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I'd love to read it if his talk has been archived somewhere.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

In article , Dave Heil
writes:

It is interesting to note that famed industrial designer
Raymond Loewy designed the S-40 cabinetry. He is the fellow who brought
us

(brought us the styling, that is)

of

the '47 Studebaker Starlight Coupe and '53 Starliner Coupe, the '61
Avanti, the S-1 steam locomotive (Pennsylvania RR),

The GG-1 electric locomotive (also PRR),

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.

Loewy (and others) also made it clear that purely functional objects could look
really cool, too, without significant cost increases. In fact, his style
changes to
the GG-1 (including the use of a welded rather than riveted body and the use of

smoother lines) resulted in *reduced* cost.

Unfortunately he was not available to help style the Southgate Type 7.

73 de Jim, N2EY

73 de Jim, N2EY

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

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.

Yeah,Yanks were nowhere near accepting sub-compacts in that timeframe.
Nor were they very anxious to do biz with the Huns.

People weren't quite ready for the car. The
place was on the Kentucky shore opposite Cincinnati, where Jean was
working at WLW.

I'm fairly familiar with that area, been in and out of the airport any
number of times on biz in Cincinnati and in KY. Where is WLW vs. the
airport?

USAir provided me with another of their "adventure flights" going in
one afternoon. Unbelievable summer downpour, incoming flights were
kept circling. Maybe 45 minutes after the left seat announced that we
were going to be on hold "for a few minutes" he announced that we "had
a fuel problem" and that he was on final ready or not. Splash. Looked
at first like he landed in the river. That was the afternoon the
Weather Service measured three inches of rain in one hour at the
Cincinnati airport.

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.

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

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.

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

Raymond Loewy, Dad and me . . .

Dad . . at sixtysomething he decided he'd had enough "family cars" and
announced that he was gonna buy a Corvette. Only over Mom's dead body
he was gonna buy a Corvette. Back to the drawing board. "OK, I'll buy
a Studebaker GT Hawk". 1963. Mom didn't bark as much at that one so he
ordered the Hawk. But with a twist. He also bought a monster Packard
V8 engine with two four-barrel pots. The Hawk and the engine arrived
at the Stude dealer and Dad delivered 'em to the Three Js speed shop
in Wilmington DE. Mom being unaware of what was going on of course.
They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

Loewy was one of my idols when I was a kid. I had some talent along
those lines and was bound and determined to go to the Chicago School
of Design and study under him. Going into 9th grade Dad told me I had
to decide what I was going to do with my life and tossed the Sunday
Inquirer help wanted classified ads section at me. No ads for artists.
No ads for industrial designers. No ads for illustrators. Four pages
of ads for engineers. End of.

And the gene lives on. I have a young niece who recently graduated
from the Pratt Institute industrial design program. She's
unbelievable. Two weeks into her first summer student internship she
came up with a compartment latch for some Volkswagen bus which her
employer's ID group had been wrestling with for months. They faxed her
sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

The design is still
stunning.

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

.. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

He
bought it new from Steinberg's appliance store on Vine Street in
Cincinnati. Steinberg's sold ham gear through the end of 1968

That surprising, that was pretty late in the game. We didn't have any
appliance stores selling ham gear that I know of but a lot of the
electronics parts distributors which catered to the radio & TV service
and industrial sectors had "ham corners". The last of those also
closed in the 1968 timeframe. I have an HRO a half hour from here in
tax-free DE, makes life a lot easier. Except I'm still stuck with
Radio Slack for parts locally.

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.

Boat anchors are going for insane prices. N2EY recently told me about
an unbuilt still-in-the-box Heath AT-1 which sold for $5,100 for God's
sake. Ya can buy a complete pristine meatball S-Line including a 30L1
amp with $5,100 and have a *pile* of change left over. Or an Orion and
most of a Centurion amp.

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.

If/when I ever make it your place you'll have to let read some of 'em.
These days there's no point to publications like DX bulletins, it's
all out on the web in almost real time. But the websites are no where
near as much fun to read.

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.

Never heard of that one either. I musta led a sheltered life.

Dave K8MN

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

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

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.

Yeah,Yanks were nowhere near accepting sub-compacts in that timeframe.
Nor were they very anxious to do biz with the Huns.

Jean and Jack were SURE that they'd stumbled on a good thing. If they'd
only waited five or six years...

People weren't quite ready for the car. The
place was on the Kentucky shore opposite Cincinnati, where Jean was
working at WLW.

I'm fairly familiar with that area, been in and out of the airport any
number of times on biz in Cincinnati and in KY. Where is WLW vs. the
airport?

The studios are downtown. The transmitter is up north of the city near
Mason, Ohio in the same general area as the VOA relay station was
located.

USAir provided me with another of their "adventure flights" going in
one afternoon. Unbelievable summer downpour, incoming flights were
kept circling. Maybe 45 minutes after the left seat announced that we
were going to be on hold "for a few minutes" he announced that we "had
a fuel problem" and that he was on final ready or not. Splash. Looked
at first like he landed in the river. That was the afternoon the
Weather Service measured three inches of rain in one hour at the
Cincinnati airport.

I've known folks who've transited Greater Cincinnati and who really
believed that they'd landed in Ohio, heh heh.

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.

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

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.

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

Raymond Loewy, Dad and me . . .

Dad . . at sixtysomething he decided he'd had enough "family cars" and
announced that he was gonna buy a Corvette. Only over Mom's dead body
he was gonna buy a Corvette. Back to the drawing board. "OK, I'll buy
a Studebaker GT Hawk". 1963. Mom didn't bark as much at that one so he
ordered the Hawk. But with a twist. He also bought a monster Packard
V8 engine with two four-barrel pots. The Hawk and the engine arrived
at the Stude dealer and Dad delivered 'em to the Three Js speed shop
in Wilmington DE. Mom being unaware of what was going on of course.
They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

Neat story. We were at the other end of the automotive spectrum. Dad
owned a '51 Pontiac and one day, one of the plugs unscrewed itself and
put a pretty good dent in the hood. Pop traded it for a decidedly
unglamorous '60 AMC wagon.

Loewy was one of my idols when I was a kid. I had some talent along
those lines and was bound and determined to go to the Chicago School
of Design and study under him. Going into 9th grade Dad told me I had
to decide what I was going to do with my life and tossed the Sunday
Inquirer help wanted classified ads section at me. No ads for artists.
No ads for industrial designers. No ads for illustrators. Four pages
of ads for engineers. End of.

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.

And the gene lives on. I have a young niece who recently graduated
from the Pratt Institute industrial design program. She's
unbelievable. Two weeks into her first summer student internship she
came up with a compartment latch for some Volkswagen bus which her
employer's ID group had been wrestling with for months. They faxed her
sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

It does sound as if it runs in the family.

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

Oh yes, fully restored and sitting on a shelf to my right.

The design is still
stunning.

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

No, not at all. Hallicrafters (and many other firms) were still building
the same basic receivers in a variety of cabinets through the decades
with few innovations or variations.

W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

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

He
bought it new from Steinberg's appliance store on Vine Street in
Cincinnati. Steinberg's sold ham gear through the end of 1968

That surprising, that was pretty late in the game. We didn't have any
appliance stores selling ham gear that I know of but a lot of the
electronics parts distributors which catered to the radio & TV service
and industrial sectors had "ham corners". The last of those also
closed in the 1968 timeframe. I have an HRO a half hour from here in
tax-free DE, makes life a lot easier. Except I'm still stuck with
Radio Slack for parts locally.

So many of the ham radio dealers and parts houses have gone out of
business or have been bought by larger firms. West Virginia had
Chemcity Electronics back when I first got on the air. They had several
locations throughout the state and they sold amateur radio gear as well
as parts. This end of the state had a Cameradio shop.

Cincinnati had a number of places selling amateur gear. There was
Coston's. The "Saturday Night at Coston's" gathering of hams is the
stuff of legend. Queen City Electronics was run by John Dine WA8DFD.
R&L Electronics started in a garage in Hamilton, Ohio. In Dayton, there
was SREPCO. Cincinnati had a number of parts houses including Holub's,
Hughes-Peters, Mytronics, United Radio and the surplus house, Lapirow
Brothers.

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.

Boat anchors are going for insane prices. N2EY recently told me about
an unbuilt still-in-the-box Heath AT-1 which sold for $5,100 for God's
sake. Ya can buy a complete pristine meatball S-Line including a 30L1
amp with $5,100 and have a *pile* of change left over. Or an Orion and
most of a Centurion amp.

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. One of the big differences
between the modern marvels and the vintage gear is that one can still
obtain tubes and parts for the vintage rigs. I doubt that any of the
current stuff will be operational or repairable in fifty years. The
lack of a replacement switch, an LSI or an LCD display will doom them to
the scrap heap.

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.

If/when I ever make it your place you'll have to let read some of 'em.

Once you start, there's no stopping. Allow me to whet your interest with
the following from 1977:

"There were some local QRPers up the hill last week, the group including
one of those serious types. His beady eyes were everywhere, questioning
and checking. And the QRPers got to talking of Red Eye and the Palo
Verdes bunch, and Slim and the Hero of Mafeking. So we had to tell them
about the JA who in all seriousness had asked that alongside the obscure
jokes we place an explanation of what we meant. Perhaps we should have
kept the file sealed. 'Jokes?', says this serious one. 'Obscure jokes?
Where are they? Why, I've been reading the bulletin for some years now
and while there are things that sometimes I do not understand, I have
not noticed any jokes.' Son of a Gun!! What does one do in a situation
like that? The sky was blue, the day was warm and there had been a slow
joy in the group as they talked. But we realized that like a lot of
things, humor and DX and home cooking, that most things are relative and
sometimes more so. So we told the beady-eyed one that we would
underline them in his copy from now on, a service that perhaps others
might want and use. And for $14.00 a year, the enigmas of DX will
comeyour way in inscrutable prose, tangled, twisted and tortured...and
maybe stretched a bit. $18.00 will fling it at you by first-class mail
to the U.S./VE areas. $20.00 will fly it far down the moonpath to
Mexico and all the lands below the Tropic of Cancer and beyond the
meridians. Someday we may get the message...someday someone might get
the message to us."

These days there's no point to publications like DX bulletins, it's
all out on the web in almost real time. But the websites are no where
near as much fun to read.

They could easily be...but they aren't.

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.

Never heard of that one either. I musta led a sheltered life.

Alton Brand, the fellow who published the yellow sheets put them out.
They offered a description of the equipment, original price and a photo
of same. The initial book showed gear produced from the end of WWII
though about 1973. Supplements for later years followed.

I don't support the ARRL's "gimme" for tens of thousands. Now Len can't
accuse us of not discussing amateur radio policy, his favorite topic for
some obscure reason.

Dave K8MN

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

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

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.

Also the sequel, "Olly Hopnoodle's Haven Of Bliss". James B. Sikking
(best know for Hill Street Blues) plays Dad and Shep makes a cameo
appearance.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Raymond Loewy, Dad and me . . .

Dad . . at sixtysomething he decided he'd had enough "family cars" and
announced that he was gonna buy a Corvette. Only over Mom's dead body
he was gonna buy a Corvette. Back to the drawing board. "OK, I'll buy
a Studebaker GT Hawk". 1963. Mom didn't bark as much at that one so he
ordered the Hawk. But with a twist. He also bought a monster Packard
V8 engine with two four-barrel pots. The Hawk and the engine arrived
at the Stude dealer and Dad delivered 'em to the Three Js speed shop
in Wilmington DE. Mom being unaware of what was going on of course.
They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

bwaahaahaa...

Loewy was one of my idols when I was a kid. I had some talent along
those lines and was bound and determined to go to the Chicago School
of Design and study under him. Going into 9th grade Dad told me I had
to decide what I was going to do with my life and tossed the Sunday
Inquirer help wanted classified ads section at me. No ads for artists.
No ads for industrial designers. No ads for illustrators. Four pages
of ads for engineers. End of.

Yup. All my dad did was take us to work with him in the company
business. All his kids have at least a bachelor's degree....

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"

And the gene lives on. I have a young niece who recently graduated
from the Pratt Institute industrial design program. She's
unbelievable. Two weeks into her first summer student internship she
came up with a compartment latch for some Volkswagen bus which her
employer's ID group had been wrestling with for months. They faxed her
sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

It does sound as if it runs in the family.

Ayup.

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

Oh yes, fully restored and sitting on a shelf to my right.

The design is still
stunning.

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

No, not at all. Hallicrafters (and many other firms) were still building
the same basic receivers in a variety of cabinets through the decades
with few innovations or variations.

The insides of the S-40 were only slightly changed to make the
S-85/SX-99 and finally the SX-122.

The Loewy cabinet, with variations, showed up in the S-40, SX-42,
SX-43 and S-76. There may be others, too.

W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

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

I'll bet!

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.

I'd rather have an EFJ 500 or some such. Nothing quite like having a
big Johnson.

Boat anchors are going for insane prices. N2EY recently told me about
an unbuilt still-in-the-box Heath AT-1 which sold for $5,100 for God's
sake. Ya can buy a complete pristine meatball S-Line including a 30L1
amp with $5,100 and have a *pile* of change left over. Or an Orion and
most of a Centurion amp.

Yup. There was also an SX-88 at $7,151 that beat the previous one at
$6000.

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.

I've noted Globe King 500-C's going for $3,000+.

I saw an ad for someone *making* new Globe Kings...

I was amazed to get
$775 for a 51J-4 the year before last. One of the big differences
between the modern marvels and the vintage gear is that one can still
obtain tubes and parts for the vintage rigs.

And information, most of all.

A few years back I sold a Kenyon T-656 plate transformer to a ham in
Ohio. But it turned out he was just helping out a friend in one of the
Scandinavian countries who was restoring a rare old prewar Harvey
Wells rig. My old transformer is now running the old Harvey Wells, and
I got a nice thankyou on the website. (search on "Kenyon T-656")..

I doubt that any of the
current stuff will be operational or repairable in fifty years. The
lack of a replacement switch, an LSI or an LCD display will doom them to
the scrap heap.

50? Try 20! Some older transceiver models are falling prey to the fact
that certain custom components are failing and there are no
replacements except
from junkers. If you can find a junker that has the part still good,
that is.

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.

If/when I ever make it your place you'll have to let read some of 'em.

Road trip!

Once you start, there's no stopping. Allow me to whet your interest with
the following from 1977:

"There were some local QRPers up the hill last week, the group including
one of those serious types. His beady eyes were everywhere, questioning
and checking. And the QRPers got to talking of Red Eye and the Palo
Verdes bunch, and Slim and the Hero of Mafeking. So we had to tell them
about the JA who in all seriousness had asked that alongside the obscure
jokes we place an explanation of what we meant. Perhaps we should have
kept the file sealed. 'Jokes?', says this serious one. 'Obscure jokes?
Where are they? Why, I've been reading the bulletin for some years now
and while there are things that sometimes I do not understand, I have
not noticed any jokes.' Son of a Gun!! What does one do in a situation
like that? The sky was blue, the day was warm and there had been a slow
joy in the group as they talked. But we realized that like a lot of
things, humor and DX and home cooking, that most things are relative and
sometimes more so. So we told the beady-eyed one that we would
underline them in his copy from now on, a service that perhaps others
might want and use. And for $14.00 a year, the enigmas of DX will
comeyour way in inscrutable prose, tangled, twisted and tortured...and
maybe stretched a bit. $18.00 will fling it at you by first-class mail
to the U.S./VE areas. $20.00 will fly it far down the moonpath to
Mexico and all the lands below the Tropic of Cancer and beyond the
meridians. Someday we may get the message...someday someone might get
the message to us."

For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who
don't...

These days there's no point to publications like DX bulletins, it's
all out on the web in almost real time. But the websites are no where
near as much fun to read.

They could easily be...but they aren't.

Writing is easy, writing well isn't.
]
I don't support the ARRL's "gimme" for tens of thousands.

Hundreds of thousands, Dave. See "ARS License Numbers". Add up the
Techs,Tech Pluses and Advanceds and it's over 400,000.

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

Len who?

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article ,
(N2EY) writes:

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

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

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.

Also the sequel, "Olly Hopnoodle's Haven Of Bliss". James B. Sikking
(best know for Hill Street Blues) plays Dad and Shep makes a cameo
appearance.

Do you need a SAG website address?

Do they have a subliminal morse message in the recording?

Do they QSL?


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

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

Architects have to test for morsemanship?

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.

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.

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

Yup. Good ole raddio tawk on hum radio policy...

Raymond Loewy, Dad and me . . .

Dad . . at sixtysomething he decided he'd had enough "family cars" and
announced that he was gonna buy a Corvette. Only over Mom's dead body
he was gonna buy a Corvette. Back to the drawing board. "OK, I'll buy
a Studebaker GT Hawk". 1963. Mom didn't bark as much at that one so he
ordered the Hawk. But with a twist. He also bought a monster Packard
V8 engine with two four-barrel pots. The Hawk and the engine arrived
at the Stude dealer and Dad delivered 'em to the Three Js speed shop
in Wilmington DE. Mom being unaware of what was going on of course.
They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

bwaahaahaa...

Outfitted for mobile radio? Doing morse while eating vettes?

Strange group there.

Loewy was one of my idols when I was a kid. I had some talent along
those lines and was bound and determined to go to the Chicago School
of Design and study under him. Going into 9th grade Dad told me I had
to decide what I was going to do with my life and tossed the Sunday
Inquirer help wanted classified ads section at me. No ads for artists.
No ads for industrial designers. No ads for illustrators. Four pages
of ads for engineers. End of.

Yup. All my dad did was take us to work with him in the company
business. All his kids have at least a bachelor's degree....

Have any of them married?


It does sound as if it runs in the family.

Ayup.

That's been said about the Jukes...


A few years back I sold a Kenyon T-656 plate transformer to a ham in
Ohio. But it turned out he was just helping out a friend in one of the
Scandinavian countries who was restoring a rare old prewar Harvey
Wells rig. My old transformer is now running the old Harvey Wells, and
I got a nice thankyou on the website. (search on "Kenyon T-656")..

Oy, such a nice boy! :-)



For those who understand, no explanation is necessary. For those who
don't...

Strange...most of us think this newsgroup is about amateur radio
policy matters, not SAG or AFTRA personalities, olde trolleys and
choo-choos, architects, family lineages, and autos hidden in barns.

Apparently it has expanded to cover anything the olde-tyme hammes
(and extra super special morsemen) want.

Chat room. Ho hum.



LHA / WMA

(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.

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.

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

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.

There ia blonde to kill for at the other end of the basketball court.

Whoever gets to the blonde first gets his way with her.

The rule: Each successive hop has to be one half the distance of the
previous hop.

The engineer takes off like a bat outta hell. The Physicist doesn't
move and hollers at the engineer "You silly fool, you'll never get
there!"

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

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.

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.

If/when I ever make it your place you'll have to let read some of 'em.

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.

73 de Jim, N2EY

w3rv

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

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

He and Jack Fulmer W4HAV (later W4YF) opened a Volkswagen dealership way
too soon after the war.

Yeah,Yanks were nowhere near accepting sub-compacts in that timeframe.
Nor were they very anxious to do biz with the Huns.

Jean and Jack were SURE that they'd stumbled on a good thing. If they'd
only waited five or six years...

How many times has this scenario been played out? Little guy sticks
his neck out, goes bust, big guys come along later and feast on it.

number of times on biz in Cincinnati and in KY. Where is WLW vs. the
airport?

The studios are downtown. The transmitter is up north of the city near
Mason, Ohio in the same general area as the VOA relay station was
located.

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

They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

Neat story. We were at the other end of the automotive spectrum. Dad
owned a '51 Pontiac and one day, one of the plugs unscrewed itself and
put a pretty good dent in the hood. Pop traded it for a decidedly
unglamorous '60 AMC wagon.

Hey I been there. Had a '64 Rambler American followed by a '72 AMC
Hornet Sportabout wagon. Then I bought my first Honda in '81. New
ballgame.

No ads for industrial designers. No ads for illustrators. Four pages
of ads for engineers. End of.

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.

Amen. I followed the niece's coursework thru Pratt. The artsy-fartsy
side is the least of it. Either ya already have it or ya don't and if
ya don't ya don't go to Pratt period. What she did get is piles of
courses in materials science, math thru Calculus, a good dose of
applied mecahanics (basic stress & deflection analysis),
manufaucturing engineering, etc. As she put it "Now I can at least
speak your langauge Uncle Brian." And she can too. In the meanwhile
she's up to her ears in computer graphics I can't even start to get
into.

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

sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

It does sound as if it runs in the family.

Seems like. A cousin made a bloody fortune with his advertsing agency,
"retired" into being the Art Director for the Franklin Mint, was
elected a Fellow in the American Water Color Society and at 86 he
still has one-man shows in NYC twice a month. He's also a train nut, a
Pennsy fan. I have one of his train watercolors, one of his few
whimsical blasts from the past. One of these days I'll cobble together
a website and post it.

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

Oh yes, fully restored and sitting on a shelf to my right.

Uh-huh . . . Hmmm . .

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

No, not at all. Hallicrafters (and many other firms) were still building
the same basic receivers in a variety of cabinets through the decades
with few innovations or variations.

AMC Honda. Hallicrafters Kenwood.


W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

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.

So many of the ham radio dealers and parts houses have gone out of
business or have been bought by larger firms. West Virginia had
Chemcity Electronics back when I first got on the air. They had several
locations throughout the state and they sold amateur radio gear as well
as parts. This end of the state had a Cameradio shop.

Cincinnati had a number of places selling amateur gear. There was
Coston's. The "Saturday Night at Coston's" gathering of hams is the
stuff of legend. Queen City Electronics was run by John Dine WA8DFD.
R&L Electronics started in a garage in Hamilton, Ohio. In Dayton, there
was SREPCO. Cincinnati had a number of parts houses including Holub's,
Hughes-Peters, Mytronics, United Radio and the surplus house, Lapirow
Brothers.

Different times, different places. I guess there were exceptions but
in the '50s the Philly parts & radio distributors were clustered
downtown along Arch Street. A whole bunch of surplus joints and the
two big parts houses, Almo and Radio Electric Service Company, known
as RESCO. Both were family business single-location store front parts,
general electronics and ham gear distributors. Wanna a couple
resistors, no problem. A Collins rcvr and a "hi-fi" amp or a PA
system? Here ya go. Both still exist but in far different forms and
none of 'em have had anything to do with ham radio for decades. You
might enjoy this link.

http://www.almo.com/corporate/history.asp

Over the years there have been a few ham-only stores but they never
did very well and disappered. The parts stores still exist here and
there even today but they're few and far between so it's easier to
dial up Mouser and let the brown trucks do the running around. The HRO
store here has an armlock on hamdom in these parts today. I got stupid
and dropped into the store on a Saturday, unbelievable, there were
folks there from as far away as NYC and Baltimore, took two hours to
get to the cash register. No more "HRO Saturdays" for me!

In the end what matters is today and my view is that when it comes to
finding "good stuff" it's all out on the web in volumes the Almos and
RESCOS of days of yore never had.

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!

One of the big differences
between the modern marvels and the vintage gear is that one can still
obtain tubes and parts for the vintage rigs. I doubt that any of the
current stuff will be operational or repairable in fifty years. The
lack of a replacement switch, an LSI or an LCD display will doom them to
the scrap heap.

Tell me, I have a zonked TS-940SAT with all the options except the
voice card, it's been updated by the Kenwood factory shop to the final
production design and it's loaded with filters. I love the radio but
it's full of creaky old point-to-point wiring, weird switches,
unmarked ICs, etc. I found a local shop which specializes in 930/940s
and as soon as I get it fixed I'm gonna dump it and run with the money
while it's still worth a few bucks.

If/when I ever make it your place you'll have to let read some of 'em.

Once you start, there's no stopping. Allow me to whet your interest with
the following from 1977:

That's probably why I missed 'em. I was well into in my hiatus from
ham radio in '77.


"There were some local QRPers up the hill last week, the group including
one of those serious types. His beady eyes were everywhere, questioning
and checking. And the QRPers got to talking of Red Eye and the Palo
Verdes bunch, and Slim and the Hero of Mafeking. So we had to tell them
about the JA who in all seriousness had asked that alongside the obscure
jokes we place an explanation of what we meant. Perhaps we should have
kept the file sealed. 'Jokes?', says this serious one. 'Obscure jokes?
Where are they? Why, I've been reading the bulletin for some years now
and while there are things that sometimes I do not understand, I have
not noticed any jokes.' Son of a Gun!! What does one do in a situation
like that? The sky was blue, the day was warm and there had been a slow
joy in the group as they talked. But we realized that like a lot of
things, humor and DX and home cooking, that most things are relative and
sometimes more so. So we told the beady-eyed one that we would
underline them in his copy from now on, a service that perhaps others
might want and use. And for $14.00 a year, the enigmas of DX will
comeyour way in inscrutable prose, tangled, twisted and tortured...and
maybe stretched a bit. $18.00 will fling it at you by first-class mail
to the U.S./VE areas. $20.00 will fly it far down the moonpath to
Mexico and all the lands below the Tropic of Cancer and beyond the
meridians. Someday we may get the message...someday someone might get
the message to us."

Heh. Yeah, I gotta read some of 'em. We used to needle the clueless,
the innocnet and the gullible with our "secret communications" from
the "Bowling Team Captain's Committee".

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

Ham radio has bigger problems than this one.

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.

SNORE

Dave K8MN

w3rv

Brian Kelly wrote:

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

number of times on biz in Cincinnati and in KY. Where is WLW vs. the
airport?

The studios are downtown. The transmitter is up north of the city near
Mason, Ohio in the same general area as the VOA relay station was
located.

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.

They did some engine, exhaust system and suspension mods then
shoehorned the engine into the Hawk. "The rest is history . . " The
thing ate Corvettes for breakfast . . It still exists in a barn near
Coatesville.

Neat story. We were at the other end of the automotive spectrum. Dad
owned a '51 Pontiac and one day, one of the plugs unscrewed itself and
put a pretty good dent in the hood. Pop traded it for a decidedly
unglamorous '60 AMC wagon.

Hey I been there. Had a '64 Rambler American followed by a '72 AMC
Hornet Sportabout wagon. Then I bought my first Honda in '81. New
ballgame.

Dad tried a couple of Buicks but has owned a number of Merc Grand
Marquis Limiteds over the last couple of decades. I'm a small car guy.
I'm now on my third Dodge Neon, this one is bright yellow and has a
spoiler.


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.

sketch to VW, a VW functionary called back immediately and told 'em
"Yeah, that's it, run with it!" They slapped patent papers on it and
put it into production.

It does sound as if it runs in the family.

Seems like. A cousin made a bloody fortune with his advertsing agency,
"retired" into being the Art Director for the Franklin Mint, was
elected a Fellow in the American Water Color Society and at 86 he
still has one-man shows in NYC twice a month. He's also a train nut, a
Pennsy fan. I have one of his train watercolors, one of his few
whimsical blasts from the past. One of these days I'll cobble together
a website and post it.

Do it!

I bought an S-40A from W7LR a few years back.

Still have it?

Oh yes, fully restored and sitting on a shelf to my right.

Uh-huh . . . Hmmm . .

I'm not sure if I was ever aware of Loewy's role in the S-40 or not.
But I am now. It's definitely a "coherent" design. That was his trick,
integrate form and function. Not much of a rcvr though.

No, not at all. Hallicrafters (and many other firms) were still building
the same basic receivers in a variety of cabinets through the decades
with few innovations or variations.

AMC Honda. Hallicrafters Kenwood.


W4JBP willed me his 1937 Hallicrafters Sky Challenger years back.

. . . there's a gooder . . . get it yet?

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, I'd have to say
that the RME-69 has it beat. 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 and the 51S-1 for general coverage.

You might enjoy this link.

http://www.almo.com/corporate/history.asp

I'll take a look.

In the end what matters is today and my view is that when it comes to
finding "good stuff" it's all out on the web in volumes the Almos and
RESCOS of days of yore never had.

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.

Tell me, I have a zonked TS-940SAT with all the options except the
voice card, it's been updated by the Kenwood factory shop to the final
production design and it's loaded with filters. I love the radio but
it's full of creaky old point-to-point wiring, weird switches,
unmarked ICs, etc. I found a local shop which specializes in 930/940s
and as soon as I get it fixed I'm gonna dump it and run with the money
while it's still worth a few bucks.

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.



"There were some local QRPers up the hill last week, the group including
one of those serious types. His beady eyes were everywhere, questioning
and checking. And the QRPers got to talking of Red Eye and the Palo
Verdes bunch, and Slim and the Hero of Mafeking. So we had to tell them
about the JA who in all seriousness had asked that alongside the obscure
jokes we place an explanation of what we meant. Perhaps we should have
kept the file sealed. 'Jokes?', says this serious one. 'Obscure jokes?
Where are they? Why, I've been reading the bulletin for some years now
and while there are things that sometimes I do not understand, I have
not noticed any jokes.' Son of a Gun!! What does one do in a situation
like that? The sky was blue, the day was warm and there had been a slow
joy in the group as they talked. But we realized that like a lot of
things, humor and DX and home cooking, that most things are relative and
sometimes more so. So we told the beady-eyed one that we would
underline them in his copy from now on, a service that perhaps others
might want and use. And for $14.00 a year, the enigmas of DX will
comeyour way in inscrutable prose, tangled, twisted and tortured...and
maybe stretched a bit. $18.00 will fling it at you by first-class mail
to the U.S./VE areas. $20.00 will fly it far down the moonpath to
Mexico and all the lands below the Tropic of Cancer and beyond the
meridians. Someday we may get the message...someday someone might get
the message to us."

Heh. Yeah, I gotta read some of 'em. We used to needle the clueless,
the innocnet and the gullible with our "secret communications" from
the "Bowling Team Captain's Committee".

Not too much changes. After all, we're still needling the clueless, the
innocent and the gullible.

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".

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.

Dave K8MN