RadioBanter - arrl needs to grow up

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arrl needs to grow up

The league needs to be more tolerant of cbers. I believe the cbers to be
far superior lately, in the advancements of electronics and look beyond our
front yards. Look at us hams, we are at a standstill and the cbers are miles
ahead of us in both technology and intellect. We need cbers in the ARRL to
assist us before we destroy ourselves.We can all learn from the cbers and
their ingenuity, especially their mobile applications. Think about --I'm
crisco kathy and I approve this message

"KC8QJP" wrote in message
...
The league needs to be more tolerant of cbers. I believe the cbers to
be
far superior lately, in the advancements of electronics and look
beyond our
front yards. Look at us hams, we are at a standstill and the cbers are
miles
ahead of us in both technology and intellect. We need cbers in the
ARRL to
assist us before we destroy ourselves.We can all learn from the cbers
and
their ingenuity, especially their mobile applications. Think
about --I'm crisco kathy and I approve this message

The Armenian judges gave this a 9.8 on the Olympic Troll-O-Meter, but
they were over-ruled by the umpires in instant replay, who award it a
1.4.

The Armenian judges lodged a formal protest!

It was sufficiently trollish, of course, but way too obvious. It was
poorly written, poorly executed, and was so incredibly lame as to lack
the true drawing power of a really masterful troll.

Maybe as high as a 1.6 for the intense stupidity of the premise, but a
9.8? Never!

The Armenian judges tear their hair out, throw their balalaikas down in
dismay, and perform the traditional Armenian Dismay Chant!

They demand a recount!

73, de Hans, K0HB
--
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~k0hb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KC8QJP wrote:

Better change your account's password. It seems that
some hacker used it to post a troll...

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:00:11 -0400, KC8QJP wrote:

The league needs to be more tolerant of cbers. I believe the cbers to be
far superior lately, in the advancements of electronics and look beyond our
front yards. Look at us hams, we are at a standstill and the cbers are miles
ahead of us in both technology and intellect. We need cbers in the ARRL to
assist us before we destroy ourselves.We can all learn from the cbers and
their ingenuity, especially their mobile applications. Think about --I'm
crisco kathy and I approve this message

Ummmm.....Errrrr......BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA!!!!!!!

That's a hoot and a holler!

"KØHB" wrote in message link.net...
"KC8QJP" wrote in message
...
The league needs to be more tolerant of cbers. I believe the cbers to
be
far superior lately, in the advancements of electronics and look
beyond our
front yards. Look at us hams, we are at a standstill and the cbers are
miles
ahead of us in both technology and intellect. We need cbers in the
ARRL to
assist us before we destroy ourselves.We can all learn from the cbers
and
their ingenuity, especially their mobile applications. Think
about --I'm crisco kathy and I approve this message

The Armenian judges gave this a 9.8 on the Olympic Troll-O-Meter, but
they were over-ruled by the umpires in instant replay, who award it a
1.4.

The Armenian judges lodged a formal protest!

It was sufficiently trollish, of course, but way too obvious. It was
poorly written, poorly executed, and was so incredibly lame as to lack
the true drawing power of a really masterful troll.

Maybe as high as a 1.6 for the intense stupidity of the premise, but a
9.8? Never!

The Armenian judges tear their hair out, throw their balalaikas down in
dismay, and perform the traditional Armenian Dismay Chant!

They demand a recount!

73, de Hans, K0HB

No Hans, she is correct. Doug (N8WWM) spends a lot of time in the CB
newsgroups. Learning about tweaking his amps, and antenna design. He
even had a CB'er design a 6 meter antenna that he now markets on Ebay.

"KC8QJP" wrote in
:

The league needs to be more tolerant of cbers. I believe the cbers to
be far superior lately, in the advancements of electronics and look
beyond our front yards. Look at us hams, we are at a standstill and
the cbers are miles ahead of us in both technology and intellect. We
need cbers in the ARRL to assist us before we destroy ourselves.We can
all learn from the cbers and their ingenuity, especially their mobile
applications. Think about --I'm crisco kathy and I approve this
message

The 30 Steps below will help all New Hams, it will also help you to find
others just like yourself. These 30 steps should also be added to the
present writtens.

Step One: Use as many "Q" signals as possible. Yes, I know they were
invented solely for CW and are totally inappropriate for two meter FM,
but they are fun and entertaining. They keep people guessing as to what
you really meant. I.E. "I'm going to QSY to the phone." Can you really
change frequencies to the phone? QSL used to mean, "I am acknowledging
receipt", but now it appears to mean, "yes" or "OK". I guess I missed it
when the ARRL changed the meaning. It is also best to use "OK" and "QSL"
together. Redundancy is the better part of Lid-dom.

Step Two: Never laugh when you can say "HI HI". No one will ever know you
aren't a long time CW rag-chewer if you don't tell them. They'll think
you've been on since the days of Marconi.

Step Three: Utilize an alternative vocabulary. Use words like
"destinated" and "negatory". It's OK to make up your own words here. I.E.
"Yeah Tom, I "pheelbart zaphonix" occasionally myself."

Step Four: Always say "XX4XXX" (Insert your own call) "for I.D." As
mentioned in Step One, anything that creates redundancy is always
encouraged. That's why we have the Department of Redundancy Department.
(Please note that you can follow your call with "for identification
purposes" instead of "for I.D." While taking longer to say, it is worth
more "LID points".

Step Five: The better the copy on two meter FM, the more you should use
phonetics. Names should be especially used if they are short or common
ones. I.E. "My name is Al... Alpha Lima" or "Jack.. Juliet Alpha Charlie
Kilo." If at all possible use the less common HF phonetics "A4SM...
America, Number Four, Sugar Mexico." And for maximum "LID points", make
up unintelligible phonetics. "My name is Bob... Billibong Oregano
Bumperpool."

Step Six: Always give the calls of yourself and everyone who is (or has
been) in the group, whether they are still there or not. While this has
been unnecessary for years, it is still a great memory test. You may also
use "and the group" if you are an "old timer" or just have a bad memory.
Extra points for saying everyone's call and then clearing in a silly way
"K2PKK, Chow, Chow."

Step Seven: Whenever possible, use the wrong terminology. It keeps people
guessing. Use "modulation" when you mean "deviation", and vice-versa.

Step Eight: If someone asks for a break, always finish your turn, taking
as long as possible before turning it over. Whenever possible, pass it
around a few times first. This will discourage the breaker, and if it is
an emergency, encourage him to switch to another repeater and not bother
you.

Step Nine: Always ask involved questions of the person who is trying to
sign out. Never let him get by with just a "yes" or "no" answer. Make it
a question that will take him a long time to answer.

Step Ten: The less you know on a subject, the more you should speculate
about it in the roundtable. Also the amount of time you spend on the
subject should be inversely proportionate to your knowledge of the
subject even though you have no damn clue.

Step Eleven: Always make sure you try to communicate with only a handheld
and a rubber duck antenna. Also, make sure you work through a repeater
that you can hear very well, but it cannot hear you. This will put out a
kind of "LID mating call": "Well, Joe, I can hear the repeater just fine
here. I wonder why it can't hear me?" You will score maximum LID points
if you are mobile, and with the radio lying in the passenger seat.

Step Twelve: If you hear two amateurs start a conversation, wait until
they are twenty seconds into their contact, and then break in to make a
call, or better yet to use the auto-patch. Make sure you keep the
repeater tied up for at least three minutes. This way, once the two have
re-established contact, they won't even remember what they were talking
about.

Step Thirteen: You hear someone on the repeater giving directions to a
visiting amateur. Even if the directions are good, make sure you break in
with your own "alternate route but better way to get there" version. This
is most effective with several other "would-be LIDs", each giving a
different route. By the time the visiting amateur unscrambles all the
street names whizzing by in his mind, he should have moved out of the
range of the repeater. This keeps you from having to stick around to help
the guy get back out of town, later.

Step Fourteen: If an annoying station is bothering you, make sure your
other "LID" buddies have a "coded" frequency list. Even though "CODES"
are strictly forbidden on Amateur Radio, it's really neat to practice
"James Bond" tactics.

Step Fifteen: Always use the National Calling Frequency for general
conversations. The more uninteresting, the longer you should use it.
Extra points are awarded if you have recently move from an adjacent
frequency for no reason. Make sure when DX is "rolling" in on 52.525 that
you hang out there and talk to your friends five miles down the road
about the good old CB days!

Step Sixteen: Make sure that if you have a personal problem with someone,
you should voice your opinion in a public forum, especially a net. Make
sure you give their name, call, and any other identifying remarks. For
maximum points, make sure the person in question is not on the repeater,
or not available.

Step Seventeen: Make sure you say the first few words of each
transmission twice, especially if it is the same thing each time. Like
"roger, roger" or "fine business, fine business". I cannot stress enough
about encouraging redundancy.

Step Eighteen: If you hear a conversation on a local repeater, break in
and ask how each station is receiving you. Of course they will only see
the signal of the repeater you are using, but it's that magic moment when
you can find a fellow "LID", and get the report. Extra points are awarded
if you are using a base station, and the repeater is less than twenty-
five air miles from you.

Step Nineteen: Use the repeater for an hour or two at a time, preventing
others from using it. Better yet, do it on a daily basis. Your quest is
to make people so sick of hearing your voice every time they turn on
their radio, they'll move to another frequency. This way you'll lighten
the load on the repeater, leaving even more time for you to talk on it.

Step Twenty: See just how much flutter you can generate by operating at
handheld power levels too far away from the repeater. Engage people in
conversations when you know they wont be able to copy half of what your
saying. Even when they say your uncopyable, continue to string them along
by making further transmissions. See just how frustrated you can make the
other amateur before he finally signs off in disgust.

Step Twenty One: Use lots of radio jargon. After all, it makes you feel
important using words ordinary people don't say. Who cares if it makes
you sound like you just fell off Channel 19 on the citizen's Band? Use
phrases such as "Roger on that", "10-4", "I'm on the side", "Your making
the trip" and "Negatory on that".

Step Twenty Two: Use excessive microphone gain. See just how loud you can
make your audio. Make sure the audio gain is so high that other amateurs
can hear any bugs crawling on your floor. If mobile, make sure the wind
noise is loud enough that others have to strain to pick your words out
from all the racket.

Step Twenty Three: Start every transmission with the word "Roger" or
"QSL". Sure, you don't need to acknowledge that you received the other
transmission in full. After all, you would simply ask for a repeat if you
missed something. But consider it your gift to the other amateur to give
him solace every few seconds that his transmissions are being received.

Step Twenty Four: When looking for a contact on a repeater, always say
your "listening" or "monitoring" multiple times. I've always found that
at least a half dozen times or so is good. Repeating your multiple
"listening" ID's every 10 to 15 seconds is even better. Those people who
didn't want to talk to you will eventually call you, hoping you'll go
away after you have finally made a contact.

Step Twenty Five: Always use a repeater, even if you can work the other
station easily on simplex ... especially if you can make the contact on
simplex. The coverage of the repeater you use should be inversely
proportional to your distance from the other station.

Step Twenty Six: When on repeaters using courtesy tones, you should
always say "over". Courtesy tones are designed to let everyone know when
you have unkeyed but don't let that stop you. Say "over", "back to you"
or "go ahead". It serves no useful purpose but don't worry, it's still
fun!

Step Twenty Seven: Use the repeater's autopatch for frivolous routine
calls... especially during morning or evening commute times. While
pulling into the neighborhood, call home to let them know you'll be there
in two minutes.... or, call your spouse to complain about the bad day you
had at work. After all, the club has "measured rate" service on their
phone line so they get charged for each autopatch call. Your endeavor is
to make so many patches in a year that you cost the club at least $20 in
phone bills. That way you'll feel you got your money's worth for your
dues!

Step Twenty Eight: Never say "My name is ....." It makes you sound human.
If at all possible, use one of the following phrases: a) "The personal
here is ..." b) "The handle here is..."

Step Twenty Nine: Use "73" and "88" incorrectly. Both are already
considered plural, but add a "s" to the end anyway. Say "73's" or "88's".
Who cares if it means "best regards" and "love and kisses." Better yet,
say "seventy thirds"! (By the way, seventy thirds equals about 23.3).

Step Thirty: If the repeater is off the air for service, complain about
the fact that it was off the air as soon as it's turned back on. Act as
though your entire day has been ruined because the repeater wasn't
available when you wanted to use it. Even thought you have never paid a
penny to help out with the upkeep of it.

courtesy of WA8ULX.

73's & 88's, de Roger Wilkoe.

thanks roger ill try those...........i prefer the ten code much more
"Roger Wilkoe" wrote in message
...
"KC8QJP" wrote in
:

The league needs to be more tolerant of cbers. I believe the cbers to
be far superior lately, in the advancements of electronics and look
beyond our front yards. Look at us hams, we are at a standstill and
the cbers are miles ahead of us in both technology and intellect. We
need cbers in the ARRL to assist us before we destroy ourselves.We can
all learn from the cbers and their ingenuity, especially their mobile
applications. Think about --I'm crisco kathy and I approve this
message

The 30 Steps below will help all New Hams, it will also help you to find
others just like yourself. These 30 steps should also be added to the
present writtens.

Step One: Use as many "Q" signals as possible. Yes, I know they were
invented solely for CW and are totally inappropriate for two meter FM,
but they are fun and entertaining. They keep people guessing as to what
you really meant. I.E. "I'm going to QSY to the phone." Can you really
change frequencies to the phone? QSL used to mean, "I am acknowledging
receipt", but now it appears to mean, "yes" or "OK". I guess I missed it
when the ARRL changed the meaning. It is also best to use "OK" and "QSL"
together. Redundancy is the better part of Lid-dom.

Step Two: Never laugh when you can say "HI HI". No one will ever know you
aren't a long time CW rag-chewer if you don't tell them. They'll think
you've been on since the days of Marconi.

Step Three: Utilize an alternative vocabulary. Use words like
"destinated" and "negatory". It's OK to make up your own words here. I.E.
"Yeah Tom, I "pheelbart zaphonix" occasionally myself."

Step Four: Always say "XX4XXX" (Insert your own call) "for I.D." As
mentioned in Step One, anything that creates redundancy is always
encouraged. That's why we have the Department of Redundancy Department.
(Please note that you can follow your call with "for identification
purposes" instead of "for I.D." While taking longer to say, it is worth
more "LID points".

Step Five: The better the copy on two meter FM, the more you should use
phonetics. Names should be especially used if they are short or common
ones. I.E. "My name is Al... Alpha Lima" or "Jack.. Juliet Alpha Charlie
Kilo." If at all possible use the less common HF phonetics "A4SM...
America, Number Four, Sugar Mexico." And for maximum "LID points", make
up unintelligible phonetics. "My name is Bob... Billibong Oregano
Bumperpool."

Step Six: Always give the calls of yourself and everyone who is (or has
been) in the group, whether they are still there or not. While this has
been unnecessary for years, it is still a great memory test. You may also
use "and the group" if you are an "old timer" or just have a bad memory.
Extra points for saying everyone's call and then clearing in a silly way
"K2PKK, Chow, Chow."

Step Seven: Whenever possible, use the wrong terminology. It keeps people
guessing. Use "modulation" when you mean "deviation", and vice-versa.

Step Eight: If someone asks for a break, always finish your turn, taking
as long as possible before turning it over. Whenever possible, pass it
around a few times first. This will discourage the breaker, and if it is
an emergency, encourage him to switch to another repeater and not bother
you.

Step Nine: Always ask involved questions of the person who is trying to
sign out. Never let him get by with just a "yes" or "no" answer. Make it
a question that will take him a long time to answer.

Step Ten: The less you know on a subject, the more you should speculate
about it in the roundtable. Also the amount of time you spend on the
subject should be inversely proportionate to your knowledge of the
subject even though you have no damn clue.

Step Eleven: Always make sure you try to communicate with only a handheld
and a rubber duck antenna. Also, make sure you work through a repeater
that you can hear very well, but it cannot hear you. This will put out a
kind of "LID mating call": "Well, Joe, I can hear the repeater just fine
here. I wonder why it can't hear me?" You will score maximum LID points
if you are mobile, and with the radio lying in the passenger seat.

Step Twelve: If you hear two amateurs start a conversation, wait until
they are twenty seconds into their contact, and then break in to make a
call, or better yet to use the auto-patch. Make sure you keep the
repeater tied up for at least three minutes. This way, once the two have
re-established contact, they won't even remember what they were talking
about.

Step Thirteen: You hear someone on the repeater giving directions to a
visiting amateur. Even if the directions are good, make sure you break in
with your own "alternate route but better way to get there" version. This
is most effective with several other "would-be LIDs", each giving a
different route. By the time the visiting amateur unscrambles all the
street names whizzing by in his mind, he should have moved out of the
range of the repeater. This keeps you from having to stick around to help
the guy get back out of town, later.

Step Fourteen: If an annoying station is bothering you, make sure your
other "LID" buddies have a "coded" frequency list. Even though "CODES"
are strictly forbidden on Amateur Radio, it's really neat to practice
"James Bond" tactics.

Step Fifteen: Always use the National Calling Frequency for general
conversations. The more uninteresting, the longer you should use it.
Extra points are awarded if you have recently move from an adjacent
frequency for no reason. Make sure when DX is "rolling" in on 52.525 that
you hang out there and talk to your friends five miles down the road
about the good old CB days!

Step Sixteen: Make sure that if you have a personal problem with someone,
you should voice your opinion in a public forum, especially a net. Make
sure you give their name, call, and any other identifying remarks. For
maximum points, make sure the person in question is not on the repeater,
or not available.

Step Seventeen: Make sure you say the first few words of each
transmission twice, especially if it is the same thing each time. Like
"roger, roger" or "fine business, fine business". I cannot stress enough
about encouraging redundancy.

Step Eighteen: If you hear a conversation on a local repeater, break in
and ask how each station is receiving you. Of course they will only see
the signal of the repeater you are using, but it's that magic moment when
you can find a fellow "LID", and get the report. Extra points are awarded
if you are using a base station, and the repeater is less than twenty-
five air miles from you.

Step Nineteen: Use the repeater for an hour or two at a time, preventing
others from using it. Better yet, do it on a daily basis. Your quest is
to make people so sick of hearing your voice every time they turn on
their radio, they'll move to another frequency. This way you'll lighten
the load on the repeater, leaving even more time for you to talk on it.

Step Twenty: See just how much flutter you can generate by operating at
handheld power levels too far away from the repeater. Engage people in
conversations when you know they wont be able to copy half of what your
saying. Even when they say your uncopyable, continue to string them along
by making further transmissions. See just how frustrated you can make the
other amateur before he finally signs off in disgust.

Step Twenty One: Use lots of radio jargon. After all, it makes you feel
important using words ordinary people don't say. Who cares if it makes
you sound like you just fell off Channel 19 on the citizen's Band? Use
phrases such as "Roger on that", "10-4", "I'm on the side", "Your making
the trip" and "Negatory on that".

Step Twenty Two: Use excessive microphone gain. See just how loud you can
make your audio. Make sure the audio gain is so high that other amateurs
can hear any bugs crawling on your floor. If mobile, make sure the wind
noise is loud enough that others have to strain to pick your words out
from all the racket.

Step Twenty Three: Start every transmission with the word "Roger" or
"QSL". Sure, you don't need to acknowledge that you received the other
transmission in full. After all, you would simply ask for a repeat if you
missed something. But consider it your gift to the other amateur to give
him solace every few seconds that his transmissions are being received.

Step Twenty Four: When looking for a contact on a repeater, always say
your "listening" or "monitoring" multiple times. I've always found that
at least a half dozen times or so is good. Repeating your multiple
"listening" ID's every 10 to 15 seconds is even better. Those people who
didn't want to talk to you will eventually call you, hoping you'll go
away after you have finally made a contact.

Step Twenty Five: Always use a repeater, even if you can work the other
station easily on simplex ... especially if you can make the contact on
simplex. The coverage of the repeater you use should be inversely
proportional to your distance from the other station.

Step Twenty Six: When on repeaters using courtesy tones, you should
always say "over". Courtesy tones are designed to let everyone know when
you have unkeyed but don't let that stop you. Say "over", "back to you"
or "go ahead". It serves no useful purpose but don't worry, it's still
fun!

Step Twenty Seven: Use the repeater's autopatch for frivolous routine
calls... especially during morning or evening commute times. While
pulling into the neighborhood, call home to let them know you'll be there
in two minutes.... or, call your spouse to complain about the bad day you
had at work. After all, the club has "measured rate" service on their
phone line so they get charged for each autopatch call. Your endeavor is
to make so many patches in a year that you cost the club at least $20 in
phone bills. That way you'll feel you got your money's worth for your
dues!

Step Twenty Eight: Never say "My name is ....." It makes you sound human.
If at all possible, use one of the following phrases: a) "The personal
here is ..." b) "The handle here is..."

Step Twenty Nine: Use "73" and "88" incorrectly. Both are already
considered plural, but add a "s" to the end anyway. Say "73's" or "88's".
Who cares if it means "best regards" and "love and kisses." Better yet,
say "seventy thirds"! (By the way, seventy thirds equals about 23.3).

Step Thirty: If the repeater is off the air for service, complain about
the fact that it was off the air as soon as it's turned back on. Act as
though your entire day has been ruined because the repeater wasn't
available when you wanted to use it. Even thought you have never paid a
penny to help out with the upkeep of it.

courtesy of WA8ULX.

73's & 88's, de Roger Wilkoe.

Step Five: The better the copy on two meter FM, the more you should use
phonetics. Names should be especially used if they are short or common
ones. I.E. "My name is Al... Alpha Lima" or "Jack.. Juliet Alpha Charlie
Kilo." If at all possible use the less common HF phonetics "A4SM...
America, Number Four, Sugar Mexico." And for maximum "LID points", make
up unintelligible phonetics. "My name is Bob... Billibong Oregano
Bumperpool."

I use phonetics on CW and packet! :-)

I sure do wish we could have seen this thread stay alive without all the
trash that got wrapped up in it!

Oh well...

Kim W5TIT

In article , "Kim"
writes:

I sure do wish we could have seen this thread stay alive without all the
trash that got wrapped up in it!

Would you like another story, Kim?

Here's one....

Back in 1968, age 14, I went on Field Day for the first time. Back then 6 meter
AM was big in this area - lots of hams had 6 meter mobile rigs as well as home
setups.

That FD, I wound up at the 6 meter AM (yes, on 'phone) setup late at night. The
rig was a Lafayette HA-460 - 10 watts of AM with tunable receiver and
transmitter. (While it was all in one box, it had separate dials for the
receiver and transmitter frequency). Antenna was a 5 element Yagi at about 50
feet.

Fortunately my voice had changed enough by then that I never got "The WA3 YL
station, please repeat....."

Now some might decry such a setup as "primitive", but we worked close to 200
stations with it - and we weren't serious contest operators at all. Nor was the
club a serious contest outfit; it was just some folks who put on a half-serious
FD with whatever came to hand.

With the beam and the conditions, we got as far north as Massachusetts, as far
south as Maryland and as far west as Ohio. Lots and LOTs of EPA, SNJ, NNJ, and
DE stations. Never a real band opening, though, or we'd have been all over the
country.

The big challenge was those stations which were on SSB. In those days there
were few amateur VHF SSB stations, but those few counted for points just the
same. The HA-460 had no BFO, so the SSB was garbled as heck. But if you turned
on the transmitter "spot" switch and adjusted the transmitter frequency dial
*very* carefully, you could make some sense of an SSB signal if the other op
repeated enough times. We pulled at least a dozen SSB-to-AM QSOs that way.

Stayed up all night (for the first time!) and operated while the grownups
snoozed in their cars or went home. Got home about 3 Sunday afternoon, hot and
tired, having had a great FD. That was also the first time I uttered the
contester's immortal words: "Wait till *next* year!"

I still remember the call - WA3CCP, the old "ARTICS" radio club. (Yes, I know
the right spelling is "arctic" but they spelled the club name differently.
Stood for Amateur Radio Technical Inter-County Society).

36 years and 36 FDs later, it's still great fun.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "Kim"

Fortunately my voice had changed enough by then that I never got "The WA3
YL
station, please repeat....."

Some of us alto voiced YLs get the "you're off frequency" because they don't
realize that we are YLs and just think we aren't tuned in right since we
sound only a touch high to them!

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "Kim"
writes:

I sure do wish we could have seen this thread stay alive without all the
trash that got wrapped up in it!

Would you like another story, Kim?

Here's one....

Back in 1968, age 14, I went on Field Day for the first time. Back then 6
meter
AM was big in this area - lots of hams had 6 meter mobile rigs as well as
home
setups.

That FD, I wound up at the 6 meter AM (yes, on 'phone) setup late at
night. The
rig was a Lafayette HA-460 - 10 watts of AM with tunable receiver and
transmitter. (While it was all in one box, it had separate dials for the
receiver and transmitter frequency). Antenna was a 5 element Yagi at about
50
feet.

Fortunately my voice had changed enough by then that I never got "The WA3
YL
station, please repeat....."

Now some might decry such a setup as "primitive", but we worked close to
200
stations with it - and we weren't serious contest operators at all. Nor
was the
club a serious contest outfit; it was just some folks who put on a
half-serious
FD with whatever came to hand.

With the beam and the conditions, we got as far north as Massachusetts, as
far
south as Maryland and as far west as Ohio. Lots and LOTs of EPA, SNJ, NNJ,
and
DE stations. Never a real band opening, though, or we'd have been all over
the
country.

The big challenge was those stations which were on SSB. In those days
there
were few amateur VHF SSB stations, but those few counted for points just
the
same. The HA-460 had no BFO, so the SSB was garbled as heck. But if you
turned
on the transmitter "spot" switch and adjusted the transmitter frequency
dial
*very* carefully, you could make some sense of an SSB signal if the other
op
repeated enough times. We pulled at least a dozen SSB-to-AM QSOs that way.

Stayed up all night (for the first time!) and operated while the grownups
snoozed in their cars or went home. Got home about 3 Sunday afternoon, hot
and
tired, having had a great FD. That was also the first time I uttered the
contester's immortal words: "Wait till *next* year!"

I still remember the call - WA3CCP, the old "ARTICS" radio club. (Yes, I
know
the right spelling is "arctic" but they spelled the club name differently.
Stood for Amateur Radio Technical Inter-County Society).

36 years and 36 FDs later, it's still great fun.

73 de Jim, N2EY

Great FD story Jim.....here is my first FD story.

I was a brand new General and the local club (W8LKY) in Alliance Ohio had
their annual FD. I too also operated six meters, but with a Clegg 99er. I
loved it when you mentioned the method of tuning in a ssb and or cw station.
I did the same thing at FD and at home.

I have lots of ham radio stories, but as Kim says, this thread is a mess.
We shall see.

Dan/W4NTI

"Dee D. Flint" wrote in message
...

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "Kim"

Fortunately my voice had changed enough by then that I never got "The
WA3
YL
station, please repeat....."

Some of us alto voiced YLs get the "you're off frequency" because they
don't
realize that we are YLs and just think we aren't tuned in right since we
sound only a touch high to them!

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Real hams do it on High Frequency, or is that with??? You do know of
course that the High Pitch of a female voice will come through a pileup
don't ya? In fact that is why all these deep voiced males try to add Heil 5
sound to their SSB signals... hi.

Dan/W4NTI

In article . net, "Dan/W4NTI"
w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com writes:

Great FD story Jim.....

Thanks!

here is my first FD story.

I was a brand new General and the local club (W8LKY) in Alliance Ohio had
their annual FD. I too also operated six meters, but with a Clegg 99er.

NICE!

The Utica 650 was popular around here as, as were the various PolyComms and of
course the ubiquitous Gooney Birds. Clegg was for the rich folks ;-)

I
loved it when you mentioned the method of tuning in a ssb and or cw station.
I did the same thing at FD and at home.

I have lots of ham radio stories, but as Kim says, this thread is a mess.
We shall see.

We can straighten it out by telling the stories!

I'd love to hear more.

Perhaps I will dig up my old logs and see when we first worked each other in
SS. I always remembered your call because yours was not an easy section from
EPA.

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , "Dee D. Flint"
writes:

"N2EY" wrote in message
...
In article , "Kim"

Fortunately my voice had changed enough by then that I never got "The WA3
YL
station, please repeat....."

Some of us alto voiced YLs get the "you're off frequency" because they don't
realize that we are YLs and just think we aren't tuned in right since we
sound only a touch high to them!

HAW! How times have changed!

On AM, of course, voice pitch doesn't change with tuning so that doesn't
happen.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"N2EY" wrote in message

Perhaps I will dig up my old logs and see when we first worked each other
in
SS. I always remembered your call because yours was not an easy section
from
EPA.

73 de Jim, N2EY

That would be interesting. It would have to be after very late in the year
of 79. I had just come back from duty in Germany then. I don't remember if
I got into contesting again at that time or not. For sure after early 81
tho. Been at it hard ever since.

Got this license while overseas, traded it for a K8 from Ohio when I
decided to call Bama home.

I'll see how this thread goes and add some as I can.

Dan/W4NTI

"Kim" wrote in message .com...
I sure do wish we could have seen this thread stay alive without all the
trash that got wrapped up in it!

How about another story, then?

Back in the early 1970s I was active in the section and region NTS
nets. CW of course! We handled all sorts of traffic in all sorts of
conditions. Even my modest homebrew setup was effective on 80 meters
EPA and 3RN. Being a regular scheduled NCS and region rep for EPA
while still in high school is an experience I'm gald I didn't miss.

Now of course in such net operations one becomes very familiar with
the other regulars - to the point that all you need is to hear a few
letters of their signal to know who it is. Net members helped each
other in various ways, such as locating inexpensive parts, antenna
parties, etc.

One year I was looking for something different to do on FD, so I asked
around if anybody needed operators. Two hams who weren't that far away
offered to let me join their group. Turned out they were into QRP CW,
back when such operations usually meant homebrew, because the
manufacturers hadn't caught up yet.

So I wound up on the banks of the Schuylkill with "The Schuylkill
River Rats". The four of us put up a simple parallel dipole between
two trees, set up a surplus tent, table and chairs, and ran a pair of
cables over to the battery in someone's car. Hooked up the rig and we
were ready to go.

Now the rig we used was something unique. It was homebrew, of course,
covering 80 and 40 meters. It was a transceiver, with all solid state
devices except for the driver (12AU6) and final (1625) tubes. With a
small external power supply for high voltage, it could run as low as 5
watts for the QRP class or as high as 75 watts for home use. We ran
QRP, of course.

The receiver part was direct-conversion, with a phasing-type system to
eliminate the unwanted sideband. It worked pretty well, particularly
since it only had to deal with a relatively small audio range, since
CW needed only a small audio pass band.

It was built in the chassis of an old early-1930s-vintage National
FB-7 receiver, using only the case, tuning capacitor and dial. That
FB-7 would be worth a lot more today in its original condition, but
back then "old stuff" was all over the place for rock-bottom prices.

We made quite a few QSOs with that setup. IIRC something like 330 QSOs
with just 80/40 QRP CW and the dipole. I learned a lot about rig
design, QRP operating and Field Daying with a small group.

When it was done, taking the setup down was a breeze - we were on our
way home in an hour. I was skeptical about whether the engine in the
battery-supply-car would start, but it turned over and caught first
time. Maybe cars had bigger batteries then, or perhaps it was the old
Dodge Slant 6...

In any event, that started my interest in serious QRP and small-group
FDing.

(fast forward more than three decades)

A few months ago, a local ham gave me a pile of stuff he just wanted
to be rid of. Among the pile were a bunch of old copies of the
magazine "ham radio" (they didn't use capitals - trying to emulate
e.e.cummings or k.d.lang or some such). They were all early issues,
from 1968 to about 1975. I'd never been a subscriber but I had read a
few of them, back in the day.

Once they were properly stored, I pulled out a copy at random to read
- July, 1969. Flipped through it and suddenly got chills - there, on
page 14, was the FD rig we'd used so long ago! Article was by the
leader of our group, Cliff, W3NNL, who had designed and built it. Boy,
did that bring back memories!

73 de Jim, N2EY