W9GJX 1946 Escanaba, Michigan
Operator: Helen Cloutier, W8GJX, W9GJX
The QSL card confirms a contact made when I was 10 days old! Helen's gear wasn't exactly primitive, was it?
Bob Sikkkila - K8MXC is also from my old home town of Mass (now Mass City), Michigan. I'll mention the fact that Bob is blind, but that is really inconsequential, as he can do everything but see. Bob now lives in Reed City, MI in the Lower Peninsula, but likes to go to the U.P. Hamfest. Last summer that even was in Escanaba, and he said that the local club up there had an exhibit in honor of Helen, complete with her bug. He described the bug to me, and there's no question that it is a McElroy S-600, with chromed oval base. I have one of those bugs sitting right at my main operating position all of the time, and in my opinion, there is no finer operating key ever made. I know it was common in years past for people to refer to all bugs as "Vibroplexes", but as you know, that just is not so.
Incidentally I think I've now read all of Helen's books, with the exception of "Sim Barton, Girl Radio Operator". She wrote a couple of pretty "steamy" books, one under a male alias name! K8MFO
QSL & Info Courtesy of K8MFO
Photos & Tribute courtesy of W8SU