Ham Radio Helps Jewell Man Build His House
Excerpts taken from an article in The Graphic Webster City, Iowa August 14, 1952
In recent months, the Graphic has run stories on ham radio operators and also on families building their own homes. The Aldis Hendrickson family, north east of Stanhope, has combined radio and home building, each to the benefit of the other. The Hendricksons started their home building more than two years ago. Hendrickson has, been a licensed radio operator since 1949.
The old house was torn down a room at a time while the Hendricksons were still living in it. When the last of the old house was cleared away the family moved into a wash house for a few months until the basement of the new house was ready for occupancy.
While the family lived in the basement the new house took shape above. The basement was relatively comfortable with a fireplace and propane gas.
YEAR TO GO
Although there is still about a year's work to go before the house is completed the kitchen is already a dream with lazy susans in the cupboards, plenty of built-ins, all glued together and not a nail in them. There is a new double oven stove and a dishwasher.
Mrs. Hendrickson shows off her new kitchen.
(Graphic photo by Gypsy Ellis.)
The home water system boasts a water softener. The first floor bedroom and living rooms were low spacious appearance by a horizontal groove at picture height. The groove is functional in that pictures are hung from it with clips to give a unique decorative touch to the walls. Upstairs are three bedrooms with half bath.
At the stair landing halfway to the second floor, a visitor turns right into the quarters over the garage. Here are Mrs. Hendrickson's sewing room and the all important "ham shack".
Aldis Hendrickson at his transmitter.
The radio room, or ham shack, is built especially to meet the needs of Hendrickson as an amateur radio operator.
The cabinets containing his powerful 1000 watt transmitter are built into the wall between the radio room and the sewing room. The back of the equipment is accessed through knotty pine doors in the sewing room.
Hendrickson will, and according to Mrs. Hendrickson often does, spend hours explaining his equipment to other hams or to a novice. Each noon his is the control station for approximately 100 stations on the Iowa 75 meter network.
TAKES 9 MINUTES
The control station acts as a central station to clear messages and put hams in contact with each other. When there is little traffic or messages, Hendrickson can call the 100 stations and they can report back in about nine minutes.
He is using a second 250 watt transmitter while doing some work on the big rig. The complicated equipment, although often expensive and delicate, is "junk" to the radio men.
The radio equipment was used often during the house building operations. Whenever the Hendrickson's struck a snag that required knowledge not available, he would send out a call on the air waves.
Aid came from carpenters who were also radio hams, operators in cities where equipment or information was available and, in one instance, from the US government laboratories in Wisconsin.
The calls for information were so numerous and sometimes frantic that the radio operators in Iowa and surrounding areas became interested in the building project. The hams would often begin or end a conversation with "How’s that house coming Aldis?"
