s there any evidence that popular Handi Hams of the day, technical contributors John FryeW9EGV & Herb Brier W9EGQ knew each other? In a letter dated 19 April 2009 sent to QCWA
Chapter 36. from Gene Wiggins W9CWG former Valparaiso Staff Faculty retired, we learned thus.

IWiggins stated; I came to Valpo Indiana
to attend Dodge Telegraph and Radio
Institute in 1942. (Following WW2Dodge Institute was renamed Valparaiso
Technical Institute under newownership.) Attendance was small dueto the fact that WW2 was in full swing.
Within a very short time I was told about
Herb Brier in Gary Indiana.
Lake County Indiana had good activity
on two meters with modulated
oscillators and super regenerative
receivers., including Herb Brier, W9EGQ. Soon after meeting Herb on the air we went over to visit
him. In those days we built most of our stations, except receivers. I don’t recall what Herb wasbuilding when we visited that first time. He had a table set up that straddled his bed and he dideverything on it, drilling, soldering, etc.
One afternoon Wiggins contacted Herb on two meters and they got into a discussion of tubes used
for power amps. That led them into the matter of using a high MU triode or a zero bias tube designed
for Class B modulator service as a Class C RF amplifier. Both had data and curves on the tubes they
were discussing and would calculate data for each type, discuss pros and cons. Wiggins believes theconversation ended such as
they should leave the zerobias tubes for Class B
modulator service as theindustry was doing.
In the early 60's or possibly
before, the Lake County
Indiana Radio Club held abanquet at Teibel’s
Restaurant. There wereprobably 200 or more inattendance, the big eventfor the year.
Then it was moved toanother nearby restaurant for some reason. At the latter place, they had an ambulance bring Herb in
his portable bed as the honored guest and speaker. He gave a terrific talk on his own history and ham
radio in general. It was then that Wiggins first heard about the neighbor kid that loaded a cartransmission onto his wagon and brought it into Herb’s room where they dismantled it to see how
it worked. Herb said, “There was a little oil on the floor, with a chuckle.” Continued page two.

Wiggins continued, “There was another Handi Ham John Frye W9EGV who lived in Logansport,
Indiana. I have no info on how Herb and John first got together, but the closeness of their calls
suggests they may have taken tests together.
Back in the 50's Herb and John were heard daily on 75 Meters. They obtained text books on Spanish,
each day they would discuss lesson pages, do the homework involved, meet the next day to go overthe homework, discuss the next step, on and on.
Then it came to where they would talk Spanish indiscussing the homework. They did the same thinglearning calculus. That is a rough course to say the least
but they finished a text book on it.
Author; We shortened text here slightly, by D.E.
Wiggins - Valpo Tech Faculty, retired. (Note Dodge
Telegraph and Radio Institute became Valparaiso Techafter WW2. It was the largest telegraphy and railway
instruction institute in the USA at one point. The
operation ended in 1991 after 117 years of continuous
operation!
Credits; W9EGQ QSL Dan Sheetz W9DWS - See thefine data from QCWA Chapter 36. & Mr Wiggins
W9CWG comments.
W8SU 2009