N2EY ) writes:

I figured that Wayne was right and that the same "hook" that got me
fiddling with antennas, peering into the chassis of my SX-101A
trying to get a little more ooomph out of it, got them too.

The trend was clear early on. Building up the nation's technical and
manufacturing base was a national priority in Japan from VJ day
forward.

Interesting thing about 'prophets' like W2NSD - people remember the
few times when they were right but forget the many many times when
they were not.

And he's had more time after the fact to write about it than he did
to talk about it before incentive licensing came into being.

While it's been some time since I've gone through them, I read and reread
back issues of 73. I don't recall any mention of Japan in the sixties.

Indeed, Japan seemed to be a non-entity at the time. They were starting
to make inroads, likely a lot of the accessories were increasingly "made
in Japan", but as you already mentioned, they were often sold with
a US name on it. "Made in Japan" still seemed to be a fairly derogative
term, denoting sloppy design and/or workmanship.

But then when Japanese companies were the major players, say from the mid
to late seventies, of course Wayne wrote about Japan. Saying after the fact
that the Japanese rules made for such growth, in hams and their ham industry,
is a lot different from seeing it (or not seeing it) before it had happened.

The same can be said about incentive licensing. I have no doubt that Wayne
disliked incentive licensing, but I'm not so sure he foresaw what would
happen. I don't think he cared. He didn't want to lose frequencies, and
that was his main opposition. But after the fact, he could find all kinds
of things that happened, whether or not they were a result, and blame
them on incentive licensing, and of course say "I told you so".

I don't have the animosity towards Wayne that many seem to have. I liked
73 when it was in its prime, and that was a serious contribition to amateur
radio. But you can indeed see his "after the fact" predictions. He often
stretches things to fit his scenario.

One really has to go back and read his editorials from the sixties in order
to define how much of he foresaw, and what it was he foresaw. His later
editorials are much more vivid (and were repeated many times), but that does
not mean they were what he said in the sixties.

Michael VE2BVW

On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 20:35:05 UTC, (Michael
Black) wrote:

And he's had more time after the fact to write about it than he did
to talk about it before incentive licensing came into being.

While it's been some time since I've gone through them, I read and reread
back issues of 73. I don't recall any mention of Japan in the sixties.

Indeed, Japan seemed to be a non-entity at the time. They were starting
to make inroads, likely a lot of the accessories were increasingly "made
in Japan", but as you already mentioned, they were often sold with
a US name on it. "Made in Japan" still seemed to be a fairly derogative
term, denoting sloppy design and/or workmanship.

When did Incentive Licensing take effect? I thought I took the
advanced about 1965 but maybe not. Maybe it was later.

I "thought" Wayne Green in the early 60's predictied the collapse
of the U.S. electronics industry, which was invincible at that time.
Given the outcome, and not to take anything away from Ten Tec and
Elecraft, Drake if they're still in business, but the U.S.
Electronics industry, at least in the HF RF side, has died off.

I was in high school in the early 1960's. While the Japanese made
a few small in-roads in consumer electronics, the U.S. owned Ham
Radio. The U.S. stuff was QUALITY.

I still remember the excitement of the HRO-500, the SBE-33, and
seeing the pictures of the FPM-200 in the magazines.

The proprietor of the local radio shop said that the S-Lines and
KWM-2s were going to Vietnam so a lot of guys were going for Drake,
"the DX-er's like Drake."

Recently, I've heard two stories from that era, one is that at the
end of the war, they stacked up KWM-2's and R-390As, and ran tanks
over them.

The other story is that there are cache's in Vietnam with
KWM-2s wrapped in plastic and buried.

I don't know if either story is true.

I have a nice collection of boat anchors and hope to restore them to
their glory, to be used, not to sit on the shelf, as "shelf queens".


I don't have a lot of time to work on the radios. I'm trying to
earn enough money to retire some time.

I got my novice license at 15 and passed the general at 16. Two
other guys and I took the bus down the the FCC because none of us
had a driver's license. We all passed. I still remember the
snippits of the code, it was a ship talking to the harbor. One
minute solid out of five, 13 consecutive words. That was the rule.
I don't get this new style exam.

Someone help me remember. Didn't the FCC give out Techs as a
consolation prize if you only got five words in sequence? I'm
trying to figure out how John ended up with an FCC credit Tech.

Or was it, if you failed the 13, they gave you a shot at a 5 WPM
tape and then let you take the general written. Or did people show
up and ask to take the Tech?

I remember before I took the novice, I was pretty confident that I
could pass the general theory and mentioned the possibility of
taking the Tech and not the novice. John was adament about
getting the novice first, for the HF code practice.

I gotta say that those were my best ham radio years. This was in
Hawai'i and you could work inter island easy on 40 all day.
Saturday, I'd fire up my DX-60 and call CQ de WH6FHN. It was great.
There were lots of novices but every other station was a general or
extra who slowed way down to give the novice some practice.

I had a crystal dead in the middle of the novice band, 7175.
Several others had the same crystal and we'd work zero beat.

I used my 40 meter dipole on 15 meters and began working DX, JA's
mostly but a few ZL's and VK's too. Not to shabby for a novice with
a straight key and a DX-60.

Heathkit should have named it the DX-75 and added, power can be
increased to 90 watts when you pass the General. It sounds odd now
but I remember wondering if a novice could use the 90 watt DX-60.

In 1963, I sold my DX-60 for $40 to put toward an HT-37. At the
time, I didn't think much of it. 40 years later, I bought a
"doesn't work" DX-60 on eBay for $70. It's on the floor of my
workroom. When I get it going, it'll be my novice station.

My SX-101A is still in Hawai'i cluttering up my mom's house but I
have the next best thing. A fellow GAVE me an excellent SX-100 with
an outboard digital display. I can use it with the DX-60. It even
has the same wide skirt IF filter sound of the SX-101A and the Notch
Filter to fiddle with.

What fun. Forget that cell fone junk. I'll ease into geezerhood
with 1960's radio's. I got a 100 foot coil of stranded copper wire
and some RG-8X. 66 for a 40 meter dipole, 33 for a 20 meter dipole.
I also have a TH3jr tucked behind the woodpile.

de ah6gi/4

No Spam No wrote:

Recently, I've heard two stories from that era, one is that at the
end of the war, they stacked up KWM-2's and R-390As, and ran tanks
over them.

I _SAW_ the folks at the Osan AB MARS shack tossing R-390s or R-390As
into a dumpster in October 1969, when I was outprocessing at the end
of a TDY. They told me I could have as many as I wanted, but my hold
baggage was on its way back to Camp Drake already.

The other story is that there are cache's in Vietnam with
KWM-2s wrapped in plastic and buried.

A friend was in charge of the Army program to teach ARVN troops to
operate KWM-2 rigs; I'll ask him what he knows about that.

I don't know if either story is true.

They're both consonant with what I saw.

I have a nice collection of boat anchors and hope to restore them to
their glory, to be used, not to sit on the shelf, as "shelf queens".

I'm trying to get a collection of R-390As going again. It's ...
interesting.

I don't have a lot of time to work on the radios. I'm trying to
earn enough money to retire some time.

BTDTGTTS. Didn't like it; I'm back where I retired, because I don't
like sitting still.

I got my novice license at 15 and passed the general at 16. Two
other guys and I took the bus down the the FCC because none of us
had a driver's license. We all passed. I still remember the
snippits of the code, it was a ship talking to the harbor. One
minute solid out of five, 13 consecutive words. That was the rule.
I don't get this new style exam.

Second Phone at 16, Novice at 17.

--
Mike Andrews

Tired old sysadmin

"No Spam " No wrote:
Someone help me remember. Didn't the FCC give out Techs as a
consolation prize if you only got five words in sequence? I'm
trying to figure out how John ended up with an FCC credit Tech.

After 1954 Techs were by mail order *only*. Before that they were before the
examiner (or by mail if the distance requirement was met) so I suppose the
consolation prize thing at the FCC office could have been policy then. I had not
heard the phrase though until some years later after the VE testing started.

"No Spam " No wrote in message news:ifgU75G3LLdo-pn2-9xjQwCynTYJD@localhost...
On Wed, 7 Jul 2004 20:35:05 UTC, (Michael
Black) wrote:

When did Incentive Licensing take effect?

1967: Advanced reopened, 2 year Novice
Nov. 22, 1968: First reduction in bandspace (CW/data and 'phone) for
Generals and Advanceds
Nov. 22, 1969: Second reduction in bandspace (phone only)for Generals
and Advanceds.

Note that in those days the 30, 17 and 12 meter ham bands did not
exist, and that the 'phone parts of 80, 40, 20 and 15 were narrower
than today. Originally the Extra-only CW/data subbands were supposed
to be 50 kHz in the second reduction but this was eliminated by FCC
shortly before it was supposed to have taken effect.

I thought I took the
advanced about 1965 but maybe not. Maybe it was later.

1967 wasn't that much later.

I "thought" Wayne Green in the early 60's predictied the collapse
of the U.S. electronics industry, which was invincible at that time.
Given the outcome, and not to take anything away from Ten Tec and
Elecraft, Drake if they're still in business, but the U.S.
Electronics industry, at least in the HF RF side, has died off.

Consumer stuff anyway.

I was in high school in the early 1960's. While the Japanese made
a few small in-roads in consumer electronics, the U.S. owned Ham
Radio. The U.S. stuff was QUALITY.

I still remember the excitement of the HRO-500, the SBE-33, and
seeing the pictures of the FPM-200 in the magazines.

Yep - but in reality they were not as good as expected. The FPM-200
never made it to market, IIRC.

The proprietor of the local radio shop said that the S-Lines and
KWM-2s were going to Vietnam so a lot of guys were going for Drake,
"the DX-er's like Drake."

Recently, I've heard two stories from that era, one is that at the
end of the war, they stacked up KWM-2's and R-390As, and ran tanks
over them.

The other story is that there are cache's in Vietnam with
KWM-2s wrapped in plastic and buried.

I don't know if either story is true.

I don't either but I know the following story *is* true: Pallets of
used R-390As were stacked ~10 feet high and left out in the weather at
a supply location. I saw the picture and it was claimed to be genuine.
These were units that needed work but were mostly complete. The stack
was at least 25 x 25 feet, and the picture didn't include the whole
pile. Even as parts units, their value to hams is staggering.

Dunno if there were any Helena Rubenstein '390As in there....

I got my novice license at 15 and passed the general at 16. Two
other guys and I took the bus down the the FCC because none of us
had a driver's license. We all passed. I still remember the
snippits of the code, it was a ship talking to the harbor. One
minute solid out of five, 13 consecutive words. That was the rule.
I don't get this new style exam.

I got the Novice at 13 (1967), Tech and Advanced at 14 (1968), Extra
at 16 (1970). That was back when you had to wait two years as a
General or above for the Extra.

Someone help me remember. Didn't the FCC give out Techs as a
consolation prize if you only got five words in sequence?

Yes.

After 1954 the Tech was a by-mail license, like the Novice. But if you
showed up at the FCC office and missed 13 per, but they could find
five legible words, you could do the Tech/General written and get a
Technician. Then you'd only have to come back for the 13 wpm code.
Saved a little FCC time and paperwork, I think. Also made it easier
for the ham because you could focus entirely on the code test.

I know 'cause that's what happened to me first time. Examiner couldn't
read my writing well enough to find 65 consecutive legible characters
but he did find 25. I got a Tech, went home and taught myself to block
print rather than the stupid "Palmer method" longhand script, and
passed it after the 30 day retest wait was up.

After I did, the examiner said "Kid, why not try the Advanced while
you're here?" Though I had not studied for it, a 14 year old kid did
not say no to The Man, so I tried and passed.

Or was it, if you failed the 13, they gave you a shot at a 5 WPM
tape and then let you take the general written. Or did people show
up and ask to take the Tech?

Normally Tech was by-mail.

Good times.

73 de Jim, N2EY

On Thu, 8 Jul 2004 12:43:22 UTC, (N2EY) wrote:

Good times.

These times too. This is not a boat anchor story but my old clock
radio was getting hard to set. I did fix it once but I recall I
paid $10-$15 for it, a while ago, 20 years maybe.

Big spender that I am, I was in "Big Lots" and saw a GE AM/FM/CD
clock radio, model 7-4901. $29.95. This is a great clock radio.

It comes with the time preset and backed up by 2 AA cells. One
slide switch sets the time zone, a button toggles day light savings
time on and off. Two of the biggest headaches of digital clocks
solved. If you have to set the clock, there is a forward and
BACKWARDS time set button. You don't have to go all the way around.

Two side firing speakers. I'm not an audio nutcase. I know that
monster wire is a scam and toob audio loonies are nuts. The sound
is GOOD.

Half my boat anchors are solid state, SB-303, Signal/One CX7A, and
half are tubes, 75S-1, SB-102. Give me better than 1 uV sensitivity
and 2.1 kHz filter and 1 kHz read out and I'm happy.

de ah6gi/4