Lights out for wideband (20K0F3E)

[902]

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out

I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing to think I did all that

And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes, it was my way

 

[Thayne]

Cool--What better way to celebrate new years eve than Kareoke (sp) Frank Sinatra and somehow tie it all together with 20KF3E

 

[902]

O Noes!

You woke up this morning
Turned your radio on,
The FCC always said you'd be
The Chosen One.

They said: You're one in a million
You've got to burn to shine,
But you were born under wideband,
With a waiver in your eyes.

When you woke up this morning
All that love had gone,
Your Papa never told you
About filling out forms.

But you're, but you're looking good, baby,
I believe that you're feeling fine, (shame about it),
Born under wideband
With a waiver in your eyes.

Woke up this morning
Got your radio on
Woke up this morning
Got your radio on
Woke up this morning

You woke up this morning
The world turned upside down,
Lord above, thing's ain't been the same
Since the Blues walked in our town.

Baby, but you're, but you're one in a million
You've got that radio shine; shame about it,
Born under wideband,
With a waiver in your eyes.

Woke up this morning
Woke up this morning
Got a waiver in your eyes
Woke up this morning

When you woke up this morning everything was gone.
By half past ten your phone was going ding-dong.
Ringing like a bell from your head down to your toes,
Like a voice telling you there was something you should know.
Last night you were flying but today you're so low
Ain't it times like these that you wonder if you'll ever know
The meaning of things as they appear to the others:
Congress, the Feds, the engineers and the lawyers.
Don't you wish you didn't function,
Don't you wish you didn't think
Beyond the next paycheck and the next little drink'
Well you do so make up your mind to go on,'cos
When you woke up this morning your waiver was denied.

Woke up this morning
Woke up this morning
Woke up this morning
Your license was no good.

Woke up this morning
Woke up this morning
Woke up this morning
Got your radio on.
Got your radio on.
Got your radio on.

 

[902]

The Morning After

There's got to be a morning after
If we can fill those forms out right
We have a chance to find the sunshine
Let's keep on lookin' for the light
Oh, can't you see the morning after
The radios are programmed right
Why don't we cross the bridge together
And find a place that's digital
It's not too late, we should be talking
Only in narrow band FM
It's not too late, not while it’s working
Let's put our hands out in time
There's got to be a morning after
We're moving closer to LTE
I know we'll be there by tomorrow
And we'll escape the scanners
They won't be searchin' any more
There's got to be a morning after
(There's got to be a morning after)
There's got to be a morning after
(There's got to be a morning after)
There's got to be a morning after
(There's got to be a morning after)
There's got to be a morning after
(There's got to be a morning after)
There's got to be a morning after

 

[kb2vxa]

Born under wide band
The system's down, it had to fall
If it wasn't for narrow band, I wouldn't have no radio at all

A Uniden scanner is my only friend
I been scannin' ever since I was ten
Born under wide band
The system's down, it had to fall
If it wasn't for narrow band, I wouldn't have no radio at all

Those who started out with scanners only know NFM, FM and WFM used only by broadcast stations. Back in the Stone Age 2 way FM was 30Kc wide, channel spacing 60Kc, now my cycle Hertz. Now you know the true meaning, I was born under W I D E band.

 

[mancow]

I bet that audio was amazing when it was 30k wide.

 

[gewecke]

In the famous words of the Beatles,

I woke up with wood! :twisted:

Happy new year in 2013 (I hope)!

73,
n9zas

 

[902]

I bet that audio was amazing when it was 30k wide.

It had to have been like an AMPS phone. I loved my old AMPS phone and its audio fidelity, even though it was about the size of a STX portable. If it weren't for the $1.25/minute back in the day, I'd look for reasons to call people (I actually had friends back then). Now I've got a crappy smartphone which I struggle to make out. Sounds like people talking through Jello. I hate it. Fortunately I don't get many calls.

Hey Warren, got any of the wide Permakay filters for Motracs?

 

[kb2vxa]

"I bet that audio was amazing when it was 30k wide."
No, as long as the deviation fills the filter bandwidth it all sounds the same. Once upon a time I had an old RCA VHF base radio exactly like the police base radio in the original Blob movie. The original filter was already replaced so it lent itself perfectly to a 2M modification. Having a 6X9 oval speaker and a mount for another next to it I added one and the sound was fantastic. Interestingly it passed the PL tone but the low hum wasn't a bother.

"I woke up with wood!"
And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood.
I'll bet that was even more painful than your back after sleeping in the bathtub.

"Hey Warren, got any of the wide Permakay filters for Motracs?"
You've got to be kidding, by the time I started modifying Micors they were long gone.

 

[gewecke]

Great memory there, warren!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers those years...
Nice pics too.

73,
n9zas

 

[902]

Beautiful!

Looks like a Gregory Electronics special!

 

[kb2vxa]

"Great memory there, warren!"
Not really, Google makes a nice cheat sheet. So does e-Bay, that's where I got the pictures. (;->)

"Looks like a Gregory Electronics special!"
It doesn't look like an Apple computer to me.

 

[902]

Those were the days you could get 3 competitive bids from 3 different manufacturers with similar products that chased after a bid spec. I remember the RCA mobiles that were supposed to be competing with the Micors, right down to the scanning control heads, The 1000 series mobiles were solid - and made in Pennsylvania. I had one on 52.525 and another on 33.86. Then a friend made my first 440 repeater out of one. I also had an RCA LD "waffle iron" on 52.525. Bring back radios made in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Illinois!

 

[kb2vxa]

While that RCA base was the most challenging adding turns to multiplier coils and transformers and adding a 12ga wire loop to the push-pull output tank Micors were easily re-tuned but rather weirdly. They came in 3 models, one for the low end, another for the middle and another for the top end of High Band. So which one tunes 2M? You might say the one closest to it... WRONG! Heh, it was the high end, you had to change out a lot of caps in the others.

Much easier to re-tune a Low Band unit for 6M so I attacked a portable from a Pennsylvania fire company when they went High Band. Remember those lunch boxes with a PTT telephone type handset that fits into a clip cradle on top? Yep, that 10W unit was my first 6M rig but was mothballed when a 100W GE Mastr 2 came along. Unlike the Micor you could make an old buzzard transmission on it and it barely got warm. Trouble was it used the same PL board with one on board oscillator for all channels. No big deal with one repeater pair and the rest simplex.

Oh, the RCA receiver section was easy, just re-tuned the antenna input transformer. (;->) It was half deaf but a Motorola 5 section 10dB gain helical preselector fixed that. It was easy to mount to the inside of the front panel with the receive strip right next to it, I powered it with a voltage doubler off the 6V heater string.

Once upon a time there was a ham shack
Where we'd mod a rig or two
Remember how we QSOed away the hours
Thinking of the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
Make electrons dance forever and a day
We'd raise antennas we choose
We'd fight QRM and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way

Melanie, please forgive me.

 

[902]

That brings back warm memories. The last time I modified a Micor I had 53.77/52.77 in North Jersey. The receiver was a Micor in a box up at the 440 repeater site and the transmitter was at my house. Later on, I replaced the receiver with a Hamtronics (really nice receivers), had a 440 link transmitter, and had an RCA 1000 at the repeater site with a Diamond antenna. It ended up mangled in a windstorm (they don't hold up at 32 stories).

I had tried to retune a Motorola UHF IMTS radio to 440, but those things were just radically different from anything else. I gave up and pretty much ended up dumpstering it after the last of the IMTS systems were gone. I would have been better off keeping it on IMTS and looking for an IMTS terminal.