EXCERPTS FROM AN EMAIL RECEIVED BY N8VZ FROM K4SWJ . . .

“. . . By the way I read with interest the article in CQ this month concerning the saga of the Ocean Hopper ….. neat story!  My first radio (like many other would be hams back then) was also an Ocean Hopper.  I could kick myself for ever getting rid of it. . . . I held onto it for many years but lost it somewhere along the way.  I not only had an Ocean Hopper but a Knight Kit Space Spanner as well. . . . do you remember the Space Spanner?  It was similar to the Ocean Hopper but no coils.  Once I got my ham license I stepped up to a Hallicrafters SX-99 . . . wow what a step up from the old regenerative receivers!  But there’s something about that first radio you never forget!  I attached an early photo of my SWL setup back then (don’t laugh!).”

I guess this just goes to show that there’s always a little boy (or girl) lurking not far beneath the surface in all of us.  Those days of yore are remembered with such fondness . . . as though they were somehow more real and concrete than all of our adult years combined.   Ah, those Ocean Hopper Days, the days of our youth, they still live on forever in our hearts.