Oh, Eric...
I so appreciate those memory-minders...
I didn't think you were as old as me...
I didn't think anyone was as old as me... except, maybe, that old **** KC9ih.
Now that I know what the "9ih" part means, it'll be easy to remember.
When I was a kid, we used to get a ham on our old Black&White TV... "CQ...CQ...CQ" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... get my point?
Many years later... after I left Illinois, I found another ham... this one showed up on my Stereo Speakers when I was playing my Reel-to-Reel Tapes. He also showed up when I was recording with my Reel-to-Reel Tape. Imagine my surprise... after recording a 33-rpm record ("Mott the Hoople") with my Reel-to-Reel... and then replaying to check it out... only to find this A-Hole all over my recording!
It turned out that he had a bloody, bleeding, dirty, filthy linear amp on his output.
After bitching at him, I then found myself recording him laughing with a ham-buddy about the a-hole down the street (me).
Things came to a head when we in the neighborhood became aware that his bloody, bleeding, dirty, filthy linear amp signal was flooding the hearing-aids of a 90+ year old lady across the street from me.
At that point, the neighborhood beer-drinking group raised the issue at the regular beer-drinking, world-problem-solving meeting.
We decided to call the FCC and see what they had to say. Nada, zip, nuttin'.
A few days later, at the really regular beer-drinking, world-problem-solving meeting the problem was raised again.
Now, in general, I don't follow the Nazi way of thinking... however, we happened to have a resident-nazi and he came up with an idea.
The ham was on Disability. He had a busted ankle and, believe it or not, would re-break it for an extention on his diability. He used to joke about how he was doing it.
Meanwhile, he was running an under-the-table auto-painting and auto-window-repair business.
He would leave the customer cars on the cul-de-sac street next to my house. That, in itself, didn't bother me... no big deal... not really.
So, at the world-problem-solving meeting, the resident-nazi started to recount the story of the Night of the Broken Glass (I'm sure someone can post the German name for that despicable event).
Our local-facist (sp?) said... Don't worry... things will work out... give it a couple of days.
So we then continued to enjoy our beer and the company... a grand time was had by all.
A few days later and late, really late, one night (02:00 AM), there was a really loud banging on my front door. I crawled my way to the front door, opened it and saw our big ol' Hitler-lover at the door.
I did a double-take. I would have sworn I was looking at Authur Fonzarelli... there he was with a black leather jacket, a white T-shirt and a baseball bat - I could easily see where the loud bang came from. I turned to look at my front door... damn... oh well, I had to replace it anyway.
He said... "You don't hear nuttin'!"
I said "HUH?" In response, the bat that was resting on his shoulder tilted towards the cul-de-sac.
"Oh... OK,... gotcha."
Two weeks later, the ham moved out.
Adios, bad ham!
Within a week, my Reel-to-Reel died and I had to go to Cassettes. The Record/Read heads on the Reel-to-Reel had warn through the glass and were no longer available for replacement. Damn.
If you are still with me at this point, then I should remind you that this little memory-recall of mine is brought to you courtesy of Eric & Casey!
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