[TowerTalk] Anniversary

[k2qmf@juno.com]

Jim,

That is great!  I gotta remember that one...

73,  Ted  K2QMF

On Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:40:25 +0000 ersmar at comcast.net writes:
> Jim:
> 
>      I don't think of it as I'm old.  I think of it as there are a 
> lot more younger people around than there used to be.  Thanks.
> 
> 
> 73 de
> Gene Smar  AD3F
> 
> 
> 
> > Dang!  You're OLD!!! :)
> > 
> > 
> > 73 de N8AU, Jim in Raymore, MO
> > 
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 13:07:27 -0500
> > From: <ersmar at comcast.net>
> > Subject: [TowerTalk] Anniversary
> > To: <topband at contesting.com>, 
> <towertalk at contesting.com>,        "PVRC"
> >         <pvrc at mailman.qth.net>
> > Message-ID: <005c01c5e558$71860b20$0200a8c0 at downstairs>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;        charset="iso-8859-1"
> > 
> > Gents:
> > 
> >      I just looked at the calendar and remembered that it was 
> forty (!)
> > years ago today that I passed my Novice Morse code test!  My 
> Elmer,
> > Harry
> > Schaefer (callsign forgotten by me, sorry) of Coaldale, PA had 
> just
> > given me
> > my test at 5 WPM send and receive.  He then showed me his station 
> -
> > Hallicrafters receiver sitting on a large wooden desk in his attic 
> and
> > Globe
> > King 500 Watt floor rack-mounted AM and CW transmitter feeding a 
> tuner
> > and a
> > dipole just outside his window (in the days before RF exposure 
> rules!)
> > 
> >      He tuned across a couple of QRQ stations in the low end of 
> 80M.  Of
> > course, I couldn't copy them and asked what they were saying.  
> Harry
> > cocked
> > his head for a while, listening intently AND COPYING IN HIS HEAD 
> (My
> > hero!)
> > He said one Ham in Massachusetts asked another Ham in New York 
> state
> > when
> > the power came back on in New York.  The NY Ham said his town 
> hadn't
> > been
> > affected by the power failure.  The next morning I read in the 
> paper
> > about
> > the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965.  (
> > http://blackout.gmu.edu/events/tl1965.html .)
> > 
> >      Since then we Hams, and the rest of American society, have
> > witnessed
> > momentous changes in electrotechnology.  In commercial radio
> > broadcasting,
> > FM supplanted AM as the delivery method preferred by more in the
> > listening
> > audience.  The Carterphone decision of the FCC in 1968 opened the 
> way
> > for
> > interconnected devices such as phone-patches (remember when they 
> were
> > illegal?) and, ultimately, alternative carriers such as MCI, to 
> connect
> > to
> > AT&T's telephone network.  We no longer hear, "The following 
> program is
> > brought to you in living color on NBC."  Fiber-optic cables are 
> now as
> > ubiquitous as copper wires.  Television sets went from using 
> external
> > converters for tuning UHF channels to mandatory built-in tuners 
> that
> > covered
> > up to channel 83 to tuners that covered only up to channel 69 
> (the
> > missing
> > 14 channels had been assigned to something called "cellular 
> telephone"
> > service.)  And my kids are texting each other on their own 
> wireless
> > telephone devices.  (Remember when Ham autopatching was all the 
> rage on
> > VHF-FM?)  And computers in the home?  Only on The Jetsons.
> > 
> >      Thanks for letting me wax nostalgic a bit today (not that you 
> had
> > much
> > of a choice, I suppose.)  I'm sure we all have similar stories, 
> but for
> > me
> > it's been an extremely enjoyable trip down this path of Ham 
> Radio.
> > 
> >      Now if I could just work KL7 on Topband!
> > 
> > 73 de
> > Gene Smar  AD3F
> > 
> _______________________________________________
> 
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> "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 
> 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
> 
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