Brian Kelly wrote:
Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:
Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:
You brought back a lot of hilarious memories of "electronerd
educations" gone awry David. Gawd we had fun . . !
The best I've ever heard was deliverd at the Dayton banquet one year by
Jean Shepherd.
I'd love to read it if his talk has been archived somewhere. I'll bet
that if some Shepherd-type individual went out and compiled tales
about all the goofy stunts and missteps kid hams got into back when in
a book it would sell.
I can only hope that someone recorded that banquet talk. Of course most
of Shepherd's stuff was that entertaining. That voice we hearing
narrating "A Christmas Story" is his.
He and Jack Fulmer W4HAV (later W4YF) opened a Volkswagen dealership way
too soon after the war. People weren't quite ready for the car. The
place was on the Kentucky shore opposite Cincinnati, where Jean was
working at WLW.
Well, in my case it was a one-time Christmas deal--the one BIG present
and that was second-hand from Allied's big, used equipment list. The
receiver I saved for was also from the same list.
I wonder if there are any Allied employees left from the days when
they were in the ham biz.
I think there a few still around. There was no one left working from
the old days at the time I went to work for them in 1980. Everything
was Tandy and run from Fort Worth.
More newspaper
deliveries, an after-school job at the local hobby shop several days
each week and the writing of a sports column for the local newspaper
provided coaxial cable and connectors, a key, antenna wire and the
like.
My first store-bought rcvr was a new Hallicrafters S-40B. Which I
bought from Sears & Roebuck believe it or not. At the time Sears sold
the S-38, the S-40, and a couple higher-end Hallicrafters rcvrs. I
think one of 'em was the SX-71. The S-40 catalog price was $119.95.
But I had an aunt who lived in Chicago and worked for Sears so I was
able to get her employee's 10% discount. A whole twelve bucks. I was
as interested in SWLing as much as I was into becoming a Novice so I
spent more time chasing SW BC "rare ones" than I did tuning the W1AW
code practice sessions. Eventually though, maybe a year after I got
the rcvr I had 7.5 wpm down cold and was close to 10 wpm so I trundled
off downtown, took the test and put the S-40 to the real task.
A nice bit of nostalgia! Most of the catalog houses had at least some
ham gear. It is interesting to note that famed industrial designer
Raymond Loewy designed the S-40 cabinetry. He is the fellow who brought
us the '47 Studebaker Starlight Coupe and '53 Starliner Coupe, the '61
Avanti,
the S-1 steam locomotive (Pennsylvania RR), that sharp-looking fifties
Coca-Cola dispenser that we'd see in diners and drug stores, and all
sorts of products from pencil sharpeners to refrigerators.
I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back. The design is still
stunning.
W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back. He
bought it new from Steinberg's appliance store on Vine Street in
Cincinnati. Steinberg's sold ham gear through the end of 1968
Some of that money was also spent on a big U.S. call area map and
some (sorry, no choice of color) QSL cards from WRL.
Now yer really rubbing it in . . . The Globe King, the King of the
Hill . . ! I understand that Leo is now 93 and is still at it at.
K8CFT, who administered my Novice exam, had a Globe King 500-C in his
shack. I've always wanted one but they are bloody expensive these days.
All of this nostalgia has me fired up to grab my collection of the West
Coast DX Bulletin to re-read some of Cass's gems.
I subscribed to one or another of the dx bulletins but I forget which
one it was. I don't remember a "Cass". I had a big asset in the dx
spots game, I was geographically right in the middle of the FRC 2m
"spots network". I left the rcvr on 24/7, when I heard it light up I
knew there was a goodie lurking somewhere, got into the shack pronto,
fired up and joined the throng on the freq. Some of the poor dx
stations we jumped all over probably wondered what hit 'em.
Cass is Hugh Cassidy WA6AUD. His "West Coast DX Bulletin" was tops.
Cass had a flair for writing and brought us the Old Timer living on top
of the hill; the local QRPer, full of questions (often rhetorical) for
the Old Timer; Red-Eyed Louie, always doing the dawn patrol looking for
rare DX and the Palos Verdes Sundancers. There are numerous other
characters. When Cass retired, his mailing list went to the fellows at
Madison Electronics in Texas. Bill Kennamer K5FUV edited their "QRZ DX"
for a number of years before going to the DXCC desk in Newington to
replace Don Search.
Then there was the Ham Trader yellow sheets . . I moved a *lotta* gear
in and out with those.
I subscribed to the "Yellow Sheets" as well and had Alton's "Ham
Equipment Buyer's Guide" volumes too.
Dave K8MN
|