On Nov 22, 9:14*pm, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
You guys will love this.

I put my Yaesu FT-900 up for sale on Craigslist - too many radios in
the office and I'm trying to clean out the stuff I don't use much
anymore.

So I get an email - guy wants to look at the radio this evening. *Hey,
fine business - I'm just watching football anyway, come on over.

Guy shows up - really nice. *Introduces himself - he just passed his
Extra exam and he's looking for a radio for him and his son who also
passed his General.

I didn't think much of it - congratulations, etc. We sat down at the
radio desk, I fired up the FT-900 and started showing him the
features.

The guy is looking over the front panel and he asked what AGC-F was. I
said it was a fast Automatic Gain Control. *He asks me - "What's the
Automatic Gain Control do?"

Er.....

So I explained it, then he asked what the RF Power was.

Um....RF power? *Hmmmm....

I was going to let him sign into whatever net was on 14.300 for a
radio check - showed him a little trick with the auto tuner to get the
lowest SWR spread over a couple of KHz.

I swear to you - he says "SWR? *Isn't a higher SWR a good thing?"

Ok - at this point I'm getting a little suspicious, so I asked him how
long he had his license.

Since last Tuesday. *Went from zero to Extra in one sitting. Seemed
quite proud of the fact that he had read all the license manuals and
question pools and passed *- by one question.

I had mentioned to him that I had unlocked the transmitter so it could
be used across the WARC and marine spectrum so he asked me if he
could, in theory, use it as a broadcast transmitter on AM.

I decided that he wasn't getting my radio. *He made me an offer, but I
turned him down flat and stuck to a ridiculous price.

I think he got the idea that he wasn't getting my radio. *:)

Boy it sure ain't like it used to be.

Tom, i'd be happy to buy it if it will pick up "Rock 105" from Chicago
on the fm side....

?;^ Q

On Nov 22, 10:25*pm, Tim wrote:
On Nov 22, 9:14*pm, Tom Francis - SWSports



wrote:
You guys will love this.

I put my Yaesu FT-900 up for sale on Craigslist - too many radios in
the office and I'm trying to clean out the stuff I don't use much
anymore.

So I get an email - guy wants to look at the radio this evening. *Hey,
fine business - I'm just watching football anyway, come on over.

Guy shows up - really nice. *Introduces himself - he just passed his
Extra exam and he's looking for a radio for him and his son who also
passed his General.

I didn't think much of it - congratulations, etc. We sat down at the
radio desk, I fired up the FT-900 and started showing him the
features.

The guy is looking over the front panel and he asked what AGC-F was. I
said it was a fast Automatic Gain Control. *He asks me - "What's the
Automatic Gain Control do?"

Er.....

So I explained it, then he asked what the RF Power was.

Um....RF power? *Hmmmm....

I was going to let him sign into whatever net was on 14.300 for a
radio check - showed him a little trick with the auto tuner to get the
lowest SWR spread over a couple of KHz.

I swear to you - he says "SWR? *Isn't a higher SWR a good thing?"

Ok - at this point I'm getting a little suspicious, so I asked him how
long he had his license.

Since last Tuesday. *Went from zero to Extra in one sitting. Seemed
quite proud of the fact that he had read all the license manuals and
question pools and passed *- by one question.

I had mentioned to him that I had unlocked the transmitter so it could
be used across the WARC and marine spectrum so he asked me if he
could, in theory, use it as a broadcast transmitter on AM.

I decided that he wasn't getting my radio. *He made me an offer, but I
turned him down flat and stuck to a ridiculous price.

I think he got the idea that he wasn't getting my radio. *:)

Boy it sure ain't like it used to be.

Tom, i'd be happy to buy it if it will pick up "Rock 105" from Chicago
on the fm side....

?;^ Q

Years ago I had the biggest Channel Master TV antenna that was made
with a rotor, and had it hooked up to, among other things, a Marantz
stereo receiver that I had at the time.

After midnight, I could turn it towards Atlanta, and from about 180
miles away I could tune in 96 Rock, WKLS Atlanta. Got TV stations
from Charleston and Charlotte anytime I wanted. Kids these days just
don't understand. :-)

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:14:54 -0800 (PST), Jack
wrote:

Years ago I had the biggest Channel Master TV antenna that was made
with a rotor, and had it hooked up to, among other things, a Marantz
stereo receiver that I had at the time.

Yep. On top of my Dad's tower were two Channel Master's co-phased -
that was an amazing sight - damn things were almost as big as his
Mosely tri-bander. :)

Ah the good old days of real radios.

After midnight, I could turn it towards Atlanta, and from about 180
miles away I could tune in 96 Rock, WKLS Atlanta. Got TV stations
from Charleston and Charlotte anytime I wanted. Kids these days just
don't understand. :-)

We used to monitor channel two all the time - when we got a signal
from Albany, it was time for six meter DX.

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:17:46 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Good story but I'm sure he'll find himself a rig somewhere, let's just
hope he doesn't get a big amp to go with it. :-)

We used to monitor channel two all the time - when we got a signal
from Albany, it was time for six meter DX.

During the sun spot max in '57 and '58, I remember some guys
monitoring the European TV stations to know when 6 meters was opening
up.

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:38:21 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:17:46 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

Good story but I'm sure he'll find himself a rig somewhere, let's just
hope he doesn't get a big amp to go with it. :-)

We used to monitor channel two all the time - when we got a signal
from Albany, it was time for six meter DX.

During the sun spot max in '57 and '58, I remember some guys
monitoring the European TV stations to know when 6 meters was opening
up.

Yeah - that too. Dad got a WAS CW and SSB on six doing that. :)

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:38:21 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Good story but I'm sure he'll find himself a rig somewhere, let's just
hope he doesn't get a big amp to go with it. :-)

That was another thing - he saw the modified "california kilowatt"
Henry floor amp - THAT he knew about because he noticed the heavy
power cable. :)