AM in the AM, Knock on Wood [Archive] - The Island Of Misfit Hams

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 12:22 AM

This AM Paul W1GUH is hauling up the power supply to this dense little neutron star of a classic, and with luck, we're gonna check it out on the air. Paul had it in the trunk last time he was here and I asked if it could stay behind a bit so I could take some pictures. Maybe tomorrow I'll take some inside shots. As a high school ham I recall a college ham driving by my house to show off his car and radio. Forgot the car exactly, I'm thinking maybe super UNloaded Mustang, but I sure do remember the radio, one of these, with companion RX.

Today I half set up a 160 inverted V fed with 600 ohn ladder line in prep for AM in the AM, probably 75 and 40 most likely bets. This latest wire replaces a 40 meter Inv V. One 125 foot #14 leg came off at the apex connection under some stress. This leg will be totally in the clear about 35-40 ft up. With not much daylight left, I let it be and moved on to the more difficult leg, which needed threading through branches of some XXL mother blue spruces because while there's no shortage of property here, I discovered that it happens to terminate inconveniently were the remaining leg was gonna go. That leg alone brought in loud signals from NH last night, one 40+ not so very far from my old Seacoast QTH. Called CQ but no dice, maybe the other half of the antenna will help. Repair should be no big deal at all before Paul drags the rest of this cat in. Gonna feed it via buried coax to Paul's Johnson Matchbox at the base of the center support tree. Be nice to excite a 450-TH modulated by pair of 811As. Maybeome of that is also buried in the strata of W1GUH's trunk.

Hey, like Christmas only it's almost Easter.

5548

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 12:25 AM

I'm trans-excitered for youse guys.

Watch those pine branches, pine needles absorb more RF than leaves.

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 12:30 AM

Ah so. All that extra surface area, like the Maine coast. Hopefully the other side will make up for it. There are other dog-leg options, but this was a sundown decision and changes can be made.

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 12:34 AM

My lower band(s) antenna is toast. Wind and ice storms.

I'm too busy skiing on my days off to care for now.

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 01:15 AM

My lower band(s) antenna is toast. Wind and ice storms.

I'm too busy skiing on my days off to care for now.

A skiing ham? Now I've heard everything. Nothing good can come of all that exercise and fresh air. At some point, you're bound to have some human contact. I'm telling ya Jean Claude Kilohertz....IT'S A SLIPPERY SLOPE!

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 01:58 AM

Skiing is kinda my muse. I taught full time at Breckenridge for a decade. Me likey moguls (bumps) and powder. Once in a while I'll carry an HT with me and see what repeaters I can hit when up way up top.

So that's why my current avatar is fitting... but my title of "moderator" is kind of boring. :stickpoke:

n2ize

03-14-2012, 04:40 AM

Having the equipment to get on AM is only half the formula. To be an AM'er you have to look, act, and sound like an AM'er.

N8YX

03-14-2012, 05:48 AM

So that's why my current avatar is fitting... but my title of "moderator" is kind of boring. :stickpoke:

I think we can do custom tags for staff as well..."Ski Bunny"... :snicker: :rofl:

W1GUH

03-14-2012, 05:56 AM

Having the equipment to get on AM is only half the formula. To be an AM'er you have to look, act, and sound like an AM'er.

So when you gonna get that dipole up, John? You've expended lots of bits, bytes, bw, and pixels talking about it. Ever gonna do the deed?

W1GUH

03-14-2012, 05:57 AM

A skiing ham? Now I've heard everything. Nothing good can come of all that exercise and fresh air. At some point, you're bound to have some human contact. I'm telling ya Jean Claude Kilohertz....IT'S A SLIPPERY SLOPE!

Maybe that's why my interest waned a few years ago. Used to be at Hunter every weekend but somehow haven't had the motivation lately.

W1GUH

03-14-2012, 06:00 AM

Well, not exactly hauling it up currently, but soon. All checked out...PS, mic, 'scope (ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for AM with no exceptions!), and Dow-Key. Rx will be a Drake 2B. ETA is about noon.

What's Ola got to say about about that "Dog-leg", Jeff? For that matter, what about Dash! & Dit Dit?

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 10:15 AM

AM UPDATE:1.Had to reset our Mission Clock back by 24 hours.

5553

Ola and I will use the hold to secure the unDog leg and shovel out the shack to make a space for all Paul's cool radio stuff.(A scope! Gosh Mr Wizard, can I hook up a mike and see my voice? I really wanted one of those big mutha Knight DC scopes, but truth be told, it would likely,largely, have been put to that purpose. And I'm still not entirely convinced that's not the predominate application of most scopes still)

5551

2. Paul,Don't think the 2B has crystals for 160.There are some, but for SW Bcst bands I think, will check again. No matter, can do both 160 and lunch with the S-85/Bill Halligan Grill.

5552

3. W0TKX, Breckenridge Instructor for a decade, you rascal! I forgot that W1GUH was also a skiing ham. You guys may prove the ruination of our hobby's most cherished negative stereotypes. On second thought, those stereotypes are secure as Cheyenne Mountain.

4. n2ize -- Aside from casual contesting, raggedy CW & SSB operation, I'm on air too little to have a clear idea of 21st century AMer behavior. In my day young feller, I'd say the mix was 60/40 AMer to DDer, so in a very loose manner of speaking "most everybody" was an AMer, or recently had been. I do know that for some time AMers have been in full Reinactor Mode, and probably sport full Mad Men wardrobes, smoke Thinking Man's steams and date bombshell redheads, or would it be sport full Dickies' industrial uniforms, smoke Dr Grabow bulldogs charged with Half & Half, and date Ma Kettle? Please advise.

n2ize

03-14-2012, 11:23 AM

So when you gonna get that dipole up, John? You've expended lots of bits, bytes, bw, and pixels talking about it. Ever gonna do the deed?

I have finally gotten the new strap for the slingshot. Now I have to order some fishing line and sinkers. As soon as that is here I'll be ready to try firing it off into the trees. If the slingshot maneuver is successful then we're good to go.

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 11:28 AM

Just in time for the QRN of thunderstorm season! ;)

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 12:05 PM

I think we can do custom tags for staff as well..."Ski Bunny"... :snicker: :rofl:

speaking of tags, just noticed change in mine. How'd that happen? (not that there's anything wrong with that)

kf0rt

03-14-2012, 12:46 PM

speaking of tags, just noticed change in mine. How'd that happen? (not that there's anything wrong with that)

I'm thinking it was artificial intelligence.

N8YX

03-14-2012, 03:25 PM

I'm thinking it was artificial intelligence.

A veritable clog in the machine, nonetheless!

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 03:31 PM

speaking of tags, just noticed change in mine. How'd that happen? (not that there's anything wrong with that)

There was a discussion about your delightfully twisted prose... And I came up with that. :lol: :bowdown:

I've always wanted the moniker "Whacker:Knot". For a couple of funny reasons.

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 05:04 PM

I'm thinking it was artificial intelligence.

The D!K is FB. And speaking of AI -- more specifically, difference engines -- At last I remember to recommend 2D Goggles (http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/), a webcomic that runs with the relationshiop of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and, as the cartoonist describes her, "peculiar proto programmer." For my taste, these are among the coolest, sharpest, smartest comics drawn anywhere today -- all the more amazing for the fact that it seems to have started as a bit of scribbled personal amusement by hot shot London animator Sidney Paudua (http://sydneypadua.com/projects/)-- whose work has appeared in movies like the Iron Giant, Chronicles of Narnia, Clash of the Titans etc etc. I find her talent dizzying and her ability to juggle it all in spin it into something so much higher than almost anything you see in funnies anywhere. I like this woman. She answers fan mail!

Victorian tech, history and hoo-hah, combined with loose, lovely dynamic animator's draftsmanship to die for. this you got to see. Starring

http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/anotherada.jpg

Ada Lovelace (aka Augusta Ada King nee Byron, Countess of Lovelace)

Daughter of the notorious poet Lord Byron, she was raised by wolvesmathematicians so that her volcanic passions would not spiral out of control. True story! She is now locked in a perpetual battle with the Mysteries of the Universe, bugs in her code, and her not-quite-under-control poetry addiction.
She smokes a pipe in the comic because it’s the sort of thing Victorian crime-fighting bipolar calculating machines are wont to do.

http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/babbagecast.jpg

Charles Babbage

The celebrated Professor Babbage, Lucasian Mathematics Chair and inventor of the computer, can generally be found tinkering with gears, fighting street musicians, spouting positivist bombast, inventing things, and making the world ever more efficient and freer of error.
Unlike the mercurial, mysterious Lady Lovelace, the real Charles Babbage is an open book– this book (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Fa1JAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false), as a matter of fact. His rambling autobiography reveals him as a mix of Mr Pickwick, Mr Toad, Don Quixote and Leonardo Da Vinci and will make you his helpless slave.

http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/isambardbrunel.jpg

Sir Isambard Kingdom Brunel

The Wolverine of the mid-Victorians, he was short, ripped, had big sideburns, smoked forty cigars a day and generally kicked everyone’s ass.
He is responsible for any gigantic iron structures littering the landscape, including the structural engineering of the Difference Engine.
He had a brief walk-on part in the first comic and instantly became everyone’s favorite. His tshirts outsell the protagonists’ by an order of five to one, a sad testament to the triumph of sex appeal over mathematics.

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 06:34 PM

Heh heh heh. Ever read this book? It's a good one...

http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/118850000/118859365.JPG

kb2vxa

03-14-2012, 10:07 PM

Ah yes, Charles Babbage the inventor of the IBM "do not bend, fold, spindle or mutilate" IBM keypunch data entry system. Ada Lovelace however had a practical use for those otherwise useless cards, she sewed them together as shown thus programming the Jacquard loom.

Jeff K1NSS

03-14-2012, 10:31 PM

Heh heh heh. Ever read this book? It's a good one...

http://img2.imagesbn.com/images/118850000/118859365.JPG

I did, recommended by a good work bud, an industrial electrician who messed with code and came up with a Doom version of work featuring monsters with secret sourced ID badge photo faces of all those that annoyed us on a daily basis. Remember something about sort of of mechanical flipper jumbotron. Neuromancer too. That period sure does appeal to me. Drawing rooms, experiements, all the magic that's now dirt common now just beginning to infiltrate lab and life.

WØTKX

03-14-2012, 11:01 PM

Yes, and Burning Chrome was very good. I've read TONS of science fiction. My favorite author of all has to be David Brin, but there are so many others. Last few years, I've been reading classics that are in the public domain... you know, E-reader files.

Can't help myself, I was a "Great Books Kid".

Jeff K1NSS

03-15-2012, 08:08 AM

AM UPDATE:

1. Mission Clock reset again, to Monday AM.

2. 160 inv V up, 30-something feet. fed with 600 ohm ladder line. Will mess this weekend with outside tuner configs at base of apex support.

Jeff K1NSS

03-15-2012, 09:08 AM

Can't help myself, I was a "Great Books Kid".

Here's lookin' at ya. I considered going to Great Books U, St John's College. Later on knew a very bright woman who did and was glad she did.

Also consumed a lot of science fiction. Not so long after I could read at all, I wolfed Issac Asimov's Lucky Starr series, Heinlein's kids' stuff and moved on fast to the hard stuff, not necessarily understanding so much, but ploughing ahead, savoring the parts that I did and kidding myself about the rest. Hit my stride with Ballard, Bradbury, Pohl, Clarke, plus horror writers like Robert Bloch and above all, HP Lovecraft. Loved that genre stuff, Edgar Rice Burroughs, plus Saki, Poe and Wells and Conan-Doyle too. About that time radio radically altered my reading list. Funny, most of all I craved obsolete radio books, like way back copies of Elements of Radio with references to the "Kennelly-Heaviside Layer." I mean, come on. That's only a degree or two separation from references to Dr. Zarkov and Ming the Merciless. Only thing better was discovering obsolete British radio books, with their Aerials and Earths and sideways tube schematics, and...valves, man...like some roccoco fixture off Wells' time macine. As with technology, my approach to literature has always been broadband and puddle-shallow. Give me a "Modern Library" edition preferably threadbare, faded as hell and picked from a beach house bookcase, chased with gin and tonics on a shady porch to the point of snooze. Nowadays if it's books at all it's picture books. I almost never read except on screen. Eyes too computer tired. If the monetary system, the Grid, the Matrix goes down, it's back to books, but short of that...

kb2vxa

03-15-2012, 03:13 PM

Jeff, you have this knack for bringing back the days of my feckless youth and countless hours spent on the 11-7 shift in a toll booth a long time ago in an airport far away. I cut my teeth on those obsolete radio books and duplicated much of the equipment but was stumped by the Marconi coherer, not one mentioned the decoherrer. My infamous S on a spark transmitter crossed the city but the neighbors weren't impressed. Back at the airport many of those authors kept me from climbing the walls and the bookstore at Terminal B in business.

Then there was the scary part that came while camping, my dimwitted cousin wandered off at night and got lost in the woods. While the rest went out looking for him I was given the ignominious job of staying in camp, roping and hog tying him in case he showed up. There I was alone reading the original War Of The Worlds by the light of a kerosene lamp with glowing eyes staring from the bushes and spooky night sounds all around me. I was thinking of beating the snot out of the little bugger but they dragged him back so my story of him falling off a cliff rather went out the window... oh Wells.

Speaking of Ming, somebody cloned him and named it Anton Szandor LaVey. I think Dr. Yerkov and his love ray was a whole lot funnier as is A Fart In The Matrix. Then there was Rocky Rococo the nemesis of Nick Danger but I digress.

W1GUH

03-15-2012, 08:53 PM

I have finally gotten the new strap for the slingshot. Now I have to order some fishing line and sinkers. As soon as that is here I'll be ready to try firing it off into the trees. If the slingshot maneuver is successful then we're good to go.

Order? Order? ORDER??? Cheesh....what are you getting, super-duper self-seeking, self-healing magic fishing line? Bet there are at least a dozen stores within a mile of you where you can buy fishing line. For that matter, I'll DELIVER a slingshot to you FOR FREE!!! Tomorrow! (I think...last time I looked I couldn't find it in the trunk -- but dunno where else it would be.

n2ize

03-16-2012, 12:17 PM

Order? Order? ORDER??? Cheesh....what are you getting, super-duper self-seeking, self-healing magic fishing line? Bet there are at least a dozen stores within a mile of you where you can buy fishing line. For that matter, I'll DELIVER a slingshot to you FOR FREE!!! Tomorrow! (I think...last time I looked I couldn't find it in the trunk -- but dunno where else it would be.

No need to. I already have the sling shot. The real reason this is taking so long is I don't have much free time and I have minimal interest (motivation) in getting on the air. I still like radio and I will definitely put up the antenna and I'll definitely get on the air again but it doesn't rank anywhere near as high in my set of interests as it once did. Even when I had the old antenna up and working I was getting on the air once in a blue moon. I certainly don't want to give up on the radio and I will get the antenna up in the air as the motivation moves me along. The motivation is there but it is not as strong as it was years ago. I just can't seem to bring back the kind of enthusiasm for radio that I once had.

I'll Probably have it done in a couple of weeks.

Jeff K1NSS

03-17-2012, 08:31 AM

you have this knack for bringing back the days of my feckless youth .

You with the bringing back. In my case at least, youth is fleeting but fecklessness is forever.

Impressive homebrew tales. Did you really build a spark transmitter and attempt a coherer? Speaking of old days and spooky camp-outnights reading HG Wells, sounds like you had your own little Mercury Theater of the Open Air.

Anton LaVey? The devil you say. Seems like I've heard him on late night radio since Long John Nebel, is that possible? Never thought Szandor was anything to Crowley about. Just one more guy in a bolo tie doing bad Jack Palance selling geodes by the Pi-O-Neer Chicken stand, just outside Tucumcari city limits. Enough with the Satanism -- what I need is a pastrami sandwich, Earl.

kb2vxa

03-17-2012, 08:50 PM

While they wrangle over the slingshot I don't see a thread hijack possible so here we go again... chuckle.

I stole that line from Jean Shepherd but he proved you right, he was feckless 'till the end. Speaking of Amateur Radio this is WOR New York. Heh, there goes another one. Yeah, I built a spark transmitter much to the dismay of the neighbors but never attempted Marconi's receiver seeing the way a coherer operates. What's the point when the telegraph sounder makes one click and everything stops there locked up tight?

Oh yeah, reading the book under those conditions was bad enough but listening to the broadcast on my Atwater Kent model 40 would have been much worse.

I listened to "Long" John Nebel but never heard Anton, then he died before any of the stations heard here started carrying Ghost to Ghost AM. Maybe if we get a seance together...
I don't know about the bolo tie but it seems to me his bolas were tied in a knot, something Dr. Yerkov would never admit to.

Pi-O-Neer, sounds like an antenna matcher.

Jeff K1NSS

03-20-2012, 06:43 PM

Pitched battle with Murphy today, me outside with a recalcitrant antenna tuner, Paul doing the heavy lifting inside scoping out the rig. The antenna got sorted out and the Multi-Elmac was up and running by late afternoon.

Friday afternoon will get on the air,with Hallicrafters S-85, Drake 2B on standby. Note the Multi's "dial cord." In additon to switching the band, it lifts the drawbridge and pulls back the catapult and any previous misinformation explains why I was sent outside to keep feeding the antenna with a spoon until Paul needed my help.

C.W. McCall Autograph Edition mike works like a champ.

Left your jacket Paul -- it's safe -- Ola eats cardboard, not outerwear.
55755576

5574

NQ6U

03-20-2012, 06:47 PM

Looks like loads of fun, Jeff. But tell Paul to get a haircut.

Damned hippie...

kf0rt

03-20-2012, 06:50 PM

That does it. I'm growing my hair out.

W1GUH

03-20-2012, 07:45 PM

That does it. I'm growing my hair out.

Now, THAT's what this LONG HAIRED HIPPY likes to hear! More power to you. And, BSO --- I CAN'T get a haircut. Doctor's orders (literally and for real) is to NOT lose my hair. So there! :neener:

Yep, the ol' '67 came through today,. Took some cajoling, but when I left it was running about 50-55 watts of plate modulated AM into a dummy load. WILL be in the AM window Friday and Saturday! And I must make a slight correction...that chain is for the bandswitch. It's not the VFO tuning.

That radio has some great quirks. First, there's that chain driven bandswitching arrangement. Then there's the "VFO spot" function. What the VFO switch on the front panel does is it supplies the VFO with b+ from the receiver or other external source. Never heard of THAT before! But it makes some sense. The '67 is put on the air by switching on the primary of the B+ transformer, so there's no power for the VFO...so it HAS to come from somewhere else.

And the PS-2 is definitely an old-school supply. Has two transformers, one for the filaments and one for the HV and LV. Each of those two voltages have their own full-wave rectifier (5U4 & 6AX5) tube & filter. Multi-Elmac made good stuff!

Had a scare at first. Was messing with the radio & the fuse blew! Bummer!!!! But it wasn't a big deal. What was in there was a 3A slo-blow fuse, while M-E specifies a 5A fuse. Guess while trying to get drive to the final (and the plate current meter was pegged), I left it on too long for the Slo-blow fuse. With a 5A fast-blow fuse, it was just fine the rest of the day. Didn't blow any of them.

kb2vxa

03-20-2012, 08:28 PM

I thought that guy with the red bandana looked familiar, but where did you leave your guitar? Careful with that ancient Dow Key.
"Didn't blow any of them."
They must have been terribly disappointed.

WØTKX

03-20-2012, 08:54 PM

Well, blow me Dow!

Nyuggnyuggnugganugg.

http://home.earthlink.net/~thimbletheatre/popsicle4.jpg

W1GUH

03-20-2012, 09:10 PM

I thought that guy with the red bandana looked familiar, but where did you leave your guitar? Careful with that ancient Dow Key.
"Didn't blow any of them."
They must have been terribly disappointed.

At home. Hardly ever take it on the road the last few years. That's gotta change. And I refuse to wear a do-rag. The headband is functional -- keeps the hair out of my eyes.

Yep, the 3A was the only "satisfied" one -- and it was a sloooooow one!

Jeff K1NSS

03-21-2012, 01:31 AM

Well, blow me Dow!

Nyuggnyuggnugganugg.

http://home.earthlink.net/~thimbletheatre/popsicle4.jpg

Popeye couldn't be more Key in the history of comics, every bit as strange looking as Dick Tracey. Guy's mouth goes back to his ear canal fer Crissakes! I biffs 'em and buffs 'em and always a' ruffs 'em and none of 'em gets nowhere. Who wouldn't die for an epitaph like that? This is one cool bit o' ephemera.

NQ6U

03-21-2012, 02:04 AM

Popeye couldn't be more Key in the history of comics, every bit as strange looking as Dick Tracey. Guy's mouth goes back to his ear canal fer Crissakes! I biffs 'em and buffs 'em and always a' ruffs 'em and none of 'em gets nowhere. Who wouldn't die for an epitaph like that? This is one cool bit o' ephemera.

Popeye has always been one of my very favorite comic characters if for no other reason than he's that rare individual who truly knows his own worth: "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam..."

Jeff K1NSS

03-21-2012, 08:13 AM

Popeye has always been one of my very favorite comic characters if for no other reason than he's that rare individual who truly knows his own worth: "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam..."

Here here.

Here's a guy who doesn't pop off at the slightest slight. He takes all the guff he can stand, until he can't stands no more. That's when it's "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man, I live in a garbage can" time. Yes, he's a fool for Olive -- a sap, not to put too fine a point on it. But who ain't a sap when it comes to dames, eh? As OSs go, they don' get more Universal than the Old Salt previously known as Barnacle Bill The Sailor. Generous to a fault, just like you and we both. Aren't we all surrounded by Wimpys, all of them vowing to glady repay us on Tuesday for today's Double Whopper With Cheese? He likes his Jeeps,, his Pappy (The Ofay Fred Sanford), his nephews Peepeye, Pipeye and Poopeye , his love child Sweet Pea and his arch Nememis/Semi-Boon companion Bluto...the Big Guy who got complex in the 40s and 50s. I always liked it when Bluto and Popeye got along. So great when Bluto showed those flashes of ambition and style. More often than not, it was Bluto who got Popeye On The Beam but something always came over Big B and then everything always went south. Just like life, eh? There's a certain inevitability about it, like the DMV. I'm headed there this morning to get a new driver's license. Yeah, Sears is too depressing these days as the Mother of all Shadows of Former Selves, and Mighty Monkey Ward has permanently long gone fishin'...so I'm left with the New York State DMV in Kingston. Will now QRT and pin a note to my sleeve so I don't forget in transit, ABANDON ALL HOPE.

WØTKX

03-21-2012, 09:15 AM

Keep posting where you are on AM... Maybe 14mhz and higher?

My favorite in the World of Popeye...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dauRWnqaBkk/SSMuYhx_XDI/AAAAAAAAAdY/SOeVO0QgEE4/s400/eu3.jpg

:anyone:

Gawd I wish I could draw cartoons. :cry:

W1GUH

03-21-2012, 12:01 PM

Probably mostly on 75 & 40. But a sked would be great!

kb2vxa

03-21-2012, 02:04 PM

W1GUH

03-21-2012, 10:18 PM

"I eat all the birds
And spit out their turds
I'm Popeye..."

"I love to go swimmin'
With bare naked women
I'm Popeye..."

Little 4th grade humor there!

Jeff K1NSS

03-22-2012, 01:23 AM

I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam, a sweet potato.

I'm Popeye the sailor man <toot>
I live in a garbage can <toot>
I'm stoned to the finnich
'Cause I ain't smokin' spinach
I'm Popeye the sailor man! <fffffhhhhh... aaaah>

Of course Eugene had magical powers, he lived in there with Popeye and got a contact high, just look at that big red nose. Here they are out of the can where Gene begs for a hit, don't bogart it Popeye! He's not going to balance that can on his tail forever waiting, pretty soon you're gonna wear it.

Great toon, looks postmodern, kinda Ren and Stimpyish. Who's H.?

Eugene the Jeep. Reminds me of a local pre dinner hour Popeye show out of Syracuse my sibs and I watched from near Utica. Improbably hosted by guy dressed as a carny barker who would intro the toons and josh with the crew in between. Had names for all the crew including Gene the Green Jeep, who I did not catch on for awhile was character, more from the newspaper strip, though I seem to recall him in some episodes. Supposed to be name sake of the GI vehicle. The Jeep single cut is really interesting too, I wasn't clear about just how extra dimensional the rascal was.

My "brush with greatness" brag for tonight. Few years ago I dated the daughter of a Fleischer Studios animator, Mr. Frank Napoleon. Among many others, he drew Popeye, Betty Boop, the Fleischer Superman series, plus Fleischer WWII training animations. Worked for other studios, into the 70s, among other things, on some early, American produced Transformers and the Berenstein Bears. When I met him he was into his 90s, living at home, reasonably independent, still with it, what a charming man. I was fortunate to have dinner with him a few times and listen to his stories about life among the giants. He grew up in the city, cartooned for his high school paper and such, and somehow the Fleischer Brothers caught wind of his talent and hired him right outa twelfth grade. The mind reels. His daughter, who was also an animator, and worked on one the first MTV videos by the Waitresses, told me a nice detail about one of his knacks, which was a required skill among old school animators -- being able to grab the corners of say, five sheets of your drawng pad and smoothly flip the pages them to check the motion render in a series, then go back and make adjustments until it was perfect. In the middle of some animated dinner conversation, Mr Napoleon jumped up to retrieve some big boards of 60s era Steve Canyon originals on which you could see every little tick including the blue pencil marks that don't show in the stat. He was a very good bud of Milt Caniff. I'll never forget it.

W3WN

03-22-2012, 01:20 PM

< snip >Also consumed a lot of science fiction. Not so long after I could read at all, I wolfed Issac Asimov's Lucky Starr series, Heinlein's kids' stuff and moved on fast to the hard stuff, not necessarily understanding so much, but ploughing ahead, savoring the parts that I did and kidding myself about the rest. Hit my stride with Ballard, Bradbury, Pohl, Clarke, plus horror writers like Robert Bloch and above all, HP Lovecraft. Loved that genre stuff, Edgar Rice Burroughs, plus Saki, Poe and Wells and Conan-Doyle too. < snip >Funny you should mention that.

I've been re-reading a lot of my old paperbacks on the "T" into town for work & back the last few months. Recently reread the entire Foundation series, re-acquainted myself with most of Heinlein's better stuff, and I've got to see what I did with most of my Zelazny, especially the original Amber novels. Just finished Clarke'd 3010: The Final Odyssy; I know I have the rest somewhere, but you don't have to read those in order.

Just started the first Callahan's Saloon collection from Spider Robinson. Almost forgot how much I enjoyed those!

NQ6U

03-22-2012, 01:26 PM

My "brush with greatness" brag for tonight. Few years ago I dated the daughter of a Fleischer Studios animator, Mr. Frank Napoleon. Among many others, he drew Popeye, Betty Boop, the Fleischer Superman series, plus Fleischer WWII training animations. Worked for other studios, into the 70s, among other things, on some early, American produced Transformers and the Berenstein Bears. When I met him he was into his 90s, living at home, reasonably independent, still with it, what a charming man. I was fortunate to have dinner with him a few times and listen to his stories about life among the giants. He grew up in the city, cartooned for his high school paper and such, and somehow the Fleischer Brothers caught wind of his talent and hired him right outa twelfth grade. The mind reels. His daughter, who was also an animator, and worked on one the first MTV videos by the Waitresses, told me a nice detail about one of his knacks, which was a required skill among old school animators -- being able to grab the corners of say, five sheets of your drawng pad and smoothly flip the pages them to check the motion render in a series, then go back and make adjustments until it was perfect. In the middle of some animated dinner conversation, Mr Napoleon jumped up to retrieve some big boards of 60s era Steve Canyon originals on which you could see every little tick including the blue pencil marks that don't show in the stat. He was a very good bud of Milt Caniff. I'll never forget it.

Way cool, Jeff!

As much as I like Pixar's movies, I reserve a huge amount of respect for the skills of the animators of old who did everything with pen and brush. It's one of the reasons I like Studio Ghibli's animated features so much—they're almost all done by hand in the classic manner, and it shows.

Jeff K1NSS

03-22-2012, 06:48 PM

Jeff K1NSS

03-22-2012, 07:08 PM

Funny you should mention that.

I've been re-reading a lot of my old paperbacks on the "T" into town for work & back the last few months. Recently reread the entire Foundation series, re-acquainted myself with most of Heinlein's better stuff, and I've got to see what I did with most of my Zelazny, especially the original Amber novels. Just finished Clarke'd 3010: The Final Odyssy; I know I have the rest somewhere, but you don't have to read those in order.

Just started the first Callahan's Saloon collection from Spider Robinson. Almost forgot how much I enjoyed those!

Don't know the Saloon collection but will have to explore. It's a trip to go back to that SF we chugged like Orange Crush on a hot day. Come home from the library a with book under each thumb balanced on the handlebars. Couldn' throw down that Schwinn three speed "Racer" fast enough to get at 'em. Would they be good? Sometimes the scan in the stacks fooled ya, sometimes the hunch based on the title font or the smell of the pages could not have been more wrong. But when they were good...dinner was an imposition, homework was for suckers and flashlights were for finding your way to hyperspace.

Jeff K1NSS

03-22-2012, 07:10 PM

W3WN

03-22-2012, 08:01 PM

Ralph Von Wau Wau. I'm sold.Just wait until you hit the stories about Callahan's wife...

NQ6U

03-23-2012, 01:50 PM

You bet Carl, Studio Ghibli is outsight. Porco Rosso (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porco_Rosso)might be the easiest sell on The Island, somewhat less Never-Never Land, but loaded with mechanical details, vintage float planes and set in the Occident. Sadly I could not find an English trailer, but the animated feature, released here by Disney is well dubbed by US movie stars and top voice talent, a whole story with video unto itself. For my moolah, the director of Porco Rosso, Hayao Miyazaki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki),is the capo de tutti.

RR on Miyazki, Jeff, he is Da Man when it comes to current-day animation directors. The care and love he puts into every little detail of his stuff is readily apparent. I hear he still does ink and paint work on every feature as well as direct, too, and you have to admire that kind of hands-on effort from a guy who probably does not even have to work at all anymore.

YMMV, of course, but my feeling is that Disney's choice of actors for dubbing often seems to have been based more on name recognition than suitability for the role. As evidence, I offer up their choice of Billy Crystal as the voice of Calcifer, the fire demon in Howl's Moving Castle. Ever since that horrifying debacle, I've waited for a new Ghibli film to be released on DVD so I can watch it in the original Japanese with English subtitles.

Oh, and, yes, I agree that Porco Rosso would be the ideal introductory film for the Island Crowd.

Jeff K1NSS

03-24-2012, 09:13 AM

AM in the AM & PM, Mission Accomplished.

Paul W1GUH returned to the 75 meter AM Window last night and this morning, reconnecting on air at long last with Hams of Amplitude, including Warren K2ORS and AMpresario "Timtron" Tim WA1HLR. With coaxing, the Multi-Elmac AF-76 Trans-Citer got the job done and Paul was pleased. I chimed-in myself during last night's roundtable, first time I've been on AM since the mid-60s with carrier controlled DX-40 AM, and few subsequent ricerburner AM experiments. Pretty neat. Old Men and Old Radios. Same old story, but one of the better ones. Later next week we may very well have Paul's "new" Gonset twins on air from the K1NSS Semi-Super Shack of Solitude, perched in a perfect state of equipoise between the Bucolic Pearls of the Hudson Valley, Kripplebush and Krumville, New York.

PS old radio fans/farts...stay Dashtooned for a pending annoucement regarding Paul's appointment as host and Chief Engineer of a whole new wrinkle in vintage amateur technotainment...coming soon.

5596

NQ6U

03-24-2012, 12:34 PM

Cool!

And for all you Firesign Theater Fans out there: "Clean up Armenia! Get a hairlip!"

Jeff K1NSS

03-24-2012, 02:13 PM

Cool!

And for all you Firesign Theater Fans out there: "Clean up Armenia! Get a hairlip!"

I see you are a Sailor...

W1GUH

03-24-2012, 05:25 PM

Hello Sailor?

W1GUH

03-24-2012, 05:27 PM

Jeff said about all. Just want to add that you don't need a lot of power to have fun in the AM window. The '67 only was putting out about 40 watts(plus or minus the accuracy of a cheap wattmeter), and we were heard solidly all over the NE. Yellowy, restricted audio, for sure (WILL be working on that), but perfectly Q5. C'mon - fire up all those boat anchors and join the fun in the window!

W1GUH

03-24-2012, 05:29 PM

Oh, and I've figured out that an AF-67 is really an Auld Fart-67!

Jeff K1NSS

03-24-2012, 06:52 PM

I see you are a Sailor...

Reference to Carl's Firesign Theater references...mine from, I think, last line of "...Bozos on This Bus" album. The albums' dialogue connected from one record to the next, one way or another, more just for the sake of connecting, than anything else I think, and it was great stoned collegiate sport speculating on just how succeeding albums fit together. Ever the tiresome English major, I heard sailor and thought Doh! Ulysses, aka Odysseus the wily Homeric Sailor (strong, but more importantly freakin' SMAHT to da finish because he ate his Spanakopita). My most solid justification for this, a solid as any of these speculations could be under the circumstances, was that another of the records "Two Places at Once" I think, which ended with a fractured Yes Yes Yes Molly Bloom soliloquy from James Joyce's Ulysses. Further, I would submit that this dialogue will neatly connect with idle chatter at the nursing home not so many years in the future, passing time while pasting strips into construction paper chains for the afternoon Christmas party. By then perhaps, everything will be legal. Hey, you're hogging all the red strips!

n2ize

03-25-2012, 04:33 PM

I can't get on AM until I have the proper drugs in my system.

NQ6U

03-25-2012, 05:17 PM

Reference to Carl's Firesign Theater references...mine from, I think, last line of "...Bozos on This Bus" album. The albums' dialogue connected from one record to the next, one way or another, more just for the sake of connecting, than anything else I think, and it was great stoned collegiate sport speculating on just how succeeding albums fit together. Ever the tiresome English major, I heard sailor and thought Doh! Ulysses, aka Odysseus the wily Homeric Sailor (strong, but more importantly freakin' SMAHT to da finish because he ate his Spanakopita). My most solid justification for this, a solid as any of these speculations could be under the circumstances, was that another of the records "Two Places at Once" I think, which ended with a fractured Yes Yes Yes Molly Bloom soliloquy from James Joyce's Ulysses. Further, I would submit that this dialogue will neatly connect with idle chatter at the nursing home not so many years in the future, passing time while pasting strips into construction paper chains for the afternoon Christmas party. By then perhaps, everything will be legal. Hey, you're hogging all the red strips!

RR on "I see you are a sailor," it is indeed the closing line of Bozos. RR as well on all the other Ulysses references, both the James Joyce version and the Greek classic; the Firesign Theatre borrowed heavily from both.

The FST loved to tie their different air plays together. One great example of that comes in Nick Danger, Third Eye where Nick picks up the phone and replies "No anchovies? You've got the wrong man! I spell my name Danger! He's answering Babe's call to Nick's Swell Pizzeria for a pizza to go in Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers.

Oh, man, nobody will come up here at all. But, then that's life in Sector R.

kb2vxa

03-25-2012, 05:20 PM

n2ize

03-25-2012, 07:46 PM

"PS old radio fans/farts...a whole new wrinkle..."

Oh crap, not ANOTHER one!

As if AM isn't a drug? I wondered what Timtron was on until I figured it out, the Slime A Tron gives off deadly fumes. There's a hookah smoking caterpillar and then there's Tim.

From what I gather. A Slime-A-Tron is a large vacuum tube filled with stale cloudy urine (or God only knows what else) that is somehow electrified to the point that it spews its contents over a wide area. Now, if true, there is no drug in existence that would enable me to remain in the presence of an active Slime-A-Tron. Even if they were to give me a massive injection of Thorazine and embedded my feet in lead blocks I think you would find me sprinting away at lightening speed. Matter of fact I might even become the first human to prove that an object with mass can exceed the speed of light. Neutrino's, eat your little subatomic hearts out !!

BTW Timtron is a cool dude. I've chatted with him on good ol YAyEm many a time and we jabber on Facebook from time to time. Wonder if Timmy has a Timtron-ese word for "FaceBook".

kb2vxa

03-25-2012, 08:21 PM

What you see is the portable display model that simply uses the heated filament to send pissolene over into the can and when shut off it comes back with a vacuum assist. It's nothing like the prototype demonstrated live on air New Year's Eve 1970 on 3885, The Night Of The Slime A Tron, a date that will live in infamy. It consisted of a metal shell from an old picture tube, a large jar and two carbon rods from dry cells, all supported in a wooden frame. The carbons were connected to the 230V 40A main feeding the shack in a converted chicken coop in his parents' back yard. When sufficient pissolene was collected (you only rent beer) the unit was activated and the reduction process began. Reduced pissolene has been described as "somewhere between hazmat and nuclear waste" so you get the idea. As the process neared completion someone bumped the stand, the carbons shorted out and a tremendous explosion ensued knocking WA1HLR and Howard Cosmell Speaking Of Farts off the air. When he finally came back on he could barely be heard over the coughing and cussing as stoners scrambled for the door.

"Matter of fact I might even become the first human to prove that an object with mass can exceed the speed of light."
Rather likely since at night with the lights off you'd encounter little resistance and beat the others wallowing in ionized pissolene vapor.

"BTW Timtron is a cool dude."
Quite rightly, I met him at the Gaithersburg hamfest some years ago and he talks like that in person too. I asked him if he invented Timonium but he just looked at me funny, moments later he wobbled away with his odd looking 866G looking for another cold 807. Some years later I QSOed with him from K2PG and Phil in the background was cracking up, oddly it was about the only time he didn't belch.