WAD - Port Washington, WI
 WAD's location - 149 Lake Shore Rd. in Grafton,WI |
Ship-to-Shore station WAD served the
bulk-carriers and freighters (and
Lake Michigan car ferries?) on the Great lakes
from the west shore of Lake Michigan. I personally know very
little
about it, but remember hearing it a few times though I could not
remember its call letters until my mind was refreshed by some old
documentation. |
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 The photo
above, taken in May 1963, was provided by John Hankwitz whose
family utilized the services of WAD many times from their
Lake Michigan powerboat during the 1950s and 60s. |
 WAD's brick station building |
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WAD is mentioned in this story about the Carl Bradley sinking.
 Michael Martin at the WAD Operator's Desk |
 James Leveraus at the WAD Operator's Desk |
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Above - Michael Martin with the WAD
Transmitter Bank |
 |
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Following are comments by Michael C. Martin who
provided the color photos on this page:
"One
day in the 60's I was driving south of Port Washington, WI
and I
noticed
several short AM Vertical Towers and the brick building at the end of a 1/4
mile-long, rutted gravel driveway. When I pulled up for a
quick
look-see I found that it was WAD, a station that I had listened to
on a BC-348 since my youth. The
operator welcomed me with an open door. I think it was July at that
time as all the windows were open (No Air Conditioning).
"As I recall, the building faced south, and
the HF antennas were west of
the building and consisted of several tower verticals. The
VHF
Antennas were pole mounted East of the building.
"The
inside of the station consisted of a room with the operator’s desk with
the
transmitters at the side, and a smaller room behind the back
of the
transmitters which had a rack of VHF and Telco interface gear, a few
service tools and several Teletype machines for receiving the weather
reports. The operator’s desk had several desk-mounted racks
including a rack panel of several single-channel receivers. A
Super
Pro General Coverage receiver also served as backup. Another
rack had
the telephone interconnect panel with dials and a phone patches.
High
on the side wall there was a panel of RF preamps for the receivers as I
recall. Behind the chair was a GE VHF station
cabinet.
I believe that the place was mostly heated
in the winter by the
transmitters with a small oil space heater for the really cold nights.
"In
later years the on-site, 24-Hr watch was reduced and the VHF equipment
moved to an outdoor GE cabinet mounted on a telephone pole supporting a
VHF antenna. By that time the VHF channels were being
remotely
controlled from Lorain, OH.
"When it was announced that Lorain
was suspending all HF operation and moving to a remotely controlled VHF
network I knew the handwriting was on the wall for this wonderful piece
of radio history. I stopped there several other times in the
70’s.
The operator on watch would always welcome the company. Each
time my
stay stretched into a four-hour visit with all the stories of Great
Lakes
events over the years.
"Jim Leveraus and I took the pictures on this page during the last visit
in February 1975, shortly before WAD was decommissioned.
"I
have always wondered what they did with all the decommissioned
equipment. I hope it was stored. Working together for all the years, I
am sure all the operators on land and ship knew each other well. Sadly, ending an era like this must have ended a way of life for many
of them."
The WMI
page provides more information about Lorain Electronics, the owner of
this station.
Some of the WAD Crew
| Albert E. Klopp W0QXI (SK) | Operator | <1945 |
| Wilbert Klopp W9OFM (SK) | Operator | <1960s - 197? |
| Carroll Peabody W8ADK (SK) | Operator Technician | ? |
| Vic & Elmer Ash (brothers) | Operators | 1960s?> |