Wells Gardner, Westinghouse, Wilcox-Gay, Zenith. Lots of "All-American Fives" where the heater voltages added up to 117 Volts. Car radios had vibrators to develop plate voltages -- coupla hundred volts running around in your dash board!
1945 - Amateurs are allotted the 6 meter band 50-54 Mc. The 2 1/2 meter band is moved to 144-148 Mc. With the exception of some FM, all phone operation is with AM.
1945 6 Meters. Pioneers utilized CW, AM, and experimented with NBFM. Antennas included rhombics, corner reflectors, folded dipoles, and of course Yagi's. The first 2-way QSO involving "skip" was reported to have taken place on April 23, 1946 when W1LSN of Exeter, NH worked W9DWU of Minneapolis, MN. This and many other contacts were made on that night via a combination of aurora and sporadic-E. The distance of this contact was 1100 miles.
1946 - Amateurs make the first Meteor Scatter contacts. On the night of October 9, 1946, the night of the Giacobind-Zinner Comet, and its associated meteors, Amateurs made their first two-way contacts via meteor scatter on the 6M band, the propagation lasted 3 hours with reports from the east and midwest part of the USA. However it was not until Oct 22, 1953 that a 2M two way contact was made between W4HHK and W2UK. Transoceanic 6M contacts are made in late 1946.
In September, 1958, the Class D Citizens Band is opened and Amateurs lost the shared use of 11 meters. USA Amateur population is about 160,000.
1960 - 1970 Gus Browning (W4BPD) The first DXer elected to the Dx Hall of Fame. Operated from over 100 countries. Dxpeditions included --- Seychelles, Somalia, Monaco, Aldabra, Cosmolédo, Assumption, Chagos, Burundi, Ruanda, Gough, Tristan da Cunha, Bouvet, Basutoland, Swaziland, Mauritius, Reunion, Juan de Nova, Comores, Madagascar, Tromelin, Glorieuses, Europa, Somaliland, Kamaran, Yemen, Aden, Bhutan, Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal, Afghanistan, Kuria-Muria, Pakistan, Laos, Thailand, China, Lebanon, Jordan, Faroer, Luxembourg, Togo, Dahomey/Benin, Mauretania, Volta, Mali, Venezuela, Senegal, Gambia, Rodriquez, Bertaut Reef, Etoile Cay, Boudeuse Cay, Kenia, Comores, Geyser Reef, Farquhar, Agalega, Blenheim Reef, Chagos, Aldabra, Geyser Reef. Gus learned to write left handed so he could send CW with the right.
1961 - December 12. First amateur satellite, Oscar1, is shot into orbit.
1963 The E.B.S. - Emergency Broadcasting System is established
In 1963, the CBers outnumber the Ham Population. The number of US hams exceeded 250,000
1970 While many vie for DX the furthest with the mostest, QRP (low power enthusiasts) are challenged by the furthest with the leastest. The long-distance low power record is held by KL7YU and W7BVV using one MicroWatt over a 1,650 mile Ten Meter path between Alaska and Oregon in 1970. This is the equivalent of 1.6 BILLION Miles per Watt
1978 - Amateur packet radio began in Montreal, Canada in 1978, the current TNC standard grew from discussions in October of 1981. As packet becomes popular with amateurs, digipeater nodes are built and the DX Packet Cluster is born. Previously DX announcements were made by voice on 2M repeaters.
1983 Cellular phone network starts in U.S. Hams wonder what took them so long!
1985 - the 24 MHz and 902 MHz bands are opened for Amateur use. The 10 MHz band was allotted permanently, previously open with restrictions.
1997 January 1st the E.A.S., Emergency Alert System goes 'on-line' in broadcast stations - replacing the aging technology of the E.B.S. - the Emergency Broadcasting System.
Feb 2001. Amateur Radio history was made this month when amateurs in Canada and the UK completed what appears to be the first two-way transatlantic Amateur Radio exchange on 136 kHz. Larry Kayser, VA3LK, and Lawrence ''Laurie'' Mayhead, G3AQC, managed the LF feat using extremely slow CW that featured 90-second-long dits and 180-second-long dahs. The two-way contact took two weeks
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