[Milsurplus] So long and thanks for all the fish

[Kludge]

-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of David Stinson
>> From: Kludge <wh7hg.hi at gmail.com>
>> But do you have paperwork saying you're mad as a hatter?  I do, although
>> that's not the exact phraseology.  :-)
> We've all got issues, and we all "lose it" from time to time.  
> Everyone- take a breath.  Count to ten. Or a hundred.  Let all our heads
cool.

Done.  And in the process, I've come to a decision, something I mentioned to
Dave in private email.

Let me quote something from Wikipedia regarding the America's Cup: On August
22, 1851, the America raced against 15 yachts of the Royal Yacht Squadron in
the Club's annual 53 mile regatta around the Isle of Wight. America won,
finishing 8 minutes ahead of the closest yacht. Apocryphally, Queen
Victoria, who was watching at the finish line, asked who was second; the
famous answer being: "Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second."

That is how important Noelle is to me, there is no second.  Leading the pack
way behind is the A.R.C. book, and an assortment of other projects vie for
the remaining positions.  With that, my nerves are shot from stress, I've
been having repeated anxiety attacks, the nightmares & flashbacks have been
particularly bad.  Further aggravation is a Really Bad Thing but that's not
stopping it from happening.

But let's talk about the book for a moment.  Behind Noelle, that has
priority.  It will be #1 after she dies, which will be before I do, but
that's 8-10 years away.  It would be nice to at least have a solid draft in
place if not have it put to bed by then so the old man will have actually
accomplished something worthwhile before she dies.  Yes, I've done a lot (a
good amount of which no one but her will ever know) but in the process
accomplished zilch.  Nada.  Nothing.  This will let her know I'm not a total
loss, that I actually can do something that maybe people will care about
well after I'm ashes and in the same hole in the ground she is.

Several systems were to be built for this project.  The ARA/ATA and GF/RU
are two of them.  I chose these as representative of the Type K and Model D
derived systems simply because the were successive systems and, given the
vintages, were more "complete" and versatile than their Army counterparts.
I can also use the ARA/ATA as a text stepping stone to the AN/ARC-5 system
which, although more recent, would be far more difficult to assemble.  With
them is a combination Type 12 & AN/ARC-5 system from a copy of AN
08-something from 1952 that Dave sent me that will be a bear to assemble,
several other postwar A.R.C. systems, a couple Cessna panel-mount units and
a few others that I can't remember at the moment but will surely come to me
after I hit Send.  I'm missing a few pieces of Type 12 equipment for those
systems to be complete as well as all of the AN/ARC-5 units & GF/RU system
and most of the ARA/ATA.  (I have the transmitters, modulator and modulator
mount.)  

There will also be conversion rigs made by me from already hacked units.
(One of the ATA transmitters is hacked but it will be restored to original
condition.  Anything else needed would have been likewise be restored as
needed.)  Yep, I will be perverting command sets etc according to some of
the better conversions, one of my favorites being a DSB Tx.  It's minimally
intrusive and elegant in its simplicity.  I'll probably combine it with band
shifting to get the BC-458 & BC-458 (or their counterparts) into 40 & 80m
plus maybe bandspreading them so the bands cover more dial space.  The
receivers are another issue and I've yet to make a final decision on them.
The Grade B SCR-274-N will be here as well since it won't be exactly "right"
but rather will have semiconductor power supplies for the receivers so they
operate at vastly reduced voltage, have an external audio amp to compensate
for the lost audio, way oversized local tuning knobs and a few invisible
mods.  It will also have an external antenna tuner to allow it to load more
conventional antennas.

But let's go back to " Anything else needed would have been likewise be
restored as needed."  "Would have been" ... After a blind attempt at getting
someone to say, "Hey, I can take the equipment when you're done with it,"
the list gets told not to send me anything because it'll all wind up in
Waimanalo Gulch.  As a result, I can pretty much forget any assistance from
here or arc5 in completing the systems and need to go back to ePay to see if
I can get lucky there.  Not bloody likely but it might happen.  

As I mentioned to Dave, there are several things in life I hate.
Self-proclaimed experts, tin gods and bigots rank right at the top of the
list.  What's worse, it only takes a couple to ruin things for me.  I've had
to deal with them all my life and I find no reason to voluntarily put up
with them now.  I've got enough on my plate and I don't need any more.  As a
result, I'm permanently unsubbing from milsurplus and arc5.  Dave suggested
temporarily but when I pull the plug on things, I pull the plug and cut off
the cord.  Sooo ... 

So long and thanks for all the fish.
 
Michael, WH7HG BL01xh
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NTH/index.aspx 
http://wh7hg.blogspot.com/ 
http://kludges-other-blog.blogspot.com 
Hiki Nô!