Hi Nate,
Nice to meet you, a very small world indeed.
https://www.omaha.com/obits/michaelson-russell-russ-stevens/article_4b36033a
-a07d-543f-a1ab-43687f27a0e6.html
Yes, Russ had a great voice! When I first met him he was a dj on
KNAK, I believe. When he was on the air I would call him up and "win"
albums. I was in my 30's when he relocated to Omaha. I was really sad to
see him go. He took his tower with him when we moved. Although I don't
think he ever set up a station again.
When I was 15, before getting my Novice license, I went with Russ to
attend WIMU at Mac's Inn. Russ had copied all of the military code course
to cassette tapes and gave me a copy. I listened and practiced for many
hours. At WIMU Russ had me sit down for one of the code contests. Even
though I joined part way through I ended up winning! That was pretty cool
for a kid just learning code and ready to take the Novice exam. The
speeds went up to 25 or 30 WPM!
I still have voice mails on my phone left by Russ. I will regret
the day that I may have to replace my phone and can no longer hear his
voice. He had a huge effect on my life.
73
len
-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Nate Bargmann
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2019 12:02 PM
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Reaching across the chronological divide
* On 2019 14 Dec 11:02 -0600, l...@ka7ftp.com wrote:
> And last... The real thing that drew me to ham radio was
> another ham, Russ Michaelson N7SM (SK 2019). Russ and I meet at
> the University of Utah's surplus store. Even though we had a 12
> year age difference, Russ and I connected almost immediately and
> became lifelong friends. I was in Junior high school and Russ
> was beginning a family when we meet. From Russ I learned about
> more about radio and electronics, and we had many adventures in
> the process. I never remember Russ complaining about the
> ionosphere. He built a magnificent basement "shack". When he
> built his own 100 foot tower from scratch I climbed to the top
> to help set up and adjust antennas. (By then I was in my 20's,
> no child labor involved. :) If we expect this hobby to
> continue into the future, we need to be the "Russ" in someone
> else's life. We need to pass our love of radio to the next
> generation. Just expecting someone to "be" interested and on
> their way after the exam will never happen. Propagation will
> always change, we need to be the constant.
I went to work for Union Pacific Railroad in 1991 as a telecom tech and
there was a very distinctive voice on many voice response systems on the
UPRR telephone network. I learned that was "Russ" and later got to talk
with him on the phone and then a few years later he came to Wichita, KS and
did a presentation for several of us techs on something (I don't recall
what, now!). It was quite nice meeting him in person. I did not know he
had become SK earlier this year.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with Russ, Len. Rest assured, Russ'
voice was heard by likely all UPRR employees at some point through the '90s
and early '00s as well as customers and others calling UPRR in Omaha.
For those looking for more simple kits to introduce basic radio concepts to
newcomers, various QRP groups offer such kits. I know the Four State QRP
Group has done so in the past.
One shorthand phrase I like to use is. "Radio for radio's sake." I
translate it as no matter what end goal we're trying to achieve, we're using
some part of the radio spectrum to accomplish the goal.
73, Nate, N0NB
--
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist fears this is true."
Web: https://www.n0nb.us
Projects: https://github.com/N0NB
GPG fingerprint: 82D6 4F6B 0E67 CD41 F689 BBA6 FB2C 5130 D55A 8819
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