I bought my first antique radio in 1970 while in high school.
My electronics teacher, Rick Bilbor K4KAV, had brought in some back issues of Popular Electronics for us to read.
There was a feature In the July 1969 issue titled
"Whatever happened to Atwater Kent".
(That original issue of PE is shown in the photo above sitting beside the same AK 20 I bought in 1970)
It didn't mean much to me at the time, but a few weeks later I was at a local flea market with my mom, sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck just inside the gate was a radio; I recognized it was a 1924 AK model 20 battery set from the article. The dealer was asking $15.00, but I only had $10.00!
Of course mom said "I'm not going to give you $5.00 to buy an old piece of junk, if you want it tell him you only have $10.00", Well, he took the $10.00. From then on I was hooked not only on old radios, but I also enjoy haggling with dealers over price.
Back in the early 1980s a local newspaper wrote an article about my collection, the writer used this quote that's from Shakespeare I think,
"From innocent beginnings do dark obsessions grow"
boy was he ever right.
If you click on the button below it'll take you to my radio
collection web page.
After 38 years I don't buy many radios anymore. My dream display room that we built in 1990 is more than full, I have radios in my office/ham shack up stairs, there's a radio in the foyer, there are 2 grandfather clock radios, one in the living room and one in the dining room. And there's a Philco mantel clock and a Majestic model 92 in the den.
I also have radios on display in two museums in Charlotte, and there's no place to put them if I where to bring them home.
My main interest now is collecting tubes, early paper, and Clough Brengle equipment.
Ron Lawrence, W4RON
w4ron at carolina dot rr dot com
