Sometimes old is better
Technology is fun. Old technology is funner.
Put away your grammar book. I am quite capable of conjugating the comparative in a traditional sense. I choose not too. End of discussion. Now, back to my original premise. I’ve been playing with electronic stuff for a long time, and there’s been a shift in the technique, even if the result is the same. Turn on radio. Listen.
This afternoon, while idly hunting on eBay, I realized that the younger technicians (my coworkers) have NEVER come in contact with things that I consider ordinary miracles. They’ve never burned themselves removing a hot tube from service – they’ve never experienced the spine tingling, heart-disruptive sensation of a high voltage shock. They’ve never watched a homebrew power supply release huge amounts of magic smoke.
We were admiring (OK, I was admiring and they were regarding with disbelief) the profusion of gently used shortwave receivers dating back to the days of the Korean conflict. Reasonable prices, too; if you can put the shipping and handling into a different budget envelope. I’d love to buy (yet) another receiver. Little matter that the number of interesting broadcasts has declined, or that the use of CW to send real information between working parties has disappeared.
I’m in the market for more keys, in passing. Somewhere, the key that will send perfect Morse at all times is waiting. Missed out on a couple of really good prospects over the weekend – one guy forgot to send me a shipping estimate because he was busy watching the Grand Prix on television. Another slipped away because my grasp of German is rudimentary, and I forgot to “up” my maximum bid in time.
