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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Another for you....Blue
Hey!!! Where did you get that picture of my wife? I thought I had the negative and all prints, so c'mon, fess up!  |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
>>>remind me of your irate indignation at we Pampanito docents and the one in particular in the radio room
Actually, TS, those folks in the radio room are NOT docents like you and I are ... there is a historic ships radio club that PAMPANITO's radio room is used for and they provide their own transmitters and receivers. They use our 110VAC and antennas and, of course, the operators' positions.
But PAMPANITO's WWII era equipment that Doug Nissan keeps operating in 4.0 condition is not part of their access. All of their gear (which is more powerful than the standard installed equipment that takes 3 full 6' racks plus some other space (and a few hundred pounds of MG sets and power supplies in the Pump Room) fits in that one small locker that was used to hold some bound crypto pubs, tech manuals, and the CRM's Jim Beam bottle in 1944.
They are all licensed hams and some have a military background but so far as I know, only one of the group is SS-qualified. I might be wrong on that - which is par for the course for me lately. If someone hit the diving alarm, they just might soil themselves - that is how SS they are.
Most of the time when I've had the duty and the radio club was aboard, they kept the sliding door shut and locked because a lot of visitors are naturally interested and seem to conveniently "overlook" the chain and authorized personnel only sign.
I've noticed that ever since we had to return the crypto machine to the NCA Museum, the radio club tends to leave the door open a bit more often than before - not that the crypto gear is classified any longer, but visitors seemed to be unable to resist the temptation to reach over the chain and fiddle with the switches and keys.
For Cowboy to have alerted the docents of pending visitors would have never gotten to the radio room gang because, as I said, they are not PAMPANITO docents.
Some time back when GUMBA visited, I wanted to show him the radio room - he is a retired E-9 RM(SS) and had never seen a TBL, TCS, RAK, or RAL before. I damn near had to get a presidential pardon to get someone with a key to the key locker to unlock the key locker to get the key to the radio room. But GUMBA got to see a real TBL. He thought it was a water cooler. No, that is unkind. GUMBA didn't know what to make of all of that iron and copper and mason jar sized vacuum tubes, he was flabbergasted when he found out the max power output was 100W voice (AM at that) and 250W CW. He asked about SSB and I told him the upper and lower sidebands were stowed in the sideband locker down in the pump room along with a spool of 21-thread waterline. He knew I was kidding about the 21 thread part, waterline is really 9-thread.
Edited by SOB490 2007-10-25 11:35 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 6180
Location: Summerville, SC | Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Tim, I think you need to reread this again very closely.
What I am talking aout when I say you snipe at Dex and take pot shots is this post by you:
===============
Subject: You're confused (as usual), Ralph
Jane Fonda was not in Dances With Wolves. And it's not DANCING With Wolves - it's Dances. Mary McDonnell was the lead actress.
Have you had your morning coffee yet? Are you trying to start something by asking Dex?
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-14 8:52 AM
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You'll notice in Cora's subject line this response was to me not Dex.
I think you owe Cora an apology. That's IMHO of course.
Now let's all be nice boys and girls and behave ourselves.   |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: RE: Life's Laughter
Using Dex's name like that is only meant to irritate him. That is what I call sniping and taking a cheap pot shot.
If a particular person would forget that name, not use it ever, and go back to only submarine related ideas the smoke could clear.
T.Spoon, DBF |
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Great Sage of the Sea
Posts: 561
| Subject: Thanks SOB
SOB, That is what I was trying to say but you said it much more eloquently. The radio room is off limits to even we regular docents.
Backin 1957 one of the Ham operators and I had a high school (Sequoia HS in Redwood City) freshman algebra teacher who was a grey haired retired Admiral . I only wish I had asked the gentleman more about his Naval Service back then. He surely had started his career aboard a sailing ship.LOL
One day in class he had us all tell what our future plans were for after high school. When I replied "Join the Navy" he smiled, puffed out his chest, and I seemed to get much better grades after that.LOL
See you aboard the Pampanito,
T.Spoon, DBF |
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: Yes, thank you SOB
That does clarify things that happened (or didn't happen) when Elmer and I went through the Pampanito.
As I said, a docent named Marvin Wong (or Wang - I can't remember) met us before we boarded, and he and Elmer visited for a while. I have a picture of them sitting next to the sub. We thought that he was going to escort us through the boat, but after we went down the steps and looked back, he was no longer with us, so we picked up the headsets and began our audio tour.
There was no way that we could have known that the man in the radio shack wasn't a docent. All I know is that we stood there for quite a long time, and this man would not acknowledge our presence.
It would have been nice if Marvin had been with us - he might have been able to set up the scene for the picture Elmer wanted, but it may have been that Marvin was the only docent on at that particular time, as we didn't see anyone else.
Apparently since the ham operator was a high school classmate of Tim's (I think that's what he said), he may have gotten a different version of what happened. The only thing I can say about that, is that we were there, and Tim wasn't.
Again, for (I think, the third time), MY BROTHER WAS THE ONE THAT TOOK DOWN THE CHAIN, AND STEPPED INSIDE THE RADIO ROOM. Elmer made his own life's rules.
Again, thanks so much for your explanation. However, the picture op is now lost forever. That makes me sad. It would have been a picture that his children - and - I would cherish, plus making an old WWII subvet happy for a few minutes. I did take his picture while he was standing just inside the door, but there's no way that this can be identified as the radio shack.
Cora
Edited by Corabelle 2007-10-26 12:39 PM
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Yes, thank you SOB
I know it can get sorta complicated but Marvin Wong is not a docent either, he is PAMPANITO's "secret weapon" for obtaining rare and hard-to-find stuff, usually by the dark of the moon. Most folks mistake Marvin for a homeless person because you'll usually see his fanny sticking in the air while he is head-down in a #10 trashcan scavenging for aluminum. He is a master dumpster-diver to boot.
Marvin is a retired burner from Hunters Point Naval Shipyard where I first met him during an overhaul. A couple of pounds of coffee would get you almost any work out of any shop - and if it was worth over $10,000, you might have to toss in a small canned ham. When HP shut down, he went to Mare Island NSY as a certified welder on nuke boats until he retired.
In any event, Marvin doesn't do tours or windows so that probably explains why he dropped by the wayside.
I really don't know any of the radio club folks who use our radio room but I have noticed they tend to keep pretty much to themselves. Maybe the eau d'diesel makes them lightheaded or something. There is one guy who is a true speed key CW operator and he runs so fast that I can't distinguish one dit from another, it is just one long burst of CW tone. So whomever he is "talking" with has to be a magician to copy whatever he is sending. Or doing like the old time FOX braodcast, tape it at 15ips and replay it at 7.5ips in order to catch the text.
Oh - final note on Marvin - and before anyone gets their skivvies all knotted up, this is a story he tells on himself ...
"My greatest aspiration was to work for the telephone company and I applied many times but they always turned me down."
Why is that, Marvin - were they discriminating against you because you are Chinese?
"No, they were just afraid I'd hand out a bunch of wong numbers."
For those who have met Marvin and grown to appreciate him like we all do, I have to report that his eyesight is getting worse. He recognizes most of us by our voices and greets us before he can get close enough to actually focus his eyes on us, so he is masking it pretty well. I have no idea how old he is but he was an old man when I first met him in 1956 so he must be approaching 90 or so by now. |
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Old Salt
Posts: 489
Location: San Freakcisco CA area | Subject: RE: Another for you....Blue
Vic - old Blue is sort of slow so you had better explain to him that the Italian girl is the one sitting on the right under the USA flag.
All kidding aside, every time my wife and I travel to Europe, Americans are conspicuous by their tonnage. Not only that, many of the kids are downright obnoxious! We were having coffee at a little bistro just behind the Opera in Paris one morning and a gaggle of teenage American girls were at another table, loudly complaining about everything in sight. One particular pimply-faced water buffalo was really upset because, as she wailed ... "And they don't even speak English around here..."
No s***, imagine that - in Paris, France, they don't speak English! What is this world coming to, anyway?
Actually most Europeans are fluent in 3 or more languages. If you make the effort to communicate in the language of your host, they will usually respond in English and try to help you out. At least that is our experience.
No wonder we are called "Ugly Americans."
Edited by SOB490 2007-10-26 2:07 PM
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COMSUBBBS
Posts: 2561
Location: Rapid City, SD | Subject: RE: Yes, thank you SOB
Marvin was the only one around that day, and he was expecting us, so . . . we thought that he was a docent. There must not have been any docents on duty that day - or - at least at the time that we were there.
Cora |
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Master and Commander
Posts: 1107
Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: I know that this (unfortunately) won't be the last word, but ...
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Can we give a rest, people?
:(
Edited by Flapper 2007-10-26 3:42 PM
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Life's Laughter
