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.

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. :)