Things go better with BEER! [Archive]

BruceB

11-10-2006, 10:41 PM

All the politically-correct crowd can stop reading right here.

There are MANY prohibitions, taboos, no-nos and other Thou-Shalt-NOTS passed down through generations. Handloading has its share of them.

One of the more-rabidly-endorsed proscriptions is this: "Thou Shalt not Partake of Beverages During Handloading Operations"!!!!! This is particularly emphasized by the PC types for operations involving (horrors!) LEAD.

Oh, really? Lead is my friend, and like other types of friends, I respect it. I'm well aware of its properties and its risks. I've been dealing with it successfully for over forty years to date. Now, if I'm at my bench and sizing a mess of boolits, or casting a bunch of same, I feel perfectly safe and comfy with taking a drink from a screw-topped bottle of whatever. PERFECTLY safe! There is simply no way for vaporized lead (unlikely as THAT is) or contamination from my hands, to reach the covered mouth of such a bottle. No way! Cans for drinks are another question, as they do offer surfaces for contaminants, and I keep them out of the shop.

Be it known that I must, by law, have an annual medical examination, and have never had a high lead reading on my toxicology screen over the last thirty-plus years.

The corollary to the no-drinking Commandment is this: "Thou Shalt Not Imbibe ALCOHOLIC Beverages While Handloading!!!!"

Again I say, "Oh, Really???" In the shop of a boolitcaster, there are PLENTY of "handloading" tasks which do NOT involve primers, powder, or decisions regarding presssure levels and loads. I am NOT espousing the drinking of "Al K. Hall" while working with actual primers and powder, nor anything stronger than BEER for any other time. However....lube-sizing? Case trimming? Sorting brass? Smelting WW? Boolit inspections? I might even drink a BEER while casting boolits...oh, Lord, the Heavens are FALLING!!!

There are times when all the shibboleths just tick me off, big time. The "lead safety" thread now running is a pretty good example. COMMON SENSE may not be so "common" these days, but it has carried me along in safe fashion for Lo, these many years.

I'm certainly not a sot, nor someone who just HAS to have a BEER in hand to feel he's a complete man. However, like lead, I think BEER is a pretty good friend. I enjoy a good brew from time to time, and if it helps some of the routine tasks of casting or loading to proceed smoothly, I say "Why Not???"

Common sense....it's invaluable, and it has told me that what I do in the shop isn't hurt by the presence of a nice cold BEER during non-critical operations.

Now ducking for cover (with a BEER to keep me company).....

targetshootr

11-10-2006, 11:37 PM

I used to love beer. For a few hours. Then it liked to wake me up and drag me to the bathroom and not let me go back to sleep and then gave me a bad case of nerves the next day to remind me how much fun I had. Knowing that, if I drank one right now I'd have to have eight or ten, just like the good old days.

bmblong

11-11-2006, 12:06 AM

I drink beer while reloading and casting. I find all three quite enjoyable. I don't think a spark from the beer is going to blow up my reloading bench.

mag_01

11-11-2006, 12:14 AM

BruceB I'm going to keep my nose clean on this one---Enjoy-----Mag

Hunter

11-11-2006, 02:06 AM

Well I am with you. I myself enjoy beers (plural of beer which really is plural) while going through the motions. Ain't nothing like a ice cold beer to break up a mundane task.

NVcurmudgeon

11-11-2006, 02:22 AM

Yep, beer and lead are, as you say, both friends. Other things they have in common are beng controversial, and being quite safe when used sensibly. but then that applies to most things in life. BTW, I read somewhere, probaby here, that it takes 1200F to vaporize lead. I don't think my Coleman stove can get lead much hotter than 800, and think about what a PITA boolit casting would be at 1200!

trk

11-11-2006, 02:47 AM

I like the phrase credited to Ben Franklin, "Beer is evidence that God loves us."

Seriously, there is nothing like SPELL-CHECK to convince you that there is a direct correlation between drinking a beer and eye-hand coordination! Try it for yourself - type a page while drinking a beer, then run spell-check. I'll bet a 6-pack there will be more errors towards the bottom of the page!

Agree with BruceB - that's ok for cleaning brass but not so for assembling things that might go ka-boom.

fatnhappy

11-11-2006, 08:14 AM

I can think of many things that go well with beer. One of the riskiest is....

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/lhsjfk3t/04.jpg

VTDW

11-11-2006, 08:31 AM

No distractions please!!!! Well maybe just one or two more.:drinks:

David R

11-11-2006, 08:34 AM

For many years I reloaded 12 ounce bottles. Then I learned to brew beer and put it in those 5 gallon soda kegs you see at the resteraunts. Sort of like buying a STAR sizer luber.

I haven't brewed since I moved to where I am now because I have a well and the water is really high in calcium. It makes crummy beer.

As in reloading boolits, I got into it deep. I grew my own hops, bought grain in 55 lb bags, had my own grain mill, brewed bigger and bigger batches. My beer was far better than the stuff you buy in the store. My brewery now consists of 15 gallon "Kettles" which are really just 1/2 kegs with the top cut off with a plasma cutter. The mash tun is a 1/4 keg with a copper tube full of small holes in the bottom.

The last beer I had was in 7 of those 5 gallon kegs. I took it to my brothers wedding. They drank it all except the stout I took off the tap to save some for my self.

And yes Bruce a nice cold beer by the casting pot is good company.

David

DPD

11-11-2006, 09:42 AM

A beer makes me feel like a new man !
The first thing the new man wants is another beer.
Cheers!
Don

Lightning Ross

11-11-2006, 10:02 AM

alcahol kills Brain cells.Now dont get me wrong .There are some great advantages. If compare to lets say aherd of buffalo The weak and the slow are at the back of the herd where the predators can pick them off .This makes it so the herd can move faster and travel farther eat better and you have to be smart to keep the week and the dumb at the back.So just keep the old dead brain cells at the back so the beer can pick them off and we will be faster smarter and fatter.

VTDW

11-11-2006, 11:02 AM

David,

Plasma is very HiTech. Saaaaalute:drinks:

mooman76

11-11-2006, 11:09 AM

I drink beer while reloading sometimes. I don't know why but it just seems right. I love beer but don't drink much any more because it doesn't agree with me.I don't usualld drink but one when reloading and would stop at any critical stages in the process if I was being affected it.

singleshotbuff

11-11-2006, 11:32 AM

Amen

Pass the beer. It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

SSB

mommicked

11-11-2006, 12:59 PM

Boy, I'm glad I'm not the only one anymore!:mrgreen: [smilie=1: :drinks:

Sometimes make homebrew after deer season, and have some "hard" apple cider in the utility room right now. It's so easy to make even VTDW could make it.:lol:

psychobubba

11-11-2006, 01:26 PM

aahh yes beer and bullets

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/psychobubba_2006/100-0006_IMG_4.jpg

redneckdan

11-11-2006, 02:06 PM

theres a differnence between sipping a beer and get totally blasted. Siping is fine, getting blasted then trying to size cases seems like a good way to get cookie cutter marks on da fingers.

waksupi

11-11-2006, 04:24 PM

Bubba, you got that thing figured out, on just having ONE beer! Welcome aboard!

44man

11-11-2006, 04:47 PM

Hear, hear, I'm with ya. I am having one right now. Home brewed too.
David, my water is full of lime even after the water softener. I never get the hop aroma and flavor. I started buying drinking and spring water and my beer is now great! It is worth the $5 or $6 extra. I use all grain also. I have a coffee grinder Starbucks threw out because some micro switches went bad. I cleaned it and adjusted for grain. I can grind 10# in a few minutes. Greatest freebee I evr found.

XRING363

11-11-2006, 07:09 PM

JEEZE! You guys make your own boolits, handload your own cartriges, roll your own smokes and now I find out you people make your own beer!!
Whats next, gonna start knitting sweaters for each other??????????
I've been an extract brewer for 20 years. That mashin and millin is for the birds.
What the hell is a mash tun anyway?

Regards,
Jeff

floodgate

11-11-2006, 07:45 PM

XRING363:

"Whats next, gonna start knitting sweaters for each other??????????"

Ackshully, though my wife does the knitting and weaving, I have spun wool from our natural-color Shetland sheep (shut up, Waksupi!) that has gone into several sweaters, caps, rugs, etc.

The sheep, though, do the REAL work, mowing the yard for us (and saving a lot of weed-wacking), and growing that black, brown, tan, grey and white wool; and I am a couple of years behind on the spinning.

floodgate

VTDW

11-11-2006, 11:02 PM

Newtire

11-11-2006, 11:36 PM

You guys go ahead and drink your beers while reloading and when you get a .444 Marlin case sorted into the pile of .22 hornet cases because it's "OK" to drink while sorting brass, don't blame me when one of those things gets loaded into your Savage 340! I'm tellin' ya. I used to like to drink beer while casting too but lost my ability to drink like I used to. Now a good glass or two of Merlot sometimes helps ease the monotony of a long casting session. Usually one is about all I need! Wow! Used to drink half of Magsaysay Blvd dry and still make it back to the ship before curfew. Now down to one glass!

TCLouis

11-11-2006, 11:41 PM

Nothing like a good cold brew.
Drinking Like anything) to excess ain't a good thing, but NOTHING wrong with good cold refreshing brew.
Funny you should post this when you did vcause I was enjoying one last night ads the pot warmed up for a little run of the Silver Stream!

JohnH

11-11-2006, 11:52 PM

Add me to the list of casten homebrewers too. DavidR, sounds like a great set up, I batch sparge myself, it don't require a lot of thinking or figuring or fancy equipment. Have you thought of buying water for your brew?44man, I know we have a high iron content, but are able to filter it and it works quite well. xring363, Some very good brews can be made with extract, but tryout batch sparging. It is quite like preparing specialty grains for a brew, 'cept you just heat up more of 'em. EZ. I swear, it feels more like home here everyday

Bruce, I didn't know one could cast or load without a brew.... is that possible???? ;)

redneckdan

11-12-2006, 12:14 AM

JohnH

11-12-2006, 12:53 AM

I'm not sure what a mash tun is. A launter tun is used to seperate out undesirable protiens. Sparging is using a sort of fluidized grain bed to strain out scuzz and add sparge water in order to adjusted the wort.

Not sure if this is the right place to answer this, but a mash tun is a vessel in which the mash is actually heated as opposed to a lauter tun in which heated water is added to a grain bed, as the wort is drained off (sparging). With a lauter tun it is very important to control the temperature of the strike water as too much heat will bring out tannins, complex protiens and other undesirables from the grain. The advantage of a mash tun is being able to simply add water to the grain bed and raise the temperate of the mash to sparging temp, and then sparge away.

To keep this somewhat on topic out of respect to BruceB, it would be quite a feet to design a brewing/casting system that would allow us to brew beer as we are smelting wheel weights while using the same heat source. Talk about being cheap :)

waksupi

11-12-2006, 01:10 AM

AZ-Stew

11-12-2006, 04:45 AM

Holy Toledo! I've never laughed so much at a single thread! What a great string of posts!

First, if you look at the typing (I'm no angel myself. I call myself "dystypsic". Though I'm not perfect, I DO try to proof-read before I post.) you'll find that most of the posters were tippin' the ol' mug as they responded! No sin, just an observation. :drinks:

Second, a "mash tun" is two thousand pounds of mash. :kidding: That's a lot of potential beer. And damed GOOD beer, at that.

I've been a brewer in the past, but not for the last 9 years or so. I plan to pick it up again soon, now that I have my workshop completed. I finally have a good place to do the fermenting that won't get in the wife's way. I've also learned about dry-hopping over that time, and can't wait to get a chance to experiment with it. This might be a way for whoever said they can't taste their hopps to cure their problem. I'm torn, however, between the malt and hopp flavor. I love them both and will have to make a number of brews to find the ultimate combo. Too bad I'll have to drink all my failed experiments, just like I have to shoot all my failed accuracy experments. Someone has to do it.

I also have the prefect setup to do the wort (no, not "wart") boil while smelting. I frequent a store called "The Sportsman's Warehouse" that sells everything for our kind of outdoorsman. No golf clubs or jogging shoes, just the good stuff (if you can't separate the "good stuff" from "sporting goods", please leave this forum by the nearest exit). There I found the ultimate smelting/brewing heat source. It's a dual-burner stove the manufacturer calls a "camp stove", that hooks to a standard propane bottle. Your choice of size. It will put out 30,000 BTUs at each burner. I can raise lead alloys to temps that are WAY beyond what is needed, even with a breeze blowing, and can easily boil 5 gallons of wort for hours, simultaneously. I've had 2 dutch oven pots 3/4 full of alloy on it at the same time (2-3 hundred pounds) and it didn't even quivver. It's a very strong, sturdy product. Can I brew and smelt at the same time? Yes. Would I? No. Too much possibility of splashing one or the other into the other, resulting in something I don't want to consider, either way. But it's a damned good stove.

What might be doubly interesting with this thread is to find the posters who are not only shooters and brewers, but who are also Ham Radio operators. No, I'm not talking about CB'ers, but those who are FCC licensed Ameteurs. I've noticed over the years that a great many Hams are also shooters. Let's see if we can refine the shooters to casters, and those to brewers and finally the shooting, casting brewers to shooting, casting, brewing radio ops. Or am I the Lone Ranger? I think we're all incureable tinkerers who make just enough money to be able to afford to do it. I think we all like to live a bit on the edge, too.

Regards,

Stew

VTDW

11-12-2006, 09:01 AM

Maybe we should start a Brew Your Own Forum. Jeeze:drinks: :mrgreen:

p.s. I ain't drinkin no wort.

Bret4207

11-12-2006, 09:34 AM

I may be a heathen to you home brewers, but Sam Adams Octoberfest, fresh outta the keg mind you, is pretty darn good and refreshing.

One beer, one shot ( ah, for a real single malt Scotch!), or one glass of wine. All contain about the same amount of devil alcohol. The problem is too many folks can't seem to stop at one, like me. So I abstain at home with no regrets. I go out of town about once a year and enjoy myself then, although not to excess.

As for going through the motions of casting or reloading while drinking- your choice. Have at it if you have the self control and character to limit yourself. I prefer a fresh, piping hot cup of GOOD coffee. No issues lying in the back of my mind and hopefully I set a decent example for my kids.

That brings up another issue. I don't mean to be preachy at all, but I know a LOT of folks who drink and shoot or engage in other questionable activity, like reloading or running chainsaws with their kids around. In addition to providing a fair chance of getting hurt yourself, I think it teaches the kids that mixing alcohol with those activities is OK. This isn't going to help the kids when they get a bit older and have to make decisions about what they should engage in. Perhaps I'm oversensitive having told far too many parents their kids are dead or near dead, but these days we need all the help we can get. Do as you wish but it's worth your time to consider these things.

trk

11-12-2006, 10:39 AM

...
but I know a LOT of folks who drink and shoot or
...
.

I sometimes borrow a Chrony from a friend who has done that. Lots of holes it it.

44man

11-12-2006, 11:38 AM

Moderation is the secret! One beer does not hurt at all.
I get hop bitterness with my water but not the fine aroma you get when popping the top from a quality brew. Buying the water has made me happy and now I am going to find free spring water without driving too far. Good water is the key to good beer and I would never use city water with chlorine unless it is boiled out.
Like a good alloy, use good ingredients.

Goatlips

11-12-2006, 12:26 PM

Could one combine the two activities and save fuel by wort dropping, in lieu of water dropping? The foam would prevent splashback and I'll bet the Greens would approve. :mrgreen:

Goatlips [smilie=1:

waksupi

11-12-2006, 01:20 PM

I used to make beer some years ago. I had an old Chesapeake bitch, named Banker, who was my quality control inspector. When I had a batch bottled up, and aged a bit, I would pour some out in a bowl. If she would drink it, it was a keeper. If she didn't like it, my friends got to drink it. She was quite the connesouir.

Bigscot

11-14-2006, 11:01 AM

Should I add that in addition to casting, reloading, brewing, I also make sausage and have been known to bake some bread from scratch from time to time? We (SWMBO and I) just got through putting up 40 lbs of venison sausage. About 15 lbs of Italian and 25 lbs of Bratwurst. Most was stuffed into casings.

Bigscot

snowman

11-14-2006, 11:20 AM

So wait....We have people that roll their own, cast their own, knit their own clothes, brew their own, operate ham radios...and the list goes on

What is funny is that I fit into all of the above, except ham radio...and it's soemthing I want to get in to.

rolling my own saves me about $100 a month
you know how much casting saves, I dont yet, just getting started
knitting keeps my hands busy at night in front of the TV...I'm pretty ADD, and it calms my nerves
Ok, well, I haven't brewed my own, but I have done wine a few times...and it was gooooood....I have grown my own, but we wont go there

I think it's just a difference in mindset. I doubt there are many people out there that cast their own and reload for the financial aspect of it alone....it's a sense of accomplishment. Sorta like my Sunday Brake Job....yes, it may have ate up almost all of my day, but I did it...I did a better job than the shop would have done, and I did it on my own.

dagamore

11-14-2006, 11:25 AM

spent the weekend in Amsterdamn and guess what, I now KNOW that everything goes better with beer. And yes they did have Heineken at just about every bar there, I know i was shocked too.

snowman

11-14-2006, 11:28 AM

Uncle R.

11-14-2006, 12:15 PM

My Uncle Joe used to come home from a hard day's work and have a single belt from the brandy bottle before he'd sit down to dinner. I can still remember... I musta been about kitchen-table tall 'cause in my mind's eye he stood about thirteen feet there in his work boots and tipping that bottle back. Then he'd smack his lips and say "Aaahhhh! It's good for ya boy!" I never saw him have more than that one snort.
There's now conclusive medical evidence that one shot, or one glass of wine, or one beer per day really IS good for your health. After the puritans spent so much effort condemning demon rum it must gall them no end to admit to THAT reality.
And yeah - Uncle Joe made it well into his eighties - and strong as a bull 'till nearly the end. When he was seventy years old you would'a had to be a durn fool to lay a hand on him!
:)

mommicked

11-14-2006, 07:44 PM

Well, the Hard apple cider tastes like hootch to me! Looks like I may have to make another gallon or five later one, and bottle it up. This batch'll get drunk outta the milk jug it came and was fermented in.

If a feller casts and brews too, and can't decide whether to do one or another on a given day, does that make a body a whether brewcaster? :mrgreen: :drinks:

Nevermind, I'll jest go set in the corner and mind this cider for a bit!:-D

44man

11-14-2006, 09:08 PM

Kin ya send some of thaty cider through the net to me?

Joey

11-14-2006, 09:39 PM

I drink beer and smoke cigars while I reload. Pss't don't tell anybody:drinks:

wills

11-14-2006, 10:01 PM

Doncha’ hate it when the ceegar ashes fall inta the powder?

boogerred

11-15-2006, 01:00 AM

how can you not drink a beer when your lubesizing 400-500 boolits with a lyman 450? priming,powdering,and putting together, its a no-no but there are several steps that it doesnt bother me.

snowman

11-15-2006, 01:08 AM

Doncha’ hate it when the ceegar ashes fall inta the powder?

throws off the weight.

omgb

11-15-2006, 02:04 AM

After the puritans spent so much effort condemning demon rum it must gall them no end to admit to

The Puritans were not tea-totalers, they drank on average, a gallon of beer per person per day and consumed over 3 gallons of hard spirits per person per anumn. The anti-alcohol movement began in the early years of the industrial revolution, 1830 or so. Women were sick and tired of husbands drinking them into poverty. The Second Great Awakening furthered the temperance cause.

Just thought I'd set that record straight. Oh, FWIW, I love to pull a cork now and then myself. Canadian or American Rye is my drink of choice.

Ivantherussian03

11-15-2006, 02:19 AM

I don't know, but there was a time. Whole armies and navies moved/ran off of hooch of some kind.:-D

for myself, I find a good adult beverage to be a good thing. But more and more, I just refrain.

floodgate

11-15-2006, 09:56 PM

The oldest written document we can read today that is not specifically a religious invocation or a log of commercial transactions, is a Sumerian cuneiform clay tablet with a recipe for beer from before 3000 BC. 'nuff said!

floodgate

Ken O

11-15-2006, 10:16 PM

Remember when the Lite beer came out? I sat down and drank a case (I had to give it a real test)...... and I didn't lose a pound. I can't figure out why so many people drink it, it just doesnt work.

andrew375

11-16-2006, 05:51 AM

I never drink or eat anything whilst casting, sizing or reloading as there is too much risk of what I am consuming becoming contaminated and I don't want to ingest lead salts (no matter how small the quantity) or nitro powder.

Also, I use beer as a reward for working for myself. A cold beer, or three, is the signal that I can relax and switch off. Particularly welcome if it involves me being dragged off to the pub and I don't have to drive. A few pints of Marston's Old Empire or some other India Pale Ale (IPA) and I am definitely relaxed!:drinks:

Joey

11-16-2006, 09:16 PM

Drinking beer while doing what you can and drink is not the problem. The key is moderation.

Finn45

11-17-2006, 04:46 PM

dragonrider

11-17-2006, 05:56 PM

Back when I drank beer, and boy do I miss it, I would consume a few while sizing cases or lubing boolits or smelting ww's or casting boolits, but not when using powder or primers or in general assembling loaded rounds. Then it would be coffee, usually a good Kona ground fresh from the bean, that is good. And I have home brewed some beer but I have done some brewing at brew on premises brewery where you use their equipment and buy the grains and sugars and all that is needed and brew your own 15 gallon batches. And that's where I done my best brewin. I made a rye beer that was so good nothing else was worth buyin, although Sam Adams is the best there is. Also for those of us who live in Wisconsin there is an establishment called the Audubon Inn, can't remember the town it is in but they have a brew made for them called Audubon Ale or Audubon Gold, not sure which, been ten years since I was there, but this stuff is fantastic, I have sampled many a microbrew and this was by far the best I ever had, only available on draft at the Inn, I begged them to sell me a keg to no avail. However since I became diabetic those days are gone and I only indulge in a glass of red wine, Yellowtail Shiraz, about once a month now.
Man I wish this subject hadn't come up, makin me thirsty.

LET-CA

11-18-2006, 02:18 AM

andrew375

11-23-2006, 11:46 AM

Chief Beer Officer (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/promotions/promo_landing.html?category=FPCBO&EM=VTY_FP_cbo)

trk

11-23-2006, 11:54 AM

My favorite part is this image is the name tag on the coveralls, "Bubba" Shortly after moving to Texas (1988) One of my neighbors took to calling me Bubba. I finally asked him why and he replied that it was a compliment. Bubba meant brother to him. I still like the name - but I'm back in California now and nobody here understands it.

From my observation, in the South (which includes Southern Iowa as well as the deep South), the term Bubba is a term of respect and close relationship.

It may also refer to 'Bubba' who is the VP of the company ONLY because his dad is the pres.

One HAS to know the context to interpret the meaning.

Tracy

11-23-2006, 04:19 PM

What might be doubly interesting with this thread is to find the posters who are not only shooters and brewers, but who are also Ham Radio operators. No, I'm not talking about CB'ers, but those who are FCC licensed Ameteurs. I've noticed over the years that a great many Hams are also shooters. Let's see if we can refine the shooters to casters, and those to brewers and finally the shooting, casting brewers to shooting, casting, brewing radio ops. Or am I the Lone Ranger? I think we're all incureable tinkerers who make just enough money to be able to afford to do it. I think we all like to live a bit on the edge, too.

Regards,

Stew

I'm a caster, batch-sparge brewer, and Extra ham radio operator. Radio "home-brewer", too.
Also gardener and canner.

XRING363

11-23-2006, 05:22 PM

I listen to my POlice scanner and knit my own cod-pieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you-all find that as funny as I did while typing it.

Regards,
Jeff

C1PNR

11-23-2006, 08:24 PM

I'm a caster, batch-sparge brewer, and Extra ham radio operator. Radio "home-brewer", too.
Also gardener and canner.
Well, I don't "home brew" beer or radio, but I am a Technician, and hopefully soon a General, KE7-IBF (formarly KF6-EFU).

So what's yours? Maybe one of these days we can share a QSO outside the internet.

Tracy

11-24-2006, 10:41 AM

Well, I don't "home brew" beer or radio, but I am a Technician, and hopefully soon a General, KE7-IBF (formarly KF6-EFU).

So what's yours? Maybe one of these days we can share a QSO outside the internet.

I sent my call via PM. BTW, congrats on your escape from the PRK.

fatnhappy

11-24-2006, 12:03 PM

Sipping a few drops of this will force you to fire up the pot...:

http://pyssymiehet.com/smthngls/smokebeer.jpg

It's equally sufficient to start blackening your sights as well... using flame from a dry birch bark of course...

Ah yes I remember it well. I used to drink Bamberger Rauchbier when I lived in Wurzburg, and would happily chew my arm off for a case of it or Hannen Alt. :drinks:

redneckdan

11-24-2006, 12:36 PM

i'm taking the FCC license exam in january.

leftiye

11-24-2006, 03:28 PM

Bruce.... Shiboleths? I call them relief society sisters. They infest our society from one end to the other. Good is Good. Goody goody is retarded. And common sense! Haven't seen much for a while. Thank HIM I"m not perfect! I'll quit before I really get started.

Dale53

11-24-2006, 05:16 PM

fatnhappy

11-25-2006, 08:35 PM

FatnHappy;
Your comments bring back memories. My son (now at Ft. Bragg) was stationed near Wurzburg for five years. He lived in Marksteft, a small village, right across the street from the Kesselring Brewery. Kesselring's Wheat Beer with yeast was and is the best brew that ever crossed my lips. Fantastic!

Dale53

Hurahhh. Airborne.

Actually. when I was in Germany I was one of those annoying exchange students. I spent a year in a Wurzburg High School (Gynasium). When the first sgt. started handing out reasignment orders after infantry school, every single man in my unit went to 21st replacement in Frankfurt. I, the only grunt that spoke German, got sent to the Mojave desert. Makes sense doesn't it?

Dale53

11-26-2006, 01:25 AM

I spent five years in the military (SFC. Infantry) but never left the states. My son is a full Colonel in Special Forces (a Dentist). My wife and I spent a total of nine weeks in Germany spread over three years. We loved Germany (and Austria and France). We really enjoyed the Europeans that we met. I still miss the Kesselring beer (or should I say "Bier"...

Your experience in the Army is pretty typical, I would say.

Dale53

AZ-Stew

11-26-2006, 11:38 PM

For C1PNR, Tracy and redneckdan, the call here is, yes, no kidding, N7NRA.

Yes, it's a vanity call. I had to wait over a year for it to become available after the previous owner abandoned it (I belive via SK). I put in for it right after 9-11, and due to the anthrax scare I had to wait until the following March for it to be granted. All FCC snail-mail was being sent to a warehouse until they figured out how to decontaminate it. Then all snail-mail, e-mail and other means of application were placed in chronological order to determine who-applied-for-what first. At least they're ethical about their process.

Anyway, I'm glad to know there are others. Gee, I wonder if there are any who are shooting, casting brewing Ham Radio operators who do their own wet photographic darkroom work?? Nahhh... Too specialized. :drinks:

Regards,

Stew

C1PNR

11-28-2006, 01:30 AM

Hey, redneckdan, which ticket are you going for (and let me know your call sign when you get it)? Back in 1996 while living in the PDRK, I went for the No Code Technician and got that.

Several times in the past 6 or 7 years I've tried to master the Morse, but I seem to be an old dog that's just not up to learning a new language right now.:roll:

So I'm waiting for the "no code" regulation to be published, at which time I'm going to try for my General.

But, between a .45 Colt Model 92 (did you see the pictures of the one Buckshot got?:Fire: ), a .54 Sharps (1854 or '63 model percussion), a garage for the wife's car (with bonus room upstairs), and just general living expenses, I'm afraid a new multi channel MW, SW, HF, and VHF transceiver is going to sit in the background for a while.[smilie=1: Unless, of course, I win the lotto:drinks: :drinks: