[R-390] Ultimate heresy answered

[Barry Hauser]

Perry wrote:
> Unfortunately, these vocal few have driven off the list Dr. Jerry and 
> Dallas Langford who
> have contributed to vast improvements for the R390 and R390A in particular 
> and other BA equipment
> in general.  Between them, they may have forgotten more about BA's than 
> most of us now

Yup -- unfortunate all right, but that's not the reason Dr. Jerry left -- I 
was in touch with him afterwards.  Didn't care for the foolishness that 
sometimes erupted on the list and some other disagreeables, but wasn't 
necessarily about solid state mods or the like.

You're about 180 degrees out of phase on Dallas (Lankford with a "k" that 
is).  The last time he stormed off it was due to conflict over recapping. 
He asserted that he never found a bad molded cap (i.e. black or brown 
beauty) and went as far as to assert that those who claimed finding leaky 
ones were  (paraphrasing, but not by much) misinformed, delusional or 
outright liars.  Some list members even posted links to photos of physically 
split caps.  I attempted to smooth ruffled feathers privately, pointing out 
that many of the list members' experience reflected St. Julien's Creek 
Massacre victims -- blue and yellow stripers -- that had been outside for 
over a year.  (Of course, those caps can fail on the shelf or in a radio 
cozy on the shelf --  I was just trying to be diplomatic.)  No good.  He 
accused me of being "an apologist for the recappers."  Your post would have 
been enough to make him go ballistic all by itself.

As I learned later on from another list member, Dallas had suffered a stroke 
sometime before, and that probably has more to do with it all than anything. 
Dr. Jerry is active on the Collins reflector.  I imagine there are plenty of 
Collins collectors on that list who are traditionalists who would rather 
keep the gear as original as possible and true to its design of the times, 
and probably more so than on this reflector.  He seems to be getting along 
there just fine, though he is missed here.

Barry