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 Previous: Experimental License, BPL Court Challenge on Executive Committee Agenda |  Next: Texas Lawmakers Ignoring Amateur Radio Concerns in BPL Bill, ARRL SM Says |
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU Contributing Editor April 22, 2005
This week, we look for surplus commercial radio equipment in Amateur Radio applications and we find bullfrogs and a lot more.
It is amazing how one thing leads to another.
Last week, I wrote about W3KKC’s The Repeater Builders Technical Information Page. While writing that column, it brought back memories of the local repeater builders, who used GE and Motorola surplus commercial radios (boat anchors) to build repeaters, as well as the boat anchors I used to communicate through those repeaters. I thought that boat anchors would be a good topic for this week’s Surfin’, so I began researching the subject on the Internet using Google and other resources.
During my research, I came across the name of Frederick W. Chesson. That was a familiar name to me, but it was not related to boat anchors or radios. One of my other interests is local history and I was familiar with Frederick Chesson in that area because he wrote a couple of interesting pictorial histories about the place where I was born and raised, Waterbury, Connecticut. (He also did similar books about New Haven and Woodbury, Connecticut.)
 Fred’s Very Eclectic Home Page reminds me of my attic: full of stuff that is too interesting to throw away. |
I was intrigued, so I visited Frederick Chesson’s Web page to see what he had there regarding boat anchors and I found a very interesting Web site: Fred’s Very Eclectic Home Page. Frederick Chesson has many interests (“from radar beacons to raising bullfrogs”) and they are not all related to radio, but they are interesting and his Web page covers them all. Getting back on topic here, be sure to check out his Secret Wire articles about the US Military Telegraph Corps and Civil War communications, his vast collection of data related to surplus radio equipment (boat anchors), and his radio history articles. Also, be sure to read his radio fictional article, “Radars of the Lost ARC, A Radio Row Christmas Story Radio.”
Until next week, keep on surfin’.
Editor’ note: In his free time, Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, built and maintains the Web site of the Wolcott CT Historical Society. To discuss history, boat anchors and other neat stuff, e-mail Stan.
| Previous: Experimental License, BPL Court Challenge on Executive Committee Agenda | Next: Texas Lawmakers Ignoring Amateur Radio Concerns in BPL Bill, ARRL SM Says |
