Fred, W3PHL

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

I just got word from Bill, K3JPB that Fred, W3PHL died on Friday, March 30, 2007.

It's hard to believe that Fred was so far up in years.  I remember him as 40ish, but of course that was from around 1972.

Fred was quite the big-audio AM operator in his day.  I'm sure many have seen the pictures of his famous rig.

Most unfortunate news.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Was just talking about Fred with Bill, W3DUQ the other day. Fred most certainly has a big impact on a bunch of hams in the southeastern PA area back in the 60's and 70's. He's always been spoken of with respect and admiration. I'm sure he will be missed.

[k4kyv]

Do you know what his actual age was?

I had met Fred several times at the annual Cincinnati "Stag Hamfest" in the 60's and early 70's.  He was 40-ish at that time, so he must have been about 80 at his death.

In 1972, I visited with him on my way to NYC to catch a flight at JFK.  He showed me the big rig, although by that time he had dismantled most of it and was using the big final as a SSB linear.  He mostly used it to work some VK friends on 40m early in the pre-sunrise morning.  Now that he is SK, I suppose it won't hurt to publicly say that he showed me the reading on his Bird 43, at 5 kw average power output to a 40m quad up on his staircase like 120' tower.

We used to work AM on 3810 in the mid 60's.  For some reason he was high on the slopbuckets' shitlist and there were always jamming attempts whenever he got on the air, but try as they might, the jammers couldn't touch him.

He legally ran about 5 kw double-sideband reduced carrier, with about 600w DC input to the final to produce the carrier, using the upside-down tube circuit.  The loophole in the regulations was that he was running legal DC input while the a.c. audio modulation contributed nothing to the DC power readings, and his signal  was  not overmodulated since the upside down tube circuit took care of the negative modulation peaks, preventing splatter. The signal could be somewhat demodulated on a diode detector, but with great distortion.  The best method for copying, absent a synchronous detector, was to narrow up the bandwidth of the receiver and copy one sideband as a SSB signal.  This still had the advantage of being able to switch sidebands at will to dodge the (usually deliberate) QRM. The FCC cited his case when they passed the infamous AM power reduction in the 1980's.

Another radio legend has passed.

May he rest in peace

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Yes, I was discussing this with Bill also, as I'd somehow gotten his call mixed into the upside-down tube scene. I read an article somewhere about it all, maybe something old posted on the AM Window years back or who knows. Sounds like he was quite an interesting fellow.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

QRZ database says, "born in 1929", that would make him 78.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

Some pictures of Fred and his station.  The Fred-1971 picture may really be from 1972 or 1973.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

The W3PHL 40 meter beam.

[k3zrf]

Sad.

I remember the 'power room' having been there inside during a 'fault' in the modulator power supply. My hair hasn't been the same since.

Fried Freddy, may you rest in peace.

[W2XR]

Geessh! Talk about operating a rig that where you walk a fine line between life and death! It does look like the rig itself was located within a compartment or closet, so you could not easily come in contact with the high voltage, etc. Certainly enhances the ease of maintainability and of making modifications.

I remember the homebrew 1KW plate modulated rig that Mike, WA2VNI built and used to operate back in the late 1970s. A pair of 833As in the modulator, and whatever the tube de jour was in the final. He set that thing up in his basement with most of the subassemblies breadboarded on wood or metal panels and sitting right on the basement floor. The plates of the 833As, sitting at around 3000 VDC, were connected by speaker zip cord strung along the basement floor. Scared the s--t out of me when he ran that thing, and suffice it to say, I kept my distance and had a healthy respect for that rig, but certainly not for the construction practices Mike utilized. He used to kick the plate on/transmit switch with his big toe while he stood up to talk into the microphone. Amazing that no one ever got electrocuted by that rat's nest.

73,

Bruce

[KB2WIG]

  "Amazing that no one ever got electrocuted by that rat's nest."

Maybee its an example of DarwinISM... We start off building small rigs, and the HV weeds out the "weeeeeek" before we get to build somthing 'big'.


<<<Like wiring the 1.5KV into the 400Vdc supply and seeing the blue fire dance..>>. ... ..    klc 

[W3LSN]

Whatever happened to Mike WA2VNI anyway? He used to hang out with Joe W2WAS. I used to run into both of them quite frequently at NYC area hamfests in the late 70's. I haven't heard Mike OTA in years.

73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[WA3VJB]

I knew Fred was a big cat and regret he came and went before I was really on the air to enjoy talking with him.

Same for Mike WA2VNI.

A senior member of the AM Community, Mike, WA3WDO, who used to represent Annapolis about 30 years ago with a highly modified J500, came over to my place with some vintage aircheck recordings of VNI.

We had an audience when TimTron was passing through Maryland, and Steve/HUZ, myself and Mike/WDO sat around listening to these tapes with him.

As I recall, VNI got busted for either being a music station on 75m or doing some pirate transmissions outside the hambands.

The callbook shows him still around, turns 50 next year, renewed his license in 2005.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It was for doing a call-in show, that The VNI was busted. Of course, later, K1MAN got away with it for years on end. Times have changed.

[WA3VJB]

Was the call in show on those tapes?
Is that where the FCC guy calls in and says "don't hang up, I'll be good, I wanna talk "

I may have it on my copy.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

YES! That's it. He did the call in thing at least twice. One of them you have on tape and I called in one other time. Great stuff.

Was the call in show on those tapes?
Is that where the FCC guy calls in and says "don't hang up, I'll be good, I wanna talk "

I may have it on my copy.

[WB2CAU]

Same for Mike WA2VNI.

A senior member of the AM Community, Mike, WA3WDO, who used to represent Annapolis about 30 years ago with a highly modified J500, came over to my place with some vintage aircheck recordings of VNI.

We had an audience when TimTron was passing through Maryland, and Steve/HUZ, myself and Mike/WDO sat around listening to these tapes with him.

As I recall, VNI got busted for either being a music station on 75m or doing some pirate transmissions outside the hambands.

The callbook shows him still around, turns 50 next year, renewed his license in 2005.

Mike was a neighbor of mine when he lived with his parents.  He lived less than a mile away. The arc in his T-R relay on his 833A transmitter on 75m used to induce enough energy into my 2m FM receiver to momentarily open the squelch whenever he began his transmissions.

I was in contact with him by email before Christmas of '05. He's the CEO of a nationwide food business that he founded in 1979.  He's doing well.  I tried talking him into getting back on the air and even offered to help him put up an antenna if he wants to return to HF.  But he seems preoccupied with business, kids and spouse these days.