What WAS SWL..

[Sandy G]

Back when I was a kid we had a cabin on the local lake. Well, sort of. The cabin belonged to my family's printing company, we'd have "Big-Shot" customers down there to spend a week or so. We, my family, & a couple other of the company owners, took turns cleaning up the place, mowing the lot, etc. There was a crabby-azz old man & his dying wife lived down at the corner of the property, in an "A" frame house. He & my dad had had "Words" a time or 2, so his place was technically "Off-Limits"... Well, I wandered down there one night, his garage door was open, & he was listening to a radio that sounded "Funny"..He beckoned me in, & I got my initiation on Short Wave...South Africa, Radio Nederland, CHU, bunch of other stuff. I was HOOKED..He & my dad even "Made Up".. I never knew what kind of SW set he had, but it had a BUNCH of tubes..I even got to go upstairs, & his wife played me some stuff on her organ-It MAY have been a Hammond B-3...I was BOWLED over, to say the least.. Then I got shipped off to Boarding school, & I kinda forgot about them. Wish now that I HADN'T..Mr Mowery was sort of a crabby old guy in a way, but if I'd come back to visit him, no telling WHAT goodies I might have scored..And what KNOWLEGE I could have gained from him..