Friday, August 02, 2019
Patient DXers, patient roofs
The indispensable American Radio History has uploaded 50 YEARS of biweekly newsletters from the National Radio Club, a BCB DX club based in Buffalo.
The publisher's address looked residential, so I got curious and Googlestreeted it. I hoped to see a forest of antennas. Nope, the original publisher must have died, BUT:
Can you guess which house was running a business for 50 years that involved lots of radios and a VariTyper and a Multilith press? Three phases, and the first two don't count.
As I slid through that neighborhood trying to spot the exact address, I also answered a question that has bothered me for a long time. How does Buffalo deal with 100 inches of snow every year? We never see reports of disasters. All of the houses in the neighborhood were built in the '20s, all have solid and straight roofs and gutters. You can't reach those roofs with a rake. So the roofs are holding up with minimum attention.
What's the secret? Turns out to be the same thing I observed in Spokane a few years ago.
Steep roofs with occupied attics. Cape Cod.
Modern writers insist that you need PERFECT INSULATION and a COLD ROOF to avoid ice dams. Nope, the old builders found the correct answer by EXPERIENCE. A warm steep roof melts the snow almost immediately, so it doesn't get loaded down and doesn't form dams.
And for a perfect contrast, Tesla's all-theory idiocy, which by a neat coincidence is "manufactured" in Buffalo.
Later, more from the NRC newsletters: Though based in the northeast, two of their main correspondents were in familiar spots. Their TV editor was in Ponca. At that time Ponca had a hard time picking up the TV stations in Tulsa and OKC, so everyone with a TV needed a good antenna. All TV was DX. Another regular correspondent was in Spokane, right in this neighborhood. His house was near the cliff with a clear view to the south, and most of his DX was from the south.
Can you guess which house was running a business for 50 years that involved lots of radios and a VariTyper and a Multilith press? Three phases, and the first two don't count.
As I slid through that neighborhood trying to spot the exact address, I also answered a question that has bothered me for a long time. How does Buffalo deal with 100 inches of snow every year? We never see reports of disasters. All of the houses in the neighborhood were built in the '20s, all have solid and straight roofs and gutters. You can't reach those roofs with a rake. So the roofs are holding up with minimum attention.
What's the secret? Turns out to be the same thing I observed in Spokane a few years ago.
Steep roofs with occupied attics. Cape Cod.
Modern writers insist that you need PERFECT INSULATION and a COLD ROOF to avoid ice dams. Nope, the old builders found the correct answer by EXPERIENCE. A warm steep roof melts the snow almost immediately, so it doesn't get loaded down and doesn't form dams.
And for a perfect contrast, Tesla's all-theory idiocy, which by a neat coincidence is "manufactured" in Buffalo.
Later, more from the NRC newsletters: Though based in the northeast, two of their main correspondents were in familiar spots. Their TV editor was in Ponca. At that time Ponca had a hard time picking up the TV stations in Tulsa and OKC, so everyone with a TV needed a good antenna. All TV was DX. Another regular correspondent was in Spokane, right in this neighborhood. His house was near the cliff with a clear view to the south, and most of his DX was from the south.Labels: Aberree, Asked and answered, Patient things
¶ 6:00 AM
