Greetings Ed!

 RW>> I also have my 1st ever Amateur Radio Handbook from 1964, but
 RW>> it is too fragile to handle these days without damaging the so
 RW>> often referred to antenna information pages I used back then.

 EV> The 1957 Handbook that someone gave me (in 1961) is still all
 EV> together.

 EV> My 1960 Handbook (which was the first I ever bought) has fell apart.
 EV> It is hard to handle and even though I don't read it very often,

I think that is the problem with my 64 ARHB...it was handled a great deal
in the coming years as we used it as a reference for antenna building.

 EV> it is still part of my library, and I keep it if ever I wanted to
 EV> re-read an article or project in it, it's there for me to fumble
 EV> with.

In 1977 I opted for the ARRL 'antenna handbook' rather than pay for a
bunch of things not required at the time.

 EV> I'd guess the Company A.R.R.L chose to Print (and Bind) the
 EV> 1960 Edition issue of the Handbook had used a 'less expensive' method
 EV> of putting the sections of that Edition together.

That may be so. Have you looked in those books for the printers names? You
might also note that there is a difference in the books; one being a paper
binding and the other being a cloth binding. i.e my 1977 ARRL hand book is
paper bound and the suggested retail inside the cover says that it was
sold at $7.50, whiie the cloth bound edition cost $12.50...I would expect
that the cloth bound books would last a lot longer.

 EV> The later Handbooks I have bought since 1964 all have been bound much
 EV> better than that 1960 copy I got when I was in Norfolk, Virginia at
 EV> Navy Radiomans School and was wanting to learn enough so I could get
 EV> Commercial RadioTelephone and RadioTelegraph Licenses from the F.C.C.
 EV> office in downtown Norfolk.

I think that (license) is the only reason I'd join the Navy back then.
I've wanted to get one of those for years, but never had the time to take
a course that would get me there.

 EV> I took the F.C.C.'s tests and got 3rd Class Licenses for both of them
 EV> before I finished School on the Base in May 1960.

Great.

 EV> I never used the CW License, but I once was a Radio Dispatcher for
 EV> the local government 'City Radio' station and showed my Third Class
 EV> RadioTelephone License to the boss when he asked me to fill out a
 EV> Form to get a Restricted RadioTelephone Permit, to show him I didn't
 EV> need a 'Permit' because the 'License' I already owned gave me all the
 EV> permission needed to be a Radio Dispatcher for the City.

You were right to do so. When/if the FCC were to inspect your station,
they wern't going to be looking for a city permit...

 EV> He still had me fill out the 'Permit' Form just to keep me legal.

Yeah, that's called CYA...

 EV> I did ask him a few months later to sign (Endorse) my License so I
 EV> could get the F.C.C. to renew it for another Term.

Did he?


    Have a day!

         R\%/itt - K5RXT

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