[Boatanchors] Whither SWL'ing...?

[D C *Mac* Macdonald]

Well, I was NEVER much of an SWL.  I got the desire to get
a ham license back in the late 1940s sometime after the
hams were allowed back on the air after WW II.  My dad had
an RCA Model 10K which covered ~150 kc/s through 60 Mc/s in
about five or six ranges.  I sometimes listened to that
radio in what was probably the 75 meter band to hams whoe
were ragchewing there.  That was just south across the
NY-PA border into PA in Sayre, PA.
 
In 1951, my folks were moving to my mother's hometown in
western New York state.  One of my Boy Scout troop members
commented that we ought to get ham licenses so we could
maintain contact after the family move.
 
In 1953, I was building a new case in woodshop for a table
model radio that I'm now sure was born in the late 30s
along with that big floor model RCA.  One of my classmates,
now an SK, jogged my interest and we studied together during
homeroom periods.  I was issued my Novice call of KN2GKK on
30 November 1953.  I have maintained my ticket ever since.
 
I just thought I'd let you know that SWLing was not the
only route to ham licenses.
 
73 - Mac, K2GKK/5
Oklahoma City, OK

 
---------------------------------------
> From: gswynar at durham.net
> To: glowbugs at piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu; AmRadGear at yahoogroups.com; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net; hbr at mailman.qth.net; novice-rigs at mailman.qth.net; homebuilttuberadios at yahoogroups.com; antiquewirelessassociation at egroups.com
> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:52:04 -0500
> Subject: [Boatanchors] Whither SWL'ing...?
>
> Good Day All,
>
> At first blush, this subject may be considered to be off-topic...however, ask yourself first if it was casual SWL'ing that originally interested you in radio, eventually leading you up into the Amateur ranks, before hurling flaming spit balls my way...! Hi Hi.
>
> I've been engaged recently here with the re-alignment & "...playing around" with my old RCA AR-88LF receiver: this has entailed lots of time cruising the short wave spectrum, and as a consequence, getting re-acquainted with the "feel" of the SW broadcast bands --- something that I haven't done since about 1971.
>
> What a change for the worse the past 38 years have ushered-in!
>
> The lack of the "used-to-be" omni-present former big powerhouse stations like HCJB, Radio Deutche-Welle, the BBC, and Radio Canada --- and their informative broadcasts --- is bad enough, but it's the quality of stuff from the U.S.A. that is most shocking: nine out of ten U.S.-based SW BC'ers seem to be dominated by religious themes...and those that aren't are heavily into radical, extremist political rants that shock and amaze even me with their blatant content...
>
> Whatever happened to the steadying, re-assuring transmissions from The Voice of America...? It is sadly missed!
>
> What a poor image of America these current stations are presenting to the world, and what a lousy incentive to-day's SWL'ing is to budding, future, wannabe Hams...
>
> I often ask myself, as I come across this verbal garbage, if the current state of affairs had existed "...way-back-when", would I have become a Ham...? The answer is always, "Probably not."
>
> ~73~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ
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