[Hallicrafters] Join Sunday HCI 20 Meter Net!

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Park that snowmobile, ground the surf board, hang up the ice skates and put the
Jet Ski in dry dock. Power up the Hallicrafters, or other boat anchor, and join
us for the Sunday January 20th Hallicrafters Collectors International 20 meter
Net. Yea, I know, there is a VHF/UHF contest going on, but if you tire of trying
to bounce signals off a bald headed alien atop a Moon rock, 
 Jovian moon or SUV parked atop Pikes Peak, join us. The pre-Net frequency warm
up, (thaw the vertical and de-ice the Mosley elements), will commence at 1:00 PM
EST, (1800 UTC) The HCI Net officially splits the clouds asunder with hotter
than an active volcano's breath electrons at 1:15 PM EST, (1815 UTC). The
frequency will be 14.293 Mhz usb +/- for key clicks, mike splatter and the sound
of Barney the purple Dinosaur sizzling as rebellious eight year olds roast him
in their Easy Bake ovens in protest for not being authentic during National
Prehistoric Creature Week!        	
	
We have had absolutely fantastic participation thus far in 2002! I realize that
sometimes time runs out before I can get all of those who check in called, and I
apologize for that. I am generally on the air at 12:35-12:40 PM EST, (1735-1740
UTC), so do not hesitate to show up early and give me a call. If I do not have a
toothbrush stuck in my mouth trying to get the pepperoni out from between my eye
teeth so I can see what I am saying, or am under the desk looking for the 3X5
index card decorated with Braille notes that rudely blew off when I accidentally
belched after a good snort of carbonated Coke, I will promptly respond to your
call. If I do not, keep calling.   		
	
I have been having a blast with MW Dxing as of late. (MW = standard broadcast
stations) Back in 1961, when some of you were still wearing three cornered pants
and trying to suck those Playtex nurser bottles into a collapsed state, I was
using my borrowed Minerva Tropic Master WW2 morale receiver to listen to
short-wave and medium wave stations. I had an Allied Electronics catalog with
more 	
dog earred pages than you can find in an AKC Kennel show dog photo flyer! I
lusted after the girl next door ... Oops, that's a different story. I lusted
after a Hallicrafters receiver to hear those wonderous waves with. I had my eye
on the SX-100, but the price was prohibitive for a fifteen year old teenage boy
whose weekly earnings doing odd jobs amounted to one tenth of the average
allowance a Kindergarten student receives today. I decided that the S-108 would
be more attainable and started stuffing my piggy bank, a ceramic Playboy  Bunny
my brother conned somebody out of, with my lawn mowing profits.      	
	
The twelve QSL cards used for the HCI Short-Wave Monitor certificate borders
were gotten with the Minerva Tropic Master, with two exceptions. TWR from the
Netherlands Antilles on November 28, 1965 and ORU from Brussels, Belgium on
February 27, 1967 were heard with the S-108. I had lost my eyesight on October
21, 1964 due to a stranger shooting me instead of a Pheasant. After that, the
world of radio took on an entirely different perspective for me. In latter
years, 1997, it saved my life.       	
	
The warm resonant sound of a short-wave or medium wave station on a vintage
receiver like my Hallicrafters SX-100 and SX-117 is almost magnetic. One forgets
just how good radio can sound until he/she listens with a good Hallicrafters, or
other vintage receiver, from the days when all radios went glow in the dark. If
you have strayed from your radio roots, take some time and do some SW or MW band
cruising one evening. You will hear many old familiar voices from the golden
days of radio still bouncing off the ionosphere into your home and your heart.
It is a very special feeling that words can not describe and today's generation
will never fully comprehend. 	
	
Please tune in tomorrow and bring along a tale to tell from your glory days in
radio. Tell us about the great DX catches you made, verified or not. Share with
us the types of equipment you used, the antennas you built or improvised and the
tricks you used to pull the faint voice in the distance out of the fog and onto
your log sheet. Share with us those radio memories from a time when radio was
King and TV dinners had not yet been thought of.  		
	
I hope to hear a whole lot of you tomorrow, so warm up those things that still
go glow in the dark and let's talk radio. REAL radio, that is! Vintage
Hallicrafters and other classics from the era of vacuum tubes, instead of a
vacuum between the ears! Hear you then!	
	
	
Duane Fischer, W8DBF  (WPE8CXO)		
NCS: Hallicrafters Collectors International	
netcontrol at w9wze.org