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WAYBACK RADIO

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 19th 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.

1900s

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.

By 1908, commercialization of the new technology led to development of two groups within electronic communications. Those who plied their skills for pay comprised the first group. Then there were those interested in electronic communications and its burgeoning technology as non-commercial afficionados--hobbyists and experimeners.

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.

FIRST DOCUMENTED JACKSONVILLE AREA OPERATORS

CR and CP are the first documented area amateur radio operators.

In May 1909, the American Wireless Association published the First Annual Official Wireless Blue Book. Its "United States Amateur Stations," listings included 89 operators nationwide and two Jacksonville area operators:

Cromwell Gibbons, Jr. of Jacksonville, callsign "CR" who operated around 72 meters with a 1-inch induction coil spark.

Dr. Carroll H. Fink of Fernandina, callsign "CP" who operated around 104 meters with a whopping 12-inch coil spark.

All operators used spark gap transmissions to transmit code then. Spark was a very crude mode that occupied a very wide bandwidth. This unfavorable characteristic led to technological advances that rendered spark transmissions obsolete by the 1920s.

Undoubtedly, there were other area amateur operators. Blue Book listing was optional and required those on the air to file reports. No other Florida operators were among those listed in May 1909.

HAMS TAGGED

Within the next year, more local and statewide wireless groups formed. In 1910 with no spectrum regulation, interference from crude sparking transmitters proliferated. Increasingly, commercial operators viewed non- commercial communicators and their signals as nuisances, possibly leading to the derogatory term ham to signify amateur radio operators.

REGULATORS MOVE IN

The Radio Act of 1912 classified radio transmitters and operators. Administrative licensing of transmitters and station inspections began. Amateurs were limited to less-desirable spectrum above 1500 Kc. (200 meters). Commercial users got frequencies below 1500 Kcs.

The U. S. Department of Commerce supervised radio communications. Leading numbers representing geographical districts were added to ham callsigns with Florida included in the 4th district.

In its 1914 Callbook, DoC included two local hams--Thomas Dunk, 4AZ of 1424 Laura St., and Elmer Rice, 4AC of 1702 E. Duval St. (across from today’s Jaguar Stadium).

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 and eventually doomed spark transmissions. 

WORLD WAR SHUTDOWN

In 1917, the U.S. Navy took over as the regulator of radio communications.

The U.S. entered World War I. 3,500 to 4,000 radio amateurs served in the military, many as engineers and operators. The U.S. government ordered all non-authorized electronic communications equipment, including receivers, to be dismantled. QST halted publication in September 1917.

After the war ended in 1919, ARRL reorganized. QST resumed publication in June and hams started returning to the air in November.

Many spark-era hams in Jacksonville did not progress into the post-war CW era. CW operation was so erratic and unstable that some were discouraged. Also, loss of life during the war took its toll.

1920s

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 ARRIVES IN JACKSONVILLE

Broadcast radio started in Jacksonville during July 1922. The Florida Times-Union put station WDAL on 833 Kc. followed by another station soon after when WCAN appeared in August. It was owned by the Southeast Radio Telephone Company and transmitted from downtown.

WABG, owned by the Arnold Edwards Piano Company, went on the air in May 1923 on 1210 Kc. These stations operated on intermittent and erratic schedules. All disappeared by the end of 1924.

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, a towering 6' 6" man, 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 W4DAA. The original building remained in operation until the early 1970s when the studio moved to the Civic Auditorium complex on the waterfront. WJAX-FM went on the air in the late 1940s. The city sold both stations to private groups in the mid 1980s.

More about WJAX and other defunct radio stations

POST-WAR JACKSONVILLE HAMS

Spark transmissions declined rapidly folllowing the World War. By 1922, Continuous Wave (CW) dominated. CW's narrow bandwidth allowed more effective communication.

By the mid 1920s, a 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.

AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE EXAMS START

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.

FIRST LOCAL HAM RADIO HAMFEST/CONVENTION

An ARRL Southeastern Division Convention took place in Jacksonville in 1931. It was convened by an informal group, the Jacksonville Amateur Radio Operators Club. Ham radio conventions were much smaller then and a hundred people made for a large gathering.

Local operators organized formally in 1934 as the Jacksonville Radio Club. The group included radio listeners and short wave enthusiasts. A constitution and by-laws were adopted during a gathering at 520 Long Branch Blvd. in Riverside. Meetings were every Tuesday night. New operators during the 1930s included John Hollister, W4FWZ and Ed Renfroe, W4ATM.

POLICE RADIO STARTS IN JACKSONVILLE

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.

ROVING BROADCASTER FINDS HOME

Jacksonville’s second broadcast station moved in from Tampa in early 1934. WMBR was licensed for 100 watts on 1370 Kc. with a studio on the top floor of the thirteen-story Carling Hotel on West Adams St.

There was no nocturnal truck caravan stealing north from Tampa and it was not as significant as Indianapolis luring the Colts away from Baltimore a half-century later, but Jacksonville apparently had enough to pull radio broadcaster F. J. Reynolds and his Florida Broadcasting Co. away from Tampa.

The large Cohen Bros. downtown department store, where Jacksonville City Hall is now, and its advertising dollars were a major draw. Reynolds wanted to get in on an expanding broadcast boom so the city's WJAX now had local competition. More national and regional networks with better distribution methods led the way in feeding growth in radio's increasing popularity.

Reynolds started WMBR almost seven years earlier in 1927. Some say the call stood for "Wonderful Miami Beach Radio" or something similar.

Itinerant AM radio broadcast stations were not uncommon in early days of broadcasting. Some owners moved their radio stations on down the road if they got a better deal.

AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS TRIPLE

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.

ANOTHER AM RADIO STATION

Jacksonville gained a third radio outlet in July 1940. Owned by Joseph H. Perry, publisher of the Jacksonville Journal newspaper--station WJHP operated briefly on 1290 kc before moving up to 1320 Kc. with 250 watts power full time. In 1946, FCC increased its power to 5,000 watts

BROADCASTER FREQUENCY SHIFT

The top of the AM broadcast band expanded up to 1600 Kc. As part of a 1941 major frequency shift mandated by FCC and a new pan-American agreement, Jacksonville's two radio stations both changed their broadcast dial positions. WJAX moved up from 900 to 930 Kc and got a power increase to 5,000 watts days and 1,000 watts nighttime power. WMBR went from 1370 up to 1400 Kc. using the same 250 watts full time. Jacksonville was much smaller in both population and geographical area then so transmitter power was not a major concern for local coverage.

POSTWAR LOCAL HAM RADIO

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.

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 of the W4NEK club station.

MORE AM BROADCASTERS

In September 1942, WPDQ added the fourth signal to Jacksonville's AM broadcast band. Founded by Robert Feagin and James Stockton, WPDQ's studio was in the Gulf Life building downtown, not to be confused with the Gulf Life tower built 20+ years later on the Southbank. Stockton was big in commercial real estate and Feagin became president of Florida Publishing Company, the owner of Jacksonville's Times-Union newspaper, in the early '60s.

WPDQ's multi-tower directional antenna system sprouted near Normandy Blvd. and Lane Avenue along with a 5kW transmitter operating on 1270 kHz. After WWII concluded, WPDQ's transmitter frequency shifted to 600 Kc.

During the 1950s and 60s, NOFARS member Ernie Haralson, W4DAA was WPDQ chief engineer. While Ernie worked at WPDQ, the acreage near the towers became an outdoor gathering spot for hams. Much of it is now covered by the Normandy Blvd. Walmart store. In 1971, Ernie became chief engineer at WJAX.

Duval county's fifth broadcaster, Jacksonville Beach Broadcasting Co. built a studio in the 200 block of First Ave. N. in 1947. WJVB was a daytime-only operation that transmitted 250 watts on 1010 Kc. Later it became 1,000 watts from west of Penman Rd. WJVB was the area's first daytime-only licensee. During the 1950s, it was WZRO. In the early 1960s, it became WBIX moving inland near Beach Blvd. and Peach Dr. to a new studio building, 10,000 watt transmitter and a two-tower directional antenna system but still operating daytime only.

Two more daytime-only stations started in 1948. WIVY began on 1050 Kc. with 1000 watts. A Macon group started WIVY and sold the station to Ed Bell, a legendary Jacksonville broadcaster in 1950. Ed set up his studio on Riverside Ave. near the old Acosta Viaduct. The transmitter eventually moved to a spot among a network of train tracks west of Moncrief Rd and south of 45th St.

Next, WOBS signed on with 250 watts on 1360 Kc. The owners, Southern Radio Equipment Co. headquartered in the Barnett Bank building downtown, planned television too. But that was not to be. WOBS added 1,000 watt capability in 1950 from a transmitter site on Ft. Caroline Rd.

By 1949, WJAX, WMBR, WJHP and WPDQ all had been granted power authorizations of 5,000 watts full time though they usually signed off by midnight.

Next, Harold S. Cohn and his son started WRHC on 1400 Kc.--the channel vacated in early 1947 by WMBR when it moved to 1460 Kc. The Cohns transmitted 250 watts full time from 247 Margaret St.

Initially WOBS and WRHC programmed mostly country and western music. In 1952, WOBS, a daytime-only station, shifted to rhythm & blues and gospel music. WRHC added similar programming to serve Jacksonville's Black population.

Jacksonville now had eight AM stations including one at the beach. Miami and Miami Beach totalled nine AM stations and Tampa-St. Pete had seven.

FM RADIO STARTS

Very expensive receivers, crude technology and tiny audiences stunted the development and profitablility of broadcast FM radio for two decades following WWII.

WJHP-FM became the first FM station in town during March 1948 operating on 96.9 Mc. Within a year or so, it was joined by city-owned WJAX-FM on 95.1 Mc. and by WMBR-FM on 96.1 Mc. in late 1949 or early 1950.

These FM outlets usually duplicated AM programs and didn't sign on until late afternoon. Operation was sporadic. Only audiophiles owned expensive tuners and equipment needed to take advantage of full "high fidelity" monaural audio. No FM stereo then. Few others ever tuned to FM.

TELEVISION ARRIVES

The Florida Broadcasting Co., owners of WMBR radio, started WMBR-TV. It was only the second television station in Florida when it began transmitting in mid-September 1949 on channel 4 from a Quonset building near the south end of the Main Street (Alsop) Bridge. Early national television network assistance was meager so a lot of what aired was live and local--provided by hillbilly musicians, piano players, gospel music singers and other assorted local talent.

No videotape either. It went out live

1950s

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 1st.

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.

TV PROBLEMS

Until 1953, WMBR-TV channel 4 transmitted the only television in the area. After FCC lifted a freeze on new stations, Jacksonville got its second outlet. Joseph H. Perry's company which owned the afternoon Jacksonville Journal newspaper and WJHP AM built WJHP-TV channel 36. UHF technology was poorly developed then and like FM radio, its time was far in the future.

WJHP's studio, transmitter and tower was on Philips Highway near what is now University Blvd., several miles away from town in those days.

The economics of UHF TV didn't work out and WJHP-TV went dark shortly after WFGA-TV channel 12 arrived in 1957.

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. JARS conducted seminars for electronic servicers and the public to explain causes and cures.

THE SPACE AGE BEGINS, NEW GROUP IN TOWN

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 lively backyard gathering on Chaseville Rd. near the old wooden Pottsburg Creek/Arlington River bridge on what is now University Blvd.

A dozen or so hams gathered around a table. One person was playing his newest electronic gadget, a small reel tape recorder. This was before cassettes and about the same time that cheap imported transistor AM radios began to flood American store shelves. The Space Age was building up steam and Sputnik 1 would soon go on the pad.

As meat sizzled on a barbecue grill, the tape machine blared snippets of revelers past conversations recorded off the air. Poorly-regulated tape speed pushed one listener, identity unknown, at the wing ding to remark that they sure sounded wacky.

The Wacky Wing Ding Society became an alternative to the Jacksonville Amateur Radio Society. Various WWD members rotated hosting meetings and the new group introduced its certificate for any operator contacting at least seven Jacksonville hams.

But being billed as the Wacky Wing Ding Society did not help when participating in public service events or promoting local ham radio's capabilities. In 1960 the group became the North Florida Amateur Radio Society.

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