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KB2VXA > CAR 24.09.12 18:29l 65 Lines 3499 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 25495_VK6ZRT
Read: GUEST DK3UZ
Subj: Re: VE3WBZ > Cars and radios
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0EAM<DB0RES<IK2XDE<ON4HU<CX2SA<VK2DOT<VK6ZRT
Sent: 120924/1607Z @:VK6ZRT.#BUN.#WA.AUS.OC #:25495 [Boyanup] $:25495_VK6ZRT
From: KB2VXA@VK6ZRT.#BUN.#WA.AUS.OC
To : CAR@WW
Hi Pete and all,
So they didn't want the Alabama patrol car and that was before Smokey And
The Bandit. (Sally Fields... YUM!) Today the "prowl car" of choice is the
Ford Crown Victoria being about the most comfortable around so the cops
don't have to keep a can of Anti Monkey Butt Powder in the glove box.
Radios have become a nightmare with antennas all over the roof and trunk
lid, with all the control heads, light and siren controls and a MDC
console sitting right in the middle of it flying a 747 is much simpler.
They need that big engine just to haul all that extra weight around so
the Jackie Gleason type Alabama Sheriff had to go on a diet just to fit
in there.
Eh, I was never much for listening to radio in the car even when FM came
about, the NYC area stations sucked raw eggs until October 1 1969 when
WNEW-FM went stereo and changed its format to progressive rock. That
became the only station I listened to at home or on the move, even the #2
rated WPLJ (ex-WABC-FM) fell by the wayside. Oh not for the music or the
jocks which were top notch but for the audio. Kids with their little
Tweety Bird radios never knew what my friends and I heard with classic
audiophile equipment, they sounded like they were using a cheese grater
for a processor. That's the reason we spun British vinyl, American
sounded crap until artists like Jimi Hendrix and Electric Ladyland
Studios came along, even the Four Seasons sounded entirely different and
MUCH better than ever before.
"My first DX radio was German..."
Ah yes, the world famous Blaupunkt that came in many forms that was
considered the best consumer grade radio available. Oh yeah, I heard
about British Army and other soldiers using trees for antennas, with the
output coupling networks of the day you could load just about anything
that conducts electricity. You've probably heard of loading up the bed
springs, we did it to with passable results. I don't remember the brand
but my first SW radio was part of a B&W TV, radio and record player
console hooked up to the same 50' wire through back yard trees that fed
the Buick car radio I used for MW. The funny thing was in the evening
when the parental units were watching channel 2 (CBS was THE network) I
couldn't tune above 18MHz because it drove the TV nuts. Well, that's what
happens when you feed the antenna directly into a pentagrid converter
without an RF amp, cheap POS but it worked. Then along came a National
NC-173, problem solved.
Oh, that 173 was great for listening to the HF Coastal Marine band, not
only spicy ship to shore channels but I'd get the heads up on what fish
were running where before we'd go out. Then there was the doctor, his
girlfriend, his wife and my tape recorder. Being a budding phone phreak
and his home number was right in town I used a bit of social engineering
to pull one of the best pranks ever. As a "New York Telephone" technician
testing the ship to shore station wifey identified hubby arranging a date
with GF... I'LL KILL HIM!!!... <click> A few years later they went VHF, I
accepted a marine HT as payment for a job and ended up with a cheap
radiotelephone in the car. Highly illegal without a special shore station
license but the statute of limitations ran out years ago and then the
trusty Sonar hand brick died completely... oh well.
73 de Warren
Station powered by JCP&L atomic energy, operator powered by natural gas.
Message timed by NIST: 15:39 on 2012-Sep-24 GMT
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