[Hallicrafters] Radio Pioneer Frank Lester SK

Thu Sep 28 17:21:49 EDT 2006

I, for one, wonder what the 'next' generation of radio hobbyists will have 
for legends or Heros to hold in high exaultation? Then again, I also wonder 
if there will even be a next generation of radio hobbyists? Will the 
computer replace the RX, TX or transceiver?  Somehow, at least to me, it 
just is not fun, or a challenge, to DX on or through the Internet. I 
personally do not enjoy punching a few buttons on a keypad in search for a 
station. What became of that antenna from a piece of copper wire from the 
bedroom window to the neighbor's bird feeder? Where have all the simple, but 
marvelously thrilling, xtal or one tube receivers vanished to?

Is it that the adults have eliminated the 'thrill of the hunt' by stifling 
natural curiosityby replacing it with a colorful animated CD that is about 
as exciting as spelling your name with the alphabet characters floating in 
your soup? Where has the "wonder of it all" disappeared to?

This morning I 'watched" the Freedom #7 story on the History Channel, for 
the X time. It still thrills me after forty-four years! I was sighted when 
Lt. Colonel, John H. Glenn rode that missile into space. I have his 
autograph on a NASA photo released after Senator Glenn went back into space 
aboard the space shuttle. I treasure that personally signed photo from this 
national space hero to me, although he is one of many such NASA heros. I 
thought this morning, "I have that space pioneer's photo on my Ham shack 
wall, how fantastic. But I wonder how many of today's junior or senior high 
school students even know who he is or would recognize him in a photo?" Have 
we Americans lost our desire to do ourselves proud, as well as to make our 
country better, been bitten by the fatal bug of apathy or simply lost sight 
of our own future? I believe we "all" need to challenge ourselves to be as 
much as we can be, challenge our children and grandchildren to rise to the 
extent of their own abilities and then to reach a little higher for that 
star of doing the not supposed to be doable etc.

I could not help but remember back to 1962 and sitting in the high school 
bleachers as Friendship #7 descended toward the waiting recovery ships and 
that awful heart in your throat, stomach in knots the Boy Scout manuals knew 
not of and sound of your heart pounding with a mix of fear and excitement as 
the radio silence persisted. The black and white TV in the center of the 
gymnasium was not easy to see due to its small screen and hundreds of 
students heads, butts and other body parts obstructing ones view! Yet every 
student was glued to that set as if Annette Funacello, of the Walt Disney 
Mickey Mouse Club, was about to run out and join her compatriots at the 
start of the show. You guys will remember why ... (Did you know that Walt 
Disney personally picked Annette? He was watching as the selection process 
was in progress for the cast/crew of the Mickey Mouse Club when he spotted 
thsi cute little brown haired girl. He instantly liked her and instructed 
someone to go get her and sign her up. Walt had a good eye, as Annette 
became quite a star in her own right too!) Nowadays most of us do not even 
bother to watch a space shuttle launch or return, let alone the activities 
aboard the ISS. Is this the fate radio will, or has, suffered? Loss of 
interest or "I don't have time for that stuff, I've got eight holes of golf 
to shoot". Somehow they never make the front or back nine holes, they end up 
drag racing the golf carts down the fairway to see who can get to the 
pubhouse, or is it clubhouse, first and siphon up some Black Velvet or Bud 
Light to quench their thirst after that tedious game of golf! (LOL!) Ah what 
do I know anyhow? I have to shoot a stray dog or cat every other month so 
the neighbors will keep the quadrapedal critter from fertilizing my grass, 
shrubs, trees, flowers and even the tires on the garbage can cart! They 
should make them wear diapers or get Rover a doggie outhouse! At least one 
of those "Invisible Fences" so the beloved pet deposits body waste products 
on their lawn instead of on my 9913F feedlines where they emerge from the 
underground PVC tunnels!

Maybe one of you clever wizards of wire can invent an invisible force field 
to keep obnoxious neighbors and yellow grass sprinklers out of our yeards? 
Then just to be a little spiteful, cause the rf to jam only the QVC channel! 
(LOL!)

Radio has a place in history unlike most anything else man has invented, or 
at least thinks he did. Look at all the history radio made possible from 
1900-1999. Just imagine what all those residents of other planets in the 
nearest star system, Alpha Centuri, 4.3 LY must be thinking as they hear and 
see all of those transmissions? We need not fear an alien invasion, I rather 
suspect we are on the galactic road map marked as "Dangerous! Real time 
survival safari with predatory humanoid creatures and animals that turn your 
boots yellow! Beware of Area 51, we lost a lot of tourists there!"

FYI: Who 'really' discovered radio? Who built the first receiver, but was 
there a transmitter to hear?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hy Chantz" <chantz at well.com>
Cc: <Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Radio Pioneer Frank Lester SK

> Thanks for forwarding this note.
>
> "...we are all indebted to such pioneers!"
>
>
> Amen!
>
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