K4YZ wrote:

"Now You're Talking" is for folks with no prior background. The
idea being to introduce those who DON'T have that prior background.


They insisted that everyone had to buy the book, no matter their
background.


I offered to help maintain their club equipment but they
brushed me off because I don't have a ham ticket. I still have a
half
way decent RF bench, but nothing compared to the $1,000,000 plus
benches
of test equipment I had at Microdyne.

I am sure the offer was appreicated, Mike, it it IS an "Amateur
Radio" club. Do you have an aversion to getting licensed?



No, but If I had to send CW I would have to use a computer keyboard
because my hands are stiff and I have almost no feeling left, other than
a constant dull pain. The ability to do delicate work at any reasonable
speed is gone. I have severe tinitus and get migraines easily so
listening to the heterodynes and static quickly trigger headaches so I
can't even think about long hours of listening to HF signals like I did
as a kid.


Welcome to RRAP, wherein our resident
"used-to-be-an-engineer-and-know-everything-better-than-you"
representitive, Len "Lennie" Anderson endears himself and makes friends
by calling them Nazis, thugs, elitists, etc, then crying foul when
"called" on it.


Thanks!

Trust me on that if you haven't seen others' received
flak.

Trusting Lennie Anderson on ANYthing is like letting Jack
Kevorkian make your health care decisions for you.

Do a Google on ", ",
(before winter 2001, I believe...)

Lennie's "reputation" for honesty, trustworthiness and
dependability are less than adequate.

Still a professional electron pusher (and long-time
electronics hobbyist) but one doesn't do it during
regular office hours.

You don't do it during OFF hours either, judging by your complete
lack of evidence on ANY "hobbyist" project other than listening to the
ATIS at LAX on your scanner.

Hope you'll get a ticket at one level or another, Mike...there's
a lot of fun to be had...If some club was rude to you, don't think it's
the whole tamale.


I have been around hams and radio clubs since the '60s. Some are the
salt of the earth, and others are a pain in the ass just like any other
large group of people. One club was strictly for the rich blowhards who
did nothing but argue about who spent the most o their radios, had the
biggest lightning farm in their back 40 but they never seemed to do
anything but argue with each other. A few other small groups were
interested in homebrewing a complete station, and had a good grounding
in electronics. You could have conversations about equipment, design
and operating the equipment and they knew what they were talking about.
I helped start the ham radio club at my high school in the late '60s.
The school system provided us with a small corner for the radios and a
teacher for a couple hours a week so we could be in the school after
hours. I got people to donate dead radios and TVs. I repaired them,
sold them and raised close to $1000 to buy parts and equipment. As soon
as the station was on the air the three licensed hams in the club spent
all their time either on the air tying up all the equipment or arguing
that it wasn't their fault no one else could use it because they didn't
have a license, rather than do like they promised and help others learn
the code and get their ticket. Not long after that I was drafted and
spent a couple years in the Army. After that I did two way radio
repair, broadcast and electronics manufacturing. These days the only
mode i would enjoy would be VHF or higher, and I'd probably spend more
time building radios than using them. BTW, the board of directors of
the local club has a couple retired EEs who look down on everyone else
who doesn't have a degree, or hasn't been on the air for teen years or
more. I know a number of local hams who dropped out of the club and
gave up on ham radio altogether because of club politics. The only thing
they seem to do right is have their small hamfest at their club
headquarters and not charge people for a ticket to enter to buy or
browse. I went to the last one to try to find some old friends and came
home with a full truckload of parts and damaged old equipment to repair
or use for parts. I ran into a half dozen people I had lost contact
with and had a little fun, till my legs gave out.

When I lived in Ohio I sold parts and reconditioned equipment at the
Dayton and Cincinnati hamfests. I made a lot of friends and had a lot
of repeat customers but I find very few hams in Florida who even know
which end of a soldering iron to pick up. I had on guy yelling at me at
the last hamfest I sold at because I had computer cable and connectors,
but they weren't assembled. He was yelling, The day I can't buy what I
need already assembled, is the day i sell my station. I politely
suggested he sell it right away and do other hams a big favor by getting
off the air.



73

Steve, K4YZ

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida