Chuck is helping me with parts. Have right angle drives, now he is looking for caps. What a guy!
Yep, Chuck has helped many of us over the years. (WA1EKV / K1KW)
Some background:
There was a time when I was building a lot of rigs and I needed to call him almost every night for advice. I'll bet we spent 100 hours on the phone and email over the years. He was always easy-going and more than willing to help. He could answer the questions that nobody else knew the answers to... the practical side of homebrewing that was not in the books. He probably doesn't realize it, but he was my mentor for many years, though my work still doesn't compare to his. The question is: Is the ham radio world a better place because of you? In his case, yes, he made a huge difference.
It was back in 1965 when there was a knock on the door and there was 14 year old Chuck standing on the porch with his father. We had an eyeball QSO for the first time. He had his homebrew screen modulated 6146 rig under his arm built into a Bud Shadow cabinet. He pulled the cabinet off and I was amazed that anyone could build a rig, never mind make it look like factory work. He went on to eventually build a 4-1000A plate modulated by 833As in high school. This young whipper-snapper was louder and sounded better than the old buzzard W1's of the 1960's AM era which probably made them crazy...
He went on over the next 50 years to build many homebrew rigs, some of which are still on the air in others' hands. He was always on the "fun" leading edge of Ham technology. His 75M rotary beam in the mid 80s, stacked HF logs, homebrew amplifers, SDR, etc., etc., were a ham's dream. He's an engineer's engineer.
Many don't know it, but he has another serious hobby - a 6-bay garage full of 1920's/30's restored cars that he regularly drives to events, etc. My guess is he has helped many of those hobbyists too.
What can I say? You are in good hands. Ask questions and get the right answers. Glad you are finding some of the hard to find parts... Some day you will pay it forward and help others build their rigs too.
T