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 Previous: The K7RA Solar Update |  Next: Tips for a Better Ham Web Page |
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
August 22, 2003
This week, we revisit Amateur Radio's appearance in comic books and other youth-oriented literature.
Three weeks ago, the topic here was Amateur Radio in the comic books. Searching the Internet on that topic did not come up with much. I found mention of Hulk's sidekick, Rick Jones, who in The Incredible Hulk #6 organized a group of teenaged ham radio operators. The group, known as the "Teen Brigade," used the ham bands to exchange information about the whereabouts of the Hulk. In Avengers #1, the Teen Brigade's misdirected radio signals were instrumental in putting together the Avengers superhero team.
I also found a comic book reference to the Phantom using ham radio in the jungle, but that was all I could find on the subject and I asked you readers if you were aware of any other ham radio comic book connections.
Paul Kirley, W8TM, wrote, "When I was a kid in a Catholic grade school in the 1950s, we used to get a biweekly comic book called Treasure Chest that featured (among other things) a serial called 'Chuck White,' whose title character was an all-round good guy and ham. One story line was about a young nerd friend of Chuck's who went along on a ski trip that was stranded by an avalanche. As I recall, the kid managed to string together a bunch of car batteries to supply enough DC voltage to operate his 10-meter tube rig to get word out to Chuck and the rest of the world. The nerd was thereby redeemed."
I searched, but could not find a Treasure Chest-ham radio on the Internet, but I did find Markstein's Toonopedia: Treasure Chest of Fun & Fact Web page, which has some information about the comic book and its run of 500 issues.
Vern Eubanks, K0LVS, wrote, "Dick Tracy was on a special mission that took him to some island (maybe Cuba), out of reach of the police network via his 2-way wrist radio. He may have had an aircraft accident there. He did some field-mod to retune his 2-way wrist radio to the 10-meter Amateur Radio band. He called CQ or MAYDAY and contacted a ham who notified someone for a rescue. This would have been circa 1960."
Vern added, "There was a comic book in the mid '50s that featured four teen boys who drove a jeep before it was popular to drive jeeps, and got in and out of trouble chasing some adventure or another. The jeep had a mobile whip and ham radio was helpful in the adventures.... Don't remember the group's name or much else about it."
I could find no reference to the teen jeepsters that Vern remembered, but while searching for the Dick Tracy-ham radio connection on the Internet, I came across the eHam.net Friends Remembered Web page devoted to silent key Al Gross, W8PAL. On that page, Kevin Swesey, K6RXL, mentioned that Al invented the hand held transceiver, which he nicknamed "walkie talkie." In 1948, the creator of Dick Tracy, Chester Gould, came across Al's concept for a wristwatch transceiver and asked Al for permission to use it in Dick Tracy. Al Okayed it and Dick Tracy's 2-way wrist radio was born.
 Read a comic book that welcome newbies to the world of Amateur Radio at Icom's Web site. |
Joe Bottiglieri, AA1GW, wrote, "See the Icom America Amateur Radios Coloring Book Web page."
I surfed and I saw The Adventures of Zack and Max: The Odyssey Begins, a downloadable comic book "designed to provide you with some basic information about ham radio, giving a glimpse into its history, its applications and its relevance in the world today." A coloring book version of the comic book is also downloadable.
Ben Kiningham, K9IDQ, wrote, "You touched a nerve. My allowance went for comics and a trip to downtown Springfield to get them every week. I wish I still had them, but alas, I was drawn to the Hardy Boys mysteries when I stumbled upon the adventure books about the Radio Boys. Even though they were set in the 40s and I was a 50s kid, I loved those books and still have several. They spurred me on to learn the code..."
I found a lot of references to the Radio Boys on the Internet, but one of the most comprehensive is James Keeline's Web page titled "Radio Boys series by Allen Chapman and Others".
Frank Brickle, AB2KT, wrote, "Not a comic, but sure a piece of popular fiction aimed at kids was The Lost City in the Rick Brant Electronic Adventures series. It had Amateur Radio as a key component. Not sure, but I think there may be other sidelong references to ham activities in other books in the series." A good Web site for information about The Lost City and the Rick Brant book series, go to The Lost City Web page.
John Pugh, W2QOB, wrote, "I enjoyed your article on finding ham radio references in old comic books. A few years ago I re-read the Hardy Boys The Shortwave Radio Mystery in which Frank and Joe and their friend Chet have Amateur Radio calls N2XEJ and N2XOB (a clue that the fictitious Bayport is somewhere in the New York/New Jersey area!). I had vaguely remembered the story from my childhood and found it fun after having gotten my own license and learning more about ham radio. Following the theme of your column, I did some quick surfin' and found at least two other references to the Hardy Boys/ham radio connection using Google: National Contest Journal Web site's profile of K9LA and DXing.info's review of The Short-Wave Mystery.
In that National Contest Journal profile, Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, wrote, "My first exposure to ham radio was when I was in 4th grade, and it was due to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I read Frank and Joe's adventures with something called Amateur Radio in The Shortwave Mystery. And my sister and I watched the old Warner Brothers movie Nancy Drew -- Detective on TV in which Nancy's friend was also an Amateur Radio operator with the call W8YZR prominently displayed in his garage shack."
Getting back to W2QOB, he wonders, "What other books contain references to ham radio that we wouldn't otherwise expect exist?"
I wonder, too, and if you know of any, let me know and I will let everyone else know.
Until next time, keep on surfin'.
Editor's note:
Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, resides in downtown Wolcott, Connecticut, and has been a QST writer for over 25 years. Since getting
his ticket in 1969, Stan has sampled nearly every entrée in the Amateur Radio
menu (including a stint as Connecticut Section Manager), but he keeps coming
back to his favorite preoccupations: VHF and packet radio. As a result, he runs
a 2-meter APRS digipeater and weather station (WA1LOU-15) from his mountaintop
location in central Connecticut. Stan, a long time advocate of using computers
with Amateur Radio, wrote programs to dupe contests and calculate antenna
bearings way back in 1978. Today, he is on the board of directors of Tucson
Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR) and uses his Mac to surf the Internet searching for
that perfect ham radio Web page. To contact Stan, send e-mail to wa1lou@arrl.net.
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