Now is the Time for Amateur Radio's Best Bargains! W2XOY Serves Up Another Amateur Radio Tale!

This edition of the Random Access Thought continues the thread I started last week with Bill Continelli as guest host. Prior to the story of "W2XOY's Secret Elmer". Bill had dropped by and recorded a feature entitled:"Now is the Time for Amateur Radio's Best Bargains". We did this back in late February, 2005 with production wrapping up on March the 2nd.

The basic premise of the story is that Bill, planning ham radio purchases in 1974, is visited by himself from thirty one years in the future. Bill's elder self launches a discussion in typical certified public accountant's terms just how buying amateur gear in 2005 will actually be cheaper than it was in 1974. Needless to say, this Random Access Thought was extensively post produced with the added feature of some classic motion picture soundtrack music. Mr. Continelli serves up some fairly intense and quite passionate acting while paying homage to "Gone with the Wind".

By the way, if you listen carefully, you may hear jingling bells in the background. Ed the cat, a fifteen pound street feline with the personality of Scooby Doo and the smarts of a doorbell races feverishly from room to room while the microphonium was hot. Ed is one of those creatures who occasionally discovers his tail and chases it!

This installment, like "W2XOY's Secret Elmer" made use of a production scheme best described as Single Track Overlay. While I currently produce the Random Access Thought in multitrack, back then I used the primary voice track as a template. Primary effects and background ambiances were then overlaid or matted under the voice. Under some circumstances, this style of post production could actually be faster and more efficient.

My thanks to George W2XBS for requesting this episode and reminding me that I still had this classic gem concealed deep within the Random Access vaults! Please download this week's This Week in Amateur Radio Ham Service and the TWIARi Broadcast version, or even better connect to: http://www.twiar.org/N2FNH/RATParts Look for file number RAT081008_BARG_BCQ_R1.cab or RAT08008_BARG_HAM_R1, right click and "Save Target As" to your hardddrive. Use your WinZIP or IZArc to extract the select RAF audio WAV file inside!

W2XOY'S Secret Elmer! The Subject? Yes!

This week's edition of the Random Access Thought takes on an air of high tech mystery and political intrigue as Bill Continelli W2XOY relates the story of "W2XOY's Secret Elmer". By today's broadcast standards, this is a truly vintage recording, first produced in December of 2005. It has become fairly standard that if Bill has a topic he desires to cover that falls beyond the realm of his popular Ancient Amateur Archives, he will, in effect, franchise time via the Random Access Thought as a guest host. While Bill's Ancient Amateur Archives are presented "dry", that is without any audio enhancement, hosting a RAT freely allows these stories to be fully developed with sounds and environmental backdrops that expand the theoy of "theater of the mind". This production was fun to do. I kept going back and adding more and more effects to fully document Bill's tale!

Mr. Continelli has performed in a number of other Random Access features, including "CQ MARS! CQ MARS!" and "The Story of Reggie". In addition, Bill has offered a number of custom recorded vocal effects which are now part of the ever-growing N2FNH Sound Effects Library.

This installment, like of many of my early Random Access programs relied on a method of production which might be described as Single Track Overlay. While I currently produce features which are developed though multi-track, in those days, I would use the primary voice track as a template. Primary effects and background ambiances were copied and directly overlaid or matted on to the voice track. Under certain circumstances, this style of post production could actually be faster and more efficient, but I moved to multiple track production when George W2XBS requested stereo versions of RAT, QSL and BLOG promos for TWIARi. Under a multi-track format, elements such as music can be selectly added for This Week in Amateur Radio International but be removed for the HAM Radio Full Service version. I still use Single Track Overlay in the development of certain sound effects combinations where I want two or more effects to be merged but not heard as separate elements. So download this week's This Week in Amateur Radio Ham Service and the TWIARi Broadcast version, or even better connect to: http://www.twiar.org/N2FNH/RATParts Look for file number RAT080930_BOND_BCQ_R1.cab OR RAT080930_BOND_HAM_R1.cab, right click and "Save Target As" to your hardddrive. Use your WinZIP or IZArc to extract the select RAF audio WAV file inside!

Back By Request! The Process is More Important than the Result!

For the week ending July 19th, The Random Access Thought offers an encore performance by request! I received the following e-mail from a pair of faithful This Week in Amateur Radio Listeners! For the week ending July 19th, This week's Random Access Thought is an encore performance by request! I received the following email from a pair of faithful This Week in Amateur Radio listeners:

We faithfully listen to the Full Version of TWIAR weekly using an MP3 download from your website played through Winamp into desktop speakers connected to our personal home computer using Windows XP operating system.

VE7BGJ Walter Hendrickson
VA7CHR Cheryl McDuff
Burnaby, B.C. CANADA

Sure hope to hear your "Purpose or Process?" article that Bill did again sometime.

The Process is More Important than the Result is a phrase I first heard coined by Bill Continelli - W2XOY - host of the Ancient Amateur Archives.
The full story comes your way in TWIAR Edition # 797 and TWIARi Edition # 182.