THIS is a Hobby?

In the past 7 – 10 days, one person has repeatedly slammed a monthly poll on www.3840HamFans . It’s a vicious, petty, vindictive action, and I wanted to know who was doing it. What kind of person feels it necessary to spoil EVERYONE’S fun? Over days, I set a trap, and got my answer.

I have narrowed it down to a user of the ISP air-connect, in Pahrump, NV, which pretty much means it’s artie w6obb, or his flunky, air-connect owner/operator, Paul Bowman w7mag. (Feel free to contact them about this.) I doubt that some other Pahrump air-connect user (if there are any) would have any vested interest in doing this, and since the poll was about artie’s ‘baby’ the Pahrump Receiver, well...

That’s not the half of it! Over this same time period, as I was investigating the problem:
-One HAM, told me to ‘Keep my f-ing mouth shut.’
-One HAM, said “So What?” (The ‘what’ is that I put a lot of time, energy, & money into the site! And, a lot of folks enjoy it!)
-One HAM, supposedly a friend, has refused to reply to me on IM.
-A cowardly anon poster on this blog, posted ‘why don’t you just go away.’
-A cowardly anon poster on this blog, suggested I commit suicide.

Now, are these the SAME people trying to ATTRACT new folks to the hobby? If Amateur Radio is on its way out, and I think it is, as these old coots die off, WHO would want to be around people like this? Amateur Radio, or any organized hobby, is MORE than the hobby, it is the people, (and how they act in their personal lives).

I think the majority of people that hang on 3.840 FOR artie, are pathological sickies. And as an anon poster to this blog mentioned earlier, I agree that the FCC should move in and come down HARD, on all these HAMS for ALL infractions!

If these same HAMS were really interested in ‘expanding’ the hobby, you’d think they’d:
1) Clean up their acts. (“Pretty is, as pretty does!”)
2) Support www.3840HamFans and the other swl online sites.
3) Support and help set up online streaming.

In the meantime, I am NOT going away. No, indeedy, I’m gonna tighten-it-up…

The Phone Patch

After a hundred thousand tries, I finally managed to get into the so-called Pahrump Receiver last night for an entire hour.

I heard the 'testing' of the phone patch, including arties w6obb, phone call to Jim Watson ki6gu. Then whatever came after that, till my 'nickel' was up, and I was kicked out. Oh, and I even missed a few minutes of that as I had to visit 'the other room', something that couldn't be put off.

After another hundred thousand tries at refreshing the Pahrump Receiver page, I gave up in total frustration, and went to bed with a good book and Coast To Coast AM with George Noory, (whom I might add, is NEVER on an ego trip!). It was a lot more fun and relaxing.

What I did hear of the ‘Phone Patch’ was fascinating. Sorry I missed it the event in it’s entirety. And miss it all I did. Even today, at odd times, I tried to get into the Pahrump Receiver, in the hopes of catching at least part of the ‘playback’ with no more luck than I’d had last night.

However, my brain matter was not inactive as I was clicking away at the refresh button; here’s the direction my thoughts took…

-Does artie REALLY think he’s going to make friends and influence people to get involved in Amateur Radio with what has turned out to be just another version of the old ‘bait & switch’ bit??? (Put up a receiver, promote it heavily, then not let anyone listen to it?)

-Does he really think that folks are going to stick around a hobby very long, when all they get is frustrated and feel that their strings are being pulled as if they are puppets?

-WHY does a ‘hobby’ need to be promoted anyway? WHO said this needed to be done? Amateur Radio will die a natural death or it won’t, there’s nothing artie or any other HAM, can do about it. You are interested in a specific activity, or you are not; you seek it out, or you don’t. In all my life, I have NEVER seen anyone actively ‘promoting’ knitting, photography, mud wrestling, stamp collecting, patio gardening, or model railroads. Sure, they have shows, open to the public events, as does Amateur Radio, not one person out there trying to do it all.

Nope, I think the entire ‘build-up-the-hobby’ thing is just one more way for artie to manipulate the HAMS that hang out on 3.840 with him. Otherwise, he’d put his MONEY where his mouth is, and put the Pahrump Receiver on a server that could handle a huge amount of traffic, and just PAY for the bandwidth, which is something that might ACTUALLY promote the hobby! (Or at least promote the 3.840’s.)

Even giving artie the benefit of the doubt, he obviously did NOT think this one through, and I think he may be driving more people away, than attracting them.

As for me, I’m going to be listening to Gorge Noory tonight also. So I guess one thing artie will be accomplishing is to ‘up’ the ratings of C2C.

The Male Morons!

The full moon and an excess of testosterone again combined to give us a peek into the ‘real men’ that populate 3.840, and made full-blown fools of all of them in the process! Yet most of these jerks are quick to be the ‘first to throw stones’ at anyone else. Hypocrites all! Last night’s scores:

-8 to Greg Sousa w6ezv for the out and out, repeated, threats against Steve Wingate. “I’m gonna bring three gallons of gasoline, sprinkle it around your house and light a match.” This actually escalated to Greg Sousa REQUESTING that anyone who was within close driving distance to Steve’s home should to go “take care of the problem.” These threats made my hair stand on end; there are people out there just crazy enough to do as requested! His wife should cut him off for a month if not more!

-6 to Steve Wingate k6thx for the foul language. I had nothing against the content of his meanderings, but the EXCESSIVE foul language, provoked or not, is way above and beyond, even for THESE liberal ears. I think George Carlin could add a few new invectives to HIS list from Steve’s profane vocabulary. This score would have been worse, except that Steve seemed to sober up a little as the night went on. Steve should have to go to an AA meeting every day for a month!

-5 to Art Bell w6obb who at the beginning actually instigated the confrontation. THEN when the going got rough, artie got going! He NEVER said another word, meaning he never tried to ‘calm’ anyone down. The old 'hit & run' technique my older sister mastered so well as a chld, as MOST kids do, artie uses repeatedly, with aplomb! The ‘master of manipulation’ had done it again, hit & run. artie should have to come live with ME for a month! I cured my sister, I could also cure him of this extremely nasty habit.

-5 to Art Bell who PRACTICED the supreme form of control, as I absolutely KNEW he would sooner or later, and it happened to be sooner, by NOT replaying last night’s recordings TODAY. (So what GOOD is the highly [self] touted Pahrump Receiver? Many complain they can’t get in (I must admit I haven’t had that problem). You have to ‘ping’ it every hour to keep it going, so you can't record, and it’s going to be edited by artie whenever he chooses. The Lord of the Loop speaks again!)

-4 To Jim Watson ki6gu for taking a picture from the http://www.3840HamFans@yahoogroups/ list, where he’s been a non-participant on ‘no-mail’ status, by choice, for months. The picture in question was part of a set awaiting uploading to the 3840HamFans picture album. He posted this pic on HamCams, simply to please artie and curry his favor! Though he DID credit HamFans for the pic, he certainly KNOWS how to reach me on Messenger and via email! Jim has been asked repeatedly to NOT infringe on copywrited list materials by posting them without permission. Obviously, it’s more important to Jim to please artie then abide by federal copywrite laws. Jim should have to read the entire American copywrite law! (btw Jim, it's easily found on the net.)

-3 to all the OTHER, minor, participants of this debacle. Why did they not just go elsewhere? Or ignore Steve??? No, they choose to participate in their own small (and I do mean small) ways. In the end, they all contributed to what must be one of the lowest moments in HAM radio, OR helped to put on a good 'show', depending on how you want to look at it. This segment of 'the group' should all have to stay totally SILENT, no matter what the conversation; no, not one word to anyone, other than to ID as legally required, for two consecutive nights on 3.840.

I can’t help but wonder what these ‘macho’ men would think if they KNEW recordings of this ego driven, male moron, mob mentality, psychologically sick, drivel, had been sent to their mothers, wives, significant others, sisters, nieces? Or if they opened their morning papers to see it PRINTED in entirety, on the front page for all to read???

Jim Southwick's - n7js Online Tuner

Jim Southwick n7js, wrote on August 15, 2005 (today!) on the s-meter forum:

"I feel I can start to be freed up to get mine back to its original intent. A receiver for various facets of radio (i.e. sstv, shortwave broadcasts, air traffic, AM DX, etc. and OF COURSE ham radio) rather than a receiver for listening continually to a few personalities. "

I absolutely back him 100% on this! I know first hand how frustrated he's been over the last couple of years having his 'tuner' literally hi-jacked by all us SWL'S!!! It's his site, he should be able to do what he wants with it, but he didn’t, bowing instead to the wants & needs of the SWL’s!

Jim has given countless hours of pleasure to the SWL side of the Amateur Radio hobby, especially those of us without radios, or not in a good location for listening on our radios.

I know he realizes this 'logically', but I still don't think Jim understands the emotional impact of that ‘voice in the night’ to those of us who just can’t go get on air, to the insomniacs, aged, ill, or just plain lonely!

Yes, the 3.840’s are frequently a SOAP OPERA of sorts, but compared hour by hour, that usually is NOT the case. I have no doubt, as many of the HAMS have said repeatedly; SWL’S often turn into HAMS.

I can’t foresee that happening to moi! Plus, there is NOTHING WRONG with being a SWL, of claiming it as a hobby (I do!). It’s as much a part of Amateur Radio as are the on air personalities.

When 3.840 turns into Days of Our Lives, many of us, HAMS & SWL alike, enjoy the hell out of it while it lasts! We gossip, twitter, email, record, and meet in chats. BUT, we also listen when there is no controversy, or when Art Bell isn’t on. What does that say???

Now Jim’s n7js site is going to get technical. And I’ll probably never go there, as I’m not a HAM, nor am I a technical person. I am a SWL, the other side of the coin.

I also wanted to point out that there is a real ‘audience’ for dedicated online tuners. I used to listen to local police/fire online YEARS AGO, before it became illegal, on a dedicated internet tuner in my city. It’s too bad that there aren’t more of them. Perhaps they fulfill a service just as needed as Amateur Radio.

Perhaps after Jim is ‘done’ restructuring his site, he’ll consider doing a site for SWL’s, a place where we can ask all the stupid questions we want, get the info we need, all without being laughed off the net???

I want to thank Jim Southwick n7so, for his service to the SWL community. And to wish him the best of luck with whatever his new site turns out to be, and most of all, I want him to have FUN with his site!

evvy, an Art Bell Fan???

Recently, a reader of this blog posted:

>>>evvy, you must have been a big art bell fan at one time, after all you started this group,

I have listened to Art Bell most nights for many years. Since long before C2C. Since back when he was a night-time talk show host, out of Las Vegas.

It was at that time when (as an avid talk show listener), I became aware of his on air talent, and his legitimate care of his listeners/callers! (I Am not sure that applies any longer.).

I believe that during those years, his real talent was easily apparent. It was a time when he knew many of the folks who called in by their first names, especially the truckers (who depended on Art Bell on those lonely long-hauls through the desert night).

He was lucky to have one guest a week! The rest of the time it was up to his inherent talent and devices to fill the air, to get people to call in. And when there were no callers, he talked about any and everything, including HAM radio. Then there were the games: Truth & Lie, etc. This was a far different program than C2C.

Am I an Art Bell Fan? No, I don't think so, at least not in the usual connotation. I admire much about him, his broadcast and talent, his (except for moi!) tendency to have an open mind, his knowledge of a wide variety of subjects, and his obviously good business decisions.

But he is human, just like the rest of us, and I think his 'celebrity' status has gone to his head, and that's because he has allowed it too. (This is NOT to say thdoesn't doesn't have to protect himself & his family from the NUTS.)

I think he's made few major errors, in his broadcast career. One was totally 'losing' the 'old' Art Bell show. And the second was allowing himself to be influenced (mirrored, if you will) by those that ARE only Fans in the guise of Friends. So now he only sees himself by what they reflect for him and that's not likely to be reality.

Art Bell and I also have a lot in common! (Though HE doesn't want to hear about it!).

-We are the same age.
-I am also a talented person with Fans (though not many, poets donÂ’t have MANY fans, but I do have a following.)
-I understand performing and the exhaustion that follows. (BTDT)
-I would be a Libertarian if they could ever come up w/a winner.
-We have many of the same political/social views.
-We are both PUBLISHED writers.
-I am also a smoker.
-I love the desert, would live there if I could.
-Though IÂ’m not science oriented at ALL, I have a love of weather.
-I love cats, have two.
-I am a night person.
-I too, can talk to almost anyone about almost anything.

The reader went on:

>>>most people who listen to 3.840 and post in these groups i would say are art bell fans. That's why they listen not to hear the others but to hear art.

I can't speak for others, but I admit, I found the online tuners, via an Art Bell mirc group. I was very ill at the time, and missing his voice at night. So I went searching for audio clips, old shows, etc.

That said, I am a life-long radio listener! I was enthralled with radio ever since I can remember! Sitting in the front room while my Gramps peeled potatoes for dinner we listened to programs like the Lone Ranger, Amos & Andy, and Our Miss Brooks emanating from a big, brown floor model, radio in 1948. And a couple of years later, when I was allowed to stay up longer, The Shadow Knows, and other riveting mysteries.

In recent years, it's been PBS, and an alternative station (Palm Springs?) that produces original dramas once a week, and all the usual talk shows. But the buy out by Clear Channel has ended much of that. I am turning more and more to television, CNN and Fox news programming.

Once I DID find the online tuners, Amateur Radio, and SWL. I was hooked! And not just because of Art Bell! That was icing on the cake! I love Tim's Travels (especially when he had better audio) and other mobile HAMS, The Burbank Boys entertain me to no end! Timmy's jamming and singing I enjoy for short periods. Big Ben is always there with a soft voice and attitude. And lately, Melba Mac and his cows...

Who could resist a cast of 'characters' like that??? Putting their lives on air, foibles and all??? Not a radio lover! In fact, perhaps Art Bell syndicated the wrong show!

No, I would listen even if Art Bell were not there. In fact, I often listen early in the evening when he isn't on air. Some of the best 3.840 listening was on week-ends while Art did C2C and the band had just a few 'regulars', often having sane conversations.

The reader continued:

>>>so really are you that much different than Trish in that regard?

Yes, I am. I did not pursue Amateur Radio, get a license, rig, and string wire because I'm an Art Bell Fan. Nor did I ever fly to Pahrump to meet him. (He's welcome to stop by this 'smoking' apartment for coffee whenever he's in the San Diego Area.) Nor did I get a HAM call sign that emulates his. (btw, I really don't think there's anything wrong with any of that, as long as Art Bell doesn't feel imposed upon. But it IS funny!) So, I am not a 'fan' of Art Bell in the original sense of the word, 'fanatic', as the case may be with Trish.

The reason the list was originally started had absolutely nothing to do with Art Bell. It was as an alternative for the heavy handiness of Midnight Hams, which I belonged to till they booted me, which was awhile AFTER I'd started the 3.840 list. And because there were a few HAMS & SWL'S, who seemed to think that all this was as funny as I did! (Now there are a lot more!)

The question is, how can these 3.840 HAMS have such thin-skin when they get on public air and say what they say, and do what they do??? No one is forcing them. In essence, they are performing for the public, by choice.

So how can those HAM performers expect for views different from theirs not be 'aired' albeit in a different format? Surely, Art Bell, and all the HAMS, if they think it through, have to expect comments on their performances. How could they be surprised when folks point out all the gaffes, and personal quirks, of this very elite, mostly white male, affluent, and eclectic group?

Hey, I'm just the 'commentator' that rose to the top of the heap, perhaps because I'm a writer to begin with. Too bad artie doesn't have a sense of humor or he might be laughing too!