In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

. . Jim . . . good heavens . . seven identical posts . . ?

AOL is messed up somehow. I'm getting multiple copies of everything. I watch
the outgoing AutoAOL session and there are no postings being sent, yet I get
back copies of stuff posted hours ago.

You homebrewed yer own computer right?

Problem ain't at this end.

73 de Jim, N2EY

(N2EY) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

(N2EY) wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

"Phil Kane" wrote in message

The ultimate class is the GG-1. Someday one will run again.....

There are others in museums but those are the best known.

16 of 'em are still out there.

Meaning in museums. Which is good, because they're being taken care of.

No they're not all in museums and no they are not all "being taken
care of" either.

Further proof of my contention that they never oughta let you damned
sparkies anywhere near the railroads.

Without us there'd be no Penn Station, no Grand Central, no subway, no Hudson
Tubes...

Steamers ran coast to coast for years before there were any of those.

WLW ran 500,000 kVA *OUT*. Plus it had 250,000 kVA worth of modulation
xfmrs.

No it didn't.

WLW ran 500 kW - 500,000 WATTS, not kilowatts.

Rats: Caught again . . !

It ain't the railroads which run the museum pieces, it's the museums
which run 'em. Steamtown, etc.

All that's needed is one near some energized wire.

You're the sparky, volunteer.

ahh, to hear the "duck call" air horn go by at over 100 mph once again...

The call of the Ruptured Duck . . Ugliest sound to ever come off the
rails until the diesels trumped the GG-1.

The rumble/whine of a pair of SD-45s (each rated 3600 Hp with turbocharged 20
cylinder diesel) pulling an intermodal at 79 mph along the Water Level
Route....

That ain't real railroading, that's just more boring-as-hell unit
material handling a la the conveyor lines in the UPS depots.

When was the last time YOU heard a steam whistle played in PRR revenue
service like I did?

Couple years back when the Strasburg ran an excursion down the Main Line to
30th Street and back. Their two steamers are ex-Pennsy, they were in Pennsy
colors and on Pennsy track. Plus they were hauling revenue passengers.

A Strasburg fan trip ain't Pennsy steam revenue service, not even
close. I dunno how many operable steamers the Starsburg has today but
OK, if it's only two one of 'em ain't from the Pennsy, it's a
fat-boiler job from some other road. The Pennsy only ever had one of
those in modern times, the K29 Pacific which was scrapped decades ago.

REAL Pennsy revenue steam was K4s double-heading a long string thru
Norwood toward Darby at night when ya could see the fireboxes glowing
in the dark from Grandma McHale's front porch . . Had the B&O too with
all it's grade crosssings and ya could hear their steam whistles in
Aldan. Loudly when the wind was blowing in the right direction.

Thought so . .

When's the last time you were *inside* a GG-1 - not in a museum?

Wilmington shops. Twice. Once in a good-to-go unit and once in the
restored unit while the work was in progress.

Thought so...

That's part of yer problem . .

Still not as cool looking as the J-3 Hudsons on the Water Level Route,
scooping
water from the Tivoli pans at 100+ MPH. (Of course water scoops were perfected
by the PRR and copied by Vanderbilt's little collection of branch lines).

Ah, even the RDG Seashore Line used 'em . .

Or as ungodly powerful as a UP Big Boy or even a Niagara.

They'll do . . !

Another thing PRR pioneered was radio on the RRs, starting with the inductive
trainphone system *before* VHF FM radio was used on the rails...

I question whether that was actually "radio".


73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

(N2EY) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

. . Jim . . . good heavens . . seven identical posts . . ?

AOL is messed up somehow. I'm getting multiple copies of everything. I watch
the outgoing AutoAOL session and there are no postings being sent, yet I get
back copies of stuff posted hours ago.

You homebrewed yer own computer right?

Problem ain't at this end.

Giggles are where ya find 'em and AOHell is a great "provider". Q.E.D.


73 de Jim, N2EY

N2EY wrote:

In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

(N2EY) wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

"Phil Kane" wrote in message

The ultimate class is the GG-1. Someday one will run again.....

I went up the guy and asked him if they'd lost their map of the AMTRAK
lines or what, Primos is *not* hardly AMTRAK country, right?. Wrong.
Daily wee-hours AMTRAK Ballast train.

I coulda told ya THAT!

Jim,

Are you forwarding these messages via LHA's home version of ADA?

Dave K8MN

In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

(N2EY) wrote in message
.com...
Dave Heil wrote in message
...
Brian Kelly wrote:

Note that Sears, Hallicrafters and Loewy were all based in Chicago.

Also Frank Lloyd Wright, for at least some of his career.

Very early but his big days were in AZ.

Taliesin West.

Guy had quite a life, full of both triumph and tragedy. More of an artist than
an engineer, though, many of his best-known buildings are real headaches to
keep in shape.

But if he had a dollar for every corenr window in Wynnewood...

Whew. You hit some more buttons with this one. I like the T1 better
than the S1. But the K4 is the ultimate classic PRR power.

http://prrsteam.pennsyrr.com/prrt1.html

As K2ASP sez, the GG-1 is the top of that pyramid.

Yeah, for you sparkies maybe.

In many ways a G is actually closer to a steamer than to a modern diesel
electric. Particularly in the cab.

For streamlined steam engines, the special J-3 Hudsons used on the New
York Central's Twentieth Century Limited are the most impressive.

961 miles from Grand Central Terminal to Chicago Union Station in 960 minutes.
With steam engines most of the way, on jointed rail. With stops at most major
cities, speed restrictions on some curves and bridges, and engine changes at
Harmon and for the stop at Cleveland. (The steamer would cut off outside
Cleveland and an electric pulled the train into and out of the station. While
the station stop was being made, the steamer would run around the station, get
coal and water, and meet the electric on the other side). Oversized tender and
scooping water meant the only coal stops were at Wayneport (NY) and Cleveland.

Engineers are generally the guys who make things work. Designers are
those who make them nice to look at. We all know of the exceptions.

"Scientists dream of doing great things. Engineers do them"

A physicist and an engineer standing in bulap bags line up side by
side at one end of a basketball court.

Old joke but still on target.

The engineer hollers back "Watch me get close enough!"

HAWW!!!!

And a recent auction sold an *unbuilt* Heath SB-303 for about $1300.
Adjusted for inflation, that's about what they cost new. But the '303
isn't much of a receiver - not even up to the level of the earlier
SB-301, and defintitely not in the same class as the Drake R4 family
or any Collins, A or S.

And for anywhere from $250 to maybe $500. Goofy.

'zactly. The 301/401 were the peak of Heath, and that's not saying too much.
Their main advantage is that they *are* decent enough, easy to work on, and can
be kept going pretty much indefinitely if you collect junkers. Which cannot be
said for the various Yaecomwoods...

Road trip!

Prolly.

Now Len can't
accuse us of not discussing amateur radio policy, his favorite topic for
some obscure reason.

Len who?

Oh you remember him James, the radio genius who needed 40Kw to QSO
W7/W6 from JA.

I've done that much distance with 4 watts.

What's his callsign? What ham bands is he on?

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

N2EY wrote:

In article ,

(Brian Kelly) writes:

(N2EY) wrote in message
...
In article ,

(Brian Kelly) writes:

"Phil Kane" wrote in message

The ultimate class is the GG-1. Someday one will run again.....

I went up the guy and asked him if they'd lost their map of the AMTRAK
lines or what, Primos is *not* hardly AMTRAK country, right?. Wrong.
Daily wee-hours AMTRAK Ballast train.

I coulda told ya THAT!

Jim,

Are you forwarding these messages via LHA's home version of ADA?

Who or what is an "LHA"?

73 de Jim, N2EY

N2EY wrote:

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

N2EY wrote:

In article ,

(Brian Kelly) writes:

(N2EY) wrote in message
...
In article ,

(Brian Kelly) writes:

"Phil Kane" wrote in message

The ultimate class is the GG-1. Someday one will run again.....

I went up the guy and asked him if they'd lost their map of the AMTRAK
lines or what, Primos is *not* hardly AMTRAK country, right?. Wrong.
Daily wee-hours AMTRAK Ballast train.

I coulda told ya THAT!

Jim,

Are you forwarding these messages via LHA's home version of ADA?

Who or what is an "LHA"?

Best I can determine, it is similar to a WMD. According to the
"LHA/WMD" sig I've noted, the two may be used interchangeably.

Dave K8MN

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

Dunno where I got the notion it was on the Kentucky side of the crick.

You're likely thinking of the old WCKY at 1530 on the dial. It is now
WSAI which was at 1360. Confusing enough for you? WCKY was owned by
L.B. Wilson, a Kentuckian and the call stood for W Covington KentuckY.
Transmitters are on a hilltop overlooking Covington and the studios are
in downtown Cincinnati.

Probably, I do remember seeing BC towers on a hill near Covington.
Maybe that is where my confusion started. Usta run up and down 75 to
Lexington and Danville. Made Danville to the airport in two hours flat
on one occasion by golly.

Dad tried a couple of Buicks but has owned a number of Merc Grand
Marquis Limiteds over the last couple of decades.

Barge pilot huh? Pop has a USCG Master's ticket?

Went to the local Enterpise vehicle rental store a bit back, told 'em
I wanted the cheapest set of wheels they had for a week. Like the
$10/day Metro three-banger they'd been hyping. One thing led to
another, I wound up with some monster Pontiac for the price of the
three-banger. Talk about "road shock" . . I'll spare ya my thoughts
when I first squeezed the beast into a parking slot at my favorite
food emporium. Tried to. When I turned it back in a week later I still
hadn't found out what a third of the stupid bottons in the thing were
supposed to do. Maybe Ralph Nader was right after all.

I'm a small car guy.
I'm now on my third Dodge Neon, this one is bright yellow and has a
spoiler.

Yoicks . . . ! Didja install the mandatory resonator on the tailpipe
yet?

I'm big on small cars too, gots me a silly little 4 dr. '96
Chebby/Suzuki/Metro Geo w/150k miles on it. I keep telling myself I
really oughta get one for the other foot. Managed to blow a piston
last fall, $1,600 engine rebuild by my pet Benz wrench, runs like a
Swiss watch now. 'Cept my nickle-Extra N3 buddy backed his friggin'
monster Freightliner Classic into the rear end of my nice little Geo
and "reconfigured" a bit of sheet metal . . Back to the Benz shop . .
red body, green trunk deck and the rest is still in primer.

Dunno if I can trust it to make Wheeling & vicinity and back or not
but I'm seriously mulling that prospect come the warmer winds of the
days ahead. I figger if I gotta thumb it back home on the PA tpk. I
might as well do it when it's warmer.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Yeah, great start . . I like your National Blue and the brushed SS
panel concept a bunch for openers. Needs to be expanded though.

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.
Breakthrough systems design concept; "widely distributed CW
transceivers".

About as counter-miniturization as it gets right? So he's already
ingeniously solved that one. As a matter of policy I submit that we
should concentrate on just the packaging problem and let him handle
the "engineering". He is, after all, the group MSEE.

I'm thinking maybe your National Blue for the front surround and the
SS panel then maybe something like a flip-top transparent blue tinted
plastic cabinet along the lines of an iMac so that everybody could
actually see how it works. Could also include a built-in soldering
station for doing the never-ending mods? And a drawer in which to
store spare eight-pin tube sockets of course.

OK, so it would be about the size of a steamer trunk and it would need
castors to be able move it about . . details, details . . don't bore
me with stupid details, "I'm a concept guy . . "

Sure do. It sits next to the S-40A. The engraved German silver dial is
super looking.

There's some trip bait . . I've always wanted to listen to one of
those '30s rcvrs but never had the oportunity.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms. I used an HRO 50 when I
took the graveyard shift on 40M in my first-ever contest, a
neighborhood club Field Day exercise. Smooooth tuning.

I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat.

You got a 69 too??!

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/RME69.html

If we talk about the modern era, I'm
partial to the 75A-3 (modified to A-4 with the Universal Radio product
detector) for the ham bands

I'm partial to the 75A4 myself, I had one for years which had the
W2VCZ front end mods. Best 160/80/40 RX out there until rigs like that
later 940s finally came along.

and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

I've noted Globe King 500-C's going for $3,000+. I was amazed to get
$775 for a 51J-4 the year before last.

NICE radio!

It fell into my "if you don't turn it on and use it" category. I found
other uses for the money. I need to reduce the size of my collection of
heavy iron and increase the number of dollars. I can use the dollars
for modern marvels.

I hear ya and I agree, I'm on the same course.

Not a bad idea. I think I may have told you that OH7XM was trying to
repair a TS-850 for a fellow in Helsinki. He found that the frequency
display unit is no longer available. That's one of the things which has
kept me away from K'wood.

Sure I remember that one. Sad. So far it seems like the 940s are still
being supported at least to some extent. Plus there are still ten
jillion of 'em out there and for absolute fact the repair shops are
hoarding junkers for parts in this country. But it ain't last forever
like the tube rigs have.

Kenwood made itself a legend in the '80s and a lotta folk still yearn
for a new competition-grade xcvr but lookit the junk they're peddling
these days. TS-2000 . . gimmee a break! There are persistent rumors
all over about Kenwood cooking some killer new xcvr in the back room
but I'm not holding my breath.

I don't support the ARRL's "gimme" for tens of thousands.

Ham radio has bigger problems than this one.

I don't know that they're bigger. They're mostly just "other".

There's enough policy-shredding fodder running today to keep RRAP
running for YEARS to come.

Now Len can't
accuse us of not discussing amateur radio policy, his favorite topic for
some obscure reason.

A Putz is a Putz is a Putz, whatta bore.

We're not dealing with ordinary here. This one was in the BIG TIME once
upon a time.

"Plop-plop, fizz, fizz . . "

Dave K8MN

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

Dave Heil wrote in message ...
Brian Kelly wrote:

Dunno where I got the notion it was on the Kentucky side of the crick.

You're likely thinking of the old WCKY at 1530 on the dial. It is now
WSAI which was at 1360. Confusing enough for you? WCKY was owned by
L.B. Wilson, a Kentuckian and the call stood for W Covington KentuckY.
Transmitters are on a hilltop overlooking Covington and the studios are
in downtown Cincinnati.

Probably, I do remember seeing BC towers on a hill near Covington.
Maybe that is where my confusion started. Usta run up and down 75 to
Lexington and Danville. Made Danville to the airport in two hours flat
on one occasion by golly.

Cincinnati, like Rome, is built on seven hills. There are a number of
other hills on the Kentucky shore. Most of 'em have radio towers. I
operated from four spots during my days in the area: As WB4KTR/8, I was
a block off the U.C. campus on top of the hill in an area called
Clifton. I had no tower but was able to put a mast on top of the three
storey commercial building. I moved across the river to Fort Thomas in
'74 and operated from atop the hill in that town with a tribander on a
40' push-up mast. Site three was in Mt. Airy, across the road from a
nice, quiet 1600 acre city forest. I used a 60 foot tower there.
Finally, I moved to the west side of the city to Cheviot. That same 60
footer was used there and was then hauled around the world. There are
still tower bases for that one in the ground in Botswana and Tanzania.
The tower stayed in Dar es Salaam. The embassy now uses it for a
repeater antenna.

Dad tried a couple of Buicks but has owned a number of Merc Grand
Marquis Limiteds over the last couple of decades.

Barge pilot huh? Pop has a USCG Master's ticket?

You know the drill: Mom feels "safer" in the big car.

Went to the local Enterpise vehicle rental store a bit back, told 'em
I wanted the cheapest set of wheels they had for a week. Like the
$10/day Metro three-banger they'd been hyping. One thing led to
another, I wound up with some monster Pontiac for the price of the
three-banger. Talk about "road shock" . . I'll spare ya my thoughts
when I first squeezed the beast into a parking slot at my favorite
food emporium. Tried to. When I turned it back in a week later I still
hadn't found out what a third of the stupid bottons in the thing were
supposed to do. Maybe Ralph Nader was right after all.

In a tale similar to yours, we came back to the U.S. from Helsinki in
the late 90's and ended up with a Pontiac Grand Am. I was underwhelmed
with the underpowered, poor-handling beast.

I'm a small car guy.
I'm now on my third Dodge Neon, this one is bright yellow and has a
spoiler.

Yoicks . . . ! Didja install the mandatory resonator on the tailpipe
yet?

Naw, all stock. I stop using the performance tires when the factory
rubber gives up the ghost. It doesn't matter which tires I buy, the
twisty, hilly roads hereabouts make certain that I get only about 25,000
miles on them as the outside corners get worn down.

I'm big on small cars too, gots me a silly little 4 dr. '96
Chebby/Suzuki/Metro Geo w/150k miles on it. I keep telling myself I
really oughta get one for the other foot. Managed to blow a piston
last fall, $1,600 engine rebuild by my pet Benz wrench, runs like a
Swiss watch now. 'Cept my nickle-Extra N3 buddy backed his friggin'
monster Freightliner Classic into the rear end of my nice little Geo
and "reconfigured" a bit of sheet metal . . Back to the Benz shop . .
red body, green trunk deck and the rest is still in primer.

It'll fit right in here! Just be careful you don't end up with a deer
pasted to the front of it.

Dunno if I can trust it to make Wheeling & vicinity and back or not
but I'm seriously mulling that prospect come the warmer winds of the
days ahead. I figger if I gotta thumb it back home on the PA tpk. I
might as well do it when it's warmer.

I have a half side of beef in the freezer, your choice of beverage, a
comfy guest room and plenty of radio gear. If you talk 'EY into coming,
you guys can fight to see who gets the futon in the shack overflow room.

I keep wondering how she'd "restyle" N2EY's Southgate 7 contraption .
.

I see it in a National 60's blue wrinkle cabinet with satin stainless
panel. There'd be no miniaturization with plenty of room for mods.

Yeah, great start . . I like your National Blue and the brushed SS
panel concept a bunch for openers. Needs to be expanded though.

Jim's obvious genius being that he's managed to come up with a 100W
80/40/20 CW xcvr which is spread across two whole shelves.
Breakthrough systems design concept; "widely distributed CW
transceivers".

About as counter-miniturization as it gets right? So he's already
ingeniously solved that one. As a matter of policy I submit that we
should concentrate on just the packaging problem and let him handle
the "engineering". He is, after all, the group MSEE.

I'm thinking maybe your National Blue for the front surround and the
SS panel then maybe something like a flip-top transparent blue tinted
plastic cabinet along the lines of an iMac so that everybody could
actually see how it works. Could also include a built-in soldering
station for doing the never-ending mods? And a drawer in which to
store spare eight-pin tube sockets of course.

OK, so it would be about the size of a steamer trunk and it would need
castors to be able move it about . . details, details . . don't bore
me with stupid details, "I'm a concept guy . . "

I understand, now that you've 'splained it to me. We could use a
four-foot rack, turned on its side. That's going to be one expensive
stainless panel.

Sure do. It sits next to the S-40A. The engraved German silver dial is
super looking.

There's some trip bait . . I've always wanted to listen to one of
those '30s rcvrs but never had the oportunity.

My HRO is the mechanical marvel but for performance,

Nice old boat anchors, great dial mechanisms. I used an HRO 50 when I
took the graveyard shift on 40M in my first-ever contest, a
neighborhood club Field Day exercise. Smooooth tuning.

I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat.

You got a 69 too??!

Yeah--with 5 and 10m converter, and also from the same era an FB-7 and
an SW-3.

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~postr/bapix/RME69.html

If we talk about the modern era, I'm
partial to the 75A-3 (modified to A-4 with the Universal Radio product
detector) for the ham bands

I'm partial to the 75A4 myself, I had one for years which had the
W2VCZ front end mods. Best 160/80/40 RX out there until rigs like that
later 940s finally came along.

Great receiver though the current pricing is too rich for my blood.

and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

THAT's the one Collins rcvr I'd love to have. I have a meatball S3-B
but I'm gonna dump it. Needs a power cord. Which is a minor pain in
the butt job, need to dredge up a chassis plug.

Talk to me!

Dave K8MN

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

Jim,

Are you forwarding these messages via LHA's home version of ADA?

ADA is the callsign of Headquarters, United States Army Pacific,
Fort Shafter, Hawaii. That callsign has been active since 1946 and
in continuous use all this time, connected with area command
headquarters in the Pacific region.

Why do you insist on making fun of the United States Army?

Go back to abusing yourself with all those oriongasms.

LHA / WMD