EXCELSIOR! Happy Birthday Jean Shepherd

 

 

NPR's "Writer's Almanac" alerted us to this:    Shep was born on this day in 1925.  I realize now that that made him just a week or so older than my dad (who was a big fan).

Here is a really nice site with info about Shep, ham radio, and his call sign: 

http://www.flicklives.com/index.php?pg=318

EXCELSIOR !!!!!!!!!!!

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Two great sites from Rogier

Our Bay Area correspondent Rogier (orignally PA1ZZ, now KJ6ETL) recently sent us links to two very interesting sites.   The first is a collection of Jean Shepherd programs.   EXCELSIOR!
http://www.flicklives.com/Mass_Back/massbackpodcast.xml

The second is a collection of electronics tutorial videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Afrotechmods?feature=watch

 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Homebrew transistors, QRSS Blog, Shep Show, Nose as toubleshooting tool

Some odds and ends today:

Ed, KC2TYP alerted me to this one: Jeff, K7JPD, has a very intriguing blog post about homebrew transistors. I suspect AA1TJ will have a rig made of these things on the air within a week. Check it out:
http://jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com/227856.html

There is a new blog for the Knights of the QRSS:
http://knightsqrss.blogspot.com/

Dave in Ireland sent me a link to the Jean Shepherd show in which he discusses his first soldering iron: http://www.archive.org/download/JeanShepherd1975/1975_07_30_Soldering_Iron_full_show.mp3

Alan, WA9IRS, alerted us to a nice EDN article on using your nose as a trouble-shooting tool:
http://www.edn.com/article/CA6713738.html

Jean Shepherd and "I, Libertine"

This provides a lot of insight into what Shep was all about:
http://www.bobkaye.com/ilibertine.html

Shep: UHF and Deep Space Communications

On this one, it takes a while for Shep to get to the radio stuff, but it is worth the wait. Or you could fast forward to around the half-way point (but in doing so you will miss the commercial for Miller High-Life, and Shep's discussions of Monolopy and the Game of Love).

http://ia310115.us.archive.org/2/items/JeanShepherd1965Pt1/1965_04_15_Radio_Signals.mp3

Shep: CW, Conrad, Lake Erie Swing, QRP ops (2 Watts on 20)

April 13, 1965. Jean Shepherd discusses Morse Code, propagation, the Signal Corps and a QRP adventure on 20 Meters. You guys will love this one. Thanks to Bob, N1BE for sending this along. More tomorrow.

http://ia310114.us.archive.org/2/items/JeanShepherd1965Pt1/1965_04_13_Code_School.mp3

SolderSmoke 112

http://www.soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke112.mp3

July 26, 2009
Jean Shepherd comments on solder smoke
Back to Sicily
Apollo 11
Hans Summers' Heroic Homebrew Grenadian QRSS Adventure
Regen progress (they ARE possessed)
Knack-related maladies
Amateur astronomer discovers scar on Jupiter
A reading from SolderSmoke (the book)
MAILBAG

Shep's Class A License, Part II

I didn't mean to leave you guys in suspense. Here is the exciting conclusion.
EXCELSIOR!

Jean Shepherd Gets His Class A License

I was drifting off into Linux-land, but an e-mail from OM Gene, K8EE, brought me back. I'd thought that we had already unearthed all of the best ham radio episodes of the Jean Shepherd shows. WRONG! K8EE sent me YouTube recordings of the January 7, 1964 show on WOR New York. Gents, all I can say is that you should stop what you are doing, and listen to this. (And don't miss the exciting conclusion in part 2!)

"Mr. Rupp, what do you know about the Mu of an '807?" Indeed.

Shep, SETI, Radar, Spark Coils

In this episode Shep builds a 2 meter rig to talk to locals, but picks up signals from much farther away. Musings on extraterrestrial DX. Also, our hero gets zapped by a spark coil.
As always, it takes Shep a while to get going on the ham radio stuff, so you might want to fast-forward through the groovy 1965 small talk at the beginning. EXCELSIOR!
Here is the mp3: Shep, 1965, 2 meters, SETI, Spark Coils.

The BEST Jean Shepherd Ham Radio Episode

Mark, W8MOJ, found this one a while back, but then somehow we lost it. This morning I found it again. Jean Shepherd talks about ham radio homebrewing, regen receivers, searching for parts at radio row, building stuff in the basement, secretly studying for his ham license during civics class, and one of his teenage ham friends who, in his basement, secretly built a.....

"Other kids would draw Christmas trees and sailboats... I would draw schematics of phone transmitters."

Don't miss this one! Here is the link to the mp3 file: Jean Shepherd, January 24, 1973

Shepherd Learns Morse and Discovers Ham Radio

Here is another gem from Jean Shepherd. He describes his discovery of CW at age 6 or 7, his first shortwave receiver, and his discovery of amateur radio. Plus, some Army Signal Corps madness.

Click here for the mp3 audio file: Shepherd, Morse, Ham Radio

Jean Shepherd: KNACK VICTIM!

Guys, stop what you are doing. Put down that soldering iron, or that cold Miller High Life ("the champagne of bottled beer") and click on the link below. You will be transported back to 1965, and will hear master story-teller Jean Shepherd (K2ORS) describing his teenage case of The Knack. He discusses his efforts to build a Heising modulated transmitter for 160 meters. He had trouble getting it working, and became obsessed with the problem, obsessed to the point that a girl he was dating concluded that there was "something wrong with him" and that his mother "should take him to a doctor."

This one is REALLY good. It takes him a few minutes to get to the radio stuff, but it is worth the wait. More to follow. EXCELSIOR! FLICK LIVES!

http://ia310115.us.archive.org/2/items/JeanShepherd1965Pt1/1965_01_29_Ham_Radio.mp3