Old Codger 176

OCN 176 - WD4IHS - Jeff Cheek - 2006

I will never forget when my Elmer, K4TVI, first saw my ticket! I got it in July of '77. He started laughing very loudly as he affectionately dubbed me "Whiskey Delta Four Idiot High-School Student! I like to think of myself as "International Ham Station" now since I worked over 3,500 CW contacts on a Griefkit DX-60B, using a J-38 straight key, running 22 watts into a homebrew ground mounted 1/4 wave vertical with 22 radials that I buried. On top of that, I had to Manually switch from standby to transmit, and back, two positions on a rotary switch at that, each time I keyed up! That works out to be many, many thousands of times switching that TX!  I was using a Drake 2-B RX & I finally built an automatic antenna relay with Tom's help. As if I didn't have it bad enough, I was Rock Bound on top of that! I worked W.A.S. and had over 65 countries confirmed but my ex HAG stole all my QSL's and trashed them! (By The Grace Of God I've Been Sober From Women For 5+ Years After Doing My 22 Years!  If Marriage Is An Institution, Then I'm On A Permanent Vacation Buddy!)

I guess you could say I was a really dedicated ham! I can send and receive code comfortably at about 25-30 words a minute, around 40+ if I concentrate on it, but it starts to be like work at those speeds! I have a Yaesu FT-757GX and its keyer only goes to 55 wpm but I can actually send CQ a few times and sign my call a couple of times at 55 wpm using a Bencher Iambic Paddle. I wouldn't really call it fun at that speed because it isn't easy to do! I don't mind, that much, that the code was dropped to get some new blood into the hobby but REAL HAMS KNOW MORSE CODE & REAL RADIOS GLOW IN THE DARK! I'm starting to sound like an Old Codger for sure!

Then there was the time I was being the monkey, well, tower climber. I was up about 55 feet & was stretching as far up as I could but I couldn't reach the bolt that tightened the Cushcraft's boom to the mast as it had gotten out of calibration during a wind storm. I could hear Tom say: "Just Stand On The Thrust Bearing" which was in his case, a Lexite plate about 2" think and about 4"-5" square, which was mounted on the top of the top section. Of course I had a safety belt on but it is safe to say I didn't feel very safe! We lived on General McArthur Drive in Brentwood at the time. That road is right beside I-65, and Tom's backyard was just feet from it. As I was standing on the thrust bearing tightening that bolt, a semi truck had a blow out right across from us in the North bound lanes of I-65. I was already nervous as crap as it was and then that happened! I mean for a split second, it sounded like a bomb going off! I got the job done and got the hell down from there as I was a nervous wreck. It's not the height or the fall I'm concerned with, it's that pesky sudden stop...

After spending over 200 hours in the restoration of my red Jaguar XJS V-12 I dove it to Tulsa, Oklahoma & traded it to a fellow eBayer for a 1975 TMC (MCI) MC-8 Crusader Motor Coach! I had been looking for the right coach to convert for many years & this one is awesome! It still had the seats in it when I picked it up as it had last been used in the Tulsa Public School system to take children on field trips & teachers to in service meetings. It had been totally restored in the mid to late 90's & has only been driven 47,286 miles since then & I put 1,000 of those on it! It has some issues with the clear coat as it had to sit outside for the last few years due to it being about 6" too tall to fit inside the previous owners warehouse! It has an air ride suspension, is 40' Long, 8' Wide & has a GVWR of 36,500 lbs.! I had a problem with the fuel filters clogging up on me on the way back from Tulsa but after a little tweaking here & there in the engine compartment I cruised back at an average of 70 MPH! It will easily do 80 MPH but would probably top out around 90 MPH, not that I condone speeding but sometimes you have to "Go With The Flow" if you know what I mean! I also have 6 bays full of spare parts to keep me going to the million+ mile mark that it will easily make it to! It has a 9.28 Liter Detroit 8V-71 Supercharged V-8 that makes about 325 horsepower & the torque is somewhere around 450 ft. lbs. if not more! It is mated to an Allison 740 Automatic transmission which is a 4-speed! It also has power steering, air brakes, Goodyear steel belted radials, & the factory A/C! It will take me a few months to convert it but I'm in no hurry as there are 1,000's of things to do!

A few people have complained to the homeowners association about it being "Unattractive" to which I replied: "Then Don't Look At It"! The Brentwood Codes Department called me a couple of days later but I went & registered it as a Motor Home with the tag WD4IHS, before I even called them back that day! They came & checked out my paperwork & that was that! End Of Conversation...Also, I think nosey neighbors are unattractive & I just hope they appreciate it when I go ahead & raise my Rohn telescopic mast to about the 35' level to give them something to really whine about! I hope they like the 7-10 element "long" yagi I'm constructing for 2 meters! It has an 8' boom & will be very attractive, you know, like my Crusader! :)

I'll keep you posted on my progress with the "Magic Bus". I can see us going to Dayton now...

This is after I spent an entire weekend hand washing the exterior from top to bottom!

There's Nothing Like The Smell Of Stainless In The Morning...Hi Hi Hi! :)

P. S. MORSE CODE RULES & WILL NEVER DIE OR FADE AWAY!