|
 
May 1st and my IRS refund check has arrived! I remember in past years, how this would be cause for celebration as well as the perfect time to get some new radio gear, but most of what I see today, I would not want to buy - or use… I've just spent about 8 hours "restoring" the software on my notebook computer. The first time I encountered the word RESTORE (where it applied to computers) was in the early 80's when I worked for an Office Automation/Computer company. We had a couple different servers (One used a HUGE / 80lb+ 60MB hard disk) and occasionally our software would get a bit scrambled and when it did, the Field Engineer would get called out to perform a "Restore".
IThe thing about the restore was that it was unpredictable. A restore could be as simple as loading the 8inch FLOPPY disks (think there were about 15 of 'em) and saying "Adios" 30 minutes later, or it could turn into a vicious nightmare where the unlucky FE and the Systems Administrator would spend 12 or more tearful hours together. 15+ years later and nothing has changed - Restoring software is still a craps shoot and the "house" always wins, only it's my wife that gets stuck with me on these tearful restore hours now. Someone I know, recently had to restore his software on a new drive for his Compaq Presario (the old one died) and it turned into a long campaign for both of us. His pleas for help fell on semi-qualified ears at their 1-800 line (each tech had his own opinion to what the problem(s) may be) and then he got fed the line of crap I had to dish out years ago when I worked there "I'm sorry sir but it's possible that the drive you purchased will not work properly with the restore CD because you didn't buy it from us….." Damn! I thought they learned their lesson about proprietary equipment. If I were to take an informal internet poll on what YOU thought the hardest-to-find CB rig was, what would say? Without a doubt, my answer would be the Robyn SB-540D (you can see a grainy picture of it on my A-Z photo page). If one has come across the doors of E-bay, I don't recall it, and E-bay (say what you will about them) is a good gauge as to what you can or can't find. Who knows anything about this rig? It reminds me of the ARF-2001, but more-than-likely is a Tram D300/SBE-Console VI/TRC-459 clone.  My message board went offline last month because I was getting 10 or so daily spam messages from what appeared to be an asian distributor trying to sell soap, and miracle products. I couldn't stop the spam, so I pulled the plug on the message board. Last week, I opened up a Yahoo club for the Gazette, so feel free to join, use the message board and hey - how 'bout some shack photo's? - See ya next month! 73 |