A Crummy Commercial

I was looking at some pictures and negatives for scanning candidates when I found this: just fill in W46XW9512N on your Sears order form ! This is the Sears ad for the fridge that my Dad bought for our old A-frame cottage on the east side of Washington Island - that's his note in red on the left.  And guess what ?  I STILL use that fridge over 50 years later.  It's pretty small, less than countertop high, about counter deep and not that wide.  It's the perfect size for one person.  Imported from Italy !  Mamma mia ! :) I don't have the receipt for the fridge at hand so I assume he paid that full price which inflates to: almost $900 ! Wow !  I haven't priced a fridge in a long time but I'd bet they are cheaper than that.   I had thought about using a mini-chest freezer as a fridge.  There is a company called INKBIRD that makes a thermostat that can accomplish this repurpose of a freezer to a fridge.  As I understand it the solar...

These pictures aren't super great but I'm including them for completeness.  First, a couple from 1972 Baldings Hill: Second, a couple (from prints) from the Evans farm, 1975 mockup: Mockup: the Glen Gates Gang would often have a rehearsal two weeks (?) before the actual Field Day at the end of June.  So it was a chance for me to take some black and white shots for myself. Third (from negatives) three of the tower raising - this also looks like a mockup, not many people and the extension pipes aren't inside the tower: The winch (usually manned by Mike Millar) would have been behind me in these pictures. One thing I didn't mention about the negative digitizing: I could only scan either 126 or 35mm film or slides with the Canon scanner.  But using the DSLR and the light source it will also be possible to digitize larger format negatives - for example although the first two pictures above were from prints, the camera used was an old Ansco 620 roll film folding camera (with ...

This short video from Milwaukee PBS popped up on the Youtube feed: source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8MqEDQJyqQ Quite interesting, at least to a Wisconsinite :)  When I was a kid in the 1960s we had an Evinrude outboard motor, a Yachtwin - as I recall it was light blue and white as contrasted with the camo green of a Johnson motor :)  We didn't use the motor that much so Dad would periodically run it in a garbage can filled with water.  This was in the garage where he had a small setup made of 2 x 4s nailed to the wall to hold the motor.  When the motor was fitted to a rowboat it didn't go very fast but I guess it wasn't meant to - it was for moving sailboats while in the harbor ?  I think my lack of interest in boating was kind of a disappointment for my Dad - he had been in the Naval Reserve, owned a small sailboat, loved to go fishing - me: not so much :) A Yachtwin Evinrude's 1st outboard motor patent: source:  https://patentimages.storage....

I finally got around to making a light source to use with my copy stand, DSLR and negative holder, as first mentioned here:    https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/10/light-bulb-dummy-load.html It uses an empty KLIM dry milk can - BTW the real airmen portrayed in The Great Escape supposedly used the KLIM tins from their Red Cross Parcels for various escape tunnel items, so there is a long history of repurposing old KLIM tins. source:  https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205402300     I took an unused IEC power cord from some item and cut off the female connector.  Then stripped back the wires and connected them to a Leviton keyless lamp holder (keyless means no switch).  The lamp holder is screwed to a piece of wood which is fastened to the KLIM tin. gotta connect that ground wire to the tin ! I used a rubber gasket around the hole punched in the tin and tied a knot in the cable for a strain relief.      A round diffuser from my ...

Remember the book:  Homer Price ? : https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2024/06/homer-price.html There was a sequel by author McCloskey:  Centerburg Tales I can't remember if I read this one as a kid - but it's a fun book - and it has those amazing drawings by author McCloskey.  The book has many of the characters from Homer Price but adds new kooky ones like the fanciful Grampa Hercules and the crusty Dulcy Dooner.  A wonderful collection of stories about people in the fictional Centerburg. One radio related story, the gang in Uncle Ulysses' lunchroom encounters a huckster named Professor Atmos P.H. Ear.  He sells them all cans of EVERSOMUCH MORE-SO which is sorta like MSG in cooking except that EVERSOMUCH MORE-SO works on everything :) this sounds like every preamp I've ever tried with a radio :) Freddy is raising one eyebrow No murders, nothing serious, just silly, I love it !  Yes, I am still 12 years old inside. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/h...

I saw these on Ebay: source:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/376955749817 This is one of the few pictures of Maple Dale with the 2nd and 3rd stories still intact.  I spent 6th grade on the 3rd floor and 5th grade on the 2nd floor. I also happened to notice this collection of links: https://mail.ldsgenealogy.com/WI/Milwaukee-County-School-Records.htm But unfortunately nothing new as far as Nicolet or Maple Dale are concerned, just my own stuff :( I have heard that the LDS folks are heavily into genealogy and that this school info and pictures are part of that ("see, that's Aunt Sara when she was a literal teen !"). The Journal has a nice page of school pictures over the years: https://www.jsonline.com/picture-gallery/news/education/2025/02/20/view-historical-photos-of-wisconsin-k-12-school-life-from-1920-1980/78646872007/   Unfortunately nothing from Maple Dale and just a couple of pictures from Nicolet: The Knightskellar was in the basement . the younger students couldn't g...

I do get emails from non-US hams about buying a kit, they are always told:   Previous explanation: https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2022/04/dx-sales.html Is there any work around for this ?  One way is if the DX customer has a friend / relative in the US.  The US contact can buy the kit from me and then take care of delivery to the DX customer.  Yes, this is clunky but better than nothing. And NO, I won't give out the code or the circuit board files.  People get snippy about this but it's my business and that's the way I choose to run it. Best Regards, Chuck, WB9KZY http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm