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The third episode of the third season of this AMC series about a
fictionalized account of the birth and evolution of the personal
computer industry was on this week. The title refers to a machine code
instruction (often represented in assembly language as "HCF") to stop
CPU operation and go into an unrecoverable state, requiring restart. It
featured some ham radio operated by the tempermental genius engineer,
Gordon Clark, who led the technical team to build one of the first IBM
PC clones in the first season, and who starts out the episode in his
hallway closet (!!!) calling CQ on HF (shortwave).

The depiction was reasonably accurate, but had some rough edges:

- The callsign, KC4L, is not currently assigned. Usually when ham
radio is depicted in popular entertainment, the callsign is
fictitious (not in a standard sequence, like the TV show "Last Man
Standing" where it was X-suffixed, KA0XTT, like an experimental
station) or a tribute to a writer or famous ham, like W9GFO in the
movie "Contact." The call is in a sequence appropriate for an Extra
licensed in the 80's, but the district number doesn't match up with
Texas (5) where he lived in the previous seasons or California (6)
where he now lives in the third.

- When his son asks him what he is doing, he says he is using a radio
he built himself, though clearly it is an off-the-shelf 70's-era
Yaesu and not, say, a Heathkit.

- As noted above, he's operating out of his hallway closet. Never seen
a ham do that. Maybe a basement, garage (Gordon had a big one in
Texas where he homebrewed computers), or even a car or motorhome, but
never a closet. Maybe his new house in California doesn't have a
garage workshop like back in Texas, or he's afraid that his wife
Donna wouldn't approve? Also, how do you route an antenna out of a
closet? Hole through the wall or ceiling to the attic, probably, but
what kind of antenna is he supposed to have?

- He has a nice, obsessive-nerd, explanation to his son for the origin
of CQ ("Comes from the French word se'curite', which means safety or
security. You can hear it when you say 'secu, secu'"). However,
some of the rest of his terminology and operating etiquette is a bit
off. He complains about not being able to get an answer back due to
a bad "connection" vs. link, or path, or propagation. He also uses
one of the FCC 7 forbidden words (probably ranked #2) over the air,
and indiscretely talks about the challenges in his relationship with
his wife with the other station he finally reaches (perhaps
imaginary, used as a plot device to suggest his gradual departure
from reality, possibly as a symptom of his lead solder poisoning
diagnosed in season 2).

Curious to see how this develops in future episodes, if at all, on AMC
every Tuesday night at 9 PM/8 PM Central.

(73, Paul, K3FU)

- --
Paul W. Schleck

http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/
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In article ,
Paul W. Schleck wrote:

The third episode of the third season of this AMC series about a
fictionalized account of the birth and evolution of the personal
computer industry was on this week.

Someone mentioned this to me so I watched the episode yesterday.

The depiction was reasonably accurate, but had some rough edges:

As always. It was okay, though.

- The callsign, KC4L, is not currently assigned.

The FCC database says it is:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsS...?licKey=429633

I can't find any information that would link that person to the show.


Usually when ham
radio is depicted in popular entertainment, the callsign is
fictitious (not in a standard sequence, like the TV show "Last Man
Standing" where it was X-suffixed, KA0XTT, like an experimental
station)

By the way, now that fall-season shows are back in production, the "Last
Man Standing" Amateur Radio Club is running KA6LMS late afternoons on
Tuesdays, Pacific Time. They use the ham station shown in the series.


- As noted above, he's operating out of his hallway closet. Never seen
a ham do that. Maybe a basement, garage (Gordon had a big one in
Texas where he homebrewed computers), or even a car or motorhome, but
never a closet.

I don't watch the series, but from this episode, I gathered that the
couple had just moved and/or acquired a boarder, so that was the only
place he could set up the radio.


Patty

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In Patty Winter writes:


In article ,
Paul W. Schleck wrote:


[...]

- The callsign, KC4L, is not currently assigned.

The FCC database says it is:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsS...?licKey=429633

I can't find any information that would link that person to the show.

[...]

Thanks for catching that, Patty. I used a secondary source, QRZ, which
gives a cryptic, "This call sign record is unmanaged. No additional
information is available." if you're not logged in. Log in, and you can
see the holder.

73, Paul, K3FU

- --
Paul W. Schleck

http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/
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In article ,
Paul W. Schleck wrote:

In Patty Winter writes:

The FCC database says it is:

Thanks for catching that, Patty. I used a secondary source, QRZ, which
gives a cryptic, "This call sign record is unmanaged. No additional
information is available." if you're not logged in. Log in, and you can
see the holder.

I often see people referring to doing a "QRZ.com lookup," and that site
is indeed handy if you want to see what additional information people
have provided about themselves (shack photos, etc.), but for simple
callsign lookups, I use the same site I've used for decades--now available
on the World Wide Web, of course:

http://callsign.ualr.edu/callsign.shtml

Also still available via telnet:

telnet://callsign.ualr.edu:2000

It's a great site because you can search not only by callsign (or
partial callsign if you don't know the whole thing), but also by
name/partial name, ZIP code, etc. Much more flexible than either
the QRZ or FCC front ends to the FCC database.

The link I posted yesterday was to the FCC database, but my initial
search when I watched the show a couple of days ago was on UALR. I
use that site very frequently; in fact, I keep a tab open with it.


Patty