Gordon Smith writes:
> Isn't that a problem inherent to most radio amateurs? Perhaps that's why
> I dislike rubber-stamp QSOs. :)
I hate those, also. I am a real wet blanket when it
comes to contests and paper chasing. I couldn't care less. When
I get on ten meters and the first thing I hear is CQ contest, I
growl under my breath and go do something else.
Later down, you said regarding teletext,
> on to using a Commodore C64 and so I sent them the raw source for the
> application which was written in 6502 assembler which you could actually
> incorporate and run as part of BBC BASIC. Unfortunately, Morley went out
> of business not long after that time owing to the fact that Acorn bought
> the rights to their teletext adapter when their chief designer jumped
> ship. But anyway now it's me who is waffling.
That sounds really good. What did you use back then to
access the C64? I used to use an Apple II and had to build a
support system to run a Telesensory Systems Incorporated speech
board which only spelled out all the output.
Toward the end of the Apple II era, I used a Votrax
external synthesizer which was a big step up from the TSI board.
I remember the C64's well because Beverly had one for
awhile and we also started repairing them at work. They had a
nasty habit of loosing their serial port, I seem to recall, if
anyone accidentally touched the DB9 connector with a static
charge on their bodies such as what happens in Winter.
Anyway, I never modified a C64 to speak to me because I
got side-tracked by the P.C. world in the mid eighties.
The 6502 assembler I used on the Apple was a S.C.
Assembler and was wonderful at the time. I had countless hours
of fun writing code and experimenting.
On DX programs, you say,
> The BBC World Service had a similar programme actually which was
> transmitted every Wednesday evening at 23:15 hours, UTC. It was called
> "World Radio Club", and it was highly useful for those interested in the
> propagation conditions around the world and the impact they had on radio
> listening and transmission.
I think I heard that program a few times and probably
would have started listening to it regularly but 23:15 UTC is
either 17:15 or 18:15 Central Standard time depending on time of
year and that would frequently have coincided with either eating
dinner or watching the news on television.
It's a shame that now that we have the technology to
easily record anything at any time, there is so much less to
hear than there used to be.
Radio Canada used to have a science show every Saturday
evening followed by a good radio and communications progran.
Between the two shows, there was always something good to hear.
Martin
=======================================
The Techno-Chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and
worm-free
To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web
pages located at
http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/techno-chat
You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at
either of the following websites:
http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html
Or:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml>
---------------------------------------
