2000 - Palomar Amateur Radio Club

one time? I'll add a cute story at the
end about my first meeting with Herb
Johnson.
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 19, No.5
February 4, 2000
SWAN, ATLAS RADIO FOUNDER
HERBERT G. JOHNSON, W6QKI,
SK
Herb Johnson, W6QKI--who
founded Amateur Radio equipment
manufacturer Swan Electronics in the
1960s-died February 1. Johnson, who
lived in Cardiff, California, was 79 and
had been in ill health for several years.
According to Gary Smith, VE4YH
(proprietor ofthe VE4YH Virtual Swan
Museum, http://~.pcs.mb.ca1-standardJ),
Swan Electronics, then Swan Engineering,
began during the winter of 1960­
1961 as a one-man operation with Johnson,
then W7GRA, building the first 10
Swan SSB rigs in a garage in Benson,
Arizona.
Swan moved to California in 1962
and became a subsidiary of Cubic Cor­
~ )oration in 1967. Amateur equipment
production continued until around 1979.
In its heyday, Swan cranked out some
400 transceivers a month from its
Oceanside, California, plant. Swan also
manufactured station accessories.
Johnson subsequently formed Atlas
Radio, which produced solid-state
transceivers, including the popular Atlas
210. In 1995, a revived Atlas Radio
promised to produce a new-generation
Atlas 400X and even collected deposits
and full payments for radios it ultimately
failed to deliver or which failed
to meet expectations. Johnson conceded
in 1996 that he had "wandered into a
mire of technical problems" in trying to
design a new Atlas HF rig. He said he
personally lost thousands of dollars on
the revived Atlas Radio venture and
estimated that as many as 250 hams had
made deposits, while only a few ever
saw their money again. Many hams
~~ complained to the ARRL, and a few
sought legal action against Atlas Radio.
Other hams who invested in Atlas
Radio also were left in the cold. In
1995, a company called O.M. Radio
struck a deal to take over Atlas Radio's
assets and manage the company. O.M.
Radio also operated an Atlas Radio
repair service and even promised to
make good on delivering the new
transceiver, but nothing ever came of
the effort.
I met Herb Johnson at a Palomar
Radio Club Meeting maybe 10 years
ago or so, Herb came to the meeting to
demonstrate his new "Vectra?" radio. It
was something like a 10 channel crystal
controlled radio meant to be used by
boaters in an emergency situation.
The radio was housed in a bright
yellow plastic case and was made to
float and operate in the water, it had an
extendable whip antenna.
Anyway, I walked up to Herb after
the demo to meet the man that had a
tremendous impact on amateur radio
back in the early 60's with the release of
the very "affordable" Swan 350 HF
transceiver, still in use by many amateurs
throughout the world.
I then proceeded to plant both feet
directly in my.mouth when I said to
Herb jokingly ..... "Well, Herb, this radio
has one feature none of the radios
you've produced to this date has!"
He inquired what that feature might
be. I added, " This one may FLOAT,
but it wont DRIFT !" (Those that have
owned Swan radios know they did move
around in freq.)
Herb literally came unglued and
started to lecture me that his Swan radios
never had a drift problem, etc ....
Well, I'll remember that event for the
rest ofmy amateur career! (de N6K1)
(over the years Herb put on several programs
for PARC meetings -Ed)
Meeting Place (see you there)
The Carlsbad Village Theatre is allowing
the Palomar Amateur Radio
Club to use their facility in downtown
Carlsbad (across from the commuter
train station) of their March, April and
May meetings at a reasonable fee while
the Carlsbad Safety Center is having its
meeting halls renovated.
Club members should be pg.7
aware that the Theatre Audito- • I:;!;
rium is available for rentals and· Mar.
you can see their ad on this page.
~~"',j.;".~"
WHAT'S THE FRE­
QUENCY, DENNIS?
Ham moviegoers report seeing previews
for the new movie Frequency, starring
Dennis Quaid and directed by Gregory
Hoblit, that's set for an April release.
The ARRL was consulted in the
interests of accuracy and came up with
an unused W2 call sign for the movie's
protagonist to use. The movie also recently
got a plug on Entertainment
Tonight.
Frequency is billed as a sci-fi thriller,
but boatanchor fans may believe the
movie was made just for them. The gist
of it is that a long-dead father and his
adult son meet up on the airwaves via
ham radio (during the mother of all
sunspot cycles), and the son tries to prevent
his father's death by altering the
past. Both also attempt to prevent a murder.
It reportedly winds off into the ozone
after that, but we dont want to spoil it
for anyone.
According to someone who caught
one of the trailers, the son (Quaid) uses
an old Heathkit sans cabinet. "I guess the
idea is to nail down the point that this is
an old radio because you can see all the
tubes glowing right out in the open," said
..____________-.
Carlsbad Village
Theatre
2822 State St., Carlsbad, CA 92008
Theatre message: (760)729-0089)
Live Performances, Music, Comedy,
Plays, Large Screen Presentations,
35mm Cinema Films, VHS Video,
Business & Educational Seminars.
Travel Sbows. Group Meetings.
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Information:
Call Tom McMahon
(760)720-2460