WAYBACK RADIO IN JACKSONVILLE

By Billy Williams, N4UF

The age of electronic communication was rooted in the invention of the telegraph in 1831, Morse Code in 1835 and the telephone in 1876. Wireless communications evolved from experimentation about relationships between electricity, magnetism and wave radiation during the last half of the 19^th century by scientists that included Faraday, Maxwell and Hertz.

Marconi used these discoveries to develop equipment that transmitted a wireless message over a distance of two miles in 1894. The range was extended to ten miles in 1897 and thirty miles across the English Channel in 1899.

Two years later, wireless transmissions spanned continents over distances in excess of 1,000 miles. Popular magazines devoted to wireless telegraphy proliferated in 1904. The military and government began relying on wireless systems. Breakthroughs made possible new components such as the Fleming valve, silicon detector and DeForest amplifier tube.

In 1908, commercialization of the new technology led to development of two groups within electronic communications; those who plied their skills for pay and those who were amateurs--hobbyists and experimenters. The first amateur organization, the Junior Wireless Club of New York City organized in 1909. Modern Electrics magazine publisher Hugo Gernsback organized the Wireless Association of America that same year.

In 1910, more local and statewide wireless groups formed. Non-commercial in the early days, broadcasting stations were heard in increasing numbers during the early 1910s. Increasingly, commercial operators viewed amateurs as nuisances--possibly leading to the introduction a derogatory term “ham.” Spectrum regulation was non-existent and interference proliferated from crude sparking transmitters.

The Radio Act of 1912 classified radio transmitters and operators. Administrative licensing of transmitters and station inspections began but there was no required licensing. Amateurs were limited to less-desirable spectrum above 1500 Kc. (200 meters). Commercial users got frequencies below 1500 Kcs.

Wireless communications progressed from stand alone operations toward assembly of networks capable of passing messages over long distances using relay stations at close intervals along designated paths. Clubs formed to coordinate message relays. One group in Connecticut founded in January 1914 was the Radio Club of Hartford . An offshoot organized by Hiram Maxim assembled relay paths covering several states. This offshoot became independent as the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). Its membership journal was QST. By 1916, ARRL claimed 1,000 members. Better components allowed effective tuners to be built for the first time.

In 1917, the U.S. Navy took over as the regulator of radio communications. The U.S. entered World War I. Hams were told to stay off the air during the war and many volunteered to serve as military officers and communicators.

After the war ended in 1919, ARRL reorganized. QST resumed publication in June and hams returned to the air in November. With technical advances came an ability to transmit better wireless audio. Commercial broadcast stations started in 1920, often on irregular schedules. Some amateur stations converted to broadcast outlets. 8XK became KDKA in Pittsburg. Other pioneer stations included KYW in Chicago, WBZ in Boston and WJZ in New York City.

ARRL held its first national convention in Chicago in 1921. The number of radio magazines increased. Regulation of radio communications shifted to the Department of Commerce headed by Herbert Hoover. A definition of amateur was “one who operates a radio station, transmitting or receiving, or both--without pay or commercial gain, merely for personal interest or in connection with an organization of like interest.”

In the early 1920s the gap between broadcasters and hams widened. Long distance tests and contests from 1922 through 1926 along with technical improvements led to intercontinental communications on ham radio becoming more common. One call active in early DX contests was 4IZ. Ham radio became an international avocation.

Broadcast radio arrived in Jacksonville in July 1922. The Florida Times-Union started station WDAL on 833 Kc. and another station started soon after. In August, WCAN began broadcasting. It was owned by the Southeast Radio Telephone Company and transmitted irregularly from downtown. WABG came on in May 1923 operating on 1210 Kc. It was owned by the Arnold Edwards Piano Company. These stations operated intermittently and disappeared by 1924.

In the mid 1920s, a half dozen or so hams were on the air in Jacksonville. Operators included Doc Cheatham, 4DU; Fred Weinberg 4FS; Ned Winter, 4HY; Reginald Sheppard, 4UX; Gifford Grange, 4HZ; Guy Carter, 4OB and Bob Reid, 4TK. Equipment was homebuilt and receivers usually incorporated Reinhartz or Schnell tuners. A typical transmitter was a Hartley oscillator using an RCA UV-202 tube to produce 5 watts on CW. 4DU was one of the earliest phone operators in Jacksonville.

In 1925, the City of Jacksonville installed a broadcast station just south of Springfield near Laura and First St.  A building used to shelter horses was renovated as a studio. The city appropriated $19,960 to put the station on the air and operate it through 1926. The station manager/engineer, John T. Hopkins was paid $250 a month and his assistant, James Brock made $165. The station, WJAX, made its first broadcast on Thanksgiving 1925 operating on 890 Kc. with 1000 watts using an antenna wire strung between two large tapered towers. WJAX shifted to 880 Kc. in 1928 and 900 Kc. in 1930.

Expansion of the AM broadcast band and a major national frequency shift moved WJAX to 930 Kc. in 1941. Over the years, many hams with professional credentials worked for WJAX as announcers or engineers including W4HZ, W4TK, N4UF and Ernie Harralson, W4DAA. The original building remained in operation until the early 1970s when the studio moved to the Civic Auditorium building on the waterfront. WJAX-FM went on the air in the late 1940s. Both stations were sold by the city to private groups in the mid 1980s.

License testing for hams began with the Radio Act of 1927 and formation of the Federal Radio Commission. International agreements led to the addition of letter prefixes to amateur call signs in 1928. Continental U.S. stations were ordered to add a W to the front of their calls. 4DU became W4DU for example. Hams in U.S. possessions attached a K prefix. Ham bands in 1929 included 1715-2000 Kc., 3500-4000 Kc., 14000-14400 Kc., 28-30 Mc. and 56-60 Mc.

Things changed quickly during the early 1930s. Local governments moved to regulate radio, sometimes with burdensome requirements and even special taxes. Limitations were placed on receivers, especially those capable of receiving police communications. This led to Congressional action. The Federal Communications Commission was created through the Communications Act of 1934. FCC took responsibility for issuing licenses, coordinating spectrum usage and regulating communications. Local and state governments were pre-empted from enforcing most laws related to electronic communications.

An ARRL Southeastern Division Convention took place in Jacksonville in 1931. It was organized by an ad-hoc group, the Jacksonville Amateur Radio Operators Club. Conventions were much smaller then. 100 people made a huge convention.

In 1934, local operators organized formally as the Jacksonville Radio Club. A constitution and by-laws were adopted at a meeting at 520 Long Branch Blvd. in Riverside. Radio operators and short wave listeners were invited to join and attend meetings every Tuesday night. Other active operators in the 1930s included John Hollister, W4FWZ and Ed Renfroe, W4ATM.

Life got more difficult for criminals in Jacksonville during 1933 and 1934. George Allen, chief of the signal bureau, said in a 1934 newspaper interview that Jacksonville police station WPFG increased power from 100 to 400 watts and added a “new-type” transmitting antenna and “the latest type of receiving antenna” for inter-city communications. Messages could be received “by deputy sheriffs all over Duval County.” WPFG had capability to exchange bulletins by radio with other police departments in Florida and even some in other southeastern states. Allen said that during the first year of operation for WPFG in 1933, over 21,000 calls were dispatched to officers by radio. In 1934, the projection was for 28,000 calls.

Jacksonville’s second broadcast station started transmissions in 1935. WMBR moved to Jacksonville from Tampa. The number of hams increased from 17,000 to 55,000 between 1929 and 1935. As events in Europe intensified toward World War II, some were suspicious of Amateur Radio as a haven for spies and “fifth columners.” In late 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack, Amateur Radio operators were mandated to dismantle their stations and stay off the air. A few were given special licenses for limited operation in the public interest as part of the War Emergency Radio Service.

By 1942, Jacksonville had a third radio broadcaster. Owned by Joseph H. Perry, publisher of the Jacksonville Journal newspaper, station WJHP operated on 1320 Kc. WJHP-FM became the first FM station in town in 1948 operating on 96.9 Mc. Within a year, it was joined by city-owned WJAX-FM on 95.1 Mc. and WMBR-FM on 96.1 Mc. The first Jacksonville television station, WMBR-TV went on the air in late 1949 from a Quonset building near the south end of the Main Street (Alsop) Bridge..

During World War II, many hams served in the U.S. military and Merchant Marine as radio operators. The modern era of Amateur Radio dawned when hams returned from wartime service. Locally, the Jacksonville Amateur Radio Society (JARS) organized in March 1946 with E.L. Thompson, W4FJC as President and Bill Gardner, W4HWA Secretary. Bill would be instrumental in forming NOFARS a decade or so later.

A 1948 JARS Beam newsletter indicated that the group met at the Seminole Hotel downtown on the first Tuesday monthly at 8PM. A goal was to conduct “a snappy business session to eliminate some of the drawn out discussions we seem prone to get into.” The NavAir Radio Club at Jacksonville Naval Air Station formed in 1948 when the Commandant approved use of a 400-watt transmitter by operators the W4NEK club station.

At the January 1951 JARS meeting in the Seminole Hotel, Cy Washburn, W4AWE spoke on “transmission lines and coupling methods.” A ten-meter hidden transmitter hunt was an early spring activity on Sunday, April 1^st.

1951 Field Day plans included three stations at Pilot Town near the Mayport Ferry landing on Heckscher Drive. Organizers included President Harry Miller, W4EEW; FD Chairman Wayne Backenstose, W4JWX; Ellis Curry, W4IZ; Bill Gardner, W4HWA; Dick Sheffield, W4GZJ and Bill Tattersell, W4EOE.

Plans for a JARS clubhouse and meeting site were made in late 1951. JARS was offered a building at the new Southside Power Plant. The 20x38-foot sheet aluminum/steel frame building included a large 20x20 room for meetings and two 10x12 rooms for a station and a shop. Eight JARS members visited the site with three mobile rigs and found the location to be very quiet. No nearby residences that could lead to TVI complaints. The closest building was the WMBR TV transmitter several blocks away.

The catch was that the building needed to be moved about 500 feet and a fence relocated at JARS expense. The expense was estimated at $550. Funds were to be raised by taking $10 donations from at least 55 persons.

Later, the project was canceled because of complications with reaching an agreement with the city and inability to raise enough money.

JARS did find a new meeting location. The Southside Branch Library on Hendricks Avenue opened in early 1952 and the group used a private room in the new building. The March 1952 program was a presentation on oscilloscopes by Miles Newton, W4EID and the April meeting speaker was Glen, W4GNB--an engineer with AT&T in Jacksonville. By-Laws were amended to eliminate monthly payment of dues. Annual dues were set at $4. W4DAA and W4EEW experimented with amateur television. JARS members lamented poor propagation on ten and eleven meters. Field Day 1952 moved to Cowpen Lake near Hawthorne. It was a 70 mile trip down two-lane US 301. But turnout was good and the same location was used throughout the 1950s.

John Hollister, W4FWZ served two terms as ARRL Section Communications Manager for Eastern Florida. John was also Jacksonville City Auditor. Florida Civil Defense had an office at 2585 Riverside Avenue and local hams maintained a close relationship with CD officials. Duval County Emergency Coordinator Bill Gardner, W4HWA invited Florida Civil Defense Director Col. R. G. Howie to visit his station in Ortega to speak to hams on the air. Col. Howie asked Florida hams “to spread the gospel of civil defense.” His talk was part of the 1952 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test. W4HWA told the Florida Times-Union that the purpose of the test was “ to actively demonstrate to the American Red Cross, disaster officials and Civil Defense that the most isolated communities have a reliable means of communication through local Amateur Radio operators.”

JARS set up a portable station on Armed Forces Day--May 15, 1954--in Hemming Park. Visitors sent radiograms to U.S. military servicemen and women. JARS W4DU club station also sent out radiograms from a booth at the Jacksonville Agricultural and Industrial Fair during the mid ‘50s. Television and radio broadcast interference were big headaches for hams in the 1950s. Operators were unjustly blamed even when operating legally within terms of their licenses. Television stations used much lower power levels than today. TV receivers, antennas and feedlines had shortcomings especially when receiving signals from UHF stations such as Channel 36 in Jacksonville. JARS conducted seminars for electronic servicers and the public to explain causes and cures.

By the mid 1950s, JARS was declining. JARS had essentially been the only ham club in Jacksonville during the decade after World War II ended. Complaints about inflexible, boring meetings and bickering over trifles became more frequent. Membership slowly shrank from a high point of 65 down to single digits in the early 1960s.

Along with the arrival of the Space Age in 1957 came the formation of an informal new group of hams. It sprang up at a backyard picnic on Chaseville Rd. near the old wooden Pottsburg Creek/Arlington River bridge on what is now University Blvd. Someone brought tape recordings of radio signals to play for a laugh.

As meat sizzled on the grill, the dozen or so hams at the wingding listened to strange sounding audio coming from a balky tape machine. Wowing caused by erratic tape speed led one wise guy to say that the tape sure sounded “wacky.”

This was obviously a ramshackle group that would never amount to much!

I wonder what ever happened to it?

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JAX FIELD DAY FLASHBACK: 1951

These are the first installments in a series published in the NOFARS Balanced Modulator newsletter during 2007 and 2008.  The series also included summaries of  the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.  The complete series is available to NOFARS members through NOFARSnet Yahoo Group archives.

NORTH FLORIDA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY: FIFTY YEARS

By Billy Williams, N4UF

(Part One, 1957-1960)