(N2EY) wrote in message . com...
ospam (Larry Roll K3LT) wrote in message ...

achievement only points accusingly to the fact that
present amateur radio licensing requirements are "dumbed-down" to
such an unreasonably low level that even a 7-year old can attain an
Amateur Extra-class license.

That's one way to look at it. The way I prefer to look at it is that a
bright and motivated young child set herself a goal and achieved it.

I don't see much of a connect between your particular preferences and
the highly-probable reality in these cases. Parents and other
relatives impose expectations on kids all the time. I sure did. I
"motivated" mine any number of times into "achieving" and in some of
those cases they met my expectations just to get me off their backs.

And while the novelty of a 7-year old
Extra is certainly "news" in the Amateur Radio community, it does
not point to a secure future for our hobby/service.

Why not? I don't see anything wrong with young people, or females,
getting
licenses. In fact, I think that sort of thing is just what ham radio
needs *more* of!

That's not what Larry meant. Over the 100 year history of ham radio
maybe we've had what, pick a number, twenty kids under ten licensed?
Versus around 1.5 million total U.S. hams? Those kids have all been
statistical anomalies pure and simple and have not had, nor will they
have any influence at all on the course of the service in the future.

Any of Mattie's young peers, without the support of a licensed parent,
and the material support of a functional station in their home, would
not likely achieve the same results.

Absolutely. How many of these kids *didn't* have a ham in the
immediate family?

So what? Part of what healthy families *DO* is support each other's
needs
and interests. In that family, it's clear that ham radio is a family
thing,
not something one family member does in seclusion from the rest.
That's a
good thing. It brings families together, crosses generational
barriers, helps
build a level of education, maturity and understanding that are
greatly needed.

I think you're over-preaching to the choir again here James.

And there is no better way to help a child learn than to get them
interested in the subject. Geography? Time zones? Math, science,
technology? An interest in ham radio helps with all of those.

Her folks shepherded her into ham radio beacause ham radio is a great
way for kids to learn geography??

(About the best we can hope for
is that other ham parents will take similar steps to induce their
children to become licensed, but that's about as far as it can go
until they become adults, with their own financial resources and the
adult prerogatives that go with it.

I never got any help in the ham radio area from my folks. So I was
delayed a few years in getting started.

Nothing unusual about that. A huge percentage of all of us kid hams
didn't have any particular "parental support" when we became hams. All
my folks cared about was that whatever it was that I was doing with a
soldering iron in the cellar didn't result in the Henny Carr the town
cop dragging me home by the scruff of my neck *again* for commiting
some bush-league juvenile atrocity or another. Worked for them and it
worked for me.

About the best face I can put on this is that young Mattie now has
the rest of her life to "grow" into the hobby. Hopefully, over the
years, she will acquire technical knowledge and operating skills which
will become equivalent to her Amateur Extra status.

She got 4 wrong on Element 4. How many did you get wrong on yours?

No-counter: We all know that there is *no* relationship between
passing the tests and the level of useful knowledge reqired to put
together an HF ham station. This NG has glaring examples of same.

As of now,
however, she is more of a stunt than the real thing.

How do you know?

He doesn't and neither do you. Fact is that it's not hard to find
instances of their folks pressuring kids into outstanding
accomplishments in order to have bragging rights about the kid. Which
I suspect is where Larry is coming from. Whether it's true in Mattie's
case is 100% conjecture.

I have no
doubt that when asked to engage in even a fairly low-level discussion
of technical and operating subjects, she will not be able to give
any reasonable accounting of herself, beyond perhaps the simple
recitation of answers to the exam questions.

You might be surprised.

She's probably somewhere between the opposite poles you two guys live
in.

Tell ya what, Larry, I'll fill a box with parts and you can come over
and build afunctioning ham rig out of them. No instructions, no
elmers, just parts and a book or two.
I did it when I was 13. I doubt
you could do it, Larry.

Virtually all yer kid ham predecessors could cobble rigs together
"Back in my day". It was almost the norm then. A lot higher
percentage of us designed and rolled our own than was the case "in
your day" a decade and a half later. By the time Larry got into ham
radio hombrewing no longer made any sense except in oddball cases so I
doubt he had any reason to even consider building his own rig. Entry
level rigs have been products of the era in which we came into the
service. YMMV and it obviously has.

Again, none of Mattie's inadequacies are her fault, she is just
the product of her parent's dreams.

Nonsense, Larry. She's an individual. Kids are not robots.

C'mon, you know better than that. Seven year olds are about as
compliant as they come. They're "individuals" only to the extent that
their parents and teachers allow them to act independently.

There are folks who walk into a test session with no ham license and
walk out with an Extra. That was going on before the VE system, too.
The barely-10-year-old I mentioned above had to do 13 wpm sending and
receiving plus the old Class B/General written.

I know Janie. Her father was Jesse Bieberman W3KT who is still a
legend. Honer Roll top-ender for decades, phone and cw dx contester,
25wpm with a straight key for 48 straight. Vice Director of the
Atlantic Division for decades and one of the most powerful voices in
Newington in those days. Ran the W3 buro single-handed also for
decades. Was also a private-school high school math instructor. You
think maybe Jane just got up one morning when she was ten and outta
nowhere declared that she was gonna pursue a ham ticket??


73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

(N2EY) wrote in message . com...

I think you're over-preaching to the choir again here James.

And there is no better way to help a child learn than to get them
interested in the subject. Geography? Time zones? Math, science,
technology? An interest in ham radio helps with all of those.

Her folks shepherded her into ham radio beacause ham radio is a great
way for kids to learn geography??

Not necessarily, Brian, but studying for an amateur ticket gets kids
fired up about learning. I can certainly see Jim's point about kids
becoming interested in geography, the sciences and math. It didn't work
toward interesting me in geometry though. I was caught reading QST
hidden within my open geometry book.


I never got any help in the ham radio area from my folks. So I was
delayed a few years in getting started.

Nothing unusual about that. A huge percentage of all of us kid hams
didn't have any particular "parental support" when we became hams. All
my folks cared about was that whatever it was that I was doing with a
soldering iron in the cellar didn't result in the Henny Carr the town
cop dragging me home by the scruff of my neck *again* for commiting
some bush-league juvenile atrocity or another. Worked for them and it
worked for me.

For the first few weeks of my interest, my dad actively discouraged me
with talk of amateur radio being a passing fad for me. He had visions
of mounds of equipment gathering dust in a closet. My mother encouraged
me and was able to convince my father that some of the meager family
income should be spent on a transmitter for me if I earned the money for
the receiver from my paper route.

My dad had and has no technical abilities whatever. My mother was
deathly afraid of electricity and wouldn't even clean my ham shack. She
just knew that lightning was going to enter the house via my antennas.
Both parents saw value in amateur radio as a wholesome activity, one
which would nurture an interest in science and possibly lead to a career
in electronics.


I know Janie. Her father was Jesse Bieberman W3KT who is still a
legend. Honer Roll top-ender for decades, phone and cw dx contester,
25wpm with a straight key for 48 straight. Vice Director of the
Atlantic Division for decades and one of the most powerful voices in
Newington in those days. Ran the W3 buro single-handed also for
decades.

....and ran the W3KT outgoing QSL forwarding service for a number of
years.

Dave K8MN

Not necessarily, Brian, but studying for an amateur ticket gets kids
fired up about learning. I can certainly see Jim's point about kids
becoming interested in geography, the sciences and math. It didn't work
toward interesting me in geometry though. I was caught reading QST
hidden within my open geometry book.

Should have been a copy of Playboy..... ;-)








For the first few weeks of my interest, my dad actively discouraged me
with talk of amateur radio being a passing fad for me. He had visions
of mounds of equipment gathering dust in a closet. My mother encouraged
me and was able to convince my father that some of the meager family
income should be spent on a transmitter for me if I earned the money for
the receiver from my paper route.

My dad had and has no technical abilities whatever. My mother was
deathly afraid of electricity and wouldn't even clean my ham shack. She
just knew that lightning was going to enter the house via my antennas.


Reminds me of the story about some little old lady sueing the trolley
company
because they caused a lightning bolt to run thru her bedroom late at night.
What probably happened was the trolley pole comming off the wire causing
an arc to flash. She must have went nuts during a real thunderstorm....

We once had lightning take out a tall tree in the back yard late one night.
Wooden shrapnel all over the back yard; good thing nobody was outside
when that happened. SOme of the light bulbs that were on blew out.
This was back in the early 60's, before line operated solid state
equipment was at all common. The tube stuff (all of which was off)
didn't mind.

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

Brian Kelly wrote:

(N2EY) wrote in message
.com...

I think you're over-preaching to the choir again here James.

And there is no better way to help a child learn than to get them
interested in the subject. Geography? Time zones? Math, science,
technology? An interest in ham radio helps with all of those.

Her folks shepherded her into ham radio beacause ham radio is a great
way for kids to learn geography??

Not necessarily, Brian, but studying for an amateur ticket gets kids
fired up about learning. I can certainly see Jim's point about kids
becoming interested in geography, the sciences and math. It didn't work
toward interesting me in geometry though. I was caught reading QST
hidden within my open geometry book.

I got caught reading a text on electricity. Book was open to the page about
polyphase induction motors, and I had to explain the meaning of a rotating
magnetic field and a squirrel cage rotor to the teacher. In 5th grade.

I never got any help in the ham radio area from my folks. So I was
delayed a few years in getting started.

Nothing unusual about that. A huge percentage of all of us kid hams
didn't have any particular "parental support" when we became hams. All
my folks cared about was that whatever it was that I was doing with a
soldering iron in the cellar didn't result in the Henny Carr the town
cop dragging me home by the scruff of my neck *again* for commiting
some bush-league juvenile atrocity or another. Worked for them and it
worked for me.

For the first few weeks of my interest, my dad actively discouraged me
with talk of amateur radio being a passing fad for me. He had visions
of mounds of equipment gathering dust in a closet. My mother encouraged
me and was able to convince my father that some of the meager family
income should be spent on a transmitter for me if I earned the money for
the receiver from my paper route.

My dad had and has no technical abilities whatever. My mother was
deathly afraid of electricity and wouldn't even clean my ham shack. She
just knew that lightning was going to enter the house via my antennas.
Both parents saw value in amateur radio as a wholesome activity, one
which would nurture an interest in science and possibly lead to a career
in electronics.

'zactly.

Frankly, it was kinda surreal reading Larry's diatribe about that family. We've
been subject to years of
Dr.-Laura-points-of-light-republican-cloth-coat-family- values lectures, and
then a family actually does ham radio together and the kid gets no credit.
Bleah.

I know Janie. Her father was Jesse Bieberman W3KT who is still a
legend. Honer Roll top-ender for decades, phone and cw dx contester,
25wpm with a straight key for 48 straight. Vice Director of the
Atlantic Division for decades and one of the most powerful voices in
Newington in those days. Ran the W3 buro single-handed also for
decades.

...and ran the W3KT outgoing QSL forwarding service for a number of
years.

Yup, great guy, original 1x2 holder, the works.

73 de Jim, N2EY

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

(N2EY) wrote in message . com...

Her folks shepherded her into ham radio beacause ham radio is a great
way for kids to learn geography??

Not necessarily, Brian, but studying for an amateur ticket gets kids
fired up about learning. I can certainly see Jim's point about kids
becoming interested in geography, the sciences and math.

I dunno, I guess but experiences, perceptions and observations vary
all over the lot when it comes to educating kids. Never mind opinions
on the subject. I'll cite my own case. As were all four of my parent's
kids I was a pretty early and prolific reader. Implanting the joy of
reading was the big gift our parents bestowed on us and they both
worked at it. Hard. Once that bug was firmly installed we were pretty
much left alone to find our own paths without much if any "hands-on
participation" in our interests on their parts.

To wit: Geography was one of my hot buttons going way back long before
I had the first clue about ham radio. Usta love to cruise the maps
which came with National Geo. Any maps. Still do. When I finally
bumped into ham radio and disovered that hams could actually
communicate with people in those far off places I'd read about my
course was set: I absolutely was gonna become a ham so I could go
dxing. I did and I still do. It was my interest in geography which led
me to ham radio. I don't give ham radio any credit at all for my
interest in science. If I hadn't already had an interest in science I
wouldn't have developed an interest in ham radio to start with. I was
into building electric motors before I got interested in ham radio for
instance. And in geology, bugs and weather science. I didn't have any
interest at all in math as such until I was halfway thru engineering
school with a General and it finally dawned on me that I was actually
sort of enjoying the stuff.

It didn't work
toward interesting me in geometry though. I was caught reading QST
hidden within my open geometry book.

Geometry was no sweat here but I got tossed outta 10th grade English
class twice for laying out equipment panels at the back of the class.
Then the flaming fairy teach caught Sally Leinhauser and I playing
footsie. Such "activities" apparently really annoy fairies. No
problem, life coulda been a *helluva* lot worse than sitting out in
the hallway with Sally.

During the same year I built an AM BC rcvr which used five of the tiny
AG-1 flashbulb envelope subminiature tubes and stuffed the whole thing
into a small Band-Aid can which I carried in my shirt pocket. Walkman
Numero Uno. I went into biology class one day and strung the wire
antenna to an overhead lamp fixture, put on the earplug "speaker" and
started tuning around. The teacher, good 'ole Floyd Neff finally
noticed the antenna and stormed to the back of the room, "What are you
doing, what is that thing?" I cupped my ear, "Uh, it's my hearing aid,
could you speak up a bit please?" Tossed outta class again.

You brought back a lot of hilarious memories of "electronerd
educations" gone awry David. Gawd we had fun . . !

For the first few weeks of my interest, my dad actively discouraged me
with talk of amateur radio being a passing fad for me.
He had visions
of mounds of equipment gathering dust in a closet.

He was right, I've seen it happen . . !

My mother encouraged
me and was able to convince my father that some of the meager family
income should be spent on a transmitter for me if I earned the money for
the receiver from my paper route.

You got lucky, I got NOTTING in the way of economic support for
diddling with radios despite the volume of coin my parents had. Their
policy was that if some pursuit or another was important enough to
their kids we could bloody well work out how to pay for it on our own
or drop it. With the notable exception of cheerfully paying the
expenses related to Boy Scouting. I *really* needed radio gear so I
had a couple paper routes, peddled magazine subsciptions, painted
house numbers on curbs in December, etc. Got the equipment and some
early lessons on how much work hot buttons can actually cost.

My dad had and has no technical abilities whatever. My mother was
deathly afraid of electricity and wouldn't even clean my ham shack. She
just knew that lightning was going to enter the house via my antennas.
Both parents saw value in amateur radio as a wholesome activity, one
which would nurture an interest in science and possibly lead to a career
in electronics.

Once more we all obviously came from very different directions to a
sort of convergence here. My Dad excused himself from an orphanage at
age 14 and became an apprentice tool and die maker. Eventually he
moved on into the U of P med school research labs as a creative guru
in the electrical instrumentation, glass-blowing and mechanical shops.
Mom became a secretary-turned-lab-assistant in the same research
facility where they met in 1933 or so and here I is. Mom had a much
older civil engineering student brother who "fiddled with radios all
night" and who might have been an early ham. He passed away before he
graduated so I'll never know if he was a ham or not. Bottom line here
being that when I got into ham radio and hung wires all over the yard
none of it particularly attracted much parental attention. At dinner
one night I puffily announced that I'd worked Africa for the first
time the night before, a ZS6 on 80 CW. "That's nice dear. Did you
clean your bedroom yet?" Career guidance via ham radio? Ha! As if.

Just after WW2 they put together the family tool and die works in
which all four of their offspring were raised. So of course we all
became gearheads, even the girl knows wrenches. Two mechanical
engineers, another tool and die maker (turned statistician and
programmer), the girl got into computer programming about the time the
first punch card decks showed up. What I have gotten out of ham radio
as it relates to my career is a *much* better grip on EE sorts of
things than the average ME has. Has proven to be a very big asset on
many occasions.

I raised my three daughters pretty much the way I was raised and none
of 'em are slouches in their various professional technical fields.


I know Janie. Her father was Jesse Bieberman W3KT who is still a
legend. Honer Roll top-ender for decades, phone and cw dx contester,
25wpm with a straight key for 48 straight. Vice Director of the
Atlantic Division for decades and one of the most powerful voices in
Newington in those days. Ran the W3 buro single-handed also for
decades.

...and ran the W3KT outgoing QSL forwarding service for a number of
years.

I forgot all about that, tnx.

Speaking of QSL card handling Joe Arcure W3HNK is in this
neighborhood, I gotta look him up.


Dave K8MN

Brian w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

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

(N2EY) wrote in message . com...

During the same year I built an AM BC rcvr which used five of the tiny
AG-1 flashbulb envelope subminiature tubes and stuffed the whole thing
into a small Band-Aid can which I carried in my shirt pocket. Walkman
Numero Uno. I went into biology class one day and strung the wire
antenna to an overhead lamp fixture, put on the earplug "speaker" and
started tuning around. The teacher, good 'ole Floyd Neff finally
noticed the antenna and stormed to the back of the room, "What are you
doing, what is that thing?" I cupped my ear, "Uh, it's my hearing aid,
could you speak up a bit please?" Tossed outta class again.

Young Don Newell was the crucifer one Sunday at St. Andrew's Episcopal
Church in Oak Hill. After the processional and after my father had
begun the service, Don fished a tiny crystal radio from his cassock,
stuffed the earphone into his ear and attached a wire with an alligator
clip to the cross. As the service ended, my dad whispered to him, "I'd
like a word after church".

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.

For the first few weeks of my interest, my dad actively discouraged me
with talk of amateur radio being a passing fad for me.
He had visions
of mounds of equipment gathering dust in a closet.

He was right, I've seen it happen . . !

I can still get a laugh from him these days whenever I ask if he thinks
I'll tire of the stuff and let it sit in the closet.

My mother encouraged
me and was able to convince my father that some of the meager family
income should be spent on a transmitter for me if I earned the money for
the receiver from my paper route.

You got lucky, I got NOTTING in the way of economic support for
diddling with radios despite the volume of coin my parents had. Their
policy was that if some pursuit or another was important enough to
their kids we could bloody well work out how to pay for it on our own
or drop it. With the notable exception of cheerfully paying the
expenses related to Boy Scouting. I *really* needed radio gear so I
had a couple paper routes, peddled magazine subsciptions, painted
house numbers on curbs in December, etc. Got the equipment and some
early lessons on how much work hot buttons can actually cost.

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. 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. 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.


I know Janie. Her father was Jesse Bieberman W3KT who is still a
legend. Honer Roll top-ender for decades, phone and cw dx contester,
25wpm with a straight key for 48 straight. Vice Director of the
Atlantic Division for decades and one of the most powerful voices in
Newington in those days. Ran the W3 buro single-handed also for
decades.

...and ran the W3KT outgoing QSL forwarding service for a number of
years.

I forgot all about that, tnx.

I used Jesse's outgoing card forwarding service in the days preceeding
the ARRL's outgoing bureau.

Speaking of QSL card handling Joe Arcure W3HNK is in this
neighborhood, I gotta look him up.

Joe used to be a regular at the DX hospitality suites at Dayton. I
haven't seen him in a number of years.

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.

Dave K8MN

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

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

Young Don Newell was the crucifer one Sunday at St. Andrew's Episcopal
Church in Oak Hill. After the processional and after my father had
begun the service, Don fished a tiny crystal radio from his cassock,
stuffed the earphone into his ear and attached a wire with an alligator
clip to the cross. As the service ended, my dad whispered to him, "I'd
like a word after church".

Yeah, I'll bet there was a "word or two"!

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.

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.

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.

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.

...and ran the W3KT outgoing QSL forwarding service for a number of
years.

I forgot all about that, tnx.

I used Jesse's outgoing card forwarding service in the days preceeding
the ARRL's outgoing bureau.

I knew it existed but I wasn't active in that timeframe.

Speaking of QSL card handling Joe Arcure W3HNK is in this
neighborhood, I gotta look him up.

Joe used to be a regular at the DX hospitality suites at Dayton. I
haven't seen him in a number of years.

He recently retired from Sun Oil and has tapered back from his former
volume of QSL work. I haven't done an eyball with him for probably 40
years. It's time to dig him up for a lunch.

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.

Then there was the Ham Trader yellow sheets . . I moved a *lotta* gear
in and out with those.


Dave K8MN

w3rv

In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

I wonder if there are any Allied employees left from the days when
they were in the ham biz.

Allied Radio is still an electronics parts distributor, was never solely
in the "ham biz." Allied is now a division of Hamilton-Avnet and
MUCH bigger than it was when they had a single building in Chicago.
I'd been there...impressive showroom to a 15 year old, but not that
great in 1956 when I was 23.

Newark Electronics is still in the electronics parts distributor biz,
also bigger than it was in the 1950s.

There's lots more places to get parts for hum radios now, but the
old-style parts of a half century are very, very scarce. :-)

You really ought to get out more...

LHA / WMD

Len Over 21 wrote:

In article ,
(Brian Kelly) writes:

I wonder if there are any Allied employees left from the days when
they were in the ham biz.

Allied Radio is still an electronics parts distributor, was never solely
in the "ham biz."

Who said it was?


Allied is now a division of Hamilton-Avnet and
MUCH bigger than it was when they had a single building in Chicago.

They've been bigger since about 1970 when Tandy bought 'em. Allied had
quite a chain of strip mall and downtown stores across the country.
That's precisely why Tandy bought them. Almost all of them became Radio
Shack stores.

I'd been there...impressive showroom to a 15 year old, but not that
great in 1956 when I was 23.

It takes a lot to impress a suave man-of-the-world such as you.

Newark Electronics is still in the electronics parts distributor biz,
also bigger than it was in the 1950s.

Pittsburgh's Cameradio is still in business as CAM/RPC after merging
with Cleveland's Radio Parts Company (the RPC). Hughes-Peters is still
in business though the company has been sold. None of them were ever
solely in the amateur radio business. Hughes-Peters Cincinnati Division
had nine hams on staff and always advertised in the GCARA's "Mike and
Key". Many of our customers had radio amateurs employed. The company
had a busy parts counter and figured that dollars from hams were as good
as dollars from anyone else.

There's lots more places to get parts for hum radios now, but the
old-style parts of a half century are very, very scarce. :-)

No, Leonard, they aren't. There are simply fewer places selling them.
With the stock I have out in the barn, I might run out in another fifty
or so years.

You really ought to get out more...

....sez our resident expert in all things electronic.

Dave K8MN

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