[TowerTalk] Uggerumph update

[Guy Olinger, K2AV]

My dear LB,

After seeing the photograph you placed on your web page
(http://www.cebik.com/ugger.html), it is quite clear that what the ARRL
has is only an artifact. The Uggerumph has a problem that many older
denizens commonly have, the lack of a good set of teeth, and from time
to time must get a new set.

You might note how closely the ARRL's artifact resembles the jaw of a
shark, complete with teeth. If you saw the movie "Jaws", you will
remember the shark jaws on the wall of the old seaman's shop. Indeed
this particular set of teeth contain the embedded reason for the
discard, obviously having taken a bite out of someone's operating
position (for good reason) and getting part of it stuck.

Now, you must understand that TOM, himself, would never have seen the
U., and could not prove or disprove it's existence. Though, as a kindly
soul, he may have left food out to feed what he thought was a sick and
starving animal. I suppose that at some time he came out to find this
near where he left out the food, and kept it as a curiosity,
particularly since it may have had blood on it.

Now, look carefully at the oft maligned UGERUMF message, does it not
show a panicked operator barely able to send, even with his left foot,
as he is being dragged from his shack by the dreadful U. , scarcely able
to get out the name of his assailant and it's awful hand weapon?

And a year or so later, imagine that TOM meets the now well-behaved
operator, hears an unbelievable story, and sees in the man's scars the
exact pattern of the artifact, supposing that it had been wielded by an
angry victim of the operator's QRM and rotten operating. Why, the
reputation of the artifact was guaranteed with the appearance of new
stories like the operator's, spreading rumors of magical qualities,
somehow not quite making the connection with a wandering U. with a new
set of teeth.

But the rumored sightings, and shamed looks upon questioning, point to
the continued existence of the dreadful U. beyond the glass case at
ARRL, and into our time, where the operating on some frequencies has
become rotten to a level that would cause TOM to sink into despair.

The dreadful U. has been well fed for a long time now, and possibly may
be responsible for some portion of missing persons reports across the
country.

- - . . .   . . . - -     .   . . .     - - .   . - . .

73, Guy
k2av@contesting.com
Apex, NC, USA

----- Original Message -----
From: L. B. Cebik <cebik@utkux.utcc.utk.edu>
To: QRP-L List <qrp-l@lehigh.edu>; <towertalk@contesting.com>;
<antennas@qth.net>; <antennaware@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 8:02 AM
Subject: [TowerTalk] Uggerumph update


>
> I have received from ARRL HQ photos of the Uggerumph and further
accounts
> of its origins.  I have added some speculative history on how the
> instrument came to be viewed as animate and self-propelling by so many
who
> have written.  I hope the completion of the triumvirate of torture for
> rotten operating is enlightening--or at least enjoyable.
>
> -73-
>
> LB, W4RNL
>
> L. B. Cebik, W4RNL         /\  /\     *   /  /    /    Tel: (865)
938-6335
> 1434 High Mesa Drive      /  \/  \/\     ----/\---
http://www.cebik.com
> Knoxville, Tennessee     /\   \   \ \   /  / || /    e-mail:
cebik@utk.edu
> 37938-4443     USA      /  \   \   \ \       ||     e-mail:
w4rnl@arrl.org
>
>
>
>
> --
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>


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