[Boatanchors] Offended by "Ham-mered?"

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Bittner" <mmab at cox.net>
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] [BoatAnchors] Offended by "Ham-mered?"


> And we've all seen radios with misaligned IFs because the 
> "fixer" thought he had to tighten all the screws.  Mike, W6MAB

LOL Mike, that leads into a good story from my youth,
when I knew Fred Flintstone and Gilgamesh back
in Shreveport, Louisiana.
It was right after Ronnie Hull, W5SUM, introduced me
to his old friends, Adam, Eve and some snake
who's name I don't remember.

I was a Novice.  Older hams were always griping
about "Chicken Band," probably because the memory
of losing 11 Meters was still fresh with some of them.
I got curious and decided to check it out for myself.
Traded an old Hallicrafters receiver- I think it was
an S-20R- for a "Navaho" CB rig and started
stumbling around on it.

Somewhere near me, an even younger kid
spent his time "breaking" every local contact he could,
annoying everyone with constant "how you hear me"
requests and "squeaky voice" interruptions.
And he had a nasty sewer mouth.
Got him talking one day and casually mentioned my
ham ticket, which he took to mean that
I was some sort of Radio minor diety (I actually
barely knew which end of a soldering iron got hot).
I had heard this "ham joke" I don't remember where
about "all the loose screws inside your radio."
So it wasn't original with me.
But Satan whispered in my ear and like Ronnie's
friends, I bit the apple:

"You know, over time lots of those funny-
looking screws inside your radio, like the ones
in those little silver cans, get loose.  If you want
to really "get out," tighten all those screws down."

He was never heard again.
I should probably feel guilty.
But I don't.

73 Dave AB5S