[bars] QSL Card

[Richard Heckbert]

Hi all,

Thought you might find this interesting

Kevin Murphy, (who I know as I worked with him before retirement from Tufts) collects Postcard and QSL cards from Billerica and tends to post a lot of them on Facebook.  He just posted this on the Billerica Back in the Day group

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According to the post 47 Pine Street is now 47 Alpine St in North Billerica (just down the street from the Chelmsford Bible Church!)

What is amazing to me is the bottom of the card.  It appears the card was printed by W1OLU who was my paternal grandfather who passed before I was born.   According to my Dad, he could do just about anything he set his mind to so seeing that he printed color QSL Cards in the 50’s does not surprise me in the least.  Kind of cool artwork too - Bunny with a microphone to match the card sender.

The story, told often by my dad, was my grandfather would phoneticize his call letters to W1 Old Ladies Underwear which would earn him a nasty look and a few strong words from my grandmother whenever she caught him saying it.

My Dad and I dragged his equipment out of my aunt’s basement back in the early 70’s in the hopes it was usable but unfortunately, time and dampness had destroyed most of the rubber and cloth wire insulation to the point where we thought it wasn’t safe to apply power.  Think very large microwave oven size! I did manage to save his microphone (since misplaced/lost) and more importantly, the metal plate from the front of the radio.  Unfortunately, most of the black paint has been lost.

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The writing says:
                AMATEUR RADIO
                    W1OLU
                MEDFORD, MASS

The exciting (to me) news is I am scheduled to be issued W1OLU as of this coming Wednesday!

Just thought I’d share with people who can appreciate.  My family not surprisingly didn’t get at all excited.

Rick
KC1VGF (Soon to be W1OLU)
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