[Boatanchors] Good Advice

[Bob Macklin]

Mike-K5VSE

Expand on what you find wrong on ham radio today.

A few years ago I lived in the Tacoma area and I found out about the Radio
Club of Tacoma. This group has an old house on high spot in an older
neighborhood in Tacoma. It was inherited from one of the founders of the
club. They do have very good HF station there and they did have a museum of
boat anchor gear. The new people don't have a soft spot for the old boat
anchor gear. It is just a bunch of junk taking up space and they have been
selling it off.

One Saturday morning I went for a visit. There was a guy that turned out to
be a commercial radio tech modifying a Yeasu HF transceiver to put it on
11M. This was being done for another member of the club.

After I attended a few meetings of this club I found the over 90% of the
members had joined because of the 2M FM repeater. They had no interest in
moving beyond the repeater. But this was while the CW requirement was still
in force for a General ticket. Things may have changed now but I doubt it.

The people that knew ham radio as I did are a dieing breed.

I don't have a problem with most of the new digital modes. I used to run
REAL RTTY back in the 60's. But the younger people seem more interested in
the HIGH TECH modes at the exclusion of the traditional modes. Ie, CW and
AM.

I am waiting for the ARRL VHF contest to start and see how soon my Rx starts
making noise!

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa,
"Real Radios Glow in the Dark"



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K5VSE" <mdewey at allegiance.tv>
To: "BoatAnchors" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 9:08 AM
Subject: [Boatanchors] Good Advice


I have remained silent on this subject for a long time, but felt it was
finally time to sound off. I do not own any imported equipment, nor do I do
any VHF work at all. Can't stand the stuff that goes on there. I've been
licensed for over 50 years, and have always enjoyed the hobby until
recently. Now there are those that do not know how to properly tune a
transmitter with their memorized license. I don't think the CW requirement
is necessary any longer, but still operate that mode on occasion. With the
exception of my Advanced license, all my testing was done in front of an FCC
examiner. When I get a signal report, it is always complimenting me on my
audio quality. There are no audio enhancements at my station, just an old
Shure 444D and a ceramic non amplified D-104. Those that use those audio
racks are very uneducated as far as I'm concerned.

Have a great day es 73

Mike-K5VSE

And no, 73 is NOT plural!


Formerly WB6VSE, Senior Tech. Amateur Division
SBE/Linear Systems,  Watsonville, CA
On 3922 nearly every night.
WEB Site:      http://members.tripod.com/~sjsharks/index.html
Restoring and using Drake  Radios, TR-4, TR-4C, RV-4C,
Drake Twins: "C" line,  W-4 Wattmeter, L4-B amplifier
APA 220,  USS Okanogan,  LSD31,  USS Point Defiance
All email scanned with Norton 2008
"In God We Trust"


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