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January 24, 2025. We are Safe and Power Back On!

Ten hours without power and just a bit of spoiled food. The Laguna Fire was contained to about 94 acres and mostly open fields -- although threatening hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of produce growing in the Oxnard Plain.

This time I moved all of the stuff, which was pre-positioned, into the car and thought this might be the time. But God was with us. 

Also threatened was CSU Channel Islands which has an urban legend connection to the Eagles. This California State University was formerly a state mental hospital which was converted to the University. The connection is the song from the Eagles called "Hotel California". Legend has it the mental hospital was Hotel California.

Quick take a look at the SSB radio or Homebrew Rig sitting in front of you and give a tip of the cap to O.G. "Mike" Villard Jr. In 1947 Dr. Villard was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford and also W6OYT. It was in 1947 that he built and put on the air a homebrew SSB transmitter. That event marked the first ham SSB QSO. This rocked the ham bands, and the rest is history. A year later the transistor was invented. Fast forward a mere 10 years and we have the Collins KWM-1.




W6OYT is also credited in 1959 with developing over the horizon radar using the ionosphere as a reflecting mechanism. His PhD advisor while a student at Stanford was Dr. Fredrick Terman. For those who have an older EE Degree, Terman was the Oracle at Delphi. 

So that means that amateur radio SSB has been in work for some 78 years and some BTE's thought it was invented last year.

Them that know can make it go!

73's
Pete N6QW


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