Recollections of W1BB Stew Perry of Winthrop, MA

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D.J.J. Ring, Jr.

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Apr 22, 2021, 10:55:29 PM4/22/21
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Stew Perry, W1BB was a good friend of mine, he lived in Winthrop, MA which is near Logan Airport (BOS).

He was a radio officer in the 1920s and then he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA and was a outside salesman for Greybar Electric in Boston. He had his home in Winthrop with it's 40 foot vertical, his two element phased inverted vees at Deer Island Sewerage Treatment Plant in town,
and during the summer, he went to him farm up in Maine as W1BB/1. I guess at the time the Deer Island location was W1BB/1 also due to FCC regulations operating away from his home.

The 160M DXers gave Stew a book around 1977, we presented it to him at "The Ship" restaurant in Lynfield, MA. Sadly this landmark is going away along with the Hilltop Steak House cows.

He was very pleased to get it. It was like a FOC meeting with W1HZ, W1HX, W1PL, N1EA, W1BB (all FOC members) and the W4 fellow who bound the letters - about 500 of them - into a book. My father WA1DRR and mother also were there because they loved "The Ship" - it had great fish.

In the late 1980s he was confined to nursing home care in
Melrose, MA the same city where I lived at that time and I used to visit him.

He had throat cancer, lost his voice box, so he used a throat buzzer which was very difficult to understand. He also had had a stroke.

I brought my McElroy 1939 bug to the nursing home and he had great difficulty using it. The coordination just wasn't there. I also brought my EK-430 keyer and used it's loud sidetone to fill the room.

But suddenly, he tried something different.

DE W1BB W1BB W1BB

Squeals of delight came from him - and myself too, for that matter.

He could "talk" again.

I went to sea and came home and would visit him, but my last trip around 1990 was too long to see W1BB again, he died in March of that year, before I came home in June 1990.

But I'm sure that moment that his "voice" came alive pleased him, he told me so.

I also got him smiling, I told him the story of the seaman who wanted nothing more to do with the sea.

I told him the seaman put an oar over his shoulder and walked inland, and kept going.

For hundreds of miles people would ask: "Hey, mister, what are you doing with an oar over your shoulder?" He kept on walking.

Finally about 700 miles from the shore, he got a new question: "Hey, mister, what's that funny looking thing you have over your shoulder?"

He went into town bought himself a lot of land and built himself his retirement home.

He was never bothered with stories that start "This is no s4!t" anymore.

But the fairytales, they were a different thing, every day at four thirty, a group of fathers and mothers came to his front porch and he'd tell them the most interesting stories about all sorts of things. Just no sea stories.

BV OM Stu I miss your wonderful fist. Old signals never die,they only fade away. = 73 de DR

Photos of Stu, W1BB, his antenna put up with the Town's permission at Deer Island on the water tower just a half mile from his home, and a picture of the restaurant where the bunch of us gave him a hand bound book of all the 160 meter operators - it must have had 600 signatures and messages. He was delighted!

Pictures of Stew's
Stew Perry, W1BB was a good friend of mine, he lived in Winthrop, MA which is near Logan Airport (BOS).

He was a radio officer in the 1920s and then he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA and was a outside salesman for Greybar Electric in Boston. He had his home in Winthrop with it's 40 foot vertical, his two element phased inverted vees at Deer Island Sewerage Treatment Plant in town,
and during the summer, he went to him farm up in Maine as W1BB/1. I guess at the time the Deer Island location was W1BB/1 also due to FCC regulations operating away from his home.

The 160M DXers gave Stew a book around 1977, we presented it to him at "The Ship" restaurant in Lynfield, MA. Sadly this landmark is going away along with the Hilltop Steak House cows.

He was very pleased to get it. It was like a FOC meeting with W1HZ, W1HX, W1PL, N1EA, W1BB (all FOC members) and the W4 fellow who bound the letters - about 500 of them - into a book. My father WA1DRR and mother also were there because they loved "The Ship" - it had great fish.

In the late 1980s he was confined to nursing home care in
Melrose, MA the same city where I lived at that time and I used to visit him.

He had throat cancer, lost his voice box, so he used a throat buzzer which was very difficult to understand. He also had had a stroke.

I brought my McElroy 1939 bug to the nursing home and he had great difficulty using it. The coordination just wasn't there. I also brought my EK-430 keyer and used it's loud sidetone to fill the room.

But suddenly, he tried something different.

DE W1BB W1BB W1BB

Squeals of delight came from him - and myself too, for that matter.

He could "talk" again.

I went to sea and came home and would visit him, but my last trip around 1990 was too long to see W1BB again, he died in March of that year, before I came home in June 1990.

But I'm sure that moment that his "voice" came alive pleased him, he told me so.

I also got him smiling, I told him the story of the seaman who wanted nothing more to do with the sea.

I told him the seaman put an oar over his shoulder and walked inland, and kept going.

For hundreds of miles people would ask: "Hey, mister, what are you doing with an oar over your shoulder?" He kept on walking.

Finally about 700 miles from the shore, he got a new question: "Hey, mister, what's that funny looking thing you have over your shoulder?"

He went into town bought himself a lot of land and built himself his retirement home.

He was never bothered with stories that start "This is no s4!t" anymore.

But the fairytales, they were a different thing, every day at four thirty, a group of fathers and mothers came to his front porch and he'd tell them the most interesting stories about all sorts of things. Just no sea stories.

BV OM Stu I miss your wonderful fist. Old signals never die,they only fade away. = 73 de DR

Photos of Stu, W1BB, his SOWP QSL card, his antenna put up with the Town's permission at Deer Island on the water tower just a half mile from his home, and a picture of the restaurant where the bunch of us gave him a hand bound book of all the 160 meter operators - it must have had 600 signatures and messages. He was delighted!

73
DR
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w1bb_1st_160m_dxcc.png
w1bb_ship.png
w1bb_sowp.jpg
w1bb_ship.png
w1bb_secondary.png
w1bb_1st_160m_dxcc.png

HO WZ

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Apr 23, 2021, 1:42:20 AM4/23/21
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Great. 73
urbano cavina 

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Apr 23, 2021, 1:56:00 AM4/23/21
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A fine tale DR....most of W1BB's radio estate and ephemera were given to the New England Museum of Wireless and Steam in East Greenwich, RI. His famous 160M rigs and  QSL card collection are there for safe keeping. Hopefully we'll get his rig back on the air at some point....

Kind Regards,

BB

Brown Beezer / w1nzr


D.J.J. Ring, Jr.

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Apr 23, 2021, 2:23:37 AM4/23/21
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I've been trying to get in touch with New England Radio and Steam Museum for several years, do you have contact with them? I've tried repeatedly.

73

DR

MICHAEL ST ANGELO

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Apr 23, 2021, 9:31:55 AM4/23/21
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Dave,
 
Enjoyed the stories and pictures of Stew.
 
Would you know what equipment he used at the Deer Island Sewerage Plant and at his home in Maine?
 
Mike N2MS

Darrel

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Apr 23, 2021, 11:29:01 AM4/23/21
to radio-o...@googlegroups.com, MICHAEL ST ANGELO, D.J.J. Ring, Jr.

From the QSL card I received from Stew for my QSO across the pond in 1965:

He (W1BB/1) was using a Valiant tx @ 100 watts, a 75A4 & HQ170 receivers, with an Inverted Vee antenna at 265 ft.

   Cheers,

       Darrel, g3sys & aa7fv.

On 4/23/2021 06:31, MICHAEL ST ANGELO wrote:
Dave,
 
Enjoyed the stories and pictures of Stew.
 
Would you know what equipment he used at the Deer Island Sewerage Plant and at his home in Maine?
 
Mike N2MS
On 04/22/2021 10:54 PM D.J.J. Ring, Jr. <n1...@arrl.net> wrote:
 
 
Stew Perry, W1BB was a good friend of mine, he lived in Winthrop, MA which is near Logan Airport (BOS).

D.J.J. Ring, Jr.

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Apr 23, 2021, 11:45:51 AM4/23/21
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There was a photo of his home station in the original email.

As to his Deer Island station, I don't know what he used,  Johnson Transmitter were the common transmitters that covered 160m and the Valliant was 100 watts the limit at the time, but a Ranger at 75 watts was just 1 dB away from it.

73
DR

MICHAEL ST ANGELO

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Apr 23, 2021, 1:30:20 PM4/23/21
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Dave, Darrel,
 
I got my Ham ticket in 1969. Back in those days most Amateur Radio rigs did not cover 160 meters. I used a Johnson Viking 2 as a transmitter and built a converter to receive 160 with my Ten-Tec Argonaut Receiver.
 
Mike N2MS
 
 
 
 
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ROBERT DOHERTY

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Apr 24, 2021, 6:18:52 PM4/24/21
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We have fond memories of Stew .... he was there on 160 for almost every FD...
we worked at other times on 160 CW  ... and had several phone conversations with him over the years .... always would give tips about 160 DX and operating there ..... RIP Stew W1BB......
 
Whitey K1VV  ( W1GDB )   .... on the bands since 1955.... but not any more
de to health problems .......
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