[HCRA] Fw: Did You Know? The Wouff Hong

[KB1NWH]

+ Did You Know? The Wouff Hong
       
      The Wouff Hong - a "fearsome instrument for the punishment of amateurs who cultivate bad operating habits."
     
Every amateur should know and tremble at the history and origins of this fearsome instrument for the punishment of amateurs who cultivate bad operating habits and who nourish and culture their meaner instincts on the air. The Wouff Hong was invented -- or at any rate, discovered -- by "The Old Man" himself, just as amateurs were getting back on the air after World War I. The Old Man (who later turned out to be Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW, co-founder and first President of ARRL) first heard the Wouff Hong described amid the howls and garble of interference as he tuned across a band filled with signals that exemplified all the rotten operating practices then available to amateurs (considering the state of the art as they knew it). As The Old Man heard it, the Wouff Hong was being used on some hapless offender so effectively that he investigated. After further effort, "T.O.M." was able to locate and identify a Wouff Hong. The Old Man never prescribed the exact manner in which the Wouff Hong was to be used, but amateurs need only a little imagination to surmise how painful punishments were inflicted on those who stoop to liddish behavior on the air. The Original Wouff Hong is on display at ARRL Headquarters. Find out more about this dreaded instrument of torture here.