Trueborns honour the passing of James Dragan, a lifelong Vancouverite born in 1914. (That is Jim kneeling beside the 1938 field receiver.)
Jim grew up near 46th and Nanaimo and as a kid developed a passion for electronics. With instructions from Popular Mechanics magazine, he made a crude radio by winding wire around a salt box. When he heard voices calling CQ-CQ, he realized he was hearing Ham Radio operators and he enthusiastically embraced the hobby.
Jim worked as a wireless operator for the B.C. Provincial Police and for Pan American Airlines during WW II. From radio installations in Prince Rupert and Prince George, he recalls hearing Japanese transmissions from the Emperor’s submarines.
He married Norma Fraser and had two sons. In the early 1950s, Jim bought two 33′ lots for $300 each near Marine and Victoria. However the city needed that land for a bus loop, so they gave him land further up the hill on Fraserview Drive. That home turned out be the perfect perch from which to transmit to the world and to listen in on the electromagnetic chatter of the universe.
The hand-tinted and b/w photos appear courtesy of Jim’s son, Bruce Dragan.