[Hallicrafters] Opinions on the SX-110

Fri Aug 19 15:15:48 EDT 2005

Sounds like Glen may have a bit of the COMS today. Contrary to the popular
misconception, "COMS" is not some kind of acronym for "Communications". Rather
it is a condition those of us who subscribe to the Prune Juice Doctrine know as
Constipated Old Man Syndrome. When it hits, you get grumpy, overly critical,
sometimes mean spirited and tend to split a lot of hairs. Those 'split ends' are
are sure way to spot someone who is afflicted with COMS. 	

According to N6GJR, if Carl can be believed, GZ cut his baby teeth on a Collins
Am transmitter case his family used for a coat closet! There is some confusion
as to whether GZ spent his childhood years, just prior to those hormones kicking
in that generally give men a lower voice, facial hair, a tendency toward
domination and an impoverished life due to women sweet talking them into
perpetual poverty, chasing short-waves or short skirts! Somewhere down that path
from puberty to poverty to prosperity Glen became a mighty good electronic
technician.   	

Now this raises the philosophical issue; how did he get all the experience
fixing up these more drifty than a blonde at sea for too long with her sail
down, as broad as a Brontosaurs barn door wide selective, as insensitive as the
typical mother-in-law when it comes to 'your' problems and as stable as a
Juggler who just saw a Wasp fly up the leg of his shorts! Is it possible that GZ
actually used other than Collins equipment at some point in his life?		

You can bet your sweet potato pie crust on that! For you see, Art Collins took
lessons from William Halligan, Sr. on the side back in the early thirties on
what 'quality control' was all about! A lot of history that we are just finding
out about seventy years later, heh?	

If my good friend Carl can be believed, (I wonder where he got that nickname of
Chameleon Carl?), it was Art Collins who convinced the brothers Hammarlund to
build the now infamous 'drifty 50'! Something about saving money by not using a
fixed variable tuning capacitor and just letting the radio tune itself right
across the band automatically, letting the user enjoy the whole spectrum without
having to touch a single knob. (LOL!)	

So Mr. Glen, give us little guys who struggled along with just an ordinary old
cheap stainless steel spoon in our mouth, a wooden one with slivers in the
tongue if we were not, and no silver one as you had, according to Carl, who
didn't have a silver spoon in his mouth, but a cheap fork in his right buttock,
probably from an enraged neighbor who caught him stealing barbed wire for an
antenna, and don't be so hard on us who had to enjoy the lower end of the
hobby.(chuckle) 	

Now Glen is an outstanding tech, and this time N6GJR is telling the truth!, a
very knowable Ham, a great help to many on these lists and a heck of a nice guy
too. Even the most resolute among us have to admit that there were those times
in the 'good old days' that the radio came real close to having an intimate
relationship with the empty Campbell's tomato soup cans in the galvanized
garbage can! But now in all seriousness, it was the tracing of the circuits
without modern aids, the ability to read a schematic, the persistence to find
that cold solder joint or cracked resistor or factory defective capacitor, the
skill to solder in a new part, put it all back together without any extra parts,
that made us better for the experience. that is how we learned, by fixing and by
doing. yes, sometimes doing it wrong, but we learned just the same. It is this
skill, this knowledge, this experience, that those of us who are able to, must
pass on to the current generation of hams. For if we do not, what will be left
of Ham Radio in another twenty-five to thirty-five years when the vast majority
of us are just memories in a scrapbook or family photo album?	

So when somebody with the experience of Glen, and many many others among us,
speak, it behooves us all, to listen. When you are too smart to learn anything
new, you just qualified for the term "stupid"!	

Thanks to Glen Zook, Al Parker, Phil Atchley, Bill Gerhold iii, Don Power, Lynn
Brock and oh so many many more for their invaluable contributions to this, and
other lists. Great work, all o fyou! 	

Duane Fischer, W8DBF 

----------
From: Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com>
To: carolew <carolew at bellatlantic.net>
Cc: hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Opinions on the SX-110
Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 12:31 PM

The receivers drifted, were "broad as a barn"
selectivity wise, were mechanically unstable (hit the
desk with your fist and the receiver would jump at
least 50 KHz in frequency), were basically deaf above
14 MHz, and those were the "good" points!

Frankly, whenever I hear someone complain because a CW
signal is too close (and still over 500 Hz away) or an
SSB signal is too close (at least 3 KHz away), or when
they complain about distortion (actually front end
overload), and so forth, I then think of what we were
using in the "goode olde dayes".

I really think that newcomers should have to use the
equipment that most amateur radio operators had to use
(not Collins or other "high end" stuff that cost
several weeks salary back when it was new) like the
low end Hallicrafters or National equipment for at
least 6 months of regular operating.  Then give them
the "new" stuff.  I believe that the number of
complaints would drop to no more than 1% of what are
now heard.

Glen, K9STH

--- carolew <carolew at bellatlantic.net> wrote:

Glen, you are absolutely right about our "bad"
receivers. In the mid-60s, I was a young kid and
thought my S-19 Sky Buddy was a hot receiver. 
However, I wouldn't trade the fun I had with that set
for anything.

Glen, K9STH

Web sites

http://home.comcast.net/~k9sth
http://home.comcast.net/~zcomco

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