RadioBanter - View Single Post

March 3rd 05, 04:36 AM

wrote:

Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote
Michael Coslo wrote:

Local access TV may bring in a few folks, but not like network TV.

Maybe PBS could do a special? Imagine if Ken Burns did a documentary on
amateur radio...

That could only be good. I've found the stuff done in the past by Dave
Bell and Roy Neal to be lacking. A good historical narrative leading to
the present and showing active hams doing what they do would be nice,
especially if they leave out anyone wearing a tee-shirt or ballcap
except perhaps in a Field Day scene.

Perhaps. Also, the "Amateur Radio in the 21st Century" paper
equated
passing the code test with winning the Tour de France or painting
the
Mona Lisa,

Wow! now I feel really great about passing!!! ;^)

I never got more of a buzz from passing a morse exam than I did when
passing a tough chemistry exam. Ah, but passing the entire exam for
obtaining a license opened a window to the world.

Didja read that paper, and my rebuttal?

No.

and described the stress of dealing with grown people crying
because they'd flunked the code test....boo-hoo....

Funny you should mention that. the first time I took element 1... and

flunked... I was not pleased, but Figured I'd do it again, the person

who was the most upset was the VE. I felt worse for him than myself.

Lessee...I was 14 and flunked 13 wpm the first go because the examiner
couldn't read my longhand. What the sadistic IHM nuns called "Palmer
Method",
for some reason.

You really wrote out the morse exam in longhand?

So I went home and taught myself to block print and copy Morse in big
square capital letters (a skill not taught in the parochial schools of
the day) and came back some weeks later, when I passed easily.

I started copying morse in block caps and it was an easy transition.
I'd done most of my schoolwork in upper and lower case printing 'cuz the
teachers had a rough time reading my left-handed scrawl.

I don't think tears would have had any effect on ol' Joe Squelch back
then...
on
We have Natural gas buses in our area. Their tanks are on the bus
roof,
and run the length of the bus. You just can't get as much energy out
of
the stuff.

Didja know the USA is now *importing* LNG from the Middle East and
other places?

We've been importing natural gas for decades. Ever hear of the "Big
Inch" pipeline?

Didn't AARP lose membership for supporting Shrub's prescription plan?

They lost me before that. They sent me that crummy "My Generation"
magazine about 50+ folks in denial over aging *and* AARP tried to
represent me on issues where I took strong exception to their views.
After three years of membership, I couldn't find a benefit to belonging.

Dave K8MN