FRED-IN-THE-SHED

 
For quite a while now I've either mentioned Fred, from his YouTube Channels "FRED-IN-THE-SHED" 1 & 2, or have embedded some content from one his many CB related posts. With no email address available to write to him I've taken all that was gleaned from his video posts in order to flesh him out to viewers in the US.

Fred (S21-1664)got his start on CB in the UK in the early 1980's as a young teen while the CB thing in England mimicked what happened during the previous decade in North America, and around the world. In a recent YouTube video Fred reminisced about his early days, the locals he talked with, and of course - meeting girls.

One of the things that sets him apart from many others is the fact he's not self important. Fred let's us in on his past and present radio adventures while at the same time making sure everyone is informed of his self perceived shortcomings (for instance Fred has hearing damage and relies on the use of hearing aids).

Fred also takes time to instruct a viewer on the many rigs available for purchase as well as a look into doing things for yourself, like designing a indoor dipole, complete with project gotchas and other pitfalls.

While stories of his past are interesting it's plain as the glasses on my nose that if he weren't such a great story teller most interest would be short lived. Some videos are outdoors but most frequently it's when Fred invites us into the confines of his cozy shack in the loft (attic) that we become less and less voyeuristic and more like a friend who just got invited upstairs to hear a good story over a spot of tea.

I'll end this short Blog post with another Video from the man himself: Fred-in-the-shed...

BITS...PIECES...WALCOTT RADIO REVIEW

I've been a bit dodgy on 2020 posts thus far so I thought I'd throw a few thought out on the text editor to see what stuck!

First of all, a shout out to Walcott Radio... If you've been reading this Blog in last 6 months or so you know that I bought a President Lincoln II+ via Amazon. The price was $249 w/free shipping + $21 sales tax. I did the wide-band mod myself and noticed (at the time) the menu function would give me an ERRxxx code from within the firmware, yet allowed the initial programming, but ultimately failed shortly thereafter. 

I'm in the process of sending it off for repair (HERE is where Walcott comes into play).

I really wanted another Lincoln II+ in the truck while waiting for the other one to get sent off so I thought it might be good to get one where a tech had already done the mod and checked out the radio before sending it out.

Walcott Radio had everything I wanted for a vg price. Without sales tax (vs. Amazon)the shipping charge was negated and the wide-band / tuneup was a mere $35 so I took the plunge. I pressed the "BUY" tab on Sunday night and by Mid-morning Monday I received their shipping notification. The radio arrived via USPS Priority on Wednesday and it's in the Dodge as I type. 

Included with the radio was a piece of paper detailing some of the menu functions as well as informing the buyer (me) about how the Clarifier setting in the menu would not be saved on a power up/down situation. It's just a small thing, but if I had known this via my purchase elsewhere I would not have wasted so much time on Google trying to figure it out, so a thumbs UP👍 to Walcott for letting a buyer know about it from the beginning.

You can quote me as being VERY happy with their price, service, and speedy shipping.


Changing directions, here are a few of my recent YouTube views...



Here is a review of the President Taylor CB by a young HAM/CBer named "Charlie", on his YouTube channel - "Charlies Shack".

As well, another of my favorite channels (DX Commander) recently posted a quick collection of moments taken from his 2019 videos.

'Nuff Said

Woody

THIS QSL CARD "FIND" WAS....

FREAKING AMAZING!!

Most of us that are into radio are familiar with QSL cards. Normal use would be to confirm a contact, as well as to adorn the shack walls with the more interesting designs. Back in the heyday of CB radio it wasn't the best idea to send a DX contact your QSL card because talking over 150 miles (skip) was a big no-no as far as Uncle Charlie (FCC) was concerned.

For this reason, most of us got a P.O. Box, using it as an address over-the-air, bringing some comfort to the CB Pirates mind (I had my own P.O. Box at the age of 13). At CB Jamborees it was common to bring your QSL cards as swap them with others that you met eyeball-to-eyeball, and magazines like S9 had an entire section devoted to QSL cards, and their addresses.

I'm telling you this as a foundation to my "Freak'n amazing story".


Over the years, from time-to-time, I'll search listings on Ebay that have QSL card for sale in hopes of finding my old card, but never do (no, this story doesn't end with me finding my card but it's still amazing). This past Sunday I had some time on my hands so I took to Ebay as to continue me QSL search, and as usual I came up with zilch.

Suddenly a thought flashed across my brain - "Hey, maybe I should try Google". So off to their search engine I went and tried an image search for CB QSL cards in New England. 

There were a lot of hits, so I confined my search to "CB QSL cards from Connecticut" and in the second row I saw this card:

 

It wasn't my call sign, nor did I recognize it from my early days, but it was from my home town. The CB handle, the "Whopper", was like a wake-up-call-slap-in-the-face because I used to talk with him and his wife (Whopper Junior) all of the time, back in the late 60's and early 70's!

WHOPPER/WHOPPER JR.s 10-20

I lived close to the orange marker on the map, to the left side of Scitico and remember either hoofing or pedaling over to their "20" when I couldn't get a ride from my Dad. 



The odds of finding this on my first Google search were astronomical and just as huge as finding my own card would be. Perhaps it was placed there to remind me that nothing is impossible....




'Nuff Said,

Woody





























 

IT'S A HAM RADIO SET...

A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE THEM...