The AM Forum

I was rapping with 3HM at the fest yesterday, tole me a story about the jefferson county WV group.

seems like one of their head guys brought in his new HF rig which he paid mega thousands for for show and tell.
the owner had to leave suddenly ( didnt say why or where he went) but left the radio at the klub meeting because it was all hooked up.

came back half an hour later to find his new rig busted. somebody had tried to pick it up, lost their grip on it and it hit the floor, breaking some stuff and the display.

he demanded to know who broke his rig, and nobody would own up to it. Dude went ballistic, yelling screaming , jumping up and down throwing a conniption fit.

he then proceed to have a massive heart attack and died then and there.  :o

I checked the local paper, 100% true.

I dont think I'll join anytime soon.  :P

 :o  Wow.  No appliance is worth all that!

When you bring your toys outside ya better keep an eye on them....that would suk nobody fessed up..

73
Jack.

Yeah, I wonder how the jackass that broke it feels now?

Geez! That miscreant is guilty of involuntary manslaughter!!!  Cops should be brought in!

What a pathetic way to go out. It's beyond sad.

The only club to join is an un-club. No rules, no officers, no dues - just a friendly group of like-minded folks who get together to enjoy the interest. Otherwise you invite the ego-maniacs and their narcissistic views, club politics and the rest.

Life is too short, all too well-illustrated by this case. 

Wow, that's over the top Derb. Well said Todd, it really should be mostly fun and not so much business. I fully understand that some guys are deep into the community service aspect, but from my perspective, it's only a hobby!

Such a crappy way to go, it really doesn't make sense. I can't believe the guy who dropped it didn't speak up. That's pretty low...

Club politics can be brutal!  I am painfully aware of that phenomenon as I virtually resigned from a local club that I had helped found many years ago.  I decided that all of the local politics and in-fighting didn't fit into my perception of an enjoyable hobby pursuit.  That experience really spoiled ham radio for me, for some time.

Sometimes, people with big egos and dominant personalities can do a lot of harm.  I, however, think it is wrong to brand all "clubs" as undesireable because of some unfortunate experiences.  Many times clubs,  whether formally or informally organized, allow people to pursue activities as a group that they could never do as individuals. 

This incident was truely tragic and sure doesn't serve as a positive model for a club, however, the individual responsible for damaging the guy's rig will sure have to deal with his own conscience.

73,  Jack, W9GT

With me it was the Ham Fest...all the time, Ham fest, ham fest.. sell tickets sell tickets....and then folks would come up an complain...Forget it....I much prefer the group here....Talk about radios, Fix stuff...Radio.... :D

73
Jack.

Yeah, I'll second that or third that.

AM Fone club is the best club.

Yes it is! Despite the orbiting narcissist or occasional problem child posts, we do have a good time with great folks and excellent info. The vast majority of members and visitors benefit here in one way or another, and all the thanks go to Brian, Gary, and Steve for pulling key aspects of their original sites together into one. Best of all, it translates well whenever we get together in person.

That wouldn't happen if it was run like the typical club.  ;)

yes Todd ....group hug

Some clubs are great; some stink.  A great club may go bad and a lousy club may get better.  These things are always in flux as people come and go over the years.   Yeah, things like money and power trips can kill off a club.  I should probably get involved with my local club; I feel guilty sometimes for not supporting it because I think it's a pretty good club.   

I assume the rig that got dropped was one of those $10K or $15K JA rigs.  I had several reactions, none of them very compassionate, mostly fixated on the rig sorry to say.  One was why would anyone buy such a thing?  If I wanted a fancy high tech rig I'd go the SDR route with a PC running a flex radio or Quicksilver.  Then I wondered how many owners of those things can fix them if they break--I know I wouldn't be able to.  So in trying to understand it monetarily, I had to equate it to something similar in price that I'd value like a W3HM restored 30K1.  No way would I bring that to some meeting (as if it's light enough to carry).   
Then the last thing that went through my mind was how these manufacturers making gear that weighs over 50 lbs. should put rack handles on them.  The Command 3 hole export amp weighs around 140 lbs--first I think it's crazy to put the p.s. and everything else in one cabinet but it's really nuts to make an amp that heavy in a rounded smooth cabinet with no handles.  My 75A3 is no where near that heavy but Collins punched handles into the sides.

Anyway, sorry to hear about what happened--I bet the ham who tried to carry that rig is finding another club to go to!
We know he wasn't an AMer--what AM op would want one of those rigs? 

73

Rob K5UJ
 

Hams that are into heavy contesting and DXing buy these type of rigs. Hams who are well off monetarily can afford to buy these rigs. Hams who believe, the more you pay for a rig the better it is, buy these rigs. If you're one who spends this amount of money on a rig, you generally can send it off to get it repaired. Why diddle with it when you have one or more working spares in the closet.
  

Many of the high end rigs from various manufacturers come with supplied rack mounting ears or they're available as an accessory for a price.


There are several hams in the Northeast who run the high end Icom rigs, IC-7700 and IC-7800, on AM. I'm willing to bet there are others around the U.S. that also run the high end Yaesu and Icom rigs on AM. Boatanchors may be fine for some but solid-state rigs are sweet.
 

There is more than one piece of gear out there that should not be lifted by its handles, much less mounted solely by its front panel. I didn't find this article, can you supply a link? It's so bizzarre.

I'm the only am'er here. Howard 3HM lives 3 miles from me but he's no longer active. I heard a guy from Martinsburg the other day, abt 15 miles north of me.

I never had a good experience with a established club. all run by petty dictators whose favorite radio activity soon becomes the entire clubs reason for existence, which all club actions must support 100% and all club monies goes to support.

the more money involved the worse it is.

Years ago, I was given the entire collection of "stuff" that had belonged to Robert Parmentier, W9WT. 

In the 1930's, Bob worked at ARRL HQ as their lab technician, and he built the original prototype of the standard superhet  communications receiver: 1 rf stage, mixer, separate oscillator, two i.f. stages, diode detector, BFO, one stage audio, and audio power amplifier.  Bob was the one who built many of the rigs shown in photographs in the pre-WW2 ARRL handbooks. He left ARRL and worked in communications and electronics during WW2 and for decades afterwards, until he retired sometime in the 60's or early 70's.

I had talked to Bob many times over the air, and had met him and his wife at numerous hamfests, so I felt like I knew him personally.  A ham friend of mine, sometime in the mid 80's, told me that Bob had moved to a nursing home and would probably never return home.  His wife was looking for someone who might be interested in his ham  gear.

Roger N4IBF, Mike NI4N and myself drove to his QTH in Indiana, just north of Louisville to get the stuff.  We found tubes, parts and carcasses of homebrew rigs, stuff dating back to the 1930's.  It took two trips, a pick-up truck and a U-Haul trailer to get all the stuff to TN, where we divvied it up.  That's the place where I literally mined NOS 304-TL's and VT-4C/211's out of the ground in the old house where the  floor had rotted years earlier and the remnants of the floor, tube cartons and all had disintegrated and become part of the soil.  Bob's wife told us we could haul off all we wanted, and she didn't want any money for it.

She told us that after Bob had gone to the nursing home, some of the local ham club types came over and looked over his stuff, and told her that his 75A-4 and his Hallicrafters SSB transmitter might be worth something, but all the rest was pure "junk"; no-body these  days uses that stuff any more, so the best thing she could do would be to have someone haul it all to the dump.  Fortunately, none of the local radio club types were willing to actually do the job, so the stuff remained on site until we could rescue it.  The 75A-4 and Hallicrafters rig were gone, so I assume it was sold and the proceeds went to his wife.

Probably bought the rig from the deceased's family for a song, since it was
damaged, but he'd do them a "favor" and take it off their hands....

Pete

Derb should remember this one:
I was the duely elected president of a local ham club, but the club elders refused to let the elected officers run the club. (I dont know why they even bothered to have elections)

One meeting turned into a proverdial bloodbath over something really stupid: a cover tone on the club repeater's autopatch!! It got really loud and ugly, totally uncalled for as the club elders really attacked the new treasurer (Rick N3HIA) Before the evening was over I had had enough of that shit and made up my mind that it was over. Without saying a word the next day I had written up and maild in my resignation as president and a member. Without knowing it, so had Derb (the VP) and so had Rick (the treasurer) and another 10 or 12 other club members who had also had enough of that crap!!

One of the other nice things that the club "elders" did that comes to mind happened at the club hamfest. The club "elders" and other members left after collecting the gate money and left myself, derb and Rick to tear down the fest and clean up the fairgrounds. We were ever so greatful that Steve (WB3HUZ) who was not a member decided to stay and help us out!

Since then, those of us that left stayed together for many years to come as a "non club group" calling ourselves the F.A.R.T.S. (first ammendment radio transmitting society)
We had cookouts, parties and even did field day. the one thing we never had was an arguement!! Since there was no club property or club treasury, we never had anything to argue about!! Most of us are still close and still keep in touch!!

                                                                      the Slab Bacon

I should post that movie snippet of me on Field Day with my SX-16, 1939 Stancor 110C TX, HB tuner making contacts on 40 meters. I'm really grateful Rick recorded that. I'm gonna try to clean it up a bit and re encode it.

I would like to, with Don's approval, take some video of him and the AM empire that is K4KYV for posterity's sake.

The HF 300 transmitter is a work of art, needs to be documented.

That'd B great I'd like to see that Stancor TX...outside in Action.. :)

73
Jack.

If you loose your cookies when it breaks you probably couldn't afford it to begin with in my opinion.   As an appliance op myself I've concluded one of the problems with ham radio today is the prevalence of consumer hams like me.  
Last month QST ran a letter in its Correspondence section from some guy whining about how the articles are too technical.  This, now that QST runs a glossary every issue explaining terms used, and all kinds of articles on things like how to build a dipole.  The letter was so out there that I wondered if it was tongue-in-cheek.  When I hear drunks on 75 meters at night asking what a tetrode is I see evidence of an intellectual decline that needs to be reversed.
The reason for diddling with it is that you learn something about radio equipment, although not all the blame goes to the owner.  In the case of the current JA rigs, there are often three manuals:  operator, service and sometimes a small separate theory of operation booklet.  These should all be shipped with every unit stock but usually the buyer only gets an operator manual.  That's one good thing I can say about the Ten Tec gear--you get one manual, and it's all three above, in one.  

I operate a Yaesu 1000MP Mk V on AM driving an amp.  I am looking forward to restoring a class C plate modulated rig if for no other reason than I can run a half gallon carrier with little or no blower noise.  I hope the Icom rigs sound better on AM than they do on SSB.

73

Rob K5UJ

Don't hold your breath..   :)

this paper does not have any website, I doubt if it prints more than 1500 each week.

it's called The Spirit Of Jefferson Advocate, a weekly. I doubt that it made the "big paper" in these parts ( the Martinsburg Journal) but they have a local office here in Charles Town.

I'll see if they still have copies and grab one if they do, scan it n post it.

Do they have a Spirit of Jesus Advocate?

That's the Sunday issue. Rarely seen is the Mel Gibson Extra edition.

it was the Spirit of Jefferson & Farmers Advocate, which at least sounded a bit more normal. they dropped farmers out of it abt 7 years ago. I have no idea why, I think it sounds stupid now.

This little tiny paper has been published in Charles Town since 1845.  :o

I think they still use the same press.

The Spirit of Jesus, Jefferson, & Irb's Advocate? OK fine.

OK-Fine, but where's Mel Gibson??  ;D

...did'nt GROUCHO state " i would'nt be a member of any club that would have me as a member "   ?.....


..sk..

Most Clubs are Clichesh...Yuk.....whether they want me as a member or not....and I can't stand these guys that have to be in charge ....oh boy..

73
Jack.

Usually self-righteous types with an inflated opinion of their own importance, and often as not, control freaks.  Kinda like the people who run HOA's. 

Other people have more rewarding ways to use their time.

I suspect that most clubs suffer from the same problems; certainly my local gun club, which is run like their private club by a bunch of retired Fudds with nothing better to do.

The knowledge and experience here is far greater than any club.  Most of the clubs seem to be vhf/uhf emcomm wackers anyway....

Tom - AB3FL

He's over in Bartertown bustin the deal and spinnin the wheel..