Talked to Bob Heil on the ham radio last night

[Ritchie200]

Bob is a HUGE ham radio guy and markets many products for the Ham folks.  He doesn't live too far away from me, maybe two hours, but I have never personally met him.  Last night he was talking about being on the road for the last few weeks and the CMA awards and some of his clients.  Then someone got him reminiscing on the big sound system he built for the Grateful Dead when their "Wall of Sound was confiscated in LA".  He built it using old Altec speakers and horns that a theater here in town had thrown away and powered them with some McIntosh amps.  The Dead ditched the Wall of Sound and hired Bob.  So I asked him about the system he built for the Who.  Turns out the Who came to the US on their Who's Next tour with "a couple of WEM speaker columns and their concert reviews were terrible, so they called me because of what I had done for the Dead."  Bob used to work for Sunn and actually designed the Coliseum PA for them back in the 60's.  At the time the Who called, he was the largest Sunn dealership in the country.  So to get something to the Who in an expedited manner, he used their manufacturing capability.  He said the amps were all point to point construction that they threw together and they were surprised how rugged they were.  I didn't have a chance to ask any follow up questions as a friend of his from the UK jumped in.  I also found out that Joe Walsh, a close friend of Bob's (Heil talk box...), is another HUGE ham radio guy.  I will have to keep my ears peeled for WB6ACU.  Pretty cool night talking briefly with a legend!

Jim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_YXAEKJ054
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp4wjVU7TPc

[shooter]

Nice!  The stuff dreams are made of!  How many here have worked hard for the chance to say; "sure", when the phone call comes

[timbertoes]

Very cool :)  I am AE5ZN.

[Ritchie200]

Not too far, EM48.  QRJ antenna down!  My QTU, we shall see - no free time...

73's KE0CXH 

[timbertoes]

 
My radio and shack are "put up" at this time.. New carpet last summer, have not put anything back together.
Now I spend all my time learning to play these Guitars 

[Ritchie200]

My dad held a master radiotelephone technician license (? can't remember exactly because the classification does not exist anymore) that allowed him to service, operate, and repair any transmitter under the authority of the FCC.  So he had manuals and books going back to the 30's - a lot of them Ham related.  As a kid in the 60's I tried and tried to learn code and even in high school with the ham club, but I just could not do it.  I think guitar practice got in the way!  Became an avid SWL listener during this time, learning to keep my bare feet off the basement floor when dialing an early 50's era Halli!  As the major stations shut down I somewhat lost interest until the no-code was passed.  With that out of the way, my rabid ADD could handle the theory that I learned long ago and the rest is history!

I've got a barefoot Icom 736 with the MARS/CAP mod, and a LONG Carolina Windom 160 from Radio Works. It covers 10-160 that the radio can easily match with internal tuner, pretty impressive for a wire. Don't laugh but I use a Turner Plus 3 dialed way back that sounds great and really cuts through without overmodulation and a gold D104 that comes pretty close, but just looks so good!  I carry a Baofeng 7w uhf/vhf in the car with a little roof mount.  Other than the scheduled meetings on the local repeaters, not much traffic there.  Every once in a while I'll catch an interesting simplex QSO on the road with another Ham on vacation.

You?
Jim

[timbertoes]

AH! Thats cool    At one time I held the FCC 1st Phone with Radar endorsement. Worked part time in Radio stations while in school.  Like your Father's license, the 1st phone no longer exists.

Yah , 2 meters can be fun and good way to make local friends ! However my HF radio is in the closet.. Yaseu ftdx1200.  oh well...