On Mar 24, 1:41 pm, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 21, 1:25� am, Dave Heil wrote:
wrote:

I've got most of the work done
on a memoir
of the travels as they relate to amateur radio
with just enough of the
non-radio events thrown in for flavor.

This is truly excellent.

I dunno if any excellence is involved, but the material is factual.

While I'm not an editor or proofreader by profession, I do have some
experience in those fields and would be glad to proofread/comment
on your memoir if that would be of any help. Just for the fun of it.

Perhaps a sample could be on the web, such as how Amazon lets you see
a small part of a book.

There's only a couple of short video clips from Guinea-Bissau, much
more from Sierra Leone and Botswana (including a colorful cast of
characters) and quite a bit of Finland (shot in the early and mid-90's
and in 2003). The DVD's will be fleshed out with photos and audio clips.
Sample clips may well be made available.

That would be good.

But the market wasn't just the UK. I suspect the Commonwealth
countries, both current and former, would be a market. Aussies,
Zedders, etc.

You're right. Add South Africa to the "etc." Even if we added those
amateur populations, the RSGB Handbook wasn't widely distributed but it
was known to be a very good one. Its sister publications--and I'm
specifically including the series of "Technical Topics" books by Pat
Hawker--were also very good.

I'll keep an eye out.

Having bought "real" engineering books, I can say that both the ARRL
and RSGB Handbooks were and are true bargains.

I'd have to agree. The current ARRL Handbooks have much more material
than the older ones. The ARRL Antenna Handbook is another bargain.

Always have been, really. The ARRL Handbook now covers a lot of
material,
yet does not require an extensive engineering background to understand
and
use.

The ARRL Handbook back then was mostly the work of W1DX,
aided by the staff. The book evolved over time - the whole book
was not rewritten every year.

Agreed. There were often just minor changes from one year to the next.
I still have a number of the early 1930's Handbooks on the shelf here.

My earliest is 1948.

It was a similar story with the excellent "RADIO Handbook" edited by
Bill Orr. It was updated only periodically and not on any particular
schedule. I'm not certain how many contributed to the effort though.

That it is listed as "edited by Bill Orr" says the author list was
extensive.

Friend of mine is trying to collect all the post-WW2 Handbooks,
and has most of them. He has all the post-WW1 QSTs, in part because an
OT gave him a lifetime collection, knowing he would appreciate and
care for them.

I'm not bothering will all of 'em so I have selected editions from the
thirties through present day. I haven't bought one since 2003. The
League currently has the 2007 Handbook on sale at a bargain price so I
may have to grab one of those.

Me too!

W4HAV, then one of the corporate VP's at Cincinnati Milactron, gave me a
run of 1934-1958 QST. That was the start of my collection. I bought
the 1958-1963 and the 1920-1933 runs, a year at a time from various
hamfests, typically in one-year bundles. I have only one issue from
1919 and that cost quite a bit. I ended up purchasing the QST CD's
covering the early period.

Mine came from many sources. Of course the most recent 40 years I got
by being
an ARRL member.

The Southgate Library keeps expanding, too. What you see in the shack
picture is but a small part of it. Then there's the stuff I have
in electronic format...

The expanding library is one of my worries about a move. There's mostly
complete run of Popular Electronics through the early 1970's, a mostly
complete run of Electronics Illustrated from the same period, a mostly
complete run of 73, a mostly complete run of Ham Radio and Ham Radio
Horizons and a complete run of CQ from its beginning in 1946. It took a
number of years to find some of those rare 1946 issues. There's
twenty-some feet in technical books here in the shack with the overflow
out in the heated barn.

Do you need ham radio Vol 1 No. 1?

(Understanding Amateur Radio)

Both theory and practice, code and voice, HF and VHF.
Half the price of a Handbook.

I don't recall when it was dropped from the ARRL technical book series.
Do you?

I will look it up but my guess is late 1970s.

But what about parts?

(imported to Finland)

They weren't taxed at anywhere near that. That same thing extended (and
may still extend) to imported automobiles. My '95 Dodge Neon cost me
around $12,000. It's European equivalent, the Chrysler Neon, sold in
Finland for $44,000. A Lada (Russian Fiat) cost about $20,000.

And people say Americans pay high taxes...

Yes, but not as top-notch as BC-221, LM or ARC-5 drive/capacitor
combinations.

Then again, the military could afford to pay.

Of course. But why not turn those swords into plowshares?

It would be interesting
if Ivor or another G-land newsgroup reader could tell us if Jackson
Bros. made high quality drives for the British military.

Let's not forget Eddystone and the 898 drive.

Odd that you mentioned those two. � The only 833A I've
got sitting around is an Amperex.

I used to have an RCA 833A, but it got sold. I have some
experience with them, but not as much as with the more-common
"ham" amplifier tubes.

WNOP was a 1 KW daytime only jazz station in Newport, Kentucky from the
fifties until just about a decade back. Their studio, for the last
twenty or so years of the station's existence, consisted of three large,
connected vertical steel cylinders. The whole shebang was painted
bright orange and bobbed up and down on the Kentucky side of the Ohio
River across from Cincinnati. The transmitters and three-tower critical
antenna array were on top of a hill in the Delhi neighborhood of Cincy.
Until the early 80's, WNOP's transmitter was a 1948 Raytheon running a
pair of 833A's at a nice dull red glow.

If the transmitter final stage efficiency was 65%, those tubes were
dissipating
about 250 watts each. Given that the 833A's maximum rated plate
dissipation
is 400 watts and that at that level the anode color is warm orange-
red, the
"dull red glow" was completely normal.

But with four 811As you often need to neutralize even in GG, and
depending on where you get your bottles a pair of 572Bs may be the
better deal.

Well, not just "may be" but, IMO would be the better deal. Â An 811A i
s
good for 65 watss plate dissipation for 260 total watts of dissipation
for four. Â Four of the 572's are capable of dissipating 640 watts for

just a little more money.

A pair of 572Bs is good for 320 watts plate dissipation, which is
about the same
as three 811As. In Class B GG they will do a kilowatt on CW and 1200
watts on SSB
(input, not output).

The solid-state option has been around for decades, but the high cost
stops a lot of hams.

The MFJ AL-600 costs roughly what the company's AL-572 runs. Â The AL-
572
will run 1000 watts CW output. Â The solid state AL-600 runs 500w CW.

Twice as many dollars-per-watt.

Unlike almost all commercial/military applications, in ham radio,
when an expensive final tube fails, it's up to the owner/operator
to pay for the replacement.

Right. Â Destroying one or more high power vacuum tubes while in the
employ of a company or government with deep pockets isn't the same as
doing so when you are the guy responsible such expenses.

Exactly.

Depends on the family situation, both spouse and kids. Also
one's health and ties to the community.

Pass it along to the kids now: There is an applied implication that
that they travel to visit the parents.

That's good advice in theory but in practice it often works out to
be more complicated. Traveling with little kids is both expensive
and difficult, and in families with two careers just getting everyone
off work and out of school at the same time can be a challenge.
(Vacation and sick days are often used up when the kids are
sick, and there's never spare cash laying around. So it's often
more practical for Grandma/Grandpa to travel.

My grandparents always sat at home and we did the traveling even when we
lived in Florida in the pre-Interstate Highway days.

Which was (ahem) a few years ago, when life was somewhat different.
For example,
did both parents have full-time jobs?

Still, all that means is you draw distance circles around where the
kids are. Doesn't mean you have to live down the street.

If the kids have jobs which cause them to relocate every few years, it
might be better to choose a place you like.

Of course. What I'm saying is that Grampa and Gramma can often find
a place they like which is within a reasonable distance from where the
kids are.

 We're a much more mobile
society than ever. Â There are exceptions. Â My neighbor was born
in his
parents house across the road. Â That's all the farther he ever got fr
om
home. Â Now his son has the old family farm and a younger son has buil
t a
home 1/4 mile down the road. Â This approaching coal mine means a
windfall for me. Â It is a family tragedy for the neighbor and his fam
ily.

Both extremes have their price. Highly mobile societies do not form
stable communities,
immobile ones fall victim to changes such as you are seeing.

If you have a pile of money, any time is a good time. Â A lot of folks

don't have a pile of money or their investments have taken a beating or
their home has lost value or they are unable to sell it.

Agreed. But even in good times it can be a challenge. For example,
even if the house can be sold fast for a good price, if the retire-to
place
is also expensive there's no savings.

People flock to states with no income tax or with no tax on pensions or
government pensions. Â A lot of those states are in the warm, sunny
southland.

Yep. But over time those tax situations may change. As the population
age
mix changes, those states see increasing burdens on Medicare and other
services and less revenue because of all the exclusions. Sooner or
later,
something has to give.

OTOH things like health care costs, rising energy prices, etc.,
work the other way.

Exactly.

Look at the water shortage problem in Georgia. It really boils down to
having too many people in the wrong place.

Look at the property. Â Ask questions. Â Get confirmation in writi
ng.
Take along a portable receiver. Â No place is a good amateur radio
location if there's some noise source blotting out big pieces of the
radio spectrum.

Agreed all around.

The big problem many folks face is lack of time. If a move is
100% voluntary, doing the research is easy, but when it's because
of a job relocation or such, there may not be time to wait for the
perfect place to come on the market.

When the local RE market was really hot, a couple of years ago, it
was not uncommon for a house to go on the market at noon and for
there to be multiple offers above the asking price before the sun went
down. Buyers had pre-approved mortgage papers in their back pockets
with the checkbook. Research CC&Rs? Line up a professional home
inspector? Make an offer with conditions? Forget about it, that house
is SOLD - to somebody else.

You have the most important resource, too: Flexibility. You don't have
to move this month, or this summer, or land in a specific school
district or some such.

That's right, but I'm not looking forward to dismantling antennas and
towers and putting something similar up in a new location. Â I shudder

when I think about holes to be dug, concrete to be poured, etc.

One Thing At A Time.

Best is that she doesn't object to the aluminum and copper overcast. Â
I
have friends whose spouses have apparent veto power over towers and
antennas.

The days when Dad was Final Authority on everything are long gone - if
they
ever really existed.

One of my friends rented some of his land to a local farmer. Â After a

few years, it became more trouble than it was worth. I don't want to
spend large chunks of my life just mowing grass. Â Some land can be
allowed to grow up, leaving cleared areas for towers. Â Some can be
planted in widely spaced clumps of trees. Â I think my pal intends for

some of that land to be used for beverage antennas for 160 and 80m. Â
He
has a farm tractor and will just brush hog the land a couple of times
yearly.

(sigh)

One local fellow (retired from the Postal Service) bought up better than
1,000 acres of hilly land out the ridge from me. Â He became a
millionaire after his retirement in just one short day. Â How? Â H
e sold a
million dollars worth of timber to the Amish.

Great folks, but often misunderstood by outsiders. We could do well to
emulate some of their values IMHO. Lancaster County is not
far west of here.

One thing that was/is popular in WNY is to have a woodlot. Usually a
piece of land that is heavily wooded, had no utilities and won't pass
the perc test.

The owner cuts a couple of cords of wood every year, sells some, uses
the rest for heat. The profit on the wood sold pays the RE taxes. Only
the crowded and not-so-good trees are taken; the really good ones are
left to grow and given room.

See above.

The difference is firewood vs. lumber.

Of course you have to love to cut, split and stack wood, but a lot of
us do.

...and a lot of us don't. I'll happily pay someone to cut, split and
stack wood. Â I did some of it when I was younger.

"Wood warms you twice - once when you cut it, again when you burn it"

I don't think many folks have suffered a fatal heart attack while
burning it, heh.

One way to prevent those heart attacks is to stay in shape with
exercise - like
splitting wood...

Back at the house on RadioTelegraph Hill, about 1982, there was a
maple about
80 feet high which had few leaves one spring, so I called an arborist.
Who said
"You better take that tree down before it falls down in a storm, it's
sick and won't get well."

So I had the tree taken down and the wood cut into fireplace lengths.
But that's when
I learned that "cut" and "split" meant different things: the wood was
in fireplace lengths
but some parts were several feet in diameter. So I bought an axe and a
couple of wedges
and learned to split wood by hand. I got pretty good, too.

It all went to the fireplace in that house.

73 de Jim, N2EY