RADIO, Shortwave and Amateur

[Ralph]

Very interesting Dave. I had been studying for my Novice years ago, just hated dealing with all that damn CODE!!!!

Maybe I should brush up on the technical part and try for it.

I have a very good friend who frequents 2-meters. I am sure you would know him, just can't recall his call sign.
W2BEJ comes to mind, not sure if that is right or not, his personal is Tony.

[dgriffin]

I tend to stay away from the 2 meter repeaters. They get pretty boring after a while. But I do tune in the Utica 2 meter repeaters when I'm in the area to look for old radio friends. Tony sounds familiar. I'll look for him.
Yes, when you get where you're going and settle in, you should get back into it. It's a hobby that has fascinated me since high school. Shortwave is my metier. Even in today's world of the Internet and cell phones, I still get a thrill from hanging a wire from house to tree, powering up a transmitter I've built or repaired and firing a signal across the ocean to another ham in Europe just to talk about the weather and our hobby.

[Ralph]

I am sure if you have been involved for all these years you will know who he is. He's from Utica originally.

I would love to get my ticket after all these years. I did a lot of DXing years ago, both Amateur and English Language SW.
Even had a couple Heathkit's I put together. Loved it!

Maybe when we get to where we're going I will try to get into it again.

[frankcor]

Wow, ask and thy shall receive! Thanks, Dave!

[rickolney]

Dave,
Did you ever happen to know Bill Toussaint from Whitesboro? Bill was a ham radio operator and computer geek. He worked at Par Tech back before he died. He was a friend of mine. Just wondering if this hobby is like the comics hobby; with everyone either knowing each other, or knowing of each other.

[dgriffin]

Hi Rick. Hams can be funny people. (Not funny ha-ha, as my kids used to say, but funny oh-oh.) There are a lot of isolated hams who favor their basements and attics over contact with live flesh at ham club meetings. Let's face it, clubs are clubs and some people tire of them quickly. Also, many hams today are inactive. We are one of the fastest aging hobbies, I think. I inquired of the qrz.com database once and found about ten times more hams here than I was previously aware of.
Bill's name seems familiar. I should mention that I left Utica in 1963 and only come back occasionally to visit. There was a time when coming north from the Southern Tier or the Catskills (places where we have mostly lived) almost always meant a trip to Watertown to see my wife's family You would more often find us there than Utica. You know how life goes. Folks move or die, friendships pop up in new places. I think just about everyone from my class of 1961 eventually left Utica. That includes my friend Rich in Marcy, but he moved back a few years ago to marry a local woman. If it weren't for him, I'd probably not know any Utica area hams today. In fact, I don't really know any, just some names sound familiar.
That's my take. The next ham you meet will no doubt have a different perspective, be more sociable and say the opposite.

[rickolney]

Thanks for the reply, Dave.

I saw that picture of the radio system and I immediately thought of my old friend, Bill. It was a shot in the dark, obviously, but you educated me and I'm grateful. I can recall Bill's wife telling my wife and I that once he got into his hobby area on his radio he was absorbed. Guess that is the way all hobbies are supposed to work.

[stoney]

Ralph, are you talking about Tony Zambino by any chance? He's ww2V.

[stoney]

Oh, and you can look up any call-sign at www.QRZ.com.

[dgriffin]

One of the very interesting features of qrz.com is the database search function. On the main page, scroll down the far left hand side and click on "database." On the resulting page, click on "Name Search." On the resulting page will be a fill-in box labeled "Enter name or keyword(s) to search". You can put in anything, a city, town or village name, first and last names, zip codes, etc. If you enter only the zip code 13501, for example, you'll get a list of every ham in that zip code.
If you enter only the name "Archibald," you get every ham named Archibald (first or surname) in the entire FCC database! (Plus those who live on a street named Archibald.) But "Archibald" and "13501" would give you every Archibald in 13501.

Try it out and see how many hams in your area.

[stoney]

I didn't know thst. Thanks, Dave!

[Ralph]

No Stoney, Tony Pazzola. He used to live over on James & Clementian. Last I knew he was living down towards the Albany area.

[stoney]

OK. There's a lot of Tonys on there.

[Douglas Westfall]

Concerning Earharts last transmissions during her last flight: The first clear transmission from the Electra was at 6:15 in the morning when Earhart states they are 200 miles out. Each time Earhart radios the Itasca, she cuts off the transmission and never responds directly to any request from the ship. She never engaged in two-way communication. Although the log shows that she was called more than fifty times, she never once directly answered any calls. Her last transmission at 7:42 She radios: "We are circling but cannot hear you. Go ahead on 7500 ...” 7500kc is a military frequency for which she did not have a crystal; her operating frequencies were 3105 and 6210.

From the book Amelia Earhart's Radio by Paul Rafford, Jr.

[dgriffin]

Thanks, Doug. I enjoyed Rafford's book. I was especially intrigued with his radio experimentation using a scale model plane in his backyard. What do you think of TIGHAR's latest book?