Dial back to Year 2003. Wes Schum and I are motoring down the highway towards the Shelby Hamfest - me at the wheel and Wes riding shotgun. Knowing that the trip would take around 3 hours, I brought along a small dictation recorder and a handful of mini cassette tapes. Soon, my plan was underway: Wes, holding the recorder steadily in-hand, began orally highlighting his life and work developing SSB products that changed Ham Radio. Listening to these tapes years later has brought back a flood of memories of our friendship - one that spanned over 45 years. Hope you enjoy W9DYV, in his own words! 73, Nick, K5EF.

Conversations with Wes Schum, W9DYV and Nick Tusa ... back in the day!

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8th W9DYV's Amateur Radio Symposium; Wrap-up

The 8th W9DYV's Amateur Radio Symposium
January 24-25, 2020

The 7th (2019) annual CE Boatanchor Event; Wrap-up Report

This year presentations included the following;

W9DYV's Amateur Radio Symposium
July 19-21 Slidell, Louisiana

New Venue-Expanded Topics-Boneyard/Tailgating

The 6th (2018) annual CE Boatanchor Event; Wrap-up Report

This year presentations included the following;

The 5th (2017) annual CE Boatanchor Event; Wrap-up Report

This year's event went off without a hitch, thanks to the hard work of the planning team and the local assistance provided by Bob Gass, N4FV. By Thursday 3PM, we had the TA-33 Yagi and the 130ft dipole antenna erected and operational. The Storybrook Farms site (Wes Schum's former QTH) is an excellent venue with respect to area to expand the bone yard and for low-noise operations on the low bands.

This year, the focus of technical and historical discussions involved both Collins and Drake in addition to the care and feeding of vintage gear. Also on deck was the actual 100V broadband transmitter prototype developed by Joe Batchelor and Wes Schum in 1956. This was the rig that got the attention of Karl Hassel, founder of Zenith Radio, and set the stage for exciting products from Central Electronics.

To encourage hoss-tradin' at this year's event, there was no fee for tailgating spaces in the boneyard. This made a positive difference and the field was filled with neat rigs…Drake, Collins, Alpha, National, Swan, Johnson, and Heath. Best of all, the prices were excellent and equipment changed hands! Growing the boneyard is the event's new priority and we welcome any suggestions or ideas for doing so. Please, don't be shy. Your input is very important, not only for the tailgating aspect but to keep us on track with finding speakers who can address the topics you see as important to the collector/restorer community.

This CE website is now being enhanced to include slides and other materials that were part of the past W9DYV events. While these materials are highly informative, they capture just a small part of the material discussed informally and, unfortunately, miss out on repair work done to specimen radios. For example, one of this year's speakers, Jeff Covelli (WA8SAJ), helped an attendee repair and make fully operational a rare Drake TR-44 rig. Its owner then had a grand time tuning the bands and making QSOs into the night!

Plans are already being made for next year's event. So, circle the July 21st weekend and plan to be in Jonesborough, Tennessee. See you next year!

This year presentations included the following; (PPT = Powerpoint file)

Presentations from previous years;

SSB and the US Navy, Nick England	VIEW
Restoration of Boatachors, WØYVA	VIEW
2016 CE Event	VIEW

Photos by Brad. NB9M

Jeff, WA8SAJ, Drake expert	Bob, WØYVA; Nick, K5EF and the 100V Prototype
Our hosts, Diane and John Vogt	Fleamarket
Fleamarket	Fleamarket
Lynn, K5LYN	Bob, W9RAN

The 4th annual (2016)CE Boatanchor Event was very sucessful with good attentance; great presentations; and
demonstrations of vintage and homebrew SSB equipment. Photos from the event can be viewed here.

Videos of the presentations at the 2016 event: