Fifteen Meters:
For about a decade from 1958 to 68 15 meters was my main band, during my early years of ham radio I discovered 15 and loved it. In the late 50’s the sunspot count was over 200 and for those of you being new comers you cannot imagine how great conditions were at that time. The band was open to the world on an average of 18 hours a day and for the most part you could make contacts on 15 twenty-four hours a day. I was on many a strange hour working stations in the Pacific or Far East with modest amounts of power.
I ran a Johnson Viking Valiant transmitter about two hundred watts of A.M and 250 of cw, plus my receiver was an RME 6900. A pretty good setup at that time, of course it was not Collins, and I could not afford it then. When I first started working 15 I had only a 50-watt Heathkit rig, but I was determined to branch out on another band besides 80-meter cw an 75-meter phone.
In 1958 I had been a General class op for about a year, the newness was wearing off the local crowd of phone ops on 3.960 kHz. Back in 1958 there were no repeaters and two-meter gear was non-existent, so the gathering place for locals in the Louisville area was 3.960. KHz. I wanted more out of ham radio other then just talking to locals, or an occasional wandering mobile station, several of the old gang were vanishing, trying other bands, or in many instances they just gave up ham radio.
I had read about 15 meters being so good in QST and often read where many hams could not afford a tower and beam were stringing wire antennas in the form of dipoles, or has they were called in those days doublets on the ceiling of their shacks. If the room was too short, then the ends were folded over down the side walls. Many an op worked the world with this arrangement and I came close to being one of them. I decided to string my antenna in the attic of my mother and dad’s house, my dad being a little paranoid about destruction of the house often gave the ultimate warning and that was destroy anything in the house and you die!
I had to walk the rafters of the attic to string my new 15-meter antenna, I was very careful to not misstep and fall through the ceiling below. Had that happened I imagine I would have been resting in pieces in a shallow grave somewhere in the back yard!
However, after working most of Saturday evening to erect it properly in the attic, I was eager to give it a try. But, since most TV sets of that era had 21mhc IF strips it was impossible if the family TV was on at the time. Regardless of the fact it was on and no one watching it, the slightest interference of picture and sound I was given blame to it.
I waited patiently until Sunday afternoon, my mother and dad after church and lunch on Sunday often found them both sound asleep. My mother on the bed and my dad in his easy chair, they rarely turned on the TV set on Sunday afternoon.
Well, I shot upstairs to my domain and brought up the rig, first good signal I heard was WP4AST in Puerto Rico and I jumped on him. He came back to me with a good 599 report, at the time 50 watts and an indoor antenna. I was off and running and never looked back.
In the next few weeks I had to my astonishment worked several stations in Europe and South America. I dreamed of having a much better antenna system, so as a young lad I cut a few lawns, did odd jobs and finally had enough for used three-element yagi for 15 meters. It was a vast improvement even though I had it up only about 30 feet at best, but it worked and worked well. I cut a few more lawns and finally had enough cash to erect a sixty-foot crank up tower. I was on top of the world; of course that TVI problem was around, I stuck to non-voice modes, so my neighbors did not understand cw, or the blinking of the picture, or blanking of the sound with their TV. They did think that something was wrong with their TV set, and Of course I volunteered no information as to what I was doing.
Since the FCC required if you had TVI that no operation take place between the hours of 7 PM and 10 PM I just avoided those times. My parents would often have the TV going during that time and it made life a little difficult. However, during the day and after ten PM. I was burning up the 15-meter band, most neighbors were in bed and so were my parents. Since it did not matter to anyone if I were operating early in the morning hours, or very late at night, I had no problems except when I would operate phone. I confined my other times of the day to cw and was only on phone long enough for a signal report from a DX station.
But then, the old sunspot cycle declined and those great radio days on 15 came to an end, I stopped with 170 countries on 15 and did not return to the band until just recently. My goal is to double the number of countries worked on 15 within a year, two years maximum. I have added roughly 20 new ones on 15 in just a few weeks. Fifteen is a good band and for those of you into dxing, go for it and have some fun.
Part four on ten, six and two.
