DID TEURS

I AMATEUR
RADIO DAY
About 40 amateurs live in this
northwest area of Arkansas,
around Rogers. We have secured
through the Official centennial
Commission, Saturday,
May 9, to be set aside as Amaleur
Radio Day, as part of the
events during t he summer.
Please help us celebrate thai
day by working one of the Otttclal
Centennial Amateur Radio
Stations. Th e K5BP call letters
will be used on about 7,283 kHz
LSB or 21 ,363 kHz USB from
1400 UTe to 2200 UTe. Send
confirming aSL card with a "10
SASE to K5B P, Dept. 1881, General
DeUvery, Rogers AR 72756
10 receive an Official Centennial
cernucate.
Glenn E. Webster W5VIX
Rogers AR
DE PY2AA
1 1
We, from LABRE-liga de
Amadores Brasileiros de Radio
Emissao-are glad to announce
thai there has been set up a beecan
, here in Sao Paulo-SP-on
the six-meter band, for propaqation
research purposes.
The beacon Is on SO.055 MHz
and has an output power of 25
Watts. The antenna is an omnidirectional
ground plane which
15 about 25 feet above the
ground level, on the top of the
League building.
The format transmitted is a
long dash, along with " de" and
the call: - de PY2AA.
We wou ld very much accreciate
any kind of report; they can
be sent directly to PY2AA­
Beacon Project, PO Box 22,
01ooo-Sao Paulo-SP, Brazil.
We will keep you informed on
all free local beacon activity.
Hugo AdeUno doll Silva PY2DSa
Sao Paulo-SP-Brazil
I AND WAYNE SAYS. . .
There seems to be quite a
controversy over Dick Bash's
publications, and the fire was recently
fueled by Skip Tenney's
editorial. If I remember correctly,
you were quite enthusiastic
24 73 Magazine . April, 1981
LETTERS
I
I
about Dick's publications. We
find we are being put on the spot
by some of our customers after
seeing Skip's editorial, and I am
trying to feel out some of the
more prominent members of the
amateur fraternity to determine
what their thoughts are on this
whole Issue.
Warren L. Spindler K21 XN
Ham·Radlo World, Inc.
Oriskany NY
Yes, Warren, I have some
thoughts on the Bash cheat
books. I am not aware of ever
having been enthusiastic about
them. Indeed, I have refused
Irom the ttrst to allow Bash to
advertise in 73, for which we are
paying with the loss of about
$I,OOOpermonth.l'dsay that we
areputting our money where my
mouth is.
The editoria l in HR about the
Bash books was read with enterta
inment by many. If you will
look back in the April, May, and
June. 1980, issues of HR (and
some in HRH), you 'll find that
their Ham Radio Bookstore eaventsea
and sold the book they
are now being righteous about. I
refused to carry ads for the book
or to handle it in our Radio
Bookshop.
As I understand it, HA was enthusiastic
about the Bash books
up until they got a caN from the
FCC. The FCC has been very u,r
tight over the books and I have
heard that theycaffed Tenney of
HA and put it on the line: II he
wanted any more FCC information
lor his Half Right Reports,
he should stop advertiSing for
Bash. The ads stopped and the
info to HRR continued.
The Bash books are not much
worse than the old ARRL 0 & A
manual in that they strongly encourage
the memorization ofan·
swers rather than the unaetstanding
of theory. I feel that
this is bad for those who suck in
on this easy way to their first
license. This is why my license
manuals emphasize learning
the theory ra ther than memorizing
answers. Mem ory quickly
falls • . . andany change ofc uestlons
quickly confuses appli'
cants . If the theory is understood,
not only is any tes t simpIe
but the foundation lor going
ah ead to higher classes of Ii·
cense has been laid.
The memory route leaves the
Novice with no real comprehension
of radio theory, so he ts
then commJtted to ever more difficult
memorization as he goes
for the General and Advanced Ii·
censes. His ignorance will immediately
be perceived by any'
one he talks with over the air,
making the use of his license
less than fun. You can't 1001
people into thinking you really
are a ham when you aren't. They
see through th e sham.
The really sad part of all this
is that there is no thing complicated
about understa nding the
theor y. We've had kids four
years old able to comprehend it
andpass the test. Yes, it takes a
bit of time and thinking. You
know, it is incredible how much
effort people will devote to not
having to think! You might get
the idea that it is painful to think
instead of it being one of the
most excJting of human experiences.
Now, toanswer yourquestion
. .. if I were in your position, I
wou ld not sell the Bash books.
-Wayne.
AN UNBIASED VIEW
I__------J
Ju st finished reading Larry
Kahaner's excellent article,
" Who Rea lly Invented Radio?,"
but found it to be a "floppy
copy" of hundreds of other
writings, with the exception of a
few new names wrth numbers
Identifying the modern-day
authority of early radio.
Like many others, I also agree
that America's N. B. Stubblefield
invented, manufactured,
and demonstrated a wireless
device that transmitted and
received both music and voice
belore anyone on th is planet,
and, like L. H. Hortln, I am tired
of explaining that tcceys radio,
as we know it, is Stubblefield's
" wireless telephone" tranamttterrreceiver,
and not Signor Marconi's
dot and dash performer,
or even testa's electrostatic
transmitter.
Furt hermore, English sctenttt­
Ic publications such as yours
reall y invented the word "radio"
- several years after Stu bblefield
's fam ou s broadc ast demonstrations-
to describe any
and all sou rces of energy that
radiated and/or created heat.
The truth o f the mailer Is that
Stubblefield's scientific " wire-
1
less telephone" terminology
and ac hievements were lost to
the world by the stroke of a
writer's pen, confusing knowledgeable
men 01 both that time
and even now! Luckily, Murrayrtes
such as Hortin, Johnson,
and many others, who know the
real story, still exist.
11 would appear that those
two radio shack jocks, Riley Ray
and William Can (also known as
W4LM F and KJ4W respectively),
should have known thai " wireless
telephone" is rad io, no matter
how you look at it, feel it,
broadcast it, or just plain hear it,
before tattling Murray 's local
gossip to the world.
Troy Cory Stubblefield,
Grandson of N, B. Stubblefield,
and son of Oliver Stubblefield
Universal City CA
I~-_I
73 METHODS WORK
I've never written a letter to
any magazine before, but I feel I
must this time.
I have no technical beckground
or training whatsoever
that is electronics or rad iorelated.
In fact, unti119791 didn't
even know how to use a so ldering
iron! Using your 73 cod e
tapes and theory courses, I have
progressed from Novice to Extra
class since July of 1979 (just
passed Extra class exams January
7, 1981). That' s a period of a
little over 1 Y2 years, and there is
no way I could have done It wttnout
the help of your code tapes
and study guides.
I can't thank you enough for
all that your organization has to
offer. You r training and teaching
aids are second to none. Keep
up the good work and you 'll
make a lot of newcomers, like
myself, very pleased.
Bob Burdick KA1DOS
Ayer MA
I I
I read your article in this January's
73 and I thought I should
mention that I was in Ch ina in
December, 1979, and at that
time I saw several allband
radios in the communes.
PEKING TRAVELS
In Shanghai, at the Children's
Palace (for bright kidS), there
was a room where the students
were as sem b li ng transistor
radio kits.
I stayed at the Peking Hotel In
Continued on page 123