Remember when you were a Novice? A Novice in the days when you had to be crystal-controlled. FCC mandated. Well, back around 1960 I was that Novice, and as a brand new ham, I didn't have my own rig yet. But, as a licensed member of the Coke Center ARC in Connellsville, PA, I was authorized use of the club station, W3NAV. That meant I could operate!!

One of my Elmers, Harry Dolde, K3BTF, was a most kind-hearted soul, one who nurtured a young would-be ham to learn the code, study the license manual, and one day, earn that FCC ticket. Harry also was willing to loan one of his crystals to a young fellow so that he could go up to the club on a free evening and, crystal in hand, power up the Novice rig and enjoy an evening of CW.

Many a day I'd make arrangements with Harry to stop at his QTH to pick up his 7160 Kc. crystal. The trek to pick up that "rock" involved running a triangle, the short side of which was my QTH to W3NAV. But, as a kid without a car, I was obliged to take the long legs of the triangle, hitch- hiking from my QTH into Connellsville, knock at Harry's door and pick up the "rock," then, hitch-hike up the highway to the cutoff to W3NAV, and finally walk up to the site. The trek itself was a study in determination! But, I might not have got my code speed up to the 13 wpm to pass the General if it weren't for Harry and his generosity.

At any rate, this process of calling Harry, hitch-hiking to pick up the "rock," and hitch-hiking again to NAV became a routine ritual. And, I couldn't take the "short leg" back home after each day's operating. So, it was hitch-hike back the way I came to drop off that XTAL. I gotta point out that it wasn't that Harry was a stickler to have his crystal returned immediately. He would have let me keep it for awhile, but he needed it himself to run the Sunday morning club net on 10m. Everybody met on 28,640 Kc., and the easiest way to keep everybody "on-freq." was to run crystal control. That's just the way it was.

Well, time went by and I acquired my General ticket, followed later by my own station. Gee, a VFO! Wow, now I roamed the bands and didn't have to sit rock-bound and tune for stations answering my CQ. But, those are other stories.

Time passed for Harry, too. Eventually, years later, Harry became a Silent Key. When Harry's XYL called and asked if I'd help her sell his station, I was surprised. Honored, too. After all, Harry was one of The Boys...one of those who showed me what ham radio was all about. In due course, somebody showed up and bought Harry's station. I packed it up for him and helped him carry it out to the car. We shook hands and off he went, Harry's Heathkit Apache & Mohawk securely packed away in his trunk.

A few weeks passed and I'd all but forgotten about Harry's equipment. I had the normal distractions of work-a-day life, after all. Then one afternoon I saw UPS pull up to the curb and the knock came at my door. I was a bit perplexed as I hadn't ordered anything lately and was not expecting UPS. Well, the upshot is that the UPS guy had a small package for me. I signed for it and he left. Honestly, I didn't even recoginze the return address as I opened the package. Inside was a note and a small, padded rectangular shape. The note said, "I found this in the rig you sold me. I remembered your story about how your Elmer used to help you out, so I figured you might like to have it. I can't imagine anyone else who'd appreciate it nearly as much."

When I unwrapped the padding, I found an International Crystal. Yep, 7160 Kc -- the same frequency as the one I'd borrowed and returned to Harry Dolde so often.

A lot has changed over the years--solid state, computers, the Internet. Terminology, too:   Now it's Megahertz and MHz; Kilohertz and KHz. But, you know, there's a small item that sits in a prominent place in my shack:   A XTAL that still reads "7160 Kc." Every time I glance at that "rock," its "International Crystal" complete with the outline of the Lone Star State, brings back those memories.... Ah, the good old days!

    73 de K3NFS