling a Revolution in New Transportation ccc -> 2016 Drama 4 College Research Information Sheet Name of School: Columbia College Chicago ccc -> 1 (as of January 24, 2011) ccc -> Civic education files -> Instructions for web-admin are in [ ] [This goes under the following section ccc -> Suffolk county community college ccc -> College entrance exams files -> Rodney Brooks mit version 4: March 17, 20091 files -> Toward a Science of Autonomy for Physical Systems: Paths Download 4.5 Mb. Share with your friends:
|