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Hey Ya'll.If you are looking me up, you must want to know something about me,
so I will try to give you a brief overview of my background, hobbies and likes.
I am a 12th generation Alabamian, an unreconstructed Southerner, born and bred.
I believe the South was in the right then, and still is NOW! I am a life member
of the National Rifle Association, and a firm believer in the 2nd Amendment. I
love to hunt, fish, camp, canoe, and collect old radios. I am very happily
married to my beautiful wife of 7 years, Allison. If you will look at my
picture posted here, I am standing in front of the Experimental Aircraft
Associations B-17 Bomber the "Aluminum Overcast". It was one of the
thrills of my life, and one of the biggest bragging stories that I have, to
have had the honor to fly this magnificant warbird. It was a thrill that I will
always remember!
I own and operate my own Antiques Restoration Business, which pretty well keeps
most of my time occupied; but any spare time that I have is devoted to
collecting and restoring antique communications equipment. I LOVE to melt
solder! My main area of collecting centers on equipment made by the
Hallicrafters Corporation. I deal mostly with their equipment made between 1935
and 1945. I also collect WWII military gear and enjoy homebrewing vintage
transmitters from old articles in the ARRL handbooks from the '30's and '40's.
To me, if a radio doesn't glow and give off enough heat to warm the shack on
the coldest night, it's just not interesting! My main vintage station consists
of a Hallicrafters SX-28 Receiver, a prewar Hallicrafters HT-9 Transmitter, a
homebrew transmatch and several homemade dipoles. I also operate a Johnson
Viking Challenger transmitter, paired with a Hallicrafters SX-32 receiver. A
Johnson transmit-receive switch handles the antenna switching on this pair. The
newest addition to my shack, (and the youngest rig in the shack),. is my Drake
station, consisting of the T-4XB and R-4B twins. What a great representative of
1960's era technology!
The thrill of Amateur Radio to me is the satisfaction that I get in restoring
one of these pieces of radio history, and then putting it to use in my shack.
Well, that ought to give you enough information about me to let you decide if
you would rather spit on my boots, or shake my hand! Thanks, and 73! Greg
Gifford/KG4MMY
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