Excerpts from a letter from Gene Wiggins, W9CWG, dated 19 April 2009

I came to Valpo to attend Dodge Telegraph and Radio Institute in 1942. Attendance was small due
to the fact that WW2 was in full swing. Within a very short time I was told about Herb Brier in
Gary. I was not a licensed ham at this point.

Lake County had many on 2 meters with modulated oscillators and super-regen receivers, including
Herb Brier, W9EGQ. Soon after meeting Herb on the air we went over to visit him. In those days we built
most of our stations, except receivers. I don't recall what Herb was building when we visited that first
time. He had a table set up that straddled his bed and he did everything on it, drilling, soldering, etc.

One afternoon I contacted Herb on 2 meters and we got into a discussion of tubes used for power amps.
That led us into the matter of using a high mu triode or a zero-bias tube designed for Class B modulator
service as a Class C RF amplifier. We both had data and curves on the tubes we were discussing, we would
calculate data for each type, discuss pros and cons. I believe it ended up that we should leave the
zero-bias tubes for Class B modulator service as industry was doing. 

In the 50's, and maybe into the early 60's, the Lake County Radio Club held a banquet at Teibel's
Restaurant. There were probably 200 or more in attendance, the big event for the year. Then it was moved
to another nearby restaurant for some reason. At the latter place, they had an ambulance bring Herb in
his portable bed as the honored guest and speaker. He gave a terrific talk on his own history and ham
radio in general. It was then that I first heard about the neighbor kid that loaded a car transmission
onto his wagon and brought it into Herb's room where they dismantled it to see how it worked. He said,
"there was a little oil on the floor" with a chuckle.

There was another paraplegic ham by the name of John T. Frye, W9EGV. John lived in the east central part
of the state, maybe in the Kokomo area. (Note: John lived in Logansport, IN.) I have no info on how Herb
and John first got together, but the closeness of their calls suggests they may have taken tests together
or something. 

Back in the 50's Herb and John were heard daily on 75 meters. They obtained text books on Spanish, each
day they would discuss lesson pages, do the homework involved, meet the next day to go over the homework,
discuss the next step, on and on. Then it came to where they would talk Spanish in discussing the homework.
Then they did the same thing learning Calculus. That is a rough course to say the least but they finished
a text book on it. 

Herb started writing columns dealing with the Novice licensees and other ham activities, I believe for
2 or 3 different publications over the years. John Frye wrote a monthly column called "Mac's Service Shop."

D.E. Wiggins
Valpo Tech Faculty, Retired