G[mloulnal - Quarter Century Wireless Association

Harolcl .f ohnson \\'2CHC
ms Like Yesterday
According to Harold
:hnson, eighryyears as a
ontinuously licensed
lr radio operator has
by so fast, that it
like yesterday when
Born in Florida in
1905, he celebrated his
nery-sixth birthday this
and remains in good
health. His family moved
Yonkers, New York, in
February 1905 for better
portunities, when he
one year of age. In
Harold's late grammar
school days around 1917,
he became aware of that new invention called radio. Nearby in Yonkers
there were ship-to-shore stations activiries - engaged in the business
of communications. tWhen the United States entered the \Var
in 1917, the Naly accelerated the use of communications benveen
naval vessels and shore stations. The information about tlis was wideli,
publicized and eventually filtered down to Harold and his grammar
school friends.
They were attracted to the mystery of this new scientific invendon,
and the romantic idea of talking by code to each other. Harold
says, he and his friends began to educate themselves on wireless by
reading magazines that featured these scientific phenomena. Soon
they understood the basics ofwireless and learned from others the
capabiliry of the Ford auto spark coil. Best of all, these coils were
readily available because the Ford auto was the leader in auto production.
It wasn't long after this that Harold and his friends were building
their own elementary spark coil stations for personal communications.
It was a.lso 19 1 8 and the lWar had ended, and communications
restrictions imposed by the US Nary for securiry were lifted.
Not that it mattered much to Harold and his friends, because they
knew little to nothing of the simple radio regulations and licenses of
that period. They operated without licenses and practiced their code,
and identified themselves by the initials of their names. They did not
know it, but they had become "bootleggers". The term applied to
iilegal liquor operations and seemed appropriate to apply to radio
operators who didn't have a legal license . It is part of the folklore of
amateur radio - now viewed with some amusement and nosta.lgia.
Harold entered Yonkers High School where his wireless radio
interest became evident to his instructors. One of them sought to
offer advice in a well-meaning way, because Harold was not spending
enough time on his studies, in hvor of wireless. He predicted
that nothing good would come from wireless and that it lr,'ould soon
fade away. As is common with teenagers of any period, Harold ignored
the well-meant advice, for he knew better than his elders.
Harold and his friends continued to operate spark without licenses,
and in code.
QCWA lournal - Summer 2001
In the time period of 1920 and 1921 , Harold became aware of
radio regulations of the time, and decided to obtain an amareur radio
license. In the summer of 1 921, after he completed his sophomore year
in high school, he visited the Radio Inspector (usually called the RI) at
t}re federa-l building in NewYork Ciq,. Harold was successfiJ on the first
try and shortly therefore was issued a cenificate of successfiJ accomplishment
in tleory and code of ten words per minute. Among the
sweral signatures on this certificate is that of Herbert Hoove! Jr., then
Secretary of Commerce and later President of the United States. Harold
still has fie large green colored certificate framed for display, and which
proclaims to all in bold leners tlat HaroldJohnson is a Radio Operator
First Class. The station license issued to him was 2CHC. The'W counuy
prefr-x for t1-le United States was not part of the call sign ofthe period.
After graduation fiom high school in 1923, Harold entered New
York Universiry but later discontinued his formal education in favor of
empioyrnent. In 1930 he married his sweetheart lois who was then a
schoolteacher in Yonkers, and raised a family. They celebrated their sevenry-first
wedding anniversary this year.
In 1932 Harold enrolled in tle RCA Institute, and upon completion
obtained a C-,ommercial Radio Operator License. He sought employment
at various radio broadcast stations in the area during The
Great Depression of the 1930s. later he.ioined the Sperry Gyroscope
Company on long Island where he served as technician. After \forld
War II he was employed by the ITT organization in NewJerseywhere
he served in the new television equipment department. Harold and a
technical team from ITT traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina to install
that city's firstTV station.
In the 1960s Harold retired from ITT and moved the family to
Clearwater, Florida. He was required to drop his call sign of \(2CHC
by the regulations of that time, and was issued *re call sign K4G\ts.
later in 1995 he was issued KU4HG as an Advanced Amateur licensee.
Haroid felt a keen sense of loss by giving up his original call sign. \,X,4ren
the Vanity Call Sign period arived, Harold applied for ald was reissued
his original and first call sign. Thiswas averyhappymoment for Harold.
During his leng*ry dme in amateur radio, Harold has been a member
of many radio ciubs and electronic organizations. Among *re national
organizations are the ARRL, OOTC, A\flA and QC\X/A with
membership number 6 101 . He and his wife lois regularly amend all the
meetings of the Florida Gator Chapter 32 of QC\7A
Over the years his Ham station has changed with tle times, liom
Spark to SSB, some items constructed and others bought. Curendy his
station is located in his apartment on the nindr floor in an assisted living
faciliry in Clearwater, Florida. It consiss of a Kenwood TS 820, and an
all band dipole on the roof Look for him on his favorite 2O-meter band.
His amateur friends in the Gator Chapter are very happy to recognize
Harold's eighty continuous ysm as a licensed radio amateur. Harold
says it would be 85 years if he were given credit for his unlicensed years.
Croft Thylor \E3C[ Mce-president of QCVA, presented the hand-
some plaque provided by QC\{zA to honor this old timer. This was
plaque number 11. Nadona.l Directors of QCWA also in amendance at
this ceremony on Saturday, January 6, 2001 were AIar Pickering KJ9N,
Arthur Kunst'W3.{&{, andJohn Edel K8LBZ, Iong dme former Director.
Congranrlations to you Harold from your many &iends in amateur
radio. May you be blessed with continued good health, and many
more years in amateur radio.
Submitted by Artiur Kunst\73\7M