This couple's life was fascinating a half-century ago. While going through an old scrapbook recently we discovered this article, tattered and faded, but that brought their story back very vividly. They loved to mentor to younger prospective ham operators and pilots, and many of the readers of this blog will recall additional stories about John and Helen, I'll bet.
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From an old scrapbook loaned by an anonymous reader.
Click on images to enlarge. Please pardon the missing words on the frayed edges.
John and Helen helped a lot of folks in North MS to become hams. Lanny & I went down there every SUnday learning basic electronics. His station looked like NBC to a 13yr old.
ReplyDeleteHerb
Thanks so much for this story! They were a unique family and outstanding members of the community.
ReplyDeleteJohn was probably the greatest influence on my life of any person that I knew growing up. He sparked my interest in Amateur Radio and flying. He believed that anything could be fixed. I have fun memories of going down to John little shack and watching him work on electronics with such ease. At 17, I flew his J-3 Cub all over North Mississippi. He also taught me in High School Chemistry which was a real hoot. Lanny and I had a fully operating still in the lab area of the class. Because of his influence, I worked as an Engineer for Western Electric and AT&T for 30 years. Thanks John JG
ReplyDeleteJohn was probably the greatest influence on my life of any person that I knew growing up. He sparked my interest in Amateur Radio and flying. He believed that anything could be fixed. I have fun memories of going down to John little shack and watching him work on electronics with such ease. At 17, I flew his J-3 Cub all over North Mississippi. He also taught me in High School Chemistry which was a real hoot. Lanny and I had a fully operating still in the lab area of the class. Because of his influence, I worked as an Engineer for Western Electric and AT&T for 30 years. Thanks John JG
ReplyDeleteI have to add my name to the list of students of John Wesson, I became K5V00 and joined a really fine group of people-- in addition to this John and I flew ultralight aircraft from the grass in front of his home in Guntown-- he never had a mean thing to say about anyone-- and was an asset to everyone he touched--------- as Jim said "Thanks John"
ReplyDeleteJMD
John was my 7th or 8th grade science teacher. I never met a man with so much knowledge and he had it mostly from experience. He could teach a subject and know very little about it but the class was always exciting and informative. We all used to love to quiz him about flying and ham radio. He gave Red Shelton and me our first Novice test in 1962. Red passed and got the call WN5ICZ and mine was WN5IDA. I scrounged my equuipment from wherever I could and someone loaned me a Heath DX 100 to use. Me being an inexperienced novice had no idea how to tune it up. Everytime I keyed it, the plates ran wild and interferred with lots of stuff. I carried the rig down to John to 'fix'. He did not EVER look at the transmitter but instead looked over the schematic and then asked me to look at it and see if I could find the problem. I was expecting him to show me an error in the diagram but he did not.
ReplyDeleteI asked him if he could fix the transmitter and he simply replied that he could but if he did, I would not learn anything. He said for me to do the following-1. Know the theory of operation, 2. Make careful observations and 3. Use common sense to find the solution. Talk about disappointed and upset at John! I carried the 100 pound transmitter back home and took the bottom off and saw nothing burned or dangling. I then spread out the schematic on the bed and just started looking. I recalled the finals ran wild when keyed and upon thinking about something I had read that the tubes need a control bias voltage to regulate it. With zero voltage, the tubes were drawing excessive current and would eventually burn them out. I (bear with me you non hams) then found the circuit that showed the grid control control and I could see on the diagram how it worked. I then knew there was another adjustment that I was not using and upon careful observation, I found a coaxial knob that was labled "grid drive" under the know, I think. anyway, the wires ran to the tube sockets so I had found the trouble. I simply had not increased the grid drive to the tubes and upon doing so, they slowed down to what they were supposed to be and no longer glowed a bright cherry red! All of a sudden, I realized why John would not fix my radio! He gave me the idea how to figure out how it worked, watched and noted as things happened and then the answer jumped out at me.
Wow, what a man. We need more like him now more than ever. He was probably the greatest influence on how I looked at problems ever since. I do miss him and Helen.
I had a brief exposure with john when I became interested in becoming a ham operator. He was cordial and pleasant to be around when explaining facets of the hobby. Wish I had studied with him back then. He was only one of a few in that community able to assist youngsters in those days. When I moved to Memphis, there were 4 amateur radio clubs to join and all were dedicated to creating new ham operators.
ReplyDeleteThis is a hobby I have never tired of over the years....
Carl, N4GJM