My Cousin Ray
Lodian talks to the world on ham radio
By Tony Acosta, News-Sentinel staff writer
Everyone has heard the telephone commercials that encourage listeners to "reach out and touch someone." Well, Charles Farnsworth can just about get in touch with anyone he wants at any time.
A first-time visitor to Farnsworth's Lodi home may gaze in wonder at the contents of one of the back rooms. Inside this cubicle is a sophisticated network of receivers used to communicate with a myriad of places.
The retired telephone worker is a devotee of ham radio, a hobby with millions of followers around the world. In California alone, there are 60,000 licensed ham radio operators.
This tall, bespectacled man can be found in his workshop several times every day, conversing with people from a wide range of locations. Farnsworth begins all of his broadcasts with his call sign, W6SYP. He talks to people from as close as Lodi to as far as Kalamazoo, Mich. And even farther than that.
"I like ham radio because you can keep in contact with a lot of people anywhere you want," said Farnsworth, who first became involved with ham radio in 1925. "You also get to meet others who share the same interests you do."
Farnsworth also said ham radio also serves an important purpose, especially in emergencies. "Operators can help out in earthquakes or fires. People who are near a disaster can have an operator send a message over the radio to tell relatives they're alright."
Farnsworth has intercepted messages from people who were in various disasters, including the big earthquake that rocked Mexico City in 1986 and the recent storm that battered Southern California.
There's never a dull moment in hamming, he pointed out.
Farnsworth was born in Illinois but spent a great deal of his life in the Los Angeles area. It was in Southern California that he and some friends decided to get licenses to operate ham radios.
He graduated from Montebello High School in 1939, and was a classmate of former world-class tennis star Jack Kramer. He remembered, "I tried to talk Jack into working ham radio, but he was too busy traveling around the world."
After high school, Farnsworth went to a trade school where he was trained in radio technology. Farnsworth worked at several Los Angeles radio stations, then landed a job with Pacific Telephone (now Pacific Bell) in 1941.
His career at the company was put on hold in October of that year because of World War II. He was drafted and worked for a time with the Defense Department's special radio station, WAR, that controlled military communications. Later he joined a Fifth Army battalion that went overseas to North Africa.
Farnsworth returned to America and the phone company in 1945, but also volunteered as a special agent for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department. There he utilized his skills to help create a special emergency network that provided communication facilities in case of earthquakes, floods and other disasters.
"One big emergency I was involved with was the Watts racial riots in 1965," Farnsworth said. "There was a lot of action back then."
In 1970, Farnsworth asked the phone company for a transfer from Los Angeles because he was getting tired of driving 300 miles a day on the city's crowded freeways. He secured a position at the company's microwave station near Lodi.
A massive heart attack in 1979 laid Farnsworth up, then forced him to retire in 1980.
But Farnsworth has made good use of his spare time to promote his hobby. He's involved heavily with various amateur groups, including the American Radio Relay League. Farnsworth is an accredited volunteer examiner for the ARRL, and his job is to help people interested in ham radio get licenses. He also is a secretary-treasurer for the Morse Telegraph Club.
Farnsworth also belongs to the Lodi Radio Club, which has a membership of 150 ham operators.
On the air, Farnsworth handles traffic for the Military Affiliate Radio System, which can pass messages from soldiers overseas to their families. He also checks in nightly with the Western Public Service System and Mission Trail Network for special announcements.
He encourages newcomers to take a look at amateur radio. "It's not very hard to become a ham, but you've got to be willing to put in the time," Farnsworth said.
The most basic skill to master in amateur radio is Morse Code, the series of dots and dashes used to transmit messages worldwide. Farnsworth said operators are taught to send messages in both American and International Morse. "The international system has a lot of dashes, which is easier to understand over the radio. American Morse has more dots, and the signals can be lost in the static."
Farnsworth said other languages, such as Spanish, Russian and Japanese, have Morse equivalents.
Many interesting things have happened to Farnsworth since he has taken up ham radio. He found his job at Pacific Telephone through it. "My boss was a ham radio enthusiast and we talked over the air. One day he asked to meet me about a job, then next thing I know I'm working for the phone company." Farnsworth also met former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, also a big ham radio nut, on the air and then in person.
Farnsworth is a staunch supporter of amateur radio as an activity for those who are disabled or elderly. "It provides a means of people-to-people contact on the basis of absolute equality, and it lets those who stay at home know there's a big world out there," Farnsworth said.
For me, radio keeps me busy. The big thing here is friendship, it just brings many people together who wouldn't do so otherwise.
The above article is from the Lodi News-Sentinel, Monday, January 25, 1988. My cousin, Charles R. Farnsworth ("Ray" as he was called by family and friends), became a silent key in January of 1996.