Regulations and Enforcement, Hard and Soft

Descriptions of the radio laws and anecdotes about their enforcement during the early years paints a picture of a regulatory environment that could be alternately strict or flexible.  A QST article in 1916 by “Little Willie” described his and his friends’ experience preparing for and taking an exam for the “first grade comm” (First Grade Commercial license) which consisted of a code test and a written test.1  Although the author’s identity is likely fictitious, the story probably relates an actual … Continue reading

Cooperation and QRM

In mid-February 1916, coincident with Maxim’s second article on relaying, one of the first organized relay tests was run. With everyone sharing very little spectrum, cooperation was the only way to avoid QRM (a constant fact of life at the time) and hear weak, distant signals. In a rare cooperative operation between an amateur group and the government, a relay test was conducted on Washington’s Birthday by Colonel W. P. Nicholson, 9XE at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, and … Continue reading