03-11-14 19:11 Roy Witt wrote to Ed Vance about Resurrected   
      
    RW> @MSGID: <5320DB3B.287.amtradio@capcity2.synchro.net>   
    RW>  Brer Ed Vance wrote to Brer Roy Witt about Re: Resurrected:   
   Brer Roy,   
      
   I've been running around in circles a bit and noticed I hadn't replied   
   to this message yet.   
   -snip-   
    EV> There wasn't any INCENTATIVE when I took the Amateur Extra exam,   
    EV> such as getting a preferred type Call Sign.   
      
    RW> The only incentive was in the band plan that gave Xtras 25khz   
    RW> space exclusively for Xtras.   
      
   That's what I didn't like about it, giving exclusive use to the lower   
   portion of a band cut off access to General, Conditional and Advanced   
   Class Hams who were DX'ers an oppertunity(?) to talk to DX Stations who   
   were calling just below the bottom of our allowable frequencies.   
      
   I ain't a DX'er, I'm a Ragchewer.   
      
   I've had enjoyable ragchew QSO's with DX Stations, but then there were   
   other times that a DX station called CQ and I answered their CQ only to   
   be given their Name & RST and they started calling CQ again immediately.   
      
   I've helped by logging contacts during Field Day, but I rarely enter   
   a Contest myself.   
      
   My FCC License, RCC and ROWH Certificates AFAICR are all the papers I   
   could hang on my Ham Shack wall.   
   -snip-   
    EV> Really those Deep Technical Subjects asked on the Extra exam, IMNSHO,   
    EV> ought to be the privilages Given to the Higher Calss Operators to   
    EV> use, instead of Polarizing the lower Classe Hams by not allowing   
    EV> General Class Hams, Conditional Class Hams and Advanced Class Hams to   
    EV> enjoy QSOing on all the frequencies on all of the Ham Bands with the   
    EV> Amateur Extra Class Hams so everyone can learn from the Extras about   
    EV> the more involved Modes the higher Class OPS can use because they   
    EV> know that kind of stuff.   
      
    RW> My Elmer was a Navy trained electronics technician; I didn't   
    RW> learn anything about that stuff from him.   
      
   I never heard of the word 'Elmer' until the last 7 to 10 years when I   
   seen a description of what an Elmer was in a ARRL or ARN BBS message.   
      
    EV> And Yes I am saying that Amateur Extras should be the ONLY CLASS   
    EV> ALLOWED TO USE SSB because they know enough to be able to service   
    EV> that kind of Ham Gear, everbody else Licensed for HF Phone use should   
    EV> still be using AM.   
      
    RW> Then I wouldn't aspire to be a Amateur, period. There are too   
    RW> many other interests in HAM radio that are more interesting.   
      
   Hey!, only Amateurs can Participate in HAM radio anyone else is a SWL   
   (or BOOTLEGGER).   
      
    EV> I have one SSB rig and I have the Service Manual for it, but I've   
    EV> only used it twice.   
      
    RW> There's no AM mod switch on my Kenwood TS-520...Upper and Lower   
    RW> SSB and CW only...   
      
   Nor on mine either, but my Apache TX-1 and DX-40 has a AM mod switch,   
   but no Upper and Lower SSB on them.    ....  ..   
      
    EV> Once to install a CW Filter in it, and once to help another Ham   
    EV> Neutralize the new 6146 he put in his radio which was the same as   
    EV> what I have.   
      
    RW> Before I was licensed as a HAM, I bought the Kenwood and   
    RW> modified it to work above CB channel 40, but below 20.0... I   
    RW> later returned it to stock, except that I put the crystals in   
    RW> the wrong place and 28.5 is on the 29.1 switch. I know where it   
    RW> xmits.   
      
   Hmmm, were you a SWL or BOOTLEGGER then?   
   ---You don't have to answer that.---   
   Remember, You're talking to a BIG LID!   
      
    EV> I used my Heath-Kit VTVM and RF Probe and the Service Manual when we   
    EV> worked on his rig.   
      
    RW> I used to have a service monitor and tuned the front end back   
    RW> to spec...   
      
   Front End?, that's the RX part isn't it not the TX part I helped align?   
      
    EV>> I checked for my two old call signs on the FCC pages and the search   
    EV>> comes up empty. I guess the FCC hasn't issued either one of them   
    EV>> since I became W9ODR.   
      
    RW>> Try the callsign database at qrz.com instead. When I enter one   
    RW>> of my old callsigns there, it takes me to my present callsign   
    RW>> with the old callsign in (callsign) brackets.   
      
    EV> I just tried the FCC site and none of my old calls were shown.   
      
   I just checked my old Calls on QRZ and it now shows my W9ODR page in   
   a Search for my old K4 and WA9 call signs, because I updated my data   
   on Saint Patricks Day.   
   But the Search for my KN4 call sign failed, although I entered it on   
   my Biography page that everyone sees.   
   -- snip --   
      
    EV>> I knew a Radarman in the Navy frm South Dakota who told me of two   
    EV>> Hams who both lived one mountain top from the other and tried to   
    EV>> blow up each others RX by pointing their beam towards them while   
    EV>> running at Illegal Power levels to out do the other guy. -snip-   
      
    RW>> That was a trick that feuding CBers used to use on each other,   
    RW>> but with the xmtr sitting outside of the other CBers house.   
    RW>> That doesn't work, btw.   
      
    EV> This was two Ham Radio Operators not CBers the Radarman told me   
    EV> about.   
      
    RW> I know you said that. But CBers learned that trick from older   
    RW> members of their family who learned it a long time before there   
    RW> were CBers.   
      
    RW>> It's better to pin your enemies' antenna coax...   
      
    EV> I know of one case of that being done to a Ham that I went to high   
    EV> school with. It was done to him by two other students.   
      
    RW> Shame on them.   
      
   Those two students had General tickets, the student they 'pinned' had   
   a Conditional ticket back around 1957, Louisville, Kentucky wasn't a   
   FCC Quarterly Examination Point when he got his Conditional License.   
   -snip-   
    EV> Same here, I don't know why the FCC hasn't given those calls to   
    EV> someone by now, I renewed the W9 call 6 years ago, that seems like   
    EV> long enuf time for them to issue the call to someone who didn't want   
    EV> a Vanity Call Sign.   
      
    RW> Those old calls are being phased out in favor of the new   
    RW> license re-structuring for different class of licenses...there   
    RW> are no more WAs-WDs issued, instead 2x3 calls beginning a K   
    RW> (KA6ENU)...Generals can get a 1x3 call, but it will begin with   
    RW> an N (N6AGT) if any are available. Advanced get 2x2 calls, as   
    RW> in my old KB6PI call. Extras get 1x2, 2x1, 2x2 that starts with   
    RW> an A, none are available until one of them becomes a SK...   
      
   Thanks Roy, I hadn't heard about that.   
   I guess I ought to go fetch a up-to-date copy of Part 97 and read it.   
   -snip-   
    RW> Does anyone play the recorded Newsline message that I post in   
    RW> HAM in your area? Usually found on a repeater...That isn't done   
    RW> here in south Texas.   
      
   I remember when my 2M rig worked the ARN Recording was heard one day   
   a week.   
      
   Heck!, I tried seeing if I could listen to 2M FM on the some portable   
   AM-FM-VHF radios I own and none of them work any more on WX/VHF.   
      
   Looks like the Old Cheap LID is going to have to stop at a Yard Sale   
   and try to pick one up so I can learn what's going on with the locals.   
      
   Some local Ham Radio Clubs have web pages, but I rarely check them out.   
   BBS messages and QRZ are were I learn what's happening on the Bands.   
      
   Roy, I hope You had more Grins than Grimmishes (Frowns) reading this.   
      
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