The Associate Membership is voted on by the Club members present at the meeting, Click Here For Info
Category: SPARC Trivia
16 Dec 18
The Johnson Space Center Radio Club Houston Texas W5RRR is an active club and anyone can be a member through an Associate Membership….. Click Here For the W5RRR Website…
15 December 18
City: Anchorage, AK
Quantity: 122,230,000
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Perforations: 10 1/2 x 11
Color: Red lilac
14 Dec 18
The FMT in November of 2018 was held in 2 sessions which hasn’t been done since the 70’s, the sessions were 4 hours apart to accommodate the time zone difference between east and west, Click here for the ARRL article
12 Dec 18
Frequency Measuring Test contest was planned prior to 1932 and the original QST article can be found here…
11 Dec 18
Radius’ is a latin word that means spoke of a wheel, ray of light, radiate
Radicitus means … 1) at the root, 2) by the roots, utterly, completely
From Wikipedia
The term “radio” is derived from the Latin word “radius”, meaning “spoke of a wheel, beam of light, ray”. It was first applied to communications in 1881 when, at the suggestion of French scientist Ernest Mercadier, Alexander Graham Bell adopted “radiophone” (meaning “radiated sound”) as an alternate name for his photophone optical transmission system. However, this invention would not be widely adopted.
10 Dec 18
Radio Row also known as Competition Row was on the lower side of Manhattan on Cortlandt Street between Greenwich and the Hudson River Docks . The best I have found, with pictures… Radio Row By FRANCIS H. YONKER
9 Dec 18
Jury – Rig (also known as Jury Rigging) was first known to be used in 1788 and its origin is from sailing ships.
Jury… Meaning; To make use of any material at hand to make repair.
Rig… Meaning; To make repairs to the ships rigging
More at Wikipedia
From AC6V’s website:
jury-rig is based on one word “jury” which is a nautical sense meaning ‘makeshift; temporary’ and one word “rig” referring to a ship’s sails and masts. The first known example of this “jury” is the compound jury-mast, ‘a temporary mast put up to replace one that has been broken or lost’, attested since the early seventeenth century. A jury-rig, then, is ‘a temporary or makeshift rigging’, and the verb is used figuratively in the sense ‘to assemble or arrange hastily in a makeshift manner’. The origin of this word “jury” is not certain, but some scholars identify it with iuwere, a late Middle English word meaning ‘help; aid’, borrowed from the Old French ajurie
7 December 18
Version I — During World War II, Military Radio Techs used the term BoatAnchor as they struggled with the huge, heavy, electronic equipments of the day — full of transformers, tubes etc. Also the US Navy frequently marked electronic gear with an anchor. After the war — tons of the equipment appeared on the surplus market and was dubbed BoatAnchors due to the reasons above – one or both.
Version II — After WWII a national magazine editor answered a query “As what to do with an outdated heavy, large, surplus electronic instrument?” and answered “Tie a line to it and use it as a BoatAnchor”
Version III To all those who expressed interest in the CQ magazine reference to boatanchors, I found it after only an hour or two of skimming. And I also found that some of my recollections were a bit hazy after all those years. The original letter to the editor (not to the “Surplus Editor” as I incorrectly recalled) appeared on page 16 of the October 1956 issue of CQ and was as follows: Gentlemen: I recently acquired a “Signal Corps Wireless Set. No. 19 MK II Transceiver.” Are there schematics or conversion data for this rig? Any info will be appreciated. David J. Wilke W3LSG Pottstown, Pennsylvania The editor replied: The only conversion we seem to have on the files here at CQ calls for 100 feet of 1″ Manila line, one end of which is to be tied securely around the MK II Transceiver.
This then converts the unit into a fine anchor for a small boat. If any readers have better conversions we will be glad to hear about them. Ed. This letter apparently generated a lot of interest and in the February 1957 issue of CQ there was a follow-up from CQ’s editor, another letter from W3LSG and several pictures. If I find the time I will scan them and post links to them here.
The expression “boatanchor” may have originated earlier than 1956, as Doug Hensley pointed out. I found no earlier references in amateur radio than these CQ’s, but there may be some. However, there was no reason to call amateur gear of that era “boatanchors” since almost all of it fit that description. It wasn’t till later when smaller, lighter gear became popular that there was reason to categorize some gear as boatanchors. And it is also interesting to me that a word originally used to denote something of little value, useful only to anchor a small boat, has taken on a more affectionate meaning. We love our “boatanchors”. Roger K6XQ
And then there is this one from a News Group. “The true determination is generally made by your spouse. If you can walk in the front door with it, without your spouse asking “and what are you planning to do with that?”, it is not a boat anchor. Boat anchors are brought in during the night or on long weekends. That is CLASSIC! 🙂
Source : AC6V’s website
6 Dec 18
Why Hams End A QSO With Dit Dit
In ye olden days, every time a train left the station, it would sound two short blasts from its whistle, warning everyone it was moving out. The old telegraph operators having been exposed to this practice, picked it up and would send two dits at the end of each telegraph message. This meant “GOODBYE”. So ham radio CW operators adopted the practice. It is still used worldwide today.
Source: AC6V’s website