The AM Forum

As heard from the station of K3ZRF a few years ago.

Heheh.. when I had the audio from my Behringer mixer into my dx-60 I used the computer audio and mixed in some crickets and frogs wave files one nite... oh yeah and a passing plane... fooled some people... sounded real... was that illegal? hmmm

During the 60's on 75M AM it was not uncommon to hear all kinds of things being fed over the air.  I remember placing a microphone in the bathroom to create a flushing toilet sound.  When Bill, W3DUQ moved from West Chester to Icedale, he had microphones set up in the woods all around him.  He did that for various reasons but he used to have his quacking ducks on the air from time to time.  Of coarse we will all remember W2VJZ famous chimes and the squelch breaking in the background on his 10M rig.  I remember my mentor Harry, W3FDY (sk) having a train record on the turntable for some background sound.  During the summer when Martha runs the tractor and I have the back french doors open in Studio B, the tractor comes through in fine style.  Harvey, W4KBQ (sk) use to really like that and would often remind me about that in later QSO's. 

Fun times....

Joe, W3GMS

Yes, Joe, I remember a lot of those sounds of 75!

Do you remember W2QYG ("Quiet Young Gentlemen"), Al ("short for alcohol") and his ticking clock? And W2NRM had a really hilarious cuckoo clock that went off every fifteen minutes (and some of his transmissions were fifteen minutes long).

Another interesting sound was the relentless but relatively weak and harmless jammer who followed Bob, W3RB, around for years. Almost every time Bob got on the air, the jammer would zero-beat him and whistle "Listen to the Mockingbird" -- sometimes for over an hour, but always stopping when Bob stopped transmitting.

When I was in "The Tropical Wonderland of Alexandria, Virginia" and the weather was good, I would sometimes set my Electro-Voice 635 out in the back yard and pot it up on the board's mic two input as my "ambience mike" -- picked up lots of birds, passing cars, honking horns, police sirens, wind gusts, kids playing, etc. One day a squirrel chewed the cable for it, though...

Another amusing sound was W3DUQ's "turkey warble" ten-minute timer. I wonder if he ever uses it anymore. I'd love to get a recording of it!

73,


Kevin, WB4AIO.

Yes Kevin, I remember all that you mention!  I believe Al, W2QYG was a projectionist at the movie theater in Pittman, NJ.   He and my mentor Harry were very good friends.  That "ticking clock" sound was always in the background just ticking away. 

Speaking of Bill, DUQ and his unique Id'er, my crank up egg timer made a nice click as well, but no where near the unique sound of Bill's when it was ID time.  I think he made his with a couple of 555's.  Bill's "studio sound" was consistent over all of the years I heard him on the air, even though his gear was constantly changing.   His early GE "Uni-level"  was replicated in sound with more modern boxes in later days.  Unfortunately I have not heard Bill on in a very long time. 

I have a Audio Technica dynamic mic that works great as an outside ambient mic.  That's why I seldom used the downward expander on my Symetrix 528E since you loose all the subtleties in the background of ones station.       


Fun stuff...

Joe, W3GMS

Thanks for the memories, Joe.

W2QYG was indeed a projectionist (a soon-to-be-forgotten profession!), and he was a lot of fun to talk with. You never knew for sure when he was putting you on!

As for Bill, W3DUQ, he has indeed kept a signature sound over the years. I and Chip, WB4ZVR were privileged to visit his home in 1975 and got to listen to the HRO-60 / tube sync detector combination and talk on the famous upside-down tube transmitter fed by the Unilevel (and meet his pet skunk, Hiram). He has kept the same distinctive sound as he advanced through several rigs. To me, all high-fidelity DSBRC transmitting setups will always be called "W3DUQ modulators." Hope he returns to the air soon. I also remember K1JJ and WB2NIJ, doubtlessly inspired by Bill and PHL, building big upside-down tube rigs back in the 70s.

All my best,

Kevin, WB4AIO.

No, I don't see how that could be against the regulations, as long as it's part of your two-way communication with another station or stations.


All the best,


Kevin, WB4AIO.

Just imagine 15 billion crickets showing up in your yard after hearing that mating call on 75 AM.

Sounds like an awesome opening scene in an Alfred Hitchcock type 50's movie.  :)

Ha! The POWER of AM radio!

Kevin.

Looks like DUQ pulled an INR!

There are two types of INR's nowadays, one where you take a very long time to tune up your transmitter on air and the other is a long if not permanent absents from Ham Radio!

Another signature of DUQ was his squeakie chair. He's had that thing for decades.

Here is another recording of crickets. It's Mike - WA11MTZ operating from his backyard on an early fall day. This was 75 meters from the early 1990s.

http://www.amwindow.org/audio/mov/wa1mtz.mov

I got one of them -- a back room and a cricket, or two. Once in a while it escapes to my shack

A

Where is the Liberty Or  dish washing sound??


klc

I like that track.  MTZ somewhat reminds me of UAN.

Didn't Les, W1FAT (SK), Palermo, ME have either a real steam train whistle or a recording of one he used to let loose every once in a while?

And of course, there's Nicky Badwires (KG2IR's) NBC chimes and Don Pardo station IDs...

Well, we used to have some fun down here in "5" land, too. The '60's were especially fun. :D
- Anyone remember the time when Otis K5SWK, received the ticking package in the mail? He milked that for a couple of weeks before he opened it on the air. Quite an explosion. :o
- And how about his "pouring a glass of some liquid", which was done live? :P
- And was anyone around to hear or participate in the "underground antenna" experiments? ;D

I'll try to think of some more before my next transmission.

73, Jim W5COA

Ah, yes - Dave and the cricket. What a chuckle. Dave seemed very comfortable with the arrangement. Still funny to hear it again now.

Brian, W1LYD (ex N1HUT) has a wooden train whistle that he uses to announce his arrival back in VT from Alaska. Heard him a few weeks back.

I used to get harangued for my squeaky chair when I was on up north, so down here I moved it to the VHF table where it doesn't get used as much.  ;D