Thursday, December 2nd 2004
Update by: VE3HBD
Wow... It's been a while since there's been an update... I've had a few things come up in my life that have taken me away fom the site, and for that I apologize.
First, I've been laid off from my job.. For the past 5 years I've worked for http://www.sparklit.com/pc/?ID=870760trol operator - but cutbacks and a change of plans for the future of the station resulted in the layoff of the entire Toronto Master Control crew. So, I'm back onthe street looking for work. So - if anyone's hiring, please e-mail me (grin).
Well - it seems we've finally gotten an answer to the QRZ.com question, at least one way or another. For those
who might not know, we here at Hamsexy have been looking into the mysterious bannings of Hamsexy associates (including myself) from QRZ. We have, without explaination, been banned from QRZ's message forums. but now, it seems we've got something of an answer. It started with a message from an unidentified member of the QRZ admin team - finally an answer after months of asking:
To the reason your account was disabled, you had a clickable links to HAMSEXY. Our editors clicked on it at the time and the first thing that showed on the screen was a man "shooting a moon" aka as showing one's arse.
QRZ has members as young as 9 years old on one that I know of that post regularly and complains about some of our content, a 10 year old EXTRA who is a girl.
A quick review of HAMSEX.COM image gallery stills has images I would not let my 10 year old grandaughter view and then try to explain what any of it has to do with Amateur Radio. The comments on your forums I would have a hard time talking about with a 16 year old.
HAMSEXY is fine for some folks, but QRZ has always tried to be G rated and will continue to do so.
Alright - whatever. Then, our friend Richard posted this message on the Hamsexy forums, from an exchange he had with Fred, head honcho of QRZ:
As is typical with the editorial process, there is a lot that happens in the background that the readers never see. For the record, I was not the one who personally shutoff VE3HBD's account. His account was terminated by a consensus of our volunteer staff and was based on a number of objective and subjective criteria. I can't heap enough praise on my volunteer staff and so when they make a value judgment, I am often loathe to contradict them. In other words, I stick up for them and support their editorial authority.
We never delete anyone's account who consistently makes reasoned http://t.extreme-dm.com/?login=hamsexyarticular topic. It's only when they become abusive or personally antagonistic that we convene to discuss their expulsion. I'm sure that if you ran a site that you'd undoubtedly find that it would be better to throw out a few bad apples in order to protect the whole bushel.
So - I was right... myself and the others were banned not for due cause, but solely because of their association
wit this site. I was banned because I had a link to Hamsexy... umm.. well... somewhere... There were no warnings, no "please don't link to Hamsexy on our site" - apparantly a whole case was made against me and my associates and out we went.
QRZ.COM is a private site, and they can conduct their membership however they please - I don't care, and I'm certainly not going to go to any outrageous means to get my access back.... but I think that others need to know what kind of admin team you're looking at on QRZ - a team that summarily bans people because of external associations, not because of conduct on their site. Just a warning for those who might want to advertise their enjoyment of this site - DON'T.. If you value your access on QRZ, don't *ever* mention Hamsexy!! I don't want any more people ot fall victim to the QRZ admin team's prejudice of ths site and those who frequent it! Enough have suffered!
Anyhow.. I hope this is the last we have to speak of this... I know I said before that I didn't want to bring this up again, but I felt it would be best to let everyone know what we've found out recently.
If you have comments about this or any other item you'd like to kvetch about, please e-mail us at [email protected] - we're still looking for new people to write for this site - so if you're interested, please click on the appropriate link on the right column.
Thursday, November 19th 2004
Update by: Purple Zero
We got another letter regarding the infamous GATOR TRADER from Dave KA0GOA:
I remember the "Gator Trader" swap net on 3895 kHz back in the 1980's. It was fun to listen on Friday nights to all of the cool gear being bought and sold (mostly from hams in the Eastern U.S.). It was organized, and for the early 1980's, probably ahead of its time BEFORE THE INTERNET. I remember the "Gator Stakes," which was coordinated by a ham (I'll leave out his call out of respect) who would record 30 second segments of signals calling in. Then, he would play them back on the air using (most likely) a broadcast cart machine. The person with the loudest signal was the "winner." One night, a couple of guys were mobile and drove up behind this guy's house and won the whole thing!
I met one of the rivals of the "gators" at a hamfest in Iowa in the early 1980's. This guy would get on the air and intentionally act like no one was on the air except himself. I expected this guy would be huge and crazy-- I mean-- he had a bodacious signal ("bodacious" was a 3895 patented word), and he used some kind of reverb! He was a little guy with such a small, whispery voice. No wonder he needed a reverb and processing-- I could barely hear what he had to say in person!
The "gators" on 3895, while skirting on the edges of the FCC rules, were a sharp group who knew more about the Amateur Service than a lot of us ever forgot. They made Friday evenings fun, and they didn't swear. I talked to a few of them through the years during contests and the like, but I don't know who is even left out there. We all need to get along, and respect the different parts of the hobby, even if guys like the "gators" had fun doing what they did. They only borrowed the ionosphere for a while every day.
Thursday, November 18th 2004
Update by: Purple Zero
We got this letter in our mailbag. Anyone nostalgic the days of the GATOR TRADER?
i hope all the "ole gators" remember those days of yesteryear.the good ole 80`s..some how i got nominated to be the caller of the "gator trader"..i suppose because i would rather trade than to chew out the rear end of a new ham from 2 land...it was a real experience since i had never called a net in my life and it grew so big and fast it was difficult to pull the checkins out of the pile up..it got to taking about 3 hours each session to get thru the list of hams that enjoyed themselves and knew that just maybe they would pick up an amp or that special part they needed to finish their version of the "ATOM SMASHER" built by the man himself, WB8BFS..after the trading dust had settled then the GATOR RACES started into downtown Knoxville, Tn to the shack of THE BEEF SUCKER...when you stood by the noise from all those signals at one time would echo thru the US and beyond because the is no telling how much power was being generated at the time..i even had a guy write me from prison in Canada the had a short wave receiver that listened to 3895 every nite as one of our many captive audience listeners were doing...you could always learn something each night as the true gators were not to be taken lightly..they were informed, vocal, educated (some up to 3rd grade) and were what i consider the real deal in ham radio..if you had a question and asked real nice they would let you be heard and somebody would have the answer..i truely miss those days and maybe i will break out the station, put it back together, and visit my old friends, so if you hear a signal coming out your speaker saying 'TOOTIE TOOTIE' maybe you will take pity on an old man with a weak signal..you bunch of loud mouths..see ya
KC4TT forever..........PS ''FRUIT'' WILL YOU BE MY BOWLING BALL????
Wednesday, November 17th 2004
Update by: Purple Zero
Got a letter in our mailbag today from Mike, apparantly the owner of the v.e.t.s. Taurus featured below and in our Hamsexy Vehicle Reviews:
After waking up this morning, and looking at my email from "Mike Iszak" from him altering me to your site as my vehicles was in your reviews COOL!! Thanks!! I was wondering when you guys were going to hunt me down, LOL!! 7/10 rating not bad. One thing did cross my mind, the individual(s) that I will not mention, that took the time out of their busy schedule to do such a nice thing for our group. I wish they would have woke me up, since they took the pics early the morning the other day. I saw you guys, he he he. Cause I would have opened the door and turned all my lights on for you. Maybe I would have gotten a 8/10 rating if that happened, LOL??? Can't wait to see the other vehicle reviews to come in.
Some added info if you want to update you vehicles review
- 1994 Ford Taurus, yes it is a retired fire chief car. Where??? I do not know.
- Hubcaps removed, yes...did not come with the car!
- Yes, the logo...nice..We ID ourselves so that the public does not think we are authority, hence the VOLUNTEER wording!! York Regional Police since 2 weeks ago mentioned that any volunteer group that helps them out, the vehicle must be identified for the publics view. I even saw a REACT car "that you might post?" and they finally have ID' their car.
- RED deck lights in the back, yes we all know the HTA, but it is hooked up to the hazard/brake lights (like tow lights) And have been inspected by YRPolice and they are fine with them. SEE, if they called me out when they took the pics, they would have see them.
- OH! OH! You did not mention the custom LED modules, that are inside the front of the MX7000 (which I only got 2 weeks ago, mx7000 I mean) they are built by our Team Lead (they green van guy) they are great units. He sells them on eBay and makes a killing. I wish I had thought of it. Here is his eBay link: C.A.T. LED Modules (eBay)
And the email by "Mike Iszak" that all of our team members gotten from him, is below:
From : Mike Iszak <REEEE-moved!>
Sent : November 17, 2004 2:28:21 AM
To : [email protected]
Subject : vETS
So, I saw a link to your website at http://www.hamsexy.com. I also saw one of your vehicles here: http://www.hamsexy.com/veh2.html (Mike's car). Quite hilarious. Nothing like a red Taurus and a Green van running to a scene to get in the way. Suggestion: Let the professionals do their job. DON'T try and play hero or get in the way. It's not helping anything. Trust me on that one. -M
I guess someone is a little jealous that we have been accepted by YRPolice to assist in helping out with traffic support. AWWWW!! CRY CRY CRY...
Hamsexy.com Question: Where is my website link that they are talking about???Here, you can post it on your reviews www.ets.20m.com since; I only created it a month ago and have not published it yet??? humm.
Oh yeah Hamsexy.com go look at the Photos page. WE ARE PROUD TO PART OF HAMSEXYness. Your link is posted there.
Thanks for the letter, guys - and thanks for being good sports (grin). Our vehicle analyist was able to get anotehr one of your groups cars, VE3HBD post it a little later when he gets some time. Congrats on the kudos from your local police - it's good when groups work with local police instead of tryig to replace them.
Tuesday, November 16th 2004
Update by: Purple Zero
Once again, our Hamsexy vehicular analyst has dug up some more gems - The long awaited PART 2 of our look at all things Hamsexy on four wheels is up! We've got a few cars that we'll be releasing over the next week for your reading pleasure - so for now, check out our first installment: THE V.E.T.S. TAURUS TRAFFIC CONTROL CAR! A little taste:
This 1990 something Ford Taurus has a MX-7000 lightbar, with LED modules installed, siren module, as well as LED modules on the front bumper as well. The hubcaps were removed for extra Public Safety Wacker value, defiantly a few points
We've got another VETS car, as well as a whacktackular Toronto-area R.E.A.C.T. cruiser, coming up in the next couple of days. Stay tuned!
Thursday, November 11th 2004
Update by: VE3HBD
LEST WE FORGET
I thought I'd take a moment today and urge all readers of Hamsexy to take some time out today and remember those who have given their lives fighting for your freedom. Today in Canada is Remembrance Day - the day we put aside to remember those who have fallen defending Queen and country. in the US, today is Veteran's Day.
My paternal grandfather served in the Royal Air Force working on Typhoons in World War II (His father was in World War I) - I've grown up hearing stories of the valour and horrors of war, usually by those who have been there. The best way to learn about what happened is to speak to those who were there - to understand from those who gave up their innocence and lives to fight. They come from a time before our liberal media and left-wing society brands those who fight in wars "baby-killers" and equates soldiers to thugs and murderers. I suggest those who share in that mindset to pay a visit to their local Legion Hall or VFW and speak to the members there - I think they might change their opinions when they find out what it's really like to fight for someone's freedom. Getting a dose of reality usually changes people for the better.
There are many hams who served their countries in time of war - I suggest thanking them the next time you run into one if you value living in a country where you value your freedom.
Remember those who fought and died, and keep those who are currently fighting to protect worldwide democrasy in your thoughts and prayers. Keep those American and Canadian soldiers currently fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq.