[ARC5] Merry Christmas
Dennis Monticelli
dennis.monticelli at gmail.com
Fri Dec 27 16:19:15 EST 2013
As humans I think we learn best via experiences. Like many of you and many
of my friends, I had a close call with electricity too. But what a lesson
that was! It made me respect electricity (and chemicals...and sharp
objects...and...) and I shared my experiences passionately with others so
they would learn too.
Dennis AE6C
On Fri, Dec 27, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Leslie Smith <vk2bcu at operamail.com> wrote:
> Mike, you raise a serious point about safety vs knowledge. You write
> about repairing a "death trap" and surviving.
>
> I did the stupidest things you can imagine when I was a kid. (as sure
> as hell I frightened myself doing them.)
> e.g. I built a super-regen 2 meter receiver, but rather than winding a
> separate coil for the aerial (and thereby isolating the B+ from the
> aerial) I "tapped"
> the aerial directly onto the coil. (The impedance match from
> "tapping" is as good as a separate winding, is it not?)
> So I had B+ on the aerial. Clever, he? The supply was came from a
> 325-0-325 transformer "rescued" from an old B.C. set.
> I had built a death trap. One day I grabbed the chassis AND the
> aerial.
> I ended up on the other side of the room - literally.
> When I stopped shaking (it took some time) I understood how stupid I
> had been.
> But I don't regret doing that - because I learned to distrust myself
> and think more clearly about what I was doing.
>
> I think we have all had one experience like mine, and there is value
> from being "durned stoopid".
>
>
> 73 de Les Smith
> vk2bcu at operamail.com
>
>
> On Sat, Dec 28, 2013, at 3:36, Mike Everette wrote:
> > My hallmark Christmas was when I was ten years old and received a Remco
> > crystal radio kit, the one with the single headphone and slide tuner. My
> > dad and I built it that afternoon. It would only get one station, but
> > worked okay, sounded fine. I listened to that little radio every night
> > for a long, long time until I got my first pile of radio junque, which
> > included a GE AM-FM acey-deucey 7-tube radio that worked, sort of, when I
> > plugged it in but hummed like a squadron of B-17s. Dad told me the
> > filter cap was shot; he showed me where it was and told me how to wire in
> > a new one, bought with lawn mowing money. Somehow I managed to repair
> > that deathtrap without 'lectra-shootin' myself.
> >
> > My next hallmark Christmas was 2 years after the remco, when I received a
> > subscription to the American Basic Science Club kit series... eight kits
> > that took you, a month at a time, through basic electrcity, simple
> > electronics, optics, astronomy, and experiments with nuclear material (a
> > dot of radium as a 'source"). This was a miraculous gift and I learned
> > far more from it than I ever would have in school science classes; but it
> > would NEVER be allowed today because of politically correct,
> > safety-obsessed, lawyer-driven idiocy in the education system (Omigawd,
> > it has a HOT SOLDERiNG IRON in it! And HIGH VOLTAGE! and... and...
> > RADIUM!!!! EEEEEEEEK!)... in fact I saw on a web site that the ABSC was
> > branded one of the top ten "MOST DANGEROUS TOYS" of all time!!! Well, it
> > didn't kill me. And I seriously doubt that it ever killed or injured
> > anyone else!
> >
> > Oh yes, I had an Erector Set too; got that a couple of Christmases before
> > the Remco. I still have hardware from it in my junque box. Just like an
> > ARC-5, you can't do a proper home brew project without it... Command Set
> > parts and Erector Set bolts-n-nuts guarantee success. And once in a
> > while I even use my good old ABSC soldering iron just for good measure.
> >
> > 73
> >
> > Mike
> > WA4DLF
> >
> >
> >
> > On Friday, December 27, 2013 10:56 AM, D. Platt <jeepp at comcast.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> > My two hallmark Christmases were, first in 1957, when I got a Gilbert
> > (erector set folks) "Erectronic Set". This is arguably my entree into
> > radio and electronics. A neighbor and engineer at Johns Hopkins APL
> > took notice and became my Elmer. During his family's holiday visit, he
> > took the "BC band code transmitter" configuration and put the headphone
> > in the cathode of the 1T4 tube and made an AM transmitter out of it. The
> > second, in 1960, when I got an E F Johnson Challenger transmitter kit.
> > That kicked the ball down the field a long way for me. BTW, when my
> > Elmer inspected my kit-building expertise (sic), we disassembled it and
> > he had me build it all over again, under his supervision and with a
> > handful or more of replacement parts from him.
> >
> > Jeep - K3HVG
> >
> >
> > On 12/26/2013 11:13 AM, Fuqua, Bill L wrote:
> > > My most memorable Christmas was when I was only about 9 years old
> and got a S-38E under the tree.
> > > I knew it was coming and could not wait. Got everyone up in the early
> morning so I could open the package
> > > and went running off to my room to set it up. It was my first
> shortwave receiver.
> > > I never had a train or BB gun ("you'll put your eye out kid"). My
> father was a mechanic and when I was
> > > very young he had his own shop and put up a tall tower so he could
> have 2-way communication to his wreckers.
> > > That and seeing him fix our first TV set got me interested in radio.
> > > 73
> > > Bill wa4lav
> > >
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net [arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net] on
> behalf of Jay Coward [jcoward5452 at aol.com]
> > > Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2013 9:32 AM
> > > To: k2gkk at hotmail.com; joeconnor53 at yahoo.com; mark.k3msb at gmail.com;
> arc5 at mailman.qth.net
> > > Subject: Re: [ARC5] Merry Christmas
> > >
> > > It was 1956 when I got my American Flyer set, a 4-6-2 loco with
> tender, a coal carrier, flat car. Gulf tanker and caboose. Two switches and
> a de-coupler. Still have it and I got a bottle of "smoke" fluid too. Still
> love that smell as much as old mil radio smell!
> > > Jay
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: D C _Mac_ Macdonald <k2gkk at hotmail.com>
> > > To: Joe Connor <joeconnor53 at yahoo.com>; K3MSB Mark Bell <
> mark.k3msb at gmail.com>; ARC-5 Mail List <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
> > > Sent: Wed, Dec 25, 2013 5:54 pm
> > > Subject: Re: [ARC5] Merry Christmas
> > >
> > >
> > > It was Christmas '49 or '50 at Grandma and Grandpa house when I came
> downstairs
> > > and Dad had set up the new Lionel Santa Fe double A unit freight train
> set under
> > > the tree. Had the coal hopper car, searchlight car, gondola car,
> operating box
> > > car and caboose and the KW transformer. My best Christmas ever!
> Still have it!
> > >
> > >
> > > * * * * * * * * * * *
> > > * 73 - Mac, K2GKK/5 *
> > > * (Since 30 Nov 53) *
> > > * Oklahoma City, OK *
> > > * USAF, Ret (61-81) *
> > > * * * * * * * * * * *
> > >
> > >
> > >> Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2013 12:54:35 -0800
> > >> From: joeconnor53 at yahoo.com
> > >> To: mark.k3msb at gmail.com; arc5 at mailman.qth.net
> > >> Subject: Re: [ARC5] Merry Christmas
> > >>
> > >> Very nice, Mark. Was there anything ever better than waking up on
> Christmas
> > > morning and finding a Lionel Santa Fe diesel engine under the tree?
> > >> Joe Connor
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Wednesday, December 25, 2013 2:50 PM, Mark K3MSB <
> mark.k3msb at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >> I shot this early this morning before anyone got up.
> > >>> http://www.k3msb.com/temp/train1.mp4
> > >>>
> > >>> It just wouldn't be Christmas without the old Lionel around the tree!
> > >>>
> > >>> God Bless & Merry Christmas to all of you!
> > >>>
> > >>> 73 Mark K3MSB
> > >
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> --
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> love email again
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