Early '60s.
My Dad was a Ham operator on occasion. Dabbled, never committed. Enabled I me and another kid start a 'radio station' in the basement. Our antenna ran up 3 stories and a bit more with the chimney extention.. Hilly area but in the correct direction we had power for 3 or 4 block range. Punch line is Mike Donegan went on to become a Nashville DJ. [He's probably not a cyclist] He would be about 74 years old now.

Dad was a smoking alcoholic, kinda burned out by the 4th kid. But if you got past the grumpy, smoky stink - he could teach you how to tune the car, build simple wood working things, or anything about the telephone system, etc. AT&T lifer (Western Electric).