BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN SEALY...

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I often end my QSO's with "From beautiful downtown Sealy", and just recently, someone cornered me and asked: "Woody, just what IS so beautiful about downtown Sealy?"

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"The Exit ramp to the freeway" I reply [ed.- So now ya know].

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We've all seen S9 and CB Radio Magazine, even CB Horizons - But these were the "BIG DOGS" of CB Publishing, what about the little guy? In many instances small Newsletters, or Mini-Magazines sprung up within their area, or tried to go National (as I did with the CB Gazette). But long before my Gazette, back in the 70's, the "SSB NEWS" popped up: at first in the small format (like the small S9), later in the larger format (like the large S9).

It had more advertisements than articles, but it did occasionally make for interesting reading. If you are a collector of this sort of media then you should at least own a few examples of each size. I don't have any information on when it began or ended, so if you happen to know, please let me know! -

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FROM THE "WHAT THE HECK DEPT."

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If you recall from several post's ago (unless you're having a senior moment) I was talking about shipping/packing and the tale of 2 FT-101B's I received. I had both rigs sitting side-by-side on the bench for sometime when I noticed that one of the 101B's had a brown and silver logo, as compared to the other one with the standard black and silver. It caught my attention because I'd never seen a brown and silver logo - in all my years of various FT-101 ownership, this was the first. So I'll put this question out to you - "Do you know what the brown'n silver means?" (other than "They were out of black") If you know, e-mail me!

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RUST NEVER SLEEPS

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Some people would say that when you turn 50, it's all over with - much like the photo to the right, where rust has taken over the old rig and is slowly dragging it down until one day it finds itself in a landfill somewhere.

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This week I will turn 50, but unlike the rusty rig, I'm not ready for the landfill, because as my mom often told me: "You were born old". Looking back at my early days in radio, I think it's true - I was a 13 year old kid that felt more comfortable yakking with the Geezers than my own age group, and could compare rigs and their specifications with the best of them, and if you count my initial break into radio with walkie-talkies and a shortwave radio kit, Radios and I have been together 40 of these 50 years, and radio has a lot to do with how young i feel (aging only between sunspot cycles) - so I guess I feel more like the rig to the left, than 'ol Rusty, above...

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I consider myself fortunate to have seen some exciting things come our way, like:

1. CB Radio. From the early quiet channels, to the awesome skip cycle, then onto the "Fad" part, etc. Before they had chat rooms, there was CB.
2. Pong. I was working retail and I don't know how many times we stood before it, in line with other employee's, waiting in a trance-like state for our turn at the paddle.
3. Video Recorders. When I first starting selling them, they were almost $2,000!! Blank video tape (2hr) ran about $15 per tape, yet they sold like hotcakes. Several years later a budget priced model with an analog/knob tuner sold for $600. I can still remember the awe we felt when I plopped a rental movie into one of the display VCR's at work and our jaws dropped....I mean, there we were, NOT in movie theatre, watching a movie uncut!! I didn't think I would ever feel that same thrill again (but I did).
4. The IBM PC. I was working for a company that sold their own dedicated word processors and we had heard some rumors about something called a "Personal Computer", and finally one came in. There were at least 10 of us crowding, pushing, trying to get a glimpse of it, and when we did the green screen didn't really excite us much....however, the following year we got a CGA color monitor and the game "Karateka" and if you wanted to find a field tech at the office all you had to do was look in the PC room.
5. DVD's. I'd heard about DVD's but had alot invested in VHS so I wasn't really too excited about it....until my new notebook arrived, complete with a DVD player! Well, I went out and bought a movie ("Starship Troopers") and it was so sharp I got that funny feeling I had years back when I first watched a movie on VHS...
6. MP3's - It was a whole new ballgame with the introduction of the MP3 format for music...I'm not sure what I'd do without 'em now.
7. The Internet and Broadband access - About 95% of my purchases are via the internet, and I like that because I don't have to stand in line, or have someone cough on the back of my neck. And you wouldn't be reading this, or gazing at the photos on my website if we didn't have the Internet. And let us not forget Wi-Fi either (all three are tied into each other as amazing technology) - I can surf the web, work on my website, or add a new entry to my blog, all from my recliner.

Sure, I've forgotten a few others, but really when you think about it, I got to experience quite a few innovations, and who knows what's to come? As for the BIG FIVE-OH, well, it just brings me closer to the next skip cycle!

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So to wrap it up, it's been a good 50 years, and I have plenty of rigs and accessories that bring back good memories! So for now.....

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'Nuff Said

Woody

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