"OH....THE PAIN..."

and,

"My, what a lovely dimple you have"

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Yes, I admit it - I had a great time buying some items on Ebay, but went overboard and now the 'ol checking account is paying the price. There were too many "RARE" auctions, and just to point out the difference (one more time):

• "RARE", is NOT an Astatic Silver Eagle D-104, or a Night Eagle, etc.
• "RARE" IS, a Kenwood TS-900 with matching spkr and vfo

Meanwhile, I continue to get packages at work from my January buying spree, and the postman shoots me daggers out of the corner of his eyes as he has to carry in, not just the mail, but perhaps 15 parcels sent via US Priority Mail......I smile....he glares.

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I picked up a dualband vertical for the house, and then weather nose dived in my part of Texas, but in a couple more weeks it will be Spring (in my part of Texas), and maybe I can get it on the roof inbetween lawn maint.

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As many have found out, there are some interesting videos on youtube. Here's one from a guy setting out to repair an Icom IC-703. WARNING: Seasick people beware! The camera moves around like an object in a first person shooter game.

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Also, for all of us who like to QWERP (QRP) wherever we are, the HFPACKERS Group is a good spot for information. They've recently posted some videos on youtube as well! BTW- It appears that this video was shot analog due to the video/audio sync problem, so don't worry - it's not your PC.

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Well...it finally stopped raining! After two weeks of either rain or ice, and a front yard looking more "Bog" than "Yard", someone upstairs turned on the lightswitch and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to put that new antenna up! I've had some time to play around with my FT-817ND and it's really a nice rig. I'm almost tempted to sell my 897D and use the 817 at home with an amp and wherever else at 5 watts.

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I haven't replaced the PS in my Cobra 2000 yet, but I did finally move it off the radio desk and put a RatShack TRC-457 in it's place (the delay due to my memory, or lack of - I can't remember where I put the replacement parts!).

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"READER MAIL"

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Dave H. wrote me regarding the "Menu" posting:

Woody,

I chalk it up to an age thing. Like you, I much prefer a radio with totally individual active hardware controls, and not something which is buried under a few levels of software access. But the plain truth is that today's radios are many levels of sophistication above those classics that we all cut our teeth on in the 1970's. When someone mentions an H.F rig, I still picture the Yaesu FT-101 or Kenwood TS-820 style of rig and features. But those rigs didn't have DSP, variable bandwidth, carrier I.F. shift, audio shaping, and a litany of other features (Some are probably little more than bells and whistles and really don't help all that much). Controlling all these features would require so many knobs and switches that the radio would look too cluttered. Plus all those little pieces of hardware cost money to add. If you multiplex one control via software, you save cost as well as present a radio with a "cleaner" appearance.

The end result, unfortunately, is a radio which has to be navigated much like an old Dungeons and Dragons game, where you need a roadmap to get to each "room" to make your changes. I have no doubt that if I was still a 20-something, I'd probably be able to store all that information in my memory and not need the manual, and operation would not be all that bad. But age brings decline in short term memory, and that's what becomes frustrating, especially for those "seldom used" features.

Face it, we're getting old! Imagine the tales we'll tell our grandchildren: "When I was a young ham, we had radios that had glowing glass tubes in it, and we didn't have an LCD display panel. We also had to actually TUNE them for the bands we used. And we used ANALOG modes!"

Yep that day is coming........ ;-)

Dave

Tnx Dave (as always) for writing and sharing your thoughts! And now I must go take my daily dose of Ensure.....

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Wes dropped me a line from Canada:

Hello Brian,
I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the videos to the hamfest on your site. It was really interesting, gets the excitement going when I see all that vintage gear on the tables spread out for the taking...the old DAK's, President export models, etc.
You folks are really lucky down there to have that priviledge as up here hamfests on my area are almost non-existent. Over in BC and Ontario a few happen, but infrequently. CB in Canada took a tumble in the mid 80's, gained momentum around 1989 thru 1999 and then took a bad fade as the pioneers of the circuit died off and took their folowing with, and stuff got packed away.
In the past 6 years it has gotten even worse. In our area the truckers 10 miles from here are the only source of listening on the radio. We used to have over 50 operators within a 40 mile radius, now there's maybe a half dozen left that come on once in a while. We have a local radio club called the Pow City Communicats Radio Club that only show up for 10 minutes on Tuesdays at 10PM for a club NET CALL, that used to have over 65 members 10 years ago. Now they have about 7 responses, that's it. The rest of the week you never hear them on the radio.
BTW...I'm a lousy typist so excuse the typos please.

Back to the videos, and your CB Gazette website. I really enjoy it. It is a real blast from the past that gives a good feeling that there are others out there with a passion for this stuff as I've had since 1976. We had a radio shop here in our family, DX Comminucations, Inc and had a website that ran for the last 5 years we had the shop, since 1987. We sold all the new & used gear including older 23's from the 70's I'd find NOS....and also the current Uniden, Cobra, Ranger, Export rigs...same as Copper's Electronics did basically and many others. I enjoyed it immensely, had a full time tech working for me who was real good. In 2001 he passed away of a heart attack and since then I decided to go back to trucking and have been since.

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I had about 7 radios back then in my collection, the bug hit once again in 2004 and I started buying vintage rigs...mostly NIB/NOS gear and thought I'd stop at about 35 rigs. Today at just over 100, I am still buying the occasional piece and have a nice room half filled with stuff. But I enjoy this, as you obviously do too. I think you bought some CB Mag's from me a while back, I enjoy those too...mostly the 70's stuff more than 60's.
I have a few radios left to seek out and then I must stop.
I have many pictures of my radios, if you are ever interested in some nice shots of maybe some rigs that you don't yet have on your site, I'd gladly email you some pics of a few. I have a mint Midland 78-999 base in the box, brand new. Plus a NIB Cobra 148FGTL-DX+ export rig, NIB SBE Console II with metal cabinets...actually many of the major brands NIB. I still need to find a minty Stoner Pro-40 SSB, ARF-2001, a NIB DAK Mark X, SBE Landcommand LCB-8, and a few others.

I have a few photos of some of the radio room I have of my collection. I found an interesting mic about 2 years ago that once I did research on I found out it was pretty rare. It's called a Liberty 200, by Wright Electronics...made by Turner. Brand new and never wired....a beautiful gold colored Turner +2. That's one of my fav's.

I found it interesting when you mentioned in the one video of a guy restoring a 1977 Bandit Trans Am. Well, I just finished redoing one a couple years ago...same car. I didn't mount a CB in it because I didn't want to start drilling holes, etc in an all-original car. But many times I wish I had a 2nd same car I COULD install it and put the antenna on the roof and make it a replica. :-)

My boys and I really enjoy it, like I said before I love all the "past stuff."
You know it seems as if the 60's and 70's is an era that when we were part of it, we never realized what a piece of history we were living in. It was a really special time that I don't think can be beaten, ever. Nice cars, CBing was so popular I remember at 7PM we couldn't find a vacant channel on my 23 channel TRC-30A to talk on! You always had someone cross-channeling you and wiping you out. We spend that extra $200 to increase antenna height another 20' and buy a bigger antenna so we could talk further than the "other guy".

It's too bad that things change so fast, especially since the year 2000 hit. It seemed before the new millenium at least here in Canada, things were at a much slower "change of pace" so to speak. in 1997 I though CB would come back and by 2004 we'd have a boom, it was just that good here. Cell phones, computers, video games, etc have taken over, along with other things.

But I guess I'm an old stubborn one who refuses to change, and is grabbing all those neat things I can find that I find "retro" and making something that makes me happy....a mini CB MUSEUM. About 80-100 radios, and 50+ mics.
I often travel to Alberta and B.C. buying out inventory from shops that closed doors and bring home carloads of NOS stuff that I have fun finding.


It's only drawback is that mint Tram D201A's are not $20 each. Nor minty Browning Mark II's $15.
Anyway...I just thought I'd email you and say how much I enjoy clicking thru your site. I hope you keep it up & running for a long time, it really is a pleasure. I know I'm on it at least 20 times monthly in the past 4 years...and many many times before that.

Have a great New Year and if you'd like any pics for to add, I can send some decent ones for you to examine and see if it benefits from them, or not. Take Care, Wes Simpson in Canada or, on eBay "collectiblez_4-u"

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Thanks for writing in Wes, and yes, I've had the pleasure of purchasing some items from you recently. Hopefully I'll get going with a few new videos this year, and Thanks for all the great photo's you've sent (which will be popping up here and there in other blog posts! )

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PRODUCT REVIEW

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"The Finger Dimple"

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Have you ever gone from a rig with an indentation in the tuning knob to one without it?

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Well I just did. I added a Kenwood TS-850 to the shack and I'm so used to moving the VFO knob via one finger (as I do with my 897D) that it took me a minute to realize - "Hey, something's missing on this knob".

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"...Once again, one finger tuning was within my mortal power"

Well here comes the "Finger Dimple" to the rescue. I purchased one of these (actually you get two) along with a "kranker knob" for my FT-817nd (but that's another review), and they arrived very quickly via U.S. Postal "Priority". The tiny dimple came in a small (very small) zip bag and I'll have to admit that I was a bit dubious about it (peel and stick), but stick it I did, and once again one finger tuning was within my mortal power!

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I know many of you are wondering "How long will it stay on the knob", as well as myself, so I promise to give you an update as future posts on the Blog are written, but I'll have to admit, at least for this reviewer, this was $6 well spent!

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And so we come to the end of yet another exciting Issue, hopefully you drank lots of Coffee!!

73, Woody

-COMING SOON!

1. REVIEW: The "Kranker Knob" for FT-817ND
2. REVIEW: Tram Dualband vertical base antenna
3. REVIEW: Heil "Goldline" microphone
4. ARTICLE: Just what good are Filters?
5. ARTICLE: Will CB be a wasteland?
6. ARTICLE: Collectors Corner - "A LOOK AT THE GENERAL RADIOTELEPHONE MC5"
7. ARTICLE: "Wild and Crazy Custom Microphones"
8. ARTICLE: "Why You Need a Monitor Scope"

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