Ed Juge was a ham

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Tom

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Those of you who remember Ed Juge, founder of the original RV Forum, may know that Ed was a ham for many years. His call sign was W5EJ (info provided by Jim Godward in this message).

Did anyone have on-air discussions with Ed?
 
Thank you, Tom, for consolidating old threads on the new HAM topic.{On the airwaves).

  Seems there is a definite interest in it judging by the number of posts over the years.
Let's see how it goes in the future.

In defense of hamming, not to be confused with CB operation, I like to think of it as having a "touch of magic" to it. Many of us know the history behind it all and it is impressive. It is the ultimate communication method, other than shouting aloud across the land. When landlines,cell phones, computers, satellites, TV etc are down and out, radio will still be there. A battery, a radio and a piece of wire can keep you in touch with your fellow man across the globe. Only Mother Nature can put the occasional temporary pitfall in the way.

Nothing is perfect but 'something is better than nothing', especially in an emergency.

  Hamming is fundamentally a (scientific) hobby, just like RV'ing; from the very inexpensive to the ultimate in cost but basically it's all the same, find your own level. Besides it is a huge industry worldwide with benefits for all mankind; there is no downside.

So much for my Saturday morning thoughts.

Thanks again, Tom

carson FL  VE7WCX/W4 (since 1958)





 
One thing about ham radio... I've seen land-line phones go down, Cable, Cell, Internet all gone (Blackout 2003 proved that here in the N.E. part of the country) many people were left without any working communications other than shouting.  Myself, I was lucky, phone company CO near me is fully E-Powered as were my cell provider's towers. but at the time I had two cell phones, T-Mobile (primary) and Nextell (The way business got lost cause guess who did not E-Power many of their towers.. Yup, Nextell)

The Red Cross is fond of saying they are the first to arrive after a disaster strikes.. And that is true.. you see, the HAM RADIO OPERATOR who talked them in... He arrived BEFORE the disaster. 

A ham radio operator given a source of power (Car battery) and a length of wire, can usually make contact with someone in a fairly short period of time.  No land line, no cable, no cell tower needed,  These can all go down (And often do) but the hams can still get the word out "When All Else Fails"

For more info on ham radio http://www.arrl.org

I have, in fact, been called upon to provide communications at disaster sites.  Due to the nature of my job not as often as some of my friends. but I've been there and done that.  Kind of neat being able to do that.
 
Tom said:
Those of you who remember Ed Juge, founder of the original RV Forum, may know that Ed was a ham for many years. His call sign was W5EJ (info provided by Jim Godward in this message).

Did anyone have on-air discussions with Ed?

Sure did, back in the 60s.
Also Ed had a small ham store in Fort Worth when I first got my liicense and lived in Mineral Wells TX.
Some of us used to make the drive to Fort Worth - about 60 miles - to look at all of the marvelous stuff we couldn't afford and to buy what little we could.
He moved to a much larger store over by a mall and while I was getting my BSEE degree at the University of Texas at Arlington , we used to go there to look at all the neat stuff we still couldn't afford.

I lost touch with Ed after I graduated and moved to Colorado and he went to work for Tandy, but did get back in touch with him via the old Compuserve RV forum before he passed away.
I didn't think he would, but he still remembered me and wanted to know how I had fared over the years.

 
Clay L said:
Also Ed had a small ham store in Fort Worth...

Clay, that's something I didn't know about Ed.

... he still remembered me and wanted to know how I had fared over the years.

That was the kind of guy Ed was. Once 'met', in person, online or on the air, he wasn't someone you'd readily forget and he wouldn't forget you.
 
Hi Carson,

Although I've not been a ham myself, I could tell there was "a touch of magic" when I'd spend the wee hours in my friend's radio room or when in the car with him.
 
Hi Steve. Yes, Ed was a pioneer and someone you don't forget.
 
Bought my first Demco Satellite from E.J. Electronics. I think it was 1966. I lived in Azle on Eagle Mt. Lake and could talk to Hawaii regularly then. 80 ft. high Supermag.
 
Tom said:
Those of you who remember Ed Juge, founder of the original RV Forum, may know that Ed was a ham for many years. His call sign was W5EJ (info provided by Jim Godward in this message).

Did anyone have on-air discussions with Ed?

I knew Ed as a ham.  That is how I found out about the RV Forum.

PhilB
 
Ed's last store, before going to work for Tandy, was a fairly large electronics store on I-35 in South Fort Worth near what they was called Seminary South Shopping Center.  Ed and I both worked for Tandy for a period of time but being as large a company as Tandy we didn't see each other very much.  He worked in Tower I and I worked in Tower II.  I have an old 8008 S-100 buss (for you older computer buffs) that was build by Ed.  Some of the boards are wire-wrapped, i.e. hand made not printed circuit boards.
 
Ed's first store was on Penylvania Ave a little west of the Harris Hospital.  He moved from that location to the South Freeway south of the Ripy St exit.  The building he built for his store is still in use.  Ed gave me my Technician exam in 1965 and sold me more radios than I can remember.  When the tornado hit Texas Tech in the 1970, Ed and I used his home station at his house in Wedgewood to handle a huge number of health and welfare inquiries.  A radio station found out we had a contact in Lubbock and put out Ed's phone number on the air.  His phone was so busy that all we did was just hit the flash switch to pickup the next phone call.  Ed's call sign at the time was W5TOO.  I enjoyed many contacts with Ed on 75 meters and 2 meters, not to mention many personal times with him and family on radio club outings, Field days, etc.  We lost touch when my wife and I moved out of Ft. Worth in 1978.  We had a few contacts after that but they became rare due to distances and time restraints for each of us.
 
Ronnie,

Is that the old Altair that he had that was rack mounted (if my memory is correct--it's sure getting harder to recall some things  :) ).  I watched him build a computer (the first one I had ever seen smaller than an IBM 360-30!) in his shop.
 
WileyClarkson said:
Ronnie,

Is that the old Altair that he had that was rack mounted (if my memory is correct--it's sure getting harder to recall some things  :) ).  I watched him build a computer (the first one I had ever seen smaller than an IBM 360-30!) in his shop.

Yes it is the Altair!!  Last time I turned it on, about 10 years ago, all the leds lit up and it computed!
 
Those of you who remember Ed Juge, founder of the original RV Forum, may know that Ed was a ham for many years. His call sign was W5EJ (info provided by Jim Godward in this message).

Did anyone have on-air discussions with Ed?
Ed Juge helped me get out of CB and become a ham. His old callsign was W5TOO. His wife Jo's callsign was WB5AZX. My original callsign back then was WB5BDY. Now it's KC5PA. I was a regular at Juge Electronics. He also held an FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License. His CB callsign at the store was KKV2205. Last time I checked, his brother had the W5TOO callsign. Ed passed away years ago.
 
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Ed passed away years ago.
Yes, see this message:

 
His call sign was W5EJ
Looks like his callsign was reissued to somebody else:

W5EJ
USA flag
USA
JOHN A WILL
2905 SILVERDALE LN
GARLAND, TX 75044
USA


-Don- Mayo, FL
 
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