For CQ Magazine

Crystal sets have opened the door to amateur radio for people of all ages and backgrounds. Ted Cohen, N4XX, a CQ columnist of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, and co-author of the book The NEW Propagation Handbook, published by CQ Communications, has written a novel entitled Full Circle. Ted’s father dreamed of him becoming a violinist, but Ted’s life moved in other directions. While experimenting with a simple crystal set as a grade schooler, he heard and consequently met a neighborhood radio amateur, an experience that ultimately guided him into a life pursuit as an engineer, scientist, and ham radio operator. Full Circle, using literary license in change of names, is based on Ted’s life, his growth in amateur radio and other venues, and his return to the violin later in life. It is an inspirational read anyone, including young adults interested in amateur radio and/or music, will enjoy.

If you are a ham operator, you’ll enjoy the anecdotes.

If you’re a musician, you’ll appreciate the effort and sacrifice.

However, if you are neither, as I am, you’ll appreciate the final “conversation” Teddy has with Solly … a conversation many of us have wanted to have with a loved one, only to learn, unfortunately, that for one reason or another, it no longer was possible.

Anecdotes, woven throughout the novel, bring the characters to life. Some of the people we meet are from a far-gone era when children were on their own most of the time. No “game boys” here.

This is a story about second chances, something that many wish they had at one time or another and one that Teddy actually “went for.”

The book contains ample footnotes, so even if you have no knowledge of communications or music, you can easily understand and enjoy this story of love and redemption to the fullest.

For CareToLive

If you like stories that inspire you and make you want to win with every decision you make, Full Circle is for you.

Follow the life of a man, whose friends call him Teddy, as he tries to balance what others expect of him versus what he wants to do. Once he makes his first decision, it sets off a chain of events called life. The course has been set and it is not easily undone. Having chosen his path, he knows each move he makes is being scrutinized.

Enjoy the emotional ride as Teddy tries to deal with it the best he can. You will feel as if you are on that obstacle course right along with him, worrying with him, and rooting him on. You want for him, what you want for your own life.

Along the way, you’ll learn some very diverse and interesting things about radio, communications and classical music. I highly recommend this book. It is quite an enjoyable read.

For RADCOM (Great Britain)

This is an unusual novel as it’s based on real events in the author’s life. The story probably starts in the 1940s and ends around 2006 or so. As a young man, Teddy became interested in amateur radio and goes through the same dilemmas that many people have – what interests to spend time on. He is a talented musician and has to decide between a future in music (the choice of his father) and a future in electronics. The story charts his life from his early music lessons through his choice of career to his retirement. It’s a charming story that reflects things that happen to many people through their lives and many readers will identify with different parts of the story. His amateur radio interest brings him in touch with some very colourful people and the author goes to great lengths not to be too technical with his descriptions. You do learn some interesting facts about the equipment he built and some of the stations he contacted. Without giving too much away, the story does go ‘full circle’ and the main character, Teddy, does end up fulfilling part of his father’s dream.

I finished the story wishing wholeheartedly that it had been an autobiography! But the author is careful to point out that although it depicts actual events and people in his life, some of the situations are fictional. So, as a novel, it is a very enjoyable read as you follow this young man through his two interests of music and electronics until he, finally, finds the time to fit both into his life.

Scientist Theodore J. (Teddy) Cohen never expected to return to the violin when he abandoned the instrument after his high school graduation in 1956 and began pursuing a career in engineering and science. For the next 40 years, Cohen worked in the defense industry, serving as an engineer, scientist, and officer in several Washington, D.C.-based corporations before moving to Pennsylvania, where he continues to work as a consultant. There, to prepare for the day when he would leave the work-a-day world for good, he once again took up the violin, ironically fulfilling his father’s vision that he become a violinist. The story is told in Full Circle: A Dream Denied, A Vision Fulfilled, Cohen’s new novel from AuthorHouse.

The story is a work of fiction based on real events. “It takes the reader from my early days as a violin student in grade and high school, through my discovery of communications in general and ham radio in particular, to my return to the violin” In the process, the reader is introduced to a variety of interesting and colorful people who played major roles in Cohen’s life, including his mother, Myrtle, and father, Solly’ his immigrant maternal grandfather, “Grandpa Joe” (who used to take him for his piano lessons after dinner on Monday evenings by bus and streetcar; Herman Miroff (his violin teacher); Dr Leonardo Cavalieri (his high school orchestra teacher, who reappears later in Teddy’s life); J Harvey McCoy (a ham radio operator (W2IYX (SK) and a friend of Teddy’s who played a major role in curbing the German submarine menace in the Atlantic during WWII); and of course, his wife, Susan.

“There is something here for everyone from 10 to 100 years of age,” said Cohen. “The more research I did in preparing to write the book, the more I learned.”

For Dials and Channels

The front cover of Full Circle is sure to catch the attention of every antique radio fan. In addition to author (and RHS member) Ted Cohen’s face, it features a dramatic color rendition of the large circular dial of a 1936 Arvin Model 927 Rhythm Queen console. With its Magic Eye tube and three color-coded bands, it is a splendid example of radio graphic design of that era. Cohen labels the book “fiction” because the names of characters have been changed and actual events rearranged or modified to make the story flow better, but it is really Cohen’s autobiography. As a kid growing up in Milwaukee, Cohen began to study the piano at an early age, and soon thereafter, the violin. His father loved classical music, and his dream was that his son Teddy should become a concert violinist. By the time Ted Stone (as Cohen calls himself in the book) gets to high school, he has become an outstanding violinist, receiving standing ovations when he performs. There is no doubt this kid has the talent to be a professional musician. His father wants him to go to a school like Julliard.

But Ted falls in love with radio. He is fascinated by the shortwave signals he can pick up on the family’s living room Arvin Rhythm Queen. He and a neighborhood friend visit the home of a local ham operator. Entering the ham “shack,” the boys are blown away by the glowing vacuum tubes, the lighted dials of racks of radio equipment, and the sounds of Morse code coming through the speaker. When the older ham shows the boys his QSL cards from ham stations around the world, the kids, in awe, both decide to learn about radio and become hams, which they do. (Cohen received his first [Amateur Radio] license in 1952.)

As he grows up, the tension between music and radio in Ted Stone’s life is ever present. His father thinks he should spend all his waking hours practicing the violin, rather than be down in the basement with his soldering iron. In spite of the pain that he knows it causes his father, Teddy chooses to study physics and engineering rather than music, and when he goes off to the University of Wisconsin, he puts away his violin, not to touch one again for decades. After earning his Ph.D., Cohen (or Stone) has a highly successful career in the electronics field. He has made important contributions to defense electronics. An active ham all his life (now N4XX), Cohen is particularly knowledgeable about radio propagation. He is the author of more than 350 books and articles in the technical and scientific literature, having also produced important ham literature, such as CQ Communications’ The NEW Shortwave Propagation Handbook (co-author).

After retirement, Stone feels that something is missing in his life, and eventually he realizes it is music. He begins to play the violin again. He purchases an expensive violin, practices conscientiously, joins an orchestra, and once again becomes a soloist. So, after a half-century hiatus, he fulfills his father’s dream.

I particularly enjoyed Full Circle because I identify to such a great extent with the author. As a kid, I studied the piano, switched to the trombone, worked hard at it, soloed, and played in the Minnesota All-State orchestra in high school. I was also fascinated by shortwave reception on my family’s big Firestone console radio, and at about the same age as Ted, I visited the home of a local ham and I, too, was captivated by what I saw, and resolved to become a ham. My love of ham radio helped me chose to have a career in electrical engineering rather than music. While my father was not devastated by my decision as was Ted’s, he probably was disappointed that I did not follow him into a career in law.

If you love either ham radio or classical music, or both, you certainly should enjoy this book!

For The Langhorne (PA) Ledger

Engineer’s Life Comes Full Circle

When parents gaze at their newborn child, it is natural to project their version of a good life for the youngling; a life of distinction and success, free of the disappointments and sacrifices that altered their own dreams.

It is rare, however, that parental ambitions are accepted and fulfilled with enthusiasm by the offspring; rarer still for the parent to view the child’s independent thinking as a positive step.

This age-old conflict is explored in Full Circle: A Dream Denied, a Vision Fulfilled, a novel by Langhorne resident Theodore J. Cohen.

“I certainly used a great deal of my family history, my experiences and interests, but I must state clearly that it is a work of fiction,” explained Ted, though the similarities, experiences and career path of Ted Stone, the main character, parallel the author’s personal history.

As a young child, Ted Stone was instilled with the love of classical music by his father, Solly, and encouraged, nay driven, to excel in violin.

Family priorities revolved around excellence in education and music, with hours of lessons, practice and performances which would place young Ted on the career path as a solo violinist.

Sadly, this dream was Solly’s, not his son’s.

Despite the pleasures afforded by the father and son’s musical bond, Ted begins to recognize his own desires and to resent the time designated to the violin, preferring to explore the emerging world of electronics and amateur radio in the 1950’s.

After a triumphant concert that capped Ted’s senior year of high school, where he received accolades and approval from all, placing him in perfect position to launch a musical career, Ted walked away from the violin and his father’s dreams, forever shattering his relationship with Sol.

It would be 40 years before Ted returned to music, discovering pleasure in the beauty of playing the violin on his own terms.

Full Circle recounts Ted’s journey; his fascination with electronics, the mystery and pleasures of contacting far-off operators through his single-tube transmitter, his educational, professional and personal journey.

Most significantly, the self-published volume is a warm remembrance of growing up in a Milwaukee suburb in the early 50’s when the future fairly hummed with possibilities.

“My father taught me how this world was glued together, his vision on how things… items, society, the world… worked,” explained engineer-turned-author Ted.

“Dad always said ‘They can take everything away from you, but they can’t take what’s in your mind,’” Ted reflected, while Mother trumpeted “persistence; ‘Don’t start something you don’t intend to finish; and if you do start, give it 200%.’”

With a multitude of footnotes that explain everything from Barber’s Adagio for Strings to VHF bands used by ham operators, Full Circle is an informative and accessible story that will be particularly enjoyed by musicians, electronic buffs and those who delight in family stories.

Experienced in publishing professional papers, Ted threw himself into writing the novel with the same eye to detail honed by his years as an engineer and with an enthusiasm that would have pleased his Mother; he took only six months from first word to completed novel.

“I wanted to recognize the contributions of my parents and pivotal people in my life who helped inspire me,” reflected Ted, “and it’s my chance to say thank you.”

The book also gave Ted an opportunity to illustrate the importance in finding a passion beyond work; “it’s never too late… for the musician, for those who dropped the lessons, to re-kindle a love of music.”

For Bucks County (PA) Courier Times

A local author wants his readers to embrace new life adventures.

It took about 40 years, but Theodore Cohen finally reached the pinnacle his father always wanted for him: he’s a violinist. At 71, Cohen says, he’s come full circle.

His life, he thought, was a book. So he wrote one, a novel based on real life called “Full Circle: A Dream Denied, a Vision Fulfilled,” which he touts as a way of offering his heartfelt thanks to his parents, his wife and his teachers, all who mentored him and gave him the encouragement he needed to follow his own star.

The intended message in “Full Circle” is not just for himself, he said, but for anyone from childhood to 100 years old who should realize that they can build their own success, block by block, as he did. It was the foundation set for him early in life by his parents that allowed him to open up to possibilities.

Cohen was already considered a gifted violinist in grade school. By his senior year in high school, he sat co-first-chair of the Milwaukee All-City Senior Orchestra. That’s where he thought his father’s dream for his son — that of a professional musician took root.

“My father and I never discussed this issue but I believe that’s what he wanted me to do.”

But Cohen felt the tug of all things electronic, and he pursued instead a career in engineering. It was a college professor who, in the middle of Cohen’s junior year, urged him instead to switch from engineering to physics. His parents didn’t necessarily agree with his choices, but they always respected them, he said.

Cohen spent his professional life working in defense as an engineer, a scientist and a corporate consultant in Washington, D.C. All the while, he kept up his other interest, that of ham radio communications.

All of these activities enriched his life as he and his wife Susan raised their family. But toward the retirement years, Susan urged him to find “something to do” with his time. He decided on music, in spite of his fears that, after so many years, he’d be professionally rusty.

“In 2006, I bought an old German violin and began lessons in Newtown. My teacher encouraged me to join the Bryn Athyn Orchestra. It was intimidating because I hadn’t touched a violin in nearly 50 years,” he said.

But going back to music and joining the orchestra was cushioned by the ease at which his skill returned, sort of like riding a bike, you never forget. If someone told him a few years ago that he’s be a violinist in an orchestra, he’d have laughed, he said.

“Experiment with a different path in life. Don’t worry about being an amateur. And, honor thy father and thy mother,” he said.