[GreenKeys] An Update

Thu, 6 May 2004 19:12:36 -0700

Welcome back George.You know you have nothing to feel uncomfortable
about.You did us all a great service with both the RTTY broadcast and the
Dovetrons to boot. Thanks again,Gregory Mengell
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George B. Hutchison" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 1:20 PM
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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