[Hallicrafters] CD Package, Bill Halligan

Mon Dec 19 23:45:41 EST 2005

Tom, 	

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. I greatly appreciate
your pure joy and delight with the video Tom, and sharing your expression
of pleasure. I did work very hard to put this together, several hundred
hours in fact, and it is gratifying to know that my efforts were
appreciated.  	

The second part that literally everyone who ordered the video also ordered,
the two CD set of live original audio interviews and presentations, I hope
to begin shipping on December 29th.	

Now is as good of a time as any to tell one and all, that there will be
three CD set releases during 2006! Each set will contain two, possibly
three, CD's with more live original audio, never before seen photos, the
actual original text transcripts of speeches and presentations by Bill
Halligan, Fritz Franke (former Hallicrafters Chief Engineer), articles and
more.	

One entire set will be devoted to Fritz Franke, in fact. This man changed
history! Literally! You can hear Bill Halligan allude to it on the video,
but when you hear  Fritz tell the story you will be almost certainly
surprised. Some of this is being told for the first time since it was
declassified. You will see diagrams, even photos, of prototypes never
manufactured and sold. I was amazed how much Hallicrafters engineers
invented that we were really never told they did! 

I think it is only fair for me to add here that K2WH, Bill did write me an
off list message telling me how much he loved the video and the various
personal photos on the CD of Bill Halligan, Sr. Bill's comments were
constructive, not really meant to be critical. He is a serious type of
person and when he praises someone or something, it is worth taking note
of! I could hear the delight in his voice when he popped into the Saturday
HCI 40 meter Net just long enough to thank me, say he loved the video and
photos, then had to sign and get back to his duties as chef for the day!   

I can say with absolute honesty that I have never been associated with, or
even been aware of, any group of individuals as warm, friendly, generous
and helpful as the Hams, and radio hobbyists, who delight in the wonders of
the vacuum tube. I am very proud to be a part of it.  	

We all have the generosity of Dr. Max De Henseler, HB9RS who contacted me
and made me the guardian of these pieces of Hallicrafters and radio
history. He had collected them over the years when he, and his lovely wife,
were close friends with Bill and Katie Halligan. Being entrusted with such
a true treasure made me feel both extremely honored and incredibly humble.
It is an indescribable almost spiritual moment that words can not convey.
It is the type of feeling that one must personally experience to
comprehend. Like suddenly realizing that the exact spot where you are
standing is where Daniel Boone once stood and gazed into the Kentucky
wilderness and glimpsed the future or Galieo was when he first saw the four
moons of Jupiter with his primitive telescope or the very spot where Jesus
was born in a manger on that first Christmas. Your mind is overwhelmed by
the realization that you are actually standing in the very place where
history happened and you can not help but wonder who else has stood where
you now stand?         	

Max asked me to preserve, protect and to share the material with all who
had an interest that was pure of heart and not driven by $ signs! And to
the best of my ability, that is precisely what I intend to do.		

Duane Fischer, W8DBF 	

----------
From: Tom Rousseau <tomr at gorge.net>
To: 'Duane Fischer' <dfischer at usol.com>; 'Bill Gerhold'
<k2wh at optonline.net>; Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [Hallicrafters] CD Package, Bill Halligan
Date: Monday, December 19, 2005 10:24 PM

First of all, I'd like to thank Duane and Max for providing the DVD
interview with Bill Halligan and the accompanying CD.  This is wonderful
information to have, and provides great insight to a great man.  Halligan
contributed so much to communications and short wave radio, and I was glued
to the TV, watching the interview with great interest (twice the first
day),
learning more about the man behind a great company.  I was impressed with
Halligan's humility, and I found him to be sharp as a tack with full mental
capacities.  Anyone who has even a modest interest in Hallicrafters should
buy these discs... I think that they are an excellent value for the
information that they contain.

... tomr  K7PJT

-----Original Message-----
From: hallicrafters-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:hallicrafters-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Duane Fischer
Sent: Sunday, 18 December, 2005 7:52 PM
To: Bill Gerhold; Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] CD Package, Bill Halligan

Bill,

Bill Halligan was twenty days shy of his eighty-fifth birthday when the
video was taped.

William, watch the video a few more times. then two things will become
clear to you that may have escaped you rkeen eye the first time through.

1. Bill Halligan has one heck of a lot to remember! He is also a very
careful and precise person. Did you notice how many times he corrected the
interviewer, Dr. Max De Henseler, HB9RS during the "not rehearsed"
interview. Max worked from an outline, Bill was answering off the cuff!

If you pay attention to the way in which Max framed the questions you will
notice that many times the exact question was unclear. Max mixed comments
of his own in with a question or two that had little to do with the real
question he was asking. Very easy to be unsure as to what you were just
asked Bill. Watch it again and listen to Max.

The prompting was not because of a fuzzy or failing memory, Bill Halligan
was very alert, sharp, quite witty, although the Irish wit was often
subtle, and distracted by the cameraman. Now I can hear these things Bill,
as I am not distracted by the bideo as you are. I could hear the hesitation
in his voice and knew why he did it, if you listen more closely you will
understand of what I speak.

his is 'NOT' a criticism of you Bill! It is an observation. The human being
gets 92% of his information by using just one sense, eyesight! Vision is
way over used and much too heavily relied upon for information. Sighted
people miss a huge amount of information right in front of their ears!

For instance, when Max asked Bill about what happened 85 years ago in 1898.
Now Bill knew that he was born in December of 1898 and that Max was trying
to tie something to that, but what? Max makes the comment about Marconi and
his first transmission and reception of a radio signal etc. Now Bill is
wondering where Max is going with this. Max is trying to tie Bill's date of
birth and radio's date of birth together. He wants Bill to say that what
happened in 1898 was that radio was born!

So the hesitation was not due to a failing memory, William, but a poorly
asked question.

2. You will also notice that Max frequently asks Bill a question and keeps
expanding the scope of said question. By the time he is finished with the
question, it has grown from a single point of information into one of many
points, and in fact, truly should be broken down into several questions.
These kinds of expanding questions are difficult for anyone to answer, but
much more taxing for an older person to handle than a younger one.

Let me pause right here Bill and make a statement:

Because I thought my responses to the comments of K2WH were of potential
benefit to the subscribers, I posted it publically. I know that Dr. Max is
reading this post. He is a very dear friend of mine. I have the utmost
respect for him as a person and as a well educated man with a multitude of
lofty accomplishments during his lifetime. I am in no way intending to be
critical of him or to cast any shadows on his capabilities or how he
conducted the interview.

Max is Swiss by nationality and resides in Switzerland. He lived in the
United States about thirty years while working at the United Nations in
NYC. He speaks excellent English and understands it very well. However,
there are words in his native language that do not translate with the same
connotations and/or denotations as the English counterparts do. Hence,
there is the normal languange confusion that is common among those who
speak multiple languages. A single letter can make a very big difference!
Such as in Espanol, where 'hombre' means "man" and 'hambre' means "hunger"!

I mention this because Max used a 'common' word now and then that meant
something a little different to those of us, such as Bill Halligan, who's
native language is English. Hence Bill sometimes hesitated as he was trying
to decide exactly what Max 'really' meant.

3. Sometimes Max asked Bill Halligan a question and then interrupted Bill
before he had finished the first sentence of his reply. This often happens
when friends are conversing. It is also a factor that often causes the
train of thought in progress to be derailed and sometimes the old train
goes off the tressel into the rushing water of the river in the gorge below
never to be seen again! Which generally results in human speech patterns as
a very well stated; "Huh?"! (LOL!)

We need to keep in mind that this interview was not produced in a studio,
with a teleprompter reminding the parties involved who asked what when,
etc. This is 'not' a professional anything, just two friends discussing the
life of one of them in a loose, friendly, relaxed good time rag chew with a
video camera rolling. Try to think of it in that way and the pieces fit
together much better.

Thank you for the good words William. I always enjoy our discussions on, or
off, the air. You are quite a guy! I put in a good word about you to Santa,
so perhaps you will receive something in your stocking this year besides
the usual underwear, gaudy neck tie you would not war to an ugly tie
contest or another leather belt mad ein Tibet? - Mountain Goats produce
leather nowadays?, or wallet. Did you ever wonder why the wallet always
comes empty?

Duane W8DBF

 ----------
From: Bill Gerhold <k2wh at optonline.net>
To: Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Hallicrafters] CD Package, Bill Halligan
Date: Sunday, December 18, 2005 8:31 AM

Received my CD's from Duane, and I have to say they are very interesting.
The videos of Mr. Halligan are remarkable, not only for their content but
in
Bill's answers.  Many of his answers required prompting from the
interviewer
to jog his memory.  Apparently, he has forgotten quite a bit of
Hallicrafters history, which many of us are just starting to learn.  He
obviously doesn't think his contribution to the advancement of radio was
such a big deal (IMHO).

I'm not sure of his age when the videos were made, but I needed to remind
myself many times, I am looking at the last years of his life and how his
life affected mine and many others.  How he brought the world closer to
many
by the "Twist of a Dial".

Many of the stills on the CD's, bring back (for me anyway), the heyday of
shortwave excitement.  Images of magazine covers, notes, publications etc
are included.  I have still not looked at all the CD's contains yet, but it
is a lot of fun.

K2WH

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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html
Post: mailto:Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
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______________________________________________________________
Hallicrafters mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/hallicrafters
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html
Post: mailto:Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
----
List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF **for assistance**
dfischer at usol.com
----
Hallicrafters Collectors International: http://www.w9wze.org