[GreenKeys] An Update

Thu, 6 May 2004 19:47:27 -0500

George,

It is just great to see you back on GreenKeys !!!!  Your presence has
been sorely missed by one and all.

I think I can speak for the group when I say "Thank You" for all you did
to make the Big Bird project a fantastic success.  You should in no way
be embarrassed over having to place priorities on a family emergency.
Any of us would have done exactly the same.  The Dovetrons all got to
their respective owners and they got a phenomenal Terminal Unit for
peanuts.  We are all in you debt for your actions in making this happen
as well as all the others who participated in the project.  

The important thing is for you to get back on this list on a regular
basis among all your friends and supporters.  We need your experience
and advice.  Also, we are going to need your help on getting the
autostart net set up and functioning the way we all want it to.  

Good luck with the new business.  I always wanted to be my own boss but
never could figure out how to pull it off !!  I think you should set up
a RTTY autostart station on the premises.  It would be a great draw!!!!

Welcome back, old friend !!

Best regards -- Roy Norris, K4EEG

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of George B.
Hutchison
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 2:21 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [GreenKeys] An Update

GreenKeyers - - -

I have been loathe to do or say anything on GreenKeys due to the
embarrassment over the Dovetron Project. I had hopes of supplying
everyone with a nice spiffy-clean unit with power cord, alignment
paperwork, and a card delineating what all everything had been adjusted
to, etc.

The course of things changed when it became adament that it was
necessary for me to take over managing my dad's affairs, getting him
proper medical care, ferreting out where he had rat-holed all of his
assets, and other details pertinent to getting his life of 89 years into
some sort of order.

I am spending an average of about 18 hours per week with him, taking him
on rides, going to lunch, the bank, and what have you. It does not leave
much time for the "fun" projects.

To the few that pissed and moaned to me about things, all I can say is
wait until your turn comes. If you are fortunate, your parent or parents
will die quickly and quietly, leave you a pile of cash and a big house,
and evaporate in a puff of red smoke. There are far more people out
there who are aware of the real world and its ways who have been quite
supportive in the past months. A big thanks to Jerry Lockett, N6JP, Bill
Bytheway, N7TTY, and Roy Norris, K4EEG, for taking the time to counsel
and relate their own experiences in this sort of thing. It helped a lot.

I have been watching GreenKeys with fascination and a sort of big smile
at what some might consider to be re-invention of the wheel when it
comes to autostart, selcal, all-call and message termination codes, etc.
Dammit guys, GO TO IT!!!  You haven't had fun UNTIL you HAVE made your
own wheel!!!

Irv Hoff's name has finally been broached, as well it should. Irv laid a
lot of track for such folks as Bill Henry and HAL Communications, stole
a lot of ideas from firms such as Frederick Electronics, and made it
possible for many of us to readily understand just what the hell was
going on, why, and how it could be made better. It pained me to see Irv
and Bob Weitbrecht, W6NRM, at loggerheads over such things as slideback
detectors. They were both, in my mind, great guys, and the world is
better off for their short visit in the course of eternity.

Irv and I went at it on occasion. The power supply as originally
designed for the ST-6 used  transistors as a great way of protecting
the fuse. I said as much, and boy, you have not lived until you have had
three or four feet of machine speed hand-typed copy peel off the machine
telling you where the bear went in the woods, all of it in perfect
grammar, punctuation, etc..

It is now your turn to do it again, and I heartily endorse the whole
idea. I think Tony Podrasky has about the best idea, but leave out the
underscore. Call it "HOFFNET". Remember, teletype machines do not have
the underscore character.

For those concerned about being on frequency, I suggest you simply watch
ebay, the surplus ads, and the swapmeets, and latch onto something cheap
but good such as an HP 5245L Frequency Counter. I have seen them go for
as little as 25 dollars, and if you have a receiver you can adjust the
time base in the counters so close that the FCC will be quite happy with
where you are sitting. Roy's idea of a reference station is good, and it
would not take much to do that. The Harris RF-131 SSB Synthesizer will
allow you excellent accuracy and stability, and they have also gone for
a song on ebay.

Speaking of the FCC, they shot down the Widecast Project. Seems that Ed
Thomas, the OET's Chief Engineer, perceived a lot of holes in the
project, such as interference with adjacent channels, limiting use of
the spectrum below 25 megacycles to emergency and government
communications, etc. My opinion is that he did not even bother to read
the petition but relied on some opinions presented by underlings. and
is/was probably under some pressure to make sure that the BPL crap was
not given yet another reason to be stopped.

The FCC was chartered to be the stewards of the electromagnetic
spectrum. In order to do a proper job it seems only fitting that a
commissioner have some level of technical expertise. I believe that the
FCC as a whole is nothing more than a bunch of mediocre attorneys who
have been given a reward for some manner of service to some higher up
political hack. Technically I believe that they cannot tell the
difference between an OHM and an Englishman's 'Ouse. 'Nuff said.

I will soon be retiring from Rockwell-Collins. I won't say much about it
except that Collins is no longer the company that most of us grew up
revering as the best-of-the-best. The equipment is technically pretty
good. Those planes that have screwed themselves into the earth were NOT
equipped with Rockwell-Collins Autopilots. One does have to wonder,
however, how can it be a good deal to sell two weeks worth of vacation
time for one weeks pay. I Dunno.

The family and I will be moving from Auburn, Washington to a little town
called Sequim. (pronounced 'Squim') I will be turning from electronics
into sandwich making, in that we have purchased a Quizno's Toasted
Sandwich Franchise. Inasmuch as it will be adjacent to a Wal-Mart, and
probably have a Starbuck's Coffee Shop next door, it might do pretty
well. We'll see...

I have consideered taking most of the teletype stuff to the dump, as I
don't think there would be anyone interested in buying it. But, the love
of teletype machines is like nail fungus; it's in the blood. I just
bought a 14 TD from Bob Baker. That 14 has a real rare dual distributor
disc in it that will make it possible to make the dual head 14 TD that
Chuck Swiger sent one time into a fully independent dual head model 14.

For those interested in the autostart project, I have some Harris RF-230
Transceivers and matching Power Supplies, and four of the channelized
(not automatic) antenna couplers that go with them, as well as enough
interconnecting cabling and interface boxes to make four complete
set-ups. The transceivers are the channelized models (RF-230M) and some
have two synthesizer boards so that you can have up to 64 channels in
the unit. They are rated at 125 watts output for 24/7 if you have a
cooling fan blowing on the rear heatsink. Harris had a mod kit to
provide such cooling).

I originally got them as incentive giveaways for those interested in a
good exciter for a station in the Widecast Service. Since that project
is dead, I don't need 'em. Anyone interested can e-mail me and make me
an offer on a set-up. Recently the transceivers alone have been on ebay
for around 600-800 bucks. Seems a bit high to me.

Time for me to grab my lunch and go make more junk work.

Hope I have not bored people to death, but some have asked about what's
going on.

73,

George, W7TTY

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