Walt, I just went back and checked some old notes. I show I wrote a letter
to the editor on the steel wool balun in 1977. I know Roy said 1993, but I
"Walter Maxwell" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 18:00:21 -0400, "Fred W4JLE"
wrote:

You might be an old time if you can answer the following, with out diving
into your library.

Which of the following is NOT a rectifier?
a. 3B24
b. 80
c. 3C24
d. 6H6

Steel wool was once touted as a good material to make which of the
following?

a. Choke Balun
b. AF shielding
c. Linear capacitors
d. Radials for short virticals

Feel free to add your own favorite...


Good ones, Fred, 3B24 and 3C24 are not rectifiers.

However, some moron claimed in QST that steel wool was just as good as
ferrite for making choke baluns, but I've forgotten who the lunkhead
at the League was who believed him, and allowed stupid idea to be
published.

I complained to the League editors, who unbelieveably said 'Prove It'.
So I bought some steel wool and made two back to back baluns with it
and made measurements of common mode currents. The measurements proved
that the steel wool had absolutely no choking effect.

I reported the results of the measurements to the editors at the
League, but I can't remember whether they did anything about refuting
the original incorrect material. Perhaps your memory is better than
mine on this issue.

Walt, W2DU

Walt I went back through some old note books, according to my records I sent
the letter to the editor in 1977. I know Roy says 93, but I have e-mails
from that period and knew it had to be earlier.

Does that match your recollection?

"Walter Maxwell" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Roy, I had forgetten where the stuff was published.

Walt

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:38:12 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

Walter Maxwell wrote:
. . .
However, some moron claimed in QST that steel wool was just as good as
ferrite for making choke baluns, but I've forgotten who the lunkhead
at the League was who believed him, and allowed stupid idea to be
published.

I complained to the League editors, who unbelieveably said 'Prove It'.
So I bought some steel wool and made two back to back baluns with it
and made measurements of common mode currents. The measurements proved
that the steel wool had absolutely no choking effect.

I reported the results of the measurements to the editors at the
League, but I can't remember whether they did anything about refuting
the original incorrect material. Perhaps your memory is better than
mine on this issue.

Walt, W2DU

The results of your measurements were published in "Hints & Kinks" in
September 1993 QST. According to the editorial comment accompanying it,
you were prompted to make the measurements by Tom Rauch, W8JI, who had
done some measurements which indicated that the steel wool balun was
ineffective. The Hints & Kinks editor at the time, who had accepted both
the original contribution by Curt Wilson, W0KKQ and yours, was Dave
Newkirk, WJ1Z. Anyone interested in learning more about it should read
the Hints & Kinks submissions and note Dave's added editiorial comments.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

J. Mc Laughlin wrote:
. . .
But then, you may have taken the exam before I did. Fortunately,
licenses in those days did not have age information on them. Had a job with
a radio station when I was underage - the owner, also a Scot, knew not to
ask and I knew not to tell. . . .

My mother had to drive me to my first day on the job as a broadcast
engineer -- I wasn't old enough to get a driver's license or, in the
state I was in, even a learner's permit. (I did know how to drive,
though, having gotten a learner's permit in Alaska at 14. Drove quite a
bit of the way down the Alaska highway, too, unpaved at the time.) I'd
been turned down for a job as a golf caddie because I wasn't old enough.
That was 1961.

The owner of that first station I worked for became a fugitive from a
felony conviction in about 1964. Don't think they ever caught him.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

"Ham op" wrote in message
...
Ed Price wrote:

Wes, what's the preferred scorpion killing technique; you use a hammer or
what?


I know the design and operating principles of a hammer.


Are you certain? Can you produce any documentation or certification
regarding your competence?

--
Ed
WB6WSN
El Cajon, CA USA

I still can't believe anyone took this seriously.
Steel wool must have slightly higher permeability than air, certainly no
match for ferrites.
73
H.

"Fred W4JLE" wrote in message
...
Walt I went back through some old note books, according to my records I
sent
the letter to the editor in 1977. I know Roy says 93, but I have e-mails
from that period and knew it had to be earlier.

Does that match your recollection?

"Walter Maxwell" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Roy, I had forgetten where the stuff was published.

Walt

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:38:12 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:

Walter Maxwell wrote:
. . .
However, some moron claimed in QST that steel wool was just as good as
ferrite for making choke baluns, but I've forgotten who the lunkhead
at the League was who believed him, and allowed stupid idea to be
published.

I complained to the League editors, who unbelieveably said 'Prove It'.
So I bought some steel wool and made two back to back baluns with it
and made measurements of common mode currents. The measurements proved
that the steel wool had absolutely no choking effect.

I reported the results of the measurements to the editors at the
League, but I can't remember whether they did anything about refuting
the original incorrect material. Perhaps your memory is better than
mine on this issue.

Walt, W2DU

The results of your measurements were published in "Hints & Kinks" in
September 1993 QST. According to the editorial comment accompanying it,
you were prompted to make the measurements by Tom Rauch, W8JI, who had
done some measurements which indicated that the steel wool balun was
ineffective. The Hints & Kinks editor at the time, who had accepted both
the original contribution by Curt Wilson, W0KKQ and yours, was Dave
Newkirk, WJ1Z. Anyone interested in learning more about it should read
the Hints & Kinks submissions and note Dave's added editiorial comments.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Dear Roy:
Outstanding. What a shame that that route for young people is closed.
I was able to ride a bicycle to the station. Would buy a quart of milk
on my way to the station from a delivery van and have a simple breakfast
while playing some sort of public service announcement to start the
broadcast day. My Mother had to cash my checks for me because I was working
when the bank was open. Very interesting people pass through broadcast
stations. Another form of early education.
Obviously, we both looked older than we were. Many years latter, I
learned that I had been chosen over other (smarter?) candidates for some
important opportunities because of the experience and initiative shown by
working as a broadcast "engineer." How do young people today demonstrate
such characteristics?

73, Mac N8TT
--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
J. Mc Laughlin wrote:
. . .
But then, you may have taken the exam before I did. Fortunately,
licenses in those days did not have age information on them. Had a job
with
a radio station when I was underage - the owner, also a Scot, knew not
to
ask and I knew not to tell. . . .

My mother had to drive me to my first day on the job as a broadcast
engineer -- I wasn't old enough to get a driver's license or, in the
state I was in, even a learner's permit. (I did know how to drive,
though, having gotten a learner's permit in Alaska at 14. Drove quite a
bit of the way down the Alaska highway, too, unpaved at the time.) I'd
been turned down for a job as a golf caddie because I wasn't old enough.
That was 1961.

The owner of that first station I worked for became a fugitive from a
felony conviction in about 1964. Don't think they ever caught him.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ed Price wrote:

"Ham op" wrote in message
...

Ed Price wrote:


Wes, what's the preferred scorpion killing technique; you use a hammer or
what?


I know the design and operating principles of a hammer.



Are you certain? Can you produce any documentation or certification
regarding your competence?

I'm not the person being questioned above but I took shop class in High
School. Passed with flying colors. Does that count?

Dave N

Adam;

Do you remember "Contra Polar Energy"?
A lot of people fell for that, including yours truly.

Dave N

H. Adam Stevens, NQ5H wrote:

I still can't believe anyone took this seriously.
Steel wool must have slightly higher permeability than air, certainly no
match for ferrites.
73
H.

"Fred W4JLE" wrote in message
...

Walt I went back through some old note books, according to my records I
sent
the letter to the editor in 1977. I know Roy says 93, but I have e-mails
from that period and knew it had to be earlier.

Does that match your recollection?

"Walter Maxwell" wrote in message
. ..

Thanks, Roy, I had forgetten where the stuff was published.

Walt

On Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:38:12 -0700, Roy Lewallen
wrote:


Walter Maxwell wrote:

. . .
However, some moron claimed in QST that steel wool was just as good as
ferrite for making choke baluns, but I've forgotten who the lunkhead
at the League was who believed him, and allowed stupid idea to be
published.

I complained to the League editors, who unbelieveably said 'Prove It'.
So I bought some steel wool and made two back to back baluns with it
and made measurements of common mode currents. The measurements proved
that the steel wool had absolutely no choking effect.

I reported the results of the measurements to the editors at the
League, but I can't remember whether they did anything about refuting
the original incorrect material. Perhaps your memory is better than
mine on this issue.

Walt, W2DU

The results of your measurements were published in "Hints & Kinks" in
September 1993 QST. According to the editorial comment accompanying it,
you were prompted to make the measurements by Tom Rauch, W8JI, who had
done some measurements which indicated that the steel wool balun was
ineffective. The Hints & Kinks editor at the time, who had accepted both
the original contribution by Curt Wilson, W0KKQ and yours, was Dave
Newkirk, WJ1Z. Anyone interested in learning more about it should read
the Hints & Kinks submissions and note Dave's added editiorial comments.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

And if you have nothing better to do than write inane lists, and posting
them through anonymous remailers, you may be a loser regardless of age.

"Thrasher Remailer" wrote in message
...
If you have done nothing interesting in the last day, week, month or
year which is of any interest to most, you just might be an old timer.

If your newest equipment is over a decade old, you just might be an old
timer.

If 40 and younger avoid you on the nets, you just might be an old timer.

If you can't crawl the tower anymore, pullup the mast, you just might be
an old timer.

If your next stop is the resthome where your radio will be denied you,
you just might be a old timer.

If you live in the past and think the bands are over crowded, you just
might be an old timer.

If most of your exchanges and communications with others ends up into a
sermon from you, a list of everything which is wrong, constant
references to the past, and an attempt to stop progress, you might be an
old timer.

If you can't see how horrible the above is, you might be an old timer.

Well shucks everyone ota have one for this thread HA HA

How about being able to read 5-level baudot paper tape with out the
teletype...
Das is der kerbanginchunger
http://www.kekatos.com/teletype/gil/M28.htm

73 K4TWO Gary

This thread will prob' last about 9 months :-) ding ding ding


"Fred W4JLE" wrote in message
...
sniippeddd

Feel free to add your own favorite...