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The TCS transmitter: Notice the RF output terminals on the upper left of the front panel, right next to the "antenna coupling" control. (click for a larger image)
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
RECENTLY I was listening to WA1HLR use his modified Navy TCS transmitter on 75 meters, and it brought back memories of my early days on the amateur bands. In 1972 I bought a World War II surplus Navy TCS transmitter, built by Collins, from military surplus dealer John Meshna, via mail order.
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
THE YEAR WAS 1973. It was my first hamfest. I was so young I didn’t have a driver’s license and my mother drove me to Gaithersburg that crisp October morning. I met WA3PUN, Ed Bolton, there. He was one of the AM amateur operators that I’d just started talking with on 75 meters. And I made my very first hamfest purchase — a shiny new-looking 1950s military surplus receiver, a Collins R-395, part of the PRD-1 direction finding set.
Now I notice, thanks to the Declan McCullagh photography site, that an R-395 that looks exactly like the one I bought and added to my Viking Valiant / BC-610 / DX-150A HF station is now enshrined as an exhibit in the National Cryptologic Museum in Laurel, Maryland. Time passes, and what was once just an old yet interesting receiver is now a notable part of history.
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
DESPITE CHALLENGES, like changing propagation that brought inadvertent conflict with another net, and intentional (and illegal) jamming from would-be censors, W1WCR’s free speech current events discussion net, the Liberty Net, did itself proud once again this week, with information and analysis of the news that you simply can’t get anywhere else.
Here are just a few of the topics discussed this week (times are from the beginning of the recording):
Listen to or download this week’s Liberty Net”]
• Obama, who looks increasingly like a one-term president, gives everything to the bankers and nothing to the small businessman. (32 minutes)
• A Liberty Net member announces his support for the NAACP in their lawsuit based on lack of enforcement when it comes to Mestizo gangs attacking Black families. Why are no White Americans doing this? — we are victims of these gangs too. Where are the mainstream “conservative” pundits like Glenn Beck and Alex Jones? Why are they silent on this issue? (59 minutes)
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
YOU MIGHT have noticed that I offer a link to Hamcall.net but not to the competition in the amateur callsign database business (QRZ). It’s my protest against the current policy of QRZ’s owner, Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, of delisting amateurs who he dislikes. [UPDATE 2019: Now I also provide a link to the new callsign lookup site QRZCQ.com. Both sites are far better than QRZ.com.]
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
THE FOREMOST current events discussion net on amateur radio, the weekly Liberty Net moderated by Vic, W1WCR and recorded by Marty, N2IRJ, proved itself again as a bastion of free and unfettered speech this week. For a full immersion experience, log on Saturday evenings beginning at 10PM Eastern for live audio feeds of the Net (sometimes from several stations simultaneously) and live text chat too at stickam.com/thelibertynet via N2SAG.
Listen to or download this week’s Liberty Net”]
Here are just a few of the topics and ideas covered during the wide-ranging debates and discussions:
• Some disinformation agents are promoting the idea that the Haitians are the victims of an “earthquake weapon” set up by “light-skinned elites” to harm “people of color.” Hugo Chavez has apparently picked up on this story. One might as well also believe in the efficacy of Voodoo to prevent earthquakes. (29 minutes)
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
EVER INTREPID, Liberty Net participants braved bad band conditions and used relay techniques and other methods to get around an ionosphere that wouldn’t cooperate this week. The conversations were as interesting and insightful as ever during the current events discussion net moderated by Vic, W1WCR and recorded by Marty, N2IRJ — with multiple live streams and concurrent text chat via N2SAG’s Stickam feed.
Listen to or download this week’s Liberty Net”]
Here is a small sampling of some of the provocative topics discussed and debated on the Liberty Net this week (the times indicated show when the respective discussions took place in hours and minutes from the beginning of the recording):
• Would a new home in Africa be a rational solution to the tragic destruction of Haiti by Nature and by its inhabitants? Would transfer to Africa also be viable for displaced African-descended populations in Europe and North America? (37 minutes)
• Military spokesmen state that the pollution and filth in Haiti are so great that the island can be smelled from 50 miles out at sea. (41 minutes)
• The total U.S. aid to Haiti so far — about 100 million dollars — is just equal to Lloyd Blankfein’s bonus this year. Goldman Sachs, Blankfein’s employer, was short selling the very same bogus mortgage-backed securities it was selling to its clients. If that’s not criminal, what is? (46 minutes)
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
THE LIBERTY NET has been on the air for over 30 years. It’s one of the longest-running nets in the Amateur Radio Service. For almost all of that time, the Net Control Station (NCS) for this current events discussion net has been Vic, W1WCR, and he brought off another great session this week.
Listen to or download this week’s Liberty Net”]
Here are just a few of the topics discussed this week, along with the time of the relevant remarks measured from the beginning of the recording in hours and minutes:
• What do when your motor oil freezes. (39 minutes)
• A man was charged with speeding because a police officer said it “sounded like he was going too fast” — and this is the general attitude of too many officers in our burgeoning police state. (43 minutes)
• Hawaii has instituted two official Barack Obama holidays and named a state park after Obama, who claims to have been born there — though there is a vigorous public debate on that claim. In addition a “gospel” musical is now in production, using a Black “mass choir” version of the Obama campaign slogan “Yes We Can.” The play resembles a religious service in which the Washington regime’s nominal leader is treated as a kind of saint. (49 minutes)
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
I’VE JUST DISCOVERED a new and worthwhile amateur radio net, meeting Saturday mornings on or around 3872 kHz in the AM mode. It’s the Flex Radio Users Net, devoted to discussions of the software-defined transceivers manufactured by Flex Radio Systems and related topics.
Flex Radio Users Net – 2 January 2010 – 3872 kHz”]
This week, the group was discussing both the theoretical and practical aspects of symmetrical versus asymmetrical modulation, modulation levels generally, and audio processing for HF amplitude modulation transmission.
by Kevin Strom, WB4AIO
AS I TRY to rebuild my life and recover from the false charges and politically-motivated prosecutions that have devastated my family, one of my dreams is to return to the amateur radio airwaves. Since all my money and all of my material possessions — including all of my radio gear — was stolen from me, I’ve just set up an Amazon Wish List which has the potential of helping that dream come true. My deepest thanks go out to those who have kindly helped me. I hope that my writings and my efforts to promote quality signals and intelligent discussion on amateur radio have helped you too!