I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. My house on Garden Drive was just across the street from a neighborhood where friends from Shannondale Elementary lived. Jake, Kent and Brian, Bryan and Paul, Mark, Scott, and Chuck. Chuck was everybody’s friend. Except to his own brother Mark. I hope someday they became friends.

In the afternoons, I would cross Garden Drive, wander up Pinewood Drive, and hang a left on Raven Drive. There I hoped to find the gang. Chances are we would meet up, swap stories from the day, and do something to pass the time.

Jake was a quiet young man. Fast on the playground, quick to smile, but not gregarious. He lived in a tiny house, even by 1970’s standards. Next door were Kent and Brian. These were the older boys, and somewhat feared. They ran the school safety patrol. They were about six feet tall, and very capable of pounding anyone they wanted. Paul and Bryan lived a few doors up. Paul was studious, smart, and quiet. Bryan was that social sparkplug. We were in Troop 256 together, down at St. Paul’s Methodist. Mark was another only child. He was a bit older, and we really didn’t know him well. Scott was part of our group, but his older brother Dean just didn’t want anything to do with us. And of course, Chuck. He was the life of the party, wherever he went.

One of the crazes of that era was CB radio. But for us, it was all about walkie-talkies. There was something magical about them. I think part of the allure was seeing the soldiers in uniform with field radios, or watching police dramas where handheld radios were used. Young men want to be like their heroes. Every once in a while, we would marvel at the walkie-talkies that Kent and Brian had. They were available at Radio Shack. They had the really cool models with the orange color stripe on the face, a slim design, and multiple channels. Just holding them, talking into them, I couldn’t help but really want a walkie-talkie of my own.

Kent and Brian, being older, leading safety patrol, were of course to be emulated. I remember reading the Radio Shack catalogs, visiting the store, and lusting after this model.

My father, being the ever-resourceful engineer, could do about anything. His skill in so many hobbies and his schooling gave him typical engineer insights on cars, guns, archery, leatherwork, dogs, and music. This influence led me to think about things a bit deeper, especially when he brought new facts to my attention.

I’m not sure what he said to me, way back then, but one day, I did find myself the proud owner of a walkie-talkie. Of course I had been focused on the Radio Shack model, but I ended up with a Lafayette. I can still see the silver metal case, the polished speaker grille, the A-B channel switch, the circuit board with its two sockets for frequency crystals, and that long telescoping antenna.

It was a substantial radio. Far more durable, being made of metal. Easier to hold. And, very high quality. I still remember my disappointment when the antenna tip broke off, making the antenna challenging to extend. I tried to choose the best channel crystals for our neighborhood gang, saving up meager allowance for that little two-pin metal cased oscillating quartz.

Where that radio is today, I’ll never know. We moved from Garden Drive to Mayfield Drive. Adolescence changed my focus. Friends from the old neighborhood were replaced with new connections. And, the radio hobby became impossible, given the distance from the new home to the old.

But, today, I was once again walking around the neighborhood, with Sandy The Little White Dog. It’s only about a mile. We do it often. Tonight, knowing Sandy wouldn’t be able to talk with me, I grabbed…you guessed it…a walkie-talkie.

It’s a bit more complicated than my old Lafayette. I picked it up recently, after testing for an amateur radio license. (I’m licensed by the FCC as AE4CH.) This radio has amazing technology. In this little package, carefully designed to fit in a standard shirt pocket, are circuits and computer chips and software that allow me to connect to people worldwide. It transmits on a couple of frequency bands, and with the right antenna, you can reach nearby “repeaters” which re-transmit your low power signal from your handheld on very high antennas with many watts of transmitter power.

One repeater is at 442.55 MHz, on the 70 cm band, and it is specially configured. It is a Wires-X repeater, and can connect the radio from the radio frequency signals to the internet. Other repeaters are also connected to the internet, all over the world. On Wires-X, I’ve managed to speak with people in New Zealand, Japan, England, and of course, all over the USA. Saturday I heard from fellows in Sarasota, New Jersey, and Los Angeles.

Tonight there was no one on the air, though. I guess it was dinner time. Sandy and I walked around the block, and were only too glad to be back home with the heat and humidity. I put the “handheld transceiver” up (we can’t call them walkie-talkies any more), and reheated some pasta for supper.

I got to thinking. It’s been fifty years since I had that Lafayette walkie-talkie. I still have it, so to speak. And, I still am walking around my neighborhood, trying to connect with Jake, Brian, Kent, Paul, Bryan, Mark, Dean and Chuck. I don’t know the names of the amateur radio operators — hams — like I knew those names. But, I still want to talk with them. The magic of radio communication still excites me. The exploration of the unknown brings me a sense of challenge, and in a way, adventure. Each contact I make is about nothing important, most of the time, but at special times that faceless voice becomes another friend. One afternoon I spoke with a gentleman who was on the way home from Richmond up to NoVA, after yet another cancer treatment for his 83-year-old wife down here. He was kind enough to share his story, and there on the radio I could pray with him for her treatment, her strength, and his struggle as a spouse to carry on.

I’m glad that today I’m still like that ten-year old cradling a shiny new Lafayette, wondering who might hear me from far away. May the quest to connect with others never leave me.