The AM Forum

I just learned from MrMike -W1RC that Glann Baxter-ex K1MAN is now an SK.  

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/glenn-baxter-obituary?pid=1000000185370674

Joe-GMS  

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember as a kid growing up in Maine that he used to transmit SSB news bulletins on 75 meters.  That was almost 30 years ago, so I'm really stretching some neurons.

Jon

...and, a little dark New England humor, he died on Cinco de Mayo.

His 'bulletins' were legendary.  

Long scheduled diatribes bordering on illegal broadcasting.

It got to the point where the FCC prosecuted him.

73DG

It was nice when the RF pollution was stoped. It went on for too long.


KLC

R.I.P. a troubled soul

Way back when, Glenn used to get on the air and have real QSOs.  I talked with him many times  in the '70s and into the '80s for sure.

The broadcasts on AM were actually interesting - just poorly placed in the band (3890) and caused a whole lot of interference to 3885, and often 3890 was in use as well when the broadcast started.  Unfortunately, that started a rather nasty war with other AMers and it never really ended.

I have a few tapes of his broadcasts.

RIP-and I do mean Peace.

Dan

I didn't know the guy, but I'm aware of the history. It would be good if people would stop leaving snarky FCC comments on his memorial page, it's not like he'll hear them, but his widow has to deal and she didn't do anything to deserve it.

Greg


May 16, 2017
Riley Hollingsworth sends his love.
~
Rich WB2OTK

May 14, 2017
The FCC sends their love.

I totally agree Greg.  Not the place to put such things. 

Joe-GMS   

It's nice to hear there are memories of better days with Baxter.

b.

Emphasis mine.  BORDERING - SAY WHAT? "...BORDERING ON ILLEGAL BROADCASTING."????   ???

Another in the cast of characters gone. This reminds me a bit of Irb's passing, though Irb at least had far more entertaining stories with which to cover up his "dark side".

While I agree completely that a memorial page is not an appropriate place to vent your spleen and that harsh words do no good at this point (not that they ever did), it's important to keep in mind that this guy brought it on himself. He made it a point of disrupting and otherwise annoying folks - particularly the AMers - for years. He seemed to revel in the attention and notoriety he got from it and went so far as to mention it during his broadcasts and even threaten individuals with lawsuits.

There was also the 'Collins-Approved Tech' side which resulted in his obtaining a lot of equipment. Numerous folks have horror stories of sending equipment to him to be repaired then being given outrageous bills(or ransom, as one guy put it) beyond what they were quoted, with the equipment being 'seized' if they didn't pay up. How much of it is true will likely never be known and probably isn't important unless you were one of his customers.

So while it's a good idea to be respectful, it's also wise to keep things in perspective and avoid the urge to excuse the bad because the guy was nice at some point in his life or simply because he's now dead. He probably had things thrown his way that he didn't deserve. If so, it was a direct result of his years of behavior that brought on the scorn and ridicule.

I was one of his victims. While my gear wasn't held for "ransom," I paid handsomely for a non-repair. Many, many years ago before I was proficient in servicing gear I sent a 32S-1 that was acting quite flaky to him. I paid the bill and got the radio back to find that there was absolutely no change in performance. At that point I wasn't going to send the radio back to him, so instead I sent it to another guy who quickly and cheaply fixed the radio. No parts or excessive labor charges; the guy simply loosened and retightened the shield cans around the bandswitch wafers. I'll never know if Baxter was incompetent, dishonest, or both. In any event, my personal experience was not a positive one.

I think both. 

I also believe there was some unknown underlying reason why he seemed to be full of hostility and anger, and unable to see the negative side of what he was doing over the air.  He made many enemies and almost seemed to enjoy doing so.

ODD

Oppositional
and
Defiance
Disorder.

It SSUUCCKKSS.  One of my sons has this.  The sky is blue.  He knows what the color blue is.  It doesn't matter, he will argue its orange until the cows come home.

It's like he thrives on arguing and making others miserable.  He hates this part of his personality.

It sucks. I am still learning to deal with it on my own end, and have made some bitter people because of this.  Frank GFZ and Carl, KM1H had my ire directed at them.  Carl accepted my apology.  I'd like to extend it to Frank as well, but never see him online.

Yes, some people are predisposed to argue.  It's not something that anyone know with it relishes or enjoys.

--Shane
KD6VXI

People wih ODD will argue with you when you agree with them......

Google the DSM 5 for more information.


KLC

Isn't it odd?  To operate on the 75 meter band, a person needs to be at least a part time psychologist as well.  

For me, the drama out west is the AMI net and the SSB'ers in the Texas area. Both operate simultaneously on 3870.  Most of the check-ins for the AMI net are in California and they're evidently not too bothered by the QRM.  I, however, am a state closer (states are very big out this way) and the interference sometimes forces me to listen to the USB to hear the AM guys.  

You'll hear the SSB'ers blasting profanity for about 15 minutes, but they eventually go away when ignored.  

Another time, I was talking with a guy in Idaho on 75 meters AM when a sidebander broke in and said that their group meets at that frequency and they'd talk over us if we didn't relinquish the frequency.  Sheesh!  We even offered them to join our conversation first, but they weren't having it.  

Anyway, off topic from Glenn Baxter.  If Glenn were here, he'd know what to do.

Jon

I often joke with friends familiar with the AM 'cast of characters' that you just can''t make this stuff up. If you were a fiction writer, you could only dream of coming up with such characters.  


Precisely. You can make a fair comparison between the jammers and today's internet trolls. They're doing what they do to get a result. Deny them that result, the satisfaction, and (to borrow from BB King) the thrill is gone. Yet this is still an alien concept to some. Because by gawd, they are gonna give those SSBers a piece of their mind and set them straight. THAT will make the difference. Uh huh.

This is why we remind folks not to 'feed the trolls' by posting information they can easily use to judge their success jamming or otherwise interfering. We know for a fact, since they've mentioned it on the air, that they have read this site in the past. Especially when some members were trying to coordinate on air contacts.

As to Glenn, he certainly thrived on the attention and of course could easily harvest reports online. We eventually had to remind folks to stop discussing his interference on here since it would change nothing and only encourage him to do more. Obvious, right? Not really. Some would just get on day after day, week after week, with the same old gripes.

Whatever was wrong with or tormenting Glenn Baxter, he's free of it now. In this world, at least. Who knows what is waiting beyond. Some say there's a special place....