Time Capsule: Hugh's Radio Room

Since my grandmother passed in 2012, her house has been emptied. But I did manage to take some photos of Grandpa's radio room, which was mostly untouched since 1995. All his radio equipment was still in there, along with his books, awards and certificates. For historical interest, I will preserve it here to give readers another glimpse of what kind of man he was.

This tiny room upstairs was what he called his "Radio shack", after the nickname for the space he occupied on the submarine.

The radio set below is a Heathkit SB-101, a popular ham radio rig from the early to mid 1960's. Heathkit was a company that manufactured mail-order kits allowing you to build a radio with parts and instructions.  In order to do it you had to know soldering, advanced electronics theory and be able to read complicated schematic diagrams.  This rig did not work, as the vacuum tubes were no longer sold as of 1986.  But the style of it looks very vintage, making it desirable to collectors of vintage radios. We donated this piece to an amateur radio museum in upstate New York.

In the corner was a bulky piece called a "Linear Amplifier," also a Heathkit, which allowed him to boost his transmitted signal. Something only licensed operators can legally do. All of his equipment could only be operated by him with his license, unless under strict supervision by him.

A book shelf above his desktop, with his collections of QST magazines. QST was the premier publication for amateur radio enthusiasts, these binders each contained one year of issues. The brown ones shown here were the years 1937-1940 (He first got his license in 1937)  The framed document at top is his actual operating license. When I knew him his call sign was K2CP.  His old call sign was W3GYY, so at some point after the war they were shortened to 4 digits. In front of the books are two photos, left is a picture of him and a fellow US Navy submarine veteran after a reunion, and the right one is him with an unknown friend. There is a license plate for the state of New York that says DARTER. He was very proud of his Navy career all his life.

On the wall was a calendar from 1995. Over the calendar is a barometer shaped like an anchor.  The days marked with flag icons are the dates on which American submarines were lost, from every war. The calendar reminded him to fly his flag on those days as tribute to the lost sailors on these boats. And he did!

There were many other interesting things in this room, which I know I have photos of somewhere. As soon as I find them I will add them to this post.

Most or all of what you have seen here is gone now, donated to museums or distributed to his surviving relatives. My brother still has some of his old radio equipment.