[AMRadio] Elmer

[W4AWM at aol.com]

While we are talking Elmers, I have to tell you about mine.  Paul Cash Gregg, 
W4DPF (Ducks Paddle Fast). I am not quite sure how I first met Cash, but I 
remember him well.  He was a lot older tham I was, heck, back in those days, 
everyone was older than this then 13 year old. He had a wife and 3 children, none 
of whom had any radio interests. Cash did not have a lot of money to invest 
in radio, but his rig was impressive to me.  He had a Meck T-60 transmitter and 
an NC 101X or similar vintage receiver, His main antenna was a 3 element 
plumbers delight for 10 meters and some wire in the trees for lower bands. He had 
something else, too, what he referred to the "clothes press." This was a 
closet crammed full of radio stuff. Although it was similar to Fibber McGees 
closet, he knew exactly where everything was and it seemed to me that he had just 
about everything in there, especially tubes and parts. If something blew up, a 
call to cash would usually result in an invitation to "come over and pick it 
up."

Cash operate mostly on 10 meters. He really enjoyed the Sunday Morning 10 
meter nets in the Asheville, NC area where he lived. I don't think he operated a 
lot other than that. It seemed that he knew everything about radio and was a 
great help in troubleshooting homebrew gear and kit problems. If you had 
trouble with something, he would drop everything to help out. 

Although there was a wealth of amateur radio knowledge among the many hams in 
the Asheville area back in the early 50s, Cash was one of the friendliest and 
most giving of his time to help budding hams. I will never forget him.

73,

John,  W4AWM


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