[R-390] Kielbasa

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 8:13 PM, barry williams <ba.williams at charter.net>
wrote:

> Well, well, well, look what the cat drug in.....Todd de Boomer! How the
> bleep are you doing!
>

Doing just fine, thanks. I popped in sometime within the last year or so
after Les rattled my cage a bit. Been busy like most other folks, became a
dad in November of 2012 to a beautiful daughter who is now nearly 2
already(!!), fun stuff like that. Can't recall if I mentioned that
previously. So things have changed a bit?


> I didn't realize that Don and I joined somewhere around the same time. I
> somehow always assumed he was always our fearless leader.


Don't quote me as my memory is not as good as it once was. I suspect Don
was here from the start, he just took over the list around that time. Maybe
95? It was his show when I joined.


> I'll say something about Don- he knows his stuff and when he gives advice
> it is always good and extensive. And, he deserves a medal for putting up
> with the crisis back then. Talk about moderating from behind the scenes.
> You done good, Don.
>

I got to meet Don at Dayton back in 2007 and he is just as great a guy in
person. Friendly, jovial, quite knowledgeable, and a true gentleman. And
I'll tell you something else about Don....

Some years back when I was still living in the wretched northeast (B-R-R-R
among other reasons) I came across a BC-610E that I hoped to restore and
use in my station. Long story short - I broke one or both of the 2A3 audio
tubes which most folks know had been driven through the roof price-wise by
the audiophool crowd. Hearing of my dilemma, Don sent me a good, tested
set....FREE. Wouldn't accept payment.

FFWD to this past year. I contacted Don to let him know I'd be sending the
tubes back to him the next time they surfaced in the mess called my garage,
since the 610 was sold before the move south. His response was "keep 'em -
sell them and put the money toward the baby's college fund". That's the
kind of guy who runs this list and puts up with us.


> We are missing some fine folks. I miss Dr. Jerry. I was writing some back
> and forth and lost his address. Same old Jerry.
>
> Where's Joe Foley? If anybody has his number please email it to me.
>

Haven't seen or heard from Dr Jerry in a number of years, seems he was
still in touch with some of the old members. Foley is much easier: beehive
kicker now runs the Yahoo T-368 list and can be found there easily. I'm
pretty sure he crawled out of his hole on here a couple years back too,
when Locklear was poking people with a pointy stick.

I talked to Les last year. He befriended me when I joined the list and
> helped me out off list many times. He gave me stuff. Just sent a Sherwood
> FM receiver as a gift. He gave me leads to the RBL-5 and HP 3586B that I
> own. And, he is one sneaky troublemaker too. Joe got a lot of blame that
> really belonged to Les.
>

Agreed, though Joe probably got away with something else so it all evens
out. (o:  Les and I stay in touch behind the scenes and exchange photos of
our latest toys, etc. Les is another bottomless cup of knowledge when it
comes to the R-390 family specifically or SW receivers in general. And he's
funny.


> Sandy Geiger is another great guy. He sent me a JRC NRD-535 that had been
> struck by lightning. Insurance paid him for it, so I got it. It powers up
> and I'm sure some of the cards are okay. Interesting radio to poke around
> and examine.
>

Was still hearing from Sandy on occasion within the last year or so. I
think he's in the antique radio group I frequent. He has some cool stuff.
Like an RCA AR-60, IIRC.

Hope Ken and the Chew Crew is reading this. I was glad to see you rejoin a
> while back. Been following your critter family all this time.
>

I hope Ken sticks around. Looking back it appears that the whole antifreeze
thread was based on a bad joke that morphed into a downward spiral. Leaving
the list over that after so many years solves nothing.

And, thanks for pointing out the real Barry thing. I remember the joking
> around when we got up to 3 or 4, but I forgot that Barry Hauser came up wth
> other other. I'm not going to use that anymore out of respect for the real
> other other Barry. Those were the fun days before the wimps joined up, got
> together and decided to complain as a bloc against the core membership.
>

Yep, Hauser was the 1st Barry, so you became 'other'. An honor bestowed.
Barry #3  who chimed into this thread is N4BUQ, I could only remember the
N4 (sorry Barry!).

Boomer is an old nickname of mine that I used on here back in the mid-90s.
When Todd Roberts showed up around 2000 it came in handy and precluded a
numbering system. I wandered off around 2004 or whenever the nit-picking
started and posts like black capacitor crap and don't lick the meters
seemed to be the only acceptable fare. Over, and over. And over. But don't
you dare talk about other radios, or cars, or telescopes, or guns, or any
of the other myriad of off-topic threads we enjoyed over the years,
generally during the slow times.  I used my delete key on posts of no
interest and it never failed me. These threads died a natural death and the
list continued on. Amazing. They were always the exception, not the rule.

I'm motivated now to dig out those old list files soon. I recently bought a
> humongous backup drive, so I'll hook it up and transfer stuff. There's some
> funny Nolan Lee stories. Last time I looked I sat and got some good laughs.
>

The only one of Nolan's posts I could find a few years ago was Flight of
the Phoenix, about the R-390A he hauled out of his 120 degree attic, full
of mud dauber nests, cleaned up and resurrected. It had the usual Nolan
humor and a lot of useful information. Sent it to a number of folks but
have no idea where it is now. Probably with Otis at the junkyard.

Anyway, glad to hear from you and the injection of common sense you gave
> the list. Don't be a stranger.
>

As mentioned, I was back a year or two back and have posted on rare
occasions since. A thread came up last year that appeared to reflect the
newbs* displeasure with the old timers of the list and how if it wasn't for
the newbs blah blah blah. That was a good time to exit stage left. A
beautiful 20 month old daughter, a lovely wife, and a life beyond the
internet keep me well occupied. Some nights when it's quiet (usually after
midnight) I fire up the ARBE III and tune around on an old Federal model 59
TRF set. Brings back the fun of BCB DXing. The Gerald Bull Teledyne 390A is
here and working great (suffered its first ballast tube failure a year or
so back) and the EAC is still up at George K1ANX's place. Hope to pick that
up in the fall.

Sorry to hear you're not flying anymore but glad to see you, Barry #3, and
some of the old crew still hanging in there in today's brave new world of
the internet.

There's a year's worth of posting for ya. Enough out of me.

de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ/4

* I use the term 'newb' affectionately, of course. We were all newbs at one
time, we had to start somewhere. And of course we knew we were smarter than
anyone else on the list, too. (o:


Blast from the past:

"If you see us running, catch up"   - Bomb Squad motto