[Heathkit] Re: [Hallicrafters] Re: DX-60 Net

Thu May 29 23:28:24 EDT 2008

Hey Robert!

I even put on my special night vision shades and I still can not see a darn 
thing on this high resolution LCD seventeen inch display about twenty inches 
north of my nose. Then again, maybe it would help if I turned the monitor 
on! Being totally blind I leave it in the power saving mode, "OFF"! (LOL!)

It is fantastic fun to have some sighted person here, standing to my left, 
looking at the LCD display on my desk in front of them. It is off. I am 
babbling about the image that is on the screen, commenting on the sharpness 
of the details, describing the many different colors - hues - tints etc. 
They stand there, dead silent. Not sure if they should tell me that the 
monitor is turned off and they can't see a thing or just agree with me and 
hope I do not ask them some give away question that they can not answer 
because they can't see the picture!

Now some people tell me right off that the monitor is not turned on, 
especially children! Others do not want to hurt my feelings, so they stand 
there for ten minutes trying to fake their way through the blind man showing 
them his hot rod car photos hoping I don't catch on! Then if they do not 
tell me to turn on the monitor so they can see what the heck I am talking 
about, I finally ask them how long they planned to stand there staring at a 
blank screen before they told me there was no picture?

After about ten seconds of total silence, they start to snicker, and finally 
break into a gut muscle tearing laugh. Or else they pass out and flop 
unconscious on the den floor from holding their breath for too long!

I remember being at some elementary school in some state east of the 
Mississippi where I was performing a magical program for all the students in 
that particular county, two schools per day. A teacher brought a little girl 
up to the stage and had one of my female assistants ask if she could 
introduce the little girl to me. Normally when the curtains close, we do not 
do this. But my daughter, Rebecca, my main on stage assistant, sensed 
something different was going on. This child was blind, totally blind from 
her birth. She had never seen anything, not even light.

The female teacher introduced the little girl to me. I think she was in 
first grade. She gave me a small piece of paper with dots on it. Which I 
assumed were Braille. I gave the child one of my special six page brochures 
and a full color 5X7 autographed photo. Even though she could not see them, 
her teacher would describe them to her.

After they left, I finished up packing the sound case and audio equipment. 
Then I sat down on one of the magic trunks and tried to read the note from 
the little blind girl. Now I am not the best reader of Braille, but I can 
get by. I tried to read this message by turning that piece of paper on all 
four sides. I could figure out some words, but others made absolutely no 
sense whatsoever. I finally gave up.

My daughter was snickering in the near distance and my body guard/driver was 
chuckling from where he was winding up the Bose speaker cables. Rebecca 
asked me what the note said? I knew by that tone in her light brown hair and 
green eyed voice that she was setting me up! I told her I had no idea, as 
the Braille just did not make any sense. Then as their snickering and 
chuckling broke into roaring laughter, she told me that the little girl did 
not know how to read or write Braille. What I was trying to read were just 
dots she punched in a piece of scrap paper with a pencil point! So that 
time, the old blind dude got victimized by what is known in the trade as a 
"sucker effect" performed by a six year old!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Nickels" <w9ran at oneradio.net>
To: "Old Tube Radios" <boatanchors at theporch.com>; 
<Heathkit at mailman.qth.net>; <Hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 9:27 PM
Subject: [Heathkit] Re: [Hallicrafters] Re: DX-60 Net

> Robert Nickels wrote:
>> Mike Lopez wrote:
>>> The DX-60 Net is Sundays @ 8 or 9 A.M. on 3880 Amplitude Modulation. Net 
>>> control is Mike N8ECR in Pigeon, Michigan. A DX-60 is not required, 
>>> Boatanchors are appreciated.
> That's 8AM Eastern Time, Sunday mornings.  Another good AM net aimed at 
> low power AM operators is the Mighty Elmac Net, 8 PM Eastern on 3880 +/-. 
> The Mighty Elmac Net closes down for Collins AM nights and for the summer 
> months, but the DX-60 Net runs year-round.  N8ECR is QSX op. for both.
>
> Here's a picture of the Official DX-60 net banner, which is displayed at 
> midwest area hamfests by KA9TOC.  *http://tinyurl.com/6ybd9s*
>
> I should have used higher resolution, but you can still make out a few of 
> the "John Hancocks" who have signed it.   As can be seen from the number 
> of signatures, the DX-60 Net is very popular!
>
> 73, Bob W9RAN
>
>
>
> -- 
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>
> 