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says. "I decided I'd rather be a poor peon in the country than a rich man in the city."

Bob returned to Connecticut and lived at home while he worked--as an electronic technician--and earned a bachelor's degree in business in 1971, from Quinnipiac College, in Hamden, Connecticut. He met Barbara, who was from Woodstock, Connecticut, just up the road from Pomfret Center. They were married in 1970.

When they met, Bob was in college and had a rig set up in his parents' basement. "I thought Bob was a real character," Barbara says, "with a lot of diverse interests. I was fascinated by his radios and thought for a long time about getting an amateur license, but never have."

Twenty-four years later, Bob and Barbara are surrounded by radios. "It wasn't too bad until Bob began advertising and taking in more and more parts and tubes. We really have run out of room now. And dusting is a nightmare."

Bob worked for 10 years at a steel mill, climbing his way up from assistant office manager to office manager and general sales manager "before the U. S. steel industry became dominated by cheaper and better foreign steel."

Bob also was for a time a product manager in the satellite industry, leading a team of engineers in the design and marketing of a sophisticated dish-positioning system for the home satellite industry.

"I was in upper management with some pretty responsible jobs," Bob says. "I got more and more tired of commuting and thus, because we live in the middle of nowhere, began working for smaller and smaller companies just because they were close to home. One day in 1990, two divisions of my firm consolidated. I was congratulated for my accomplishments and shown the door."

So, in 1990, he turned what had been a 30-year hobby of tinkering with old radios into an occupation, and Antique Radio Restoration and Repair was born.

Bob immediately began to take in more radios for restoration, and to advertise.

Barbara, who's a legal secretary over in the next town, is happy Bob no longer has a long commute to work every day. "And he doesn't have the insecurity of wondering if his job will be there next week, either," she says. "These days it seems like nearly everyone wonders about that."

There are 45,000 vacuum tubes in the Eslinger basement. It's best to take Bob's word for this, since two walls of his basement are covered with them, in drawers and bags. This is one reason Barbara is concerned about running out of space.

The cellar really is packed. Turn right into a roomful of radio sets waiting to be restored, tagged with owner's name and date promised.

Go straight and turn left, past the tubes, into the workshop, or turn right toward more storage. Then the KR1U hamshack appears.

Bob knew this is where his hamshack would be, so he pounded in a ground rod before they poured the basement floor.

Upstairs, Bob points out a window directly over the bed. "I always wanted to be able to lie in bed and see the sky," he says, "especially to watch for aurora."

These are the small joys of living in a house of your own design. Bob says he enjoys working at home and it's easy to understand why.

A RADIO FOR DAVE

What does the star of THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN give to his director of 13 years for Christmas? A 60-year-old console radio, of course!

David Letterman's friend Hal Gurnee listens to his Christmas present. (Photo courtesy of Hal Gurnee)

David Letterman and Hal Gurnee, director and supervising producer of THE LATE SHOW, share an interest in old-time radio, especially the old programs. Letterman is a frequent shortwave listener as well. Both he and Gurnee have Lowe HF-150 receivers (small tabletop models made in England).

One day Letterman pulled out his PASSPORT TO WORLD BAND RADIO, then called its editor, Lawrence Magne. Letterman had his heart set on a Philco Teledial. Magne contacted the Electronic Equipment Bank. got Bob Eslinger's number from them, and forwarded it to Letterman's staff.

Eslinger got the assignment and got busy, first faxing catalog photos of Teledials and similar models to Letterman. Then through his network of contacts he came up with a half-dozen Teledials, including one in New Haven. It had a good finish--a requirement since there wasn't time to send the cabinet out for restoration.

"The radio was working but not nearly as well as it could or should," Eslinger says.

Eslinger reworked the 1937 12-tube Teledial in less than two weeks, toiling long days right up to Christmas Eve, following the usual procedure for a working set:

Clean the tubes and their sockets and replace weak tubes; replace grid cap wiring; replace electrolytic and paper capacitors with mylar film caps; replace suspect resistors with antique resistors if possible; clean the bandswitch, re-do suspect solder joints, put on a new line cord; tighten the speaker grille cloth, then clean the cabinet and put things back together.

Whew!

Barbara Eslinger put a red bow on the Teledial and they took a Polaroid photo just as the shipping service arrived to pick up Hal Gurnee's gift. Luckily, he lives just on the other side of Connecticut.

"I was completely surprised at the gift from Dave," Gurnee said. "It has great sound, reminding me of my parents' old RCA. I loved radio as a boy."

"Dave has a Telefunken from the 1940s," Gurnee said. "He and I often talk about the old radio shows, like Jack Benny's, and we both collect cassettes of those shows."

Gurnee admits to visiting thrift shops and recently bought a table model Philco at one. He plans to pay a visit to Bob Eslinger for a restoration. "And I have an old Hallicrafters communications receiver, too," he said. "I gave it to my Mom, who stored it in the box in the attic since the late 1940s. It's a creampuff. I had a Hallicrafters Sky Buddy once, too, but it's gone."

Hal Gurnee moved to New York City after college, where he worked for the old Dumont Radio Co, then moved to NBC where he was a director for Johnny Carson on the TONIGHT SHOW.

"I would love to work in radio again," he said, "for the nostalgia. My favorite radio station these days is the BBC-4 channel. Of course, that's subsidized by the British government. Radio in the US needs help from our government, especially public radio, to expand its format."

Hal Gurnee's "new" Philco Teledial is parked in his Connecticut dining room. "Visitors love the sound," he said.--JIM CAIN, K1TN.