Here’s another cartoon I drew for Gordon West’s latest Extra-class license guide. It speaks for itself — especially if you have a tower but don’t like climbing it.
Tag Archives: N2EST
The return of Jeeves
This QSL has a long history — several decades’ worth of history, in fact.
It started in the 1980s when I illustrated one of the first of many QST articles written by technical whiz Eric Nichols, KL7AJ. That cartoon must have made an impression, because a few years ago when Eric wrote his book “The Opus of Amateur Radio Knowledge and Lore,” he asked me to illustrate it. I was honored to do so. Eric has been a friend and advocate ever since. (“Opus” is a great book, by the way. If you love ham radio and you like Dave Barry-style humor, you’ll like this book.)
One cartoon — illustrating several generations of ham radio — must have particularly caught Eric’s eye because I snuck Jeeves into it.
Jeeves in the “Opus” cartoon
Who’s Jeeves, you may ask?
Jeeves, every ham’s fantasy assistant, was a recurring character in cartoons drawn by Phil Gildersleeve, W1CJD, for QST. Gildersleeve — or “Gil,” as he signed his cartoons — drew thousands of cartoons for League publications from the 1930s until shortly before his death in 1966. His work helped define the look of League publications for many years, and it was as good as or better than the work of any other professional cartoonist of his day, ham or not. In my opinion, Gil was the greatest ham-radio cartoonist of all time, bar none.
Jeeves’ rise from the dead gave Eric an idea: Why not create some new Jeeves cartoons, casting the butler as a Rip Van Winkle character? In other words, the hobby had changed but Jeeves hadn’t, and therein would lie the humor. And with the ARRL’s 100th anniversary fast approaching, surely QST would be interested in printing some new Jeeves cartoons.
the QST submission
I agreed, so I set about creating a new Jeeves cartoon very much in Gil’s style from one of a stack of ideas Eric sent me. I pored over dozens of old Gil cartoons, doing my best to make the illustration look as if he’d drawn and lettered it himself. Even though I was working with regular markers and brush markers (Gil likely used pen and India ink), I think I came pretty close.
Unfortunately, QST wasn’t interested.
In a short reply to Eric, QST managing editor Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY, wrote “While it is well executed, its ‘throwback’ style is something we try to minimize in QST, as we really need to be looking ahead and not behind us.” She later answered me personally with a longer email, emphasizing that “(QST editor) Steve Ford and I have been mandated by upper management to keep the magazine’s focus as current as possible.”
I was terribly disappointed. Still, I could understand League management’s logic even if I didn’t agree with it. If you were licensed before the mid-1970s as both Eric and I were and read League publications, Gil’s cartoons were inextricably tied to your earliest experiences of the hobby. But if you were licensed after the mid-1970s — about the time QST’s format changed and Gil’s work disappeared from print almost entirely — you’d likely have no idea who Gil or Jeeves were. You may not even have cared. And there are a lot of hams who’ve gotten their licenses since the mid-1970s.
Problem was, I had this beautiful cartoon without a home — that is, until Eric asked me a few months ago to create a QSL for him. I suggested using the Gil cartoon. Eric agreed. The cartoon had finally found a home.
A League book, circa 1972
I decided to design the card as a love letter to the League publications we both remembered, right down to the red-and-black color scheme, the draftsman-style hand-lettered call sign and the Futura typography. That it looks like the League book I studied to earn my Novice ticket is no coincidence.
There was one final touch that not even Eric noticed until last week. The call sign on those QSLs that Jeeves is frantically filling out? That’s Gil’s call sign.
For sentimental reasons, this is one of my favorite QSLs.
Ask the Builder — he’s a ham!
Tim, W3ATB, lives in beautiful New Hampshire and loves to operate outdoors, sometimes accompanied by his German Shepherd Lady. He wanted all those elements worked into his QSL card — along with New England’s colorful fall foliage (it’s his favorite season). Here’s the result. Tim liked it. So did I. I really enjoyed drawing this QSL; Tim was a pleasure to work with.
About that call sign: W3ATB is a vanity call that refers to his Ask the Builder website, devoted entirely to do-it-yourself home improvement and maintenance. If you like building things, using tools and saving money — and what ham doesn’t?— you’ll love this website. I highly recommend it.
Extra! Extra! (Class, that is)
I’ve been licensed nearly 43 years but have a shameful confession to make: I’ve been stuck at General for about 42 of those years. The good news? A recent project finally inspired me to go all the way to Extra.
Last year I was commissioned to create new illustrations like this one for the latest Extra Class study guide by master instructor Gordon West, WB6NOA (along with my friend Eric Nichols, KL7AJ). Well, the new question pool just came out — and so did the book. And the book is so readable I now have no excuse not to upgrade. I plan to take the test before the year is up. All it took was this nudge.
For your own copy of the new study guide, you can order online at the W5YI website or by calling 800-669-9594. Or you can visit your favorite local ham-radio dealer where amateur-radio study guides are sold and pick up a copy.
Have you ever caused a pile-up?
When that rare DX station appears, we’ve all had the experience of trying to be heard in the ensuing pile-up. But have you ever caused a pile-up?
Of course, operators of DX stations are used to sorting out calls in pile-ups. But what if you’re a new operator who’s just called his first CQ and more than one station answers? For the novice ham — like this one in a cartoon I drew for “W1FB’s Help for New Hams” — the effect can be overwhelming and seem like a pile-up.
If you’re a DX station on the receiving end of pile-up, how do you pick who to answer? And how would you advise a new operator to handle multiple answers to a CQ?
Hitting warp speed with Morse code
This cartoon I drew for “Morse Code: The Essential Language” by L. Peter Carron Jr., W3DKV, reminded me of how you know you’ve hit warp speed copying CW: You hear whole words instead of just letters.
When I earned my Novice ticket in 1973, it was all I could do to count the dits and dahs to copy CW. It kept me slow — but, fortunately, there were lots of other newbies in the Novice bands at the time who were just as slow as I was to keep me company.
At some point, I started recognizing whole letters, and I got a little faster. But it wasn’t until I started hearing whole words — at least, the short common ones like “the,” “it” and “for” — that CW started to feel comfortable.
These days, when I’m not on PSK31 I operate CW almost exclusively. I rarely use my microphone on HF. As a casual ham, I’m hardly a speed demon, but I am fast enough (around 20 wpm when I work at it) to have fun with a key. It’s also made me very popular at Field Day (CW contacts score higher).
How do you get that fast? It’s the same way you get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice.
“Morse Code: The Essential Language” was published by the American Radio Relay League but has long since gone out of print. It’s still available online, often in used editions. If you’re into CW, it’s worth seeking out.
The ears have it
Gary, WB4SQ, keeps both radios and rabbits — and he wanted one of his favorites, a bunny named Benjamin, pictured on his QSL.
Here, Benjamin is seated at the control position of a cartoon version of Gary’s shack, surrounded by logos for the Southeastern DX Club and the North Fulton Amateur Radio League, Gary’s Atlanta-area home clubs. (North Fulton, by the way, was the Dayton Hamvention’s 2010 Club of the Year.)
Gary also came up with the punchline in the word balloon. Benjamin is no dumb bunny — like any good DXer, he listens more than he talks.
TuBE or not tuBE …
I drew this a few years ago for “The Opus of Amateur Radio Knowledge & Lore,” an excellent book by my friend Eric Nichols, KL7AJ. It visualizes a chapter title about vacuum tubes — yes, vacuum tubes — that explained them and a lot of other stuff with intelligence and style.
In fact, the whole book is like that; it explains not only how to be a ham, but also why to be a ham. If you haven’t fired up your rig in awhile (and if you have only a tube rig, we’ll assume it’s been awhile), you’ll want to after reading “Opus.” I know Eric’s text inspired me to get back on the air and enjoy the hobby after too much time bruised by its club politics and not enough time just playing radio.
The book is already in a second printing, this time with extra material by the inimitable Gordon West, WB6NOA. It’s also available at your better candy stores (I know our Atlanta-area Ham Radio Outlet carries it). I highly recommend this book.
Sometimes simple is better …
Susan, KG5JQT, is a cat lover, so she wanted simply cats on her QSL: “Yellow tabby cat sitting operating ham radio. Headphones on, one paw on straight key, other paw holding mike. View is from behind, showing back of cat. Maybe show a kitten playing with her dangling tail.”
I love visual puns, so when I saw that the “Q” in Sue’s call sign could look like a cat and its tail, I simplified it further. Sue’s response: “Very inventive! I like it!”
So did I. In fact, so did my wife, Gail, N2ART. We have two cats, and Gail wants one of them incorporated into the “2” in her call when I finally get around to drawing her QSL card.
This is one of the very few QSLs I did not sign — but only because I couldn’t find a place to hide my call sign that wouldn’t spoil the design’s simplicity. In my opinion, simple is almost always better.
Rifles and radios
Sean, N4BRR, belonged to the elite Blue Ridge Rifles drill platoon when he attended the University of North Georgia. It’s still a big part of who he is, so he wanted it featured on his cartoon QSL, right down to the unit’s logo and a real rifle, all set in a cartoon version of his work cubicle.
He wanted a lot of other details as well: A gnome (it rhymes with his last name). A gun target (it’s on the right monitor) A picture of his children (it’s on the middle monitor). A picture of a squirrel drinking Guinness beer (it’s on the left monitor). The logo of one of his favorite bands, Nine Inch Nails (it’s on his t-shirt). And … a University of North Georgia calendar with the date of his wedding anniversary, circled, as a gift to his wife (it’s on the right end of the card).
I’m not sure I did justice to the details of the rifle, but I did my darnedest to get everything else right. It’s a fun QSL.