The Southern Appalachian Radio Museum--Some Friends, Members and History
AROUND THE HAM STATION
Carl Smith, N4AA, with Ray Thomas, WA4OMM on the Drake set.
Some of our QSL cards; note the Z-2AC card from New Zealand in 1925. Most cards are to/from Western North Carolina amateurs. Many thanks to Tony Ricicki, W2VRK who donated many of these fine cards! If you have any old cards from the 1920's or 1930's, we need them!
This picture above was Bud Keener's shack(W4MIQ)...a real time capsule and wonderful recent donation from his wife. It was untouched, just as we found it.
The Very First Day of Operation at W4AFM.....Carl Smith N4AA ...the shelves were sparse....then....not so now!!
Carl's delight is being shared with W4AFM's grand-daughter and her children.....Bill Hayes, W4AFM, was licensed in 1926; we thank Bill Hayes' family for permitting us to have the call. Bill Hayes was a well known top-notch 60wpm operator . He participated in the World Championship Telegrapher contest held in Asheville in 1939, but the winner was Ted McElroy whose record of 75.2 words per minute still stands!
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Clint Gorman, our President and Curator, admiring the one of the early amateur-band only SSB receivers built by R.L. Drake; the first of that type, built in 1957. He built the first one in his garage; an enterprising fellow listened to the triple conversion set and said "I will buy the first 100 you make" ....and the company was launched! The set is fairly rare, and often called "the mailbox"...a set that was stable and lightweight, outperforming many other larger radios. About 1100 were produced through 1959; it was then followed by the TR-3 transceiver in 1963.
The set above it is a Crosley from the late 1920's.
