I'm back home from 10 days leave in west-central VT [Rutland Coun-
ty]...Pls send me ur corrections, other sites-rosters 'fixins'...
TNX, Aaron..

Was stationed out at PI-03 as a member of the active army custodial team in 1969 and 1970 and then moved back to Oakdale in fall of 1970 when custodial teams were disbanded. Spent doing guard duty in that little guard shack on the top of the hill in Oakdale, including Christmas Eve 1970 when it snowed like crazy. Assigned to HHB 31st Bde.

Has anyone had any exciting, or at least interesting experiences, with spark gap modulators, mercury delay lines, or tubes containing cobalt 60? I was the CBR disposal team at the 612th in Ajo, AZ. That's right. I was the entire team. This consisted of putting the tube in a box and sending it under police escort to Luke AFB. From there, who knew?

Stationed at 771st. Cape Charles 1967-1968. Worked on BUIC.

larry

916th AC&W squadron, Beausejour, Manitoba boxfile USAF
October 3rd 1958 to September 30, 1959

It has been a bad year for the Air Force and the bad news continues:


Wed., July. 23, 2008
HONOLULU - All six crew members aboard a B-52 bomber that crashed off Guam were killed, the Air Force said Wednesday.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three Air Force officers fell asleep while in control of an electronic component that contained old launch codes for nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, a violation of procedure, Air Force officials said Thursday.

The Air Force said the launch codes had been deactivated before the incident, but it was still a violation of protocol, prompting an investigation.

It is the fourth incident in the past year involving problems with secure handling of components of America's nuclear weapons.

Let us not forget the prima donna AF gen. who want to put in luxury units in AF trans. A/C for VIPs

With the advent of "sophisticated" Air Traffic Control Computers in the fifties, I presume the actual number of ATC operators required in a control room, decreased proportionately to the advancement in the quality of the ATC computers.

In theory, today we only need one operator at the helm of Hal, ey. So, what's all of this squawk about a shortage?

Of course, I did hear or read somewhere, that the FAA computers in use are about thirty years behind times, so maybe that accounts for it, ey? Maybe not.

I watched an old episode of Decker last night. His old TV was on the blink. He walked in to the TV salesroom of a major electronics dealer, holding up a TV tube. He tried to tell the salesman he didn't want to buy a TV, that he only wanted a tube, but all he got in reply was a blank stare. Today, probably not far from the truth, ey?

I remember that TV repair in our electronics shops decreased significantly as TVs transitioned to "sophisticated" multi-purpose tubes. We could no longer substitute from GI stock "for testing purposes".

Hi All: Does this make sense? After seeing big Hub controllers trying to work approaches/
departures AND local [airport] on-deck traffic, and all sorts of near-mishaps, how about:
1. Equip ALL acft with turnsigs, stop [brake] LED-lites, backup brites/beepers [like trux]...
2.Adopt Navy ABSOLUTE airport control [like carriers]--Air Boss commands ALL 'field' in/
out/ondeck trfk? [Pilots 'talk' ALL inbounds for perfect, one-time ['steady-glideslope']
landings...Launch Controller 'releases' ALL takeoffs only if absolutely clear...ALL on-deck-
ers wear colored shirts/jackets to indicate FUNCTION--not carrier [airline name on gar-
ment okay]...NO inherently-dangerous 'perpendicular' operations allowed: ALL pilots
and on-deckers monitor and shout intentions on special, dedicated, UHF radio [like CB
truckers, factory workers, in-harbor boat/ship folk]...NO turns on-deck or in-pattern
without turnsigs!..
3. Route all low-n-slow and stop-everywhere flights on special 6-9,500' altitude [RNAV?]
airwys a few miles 'off to the sides', operating straight-in/out at 'secondary' airports. On
these special 'city bus'-like flights, using L-100/382 [civ. variant of C-130E-?] running
with all unnecessary weight removed, no pressurization, walk-on/walk-off with carry-on
stuff only [no checked baggage!] Like riders on the city bus, passengers ride at 65-70%
cruise in simple bucket sets and 'baggage-bin' in middle of cabin for quick 'stash-n-
take'...[Crew throws 'netting' over carryons to keep 'em secure in flight]..
4. Fit smaller, yet okay turboprop engines, use 'bio-avjet' fuel [being developed!]. Want
to get off and get on small commuter [F-27, Beech 1900, Caravan 208]? Ask crew for
'transfer-coupon'--just like on city bus?..
Fewer folks on 'rich' [full service, business and coach]; workers, students, GIs, etc. fly the
cheaper service: Pilots are Guard & Reservefolk; fly half-way, then swap ships and 'fly
home'! [No RON in distant cities, always home for alerts, etc...Cabin crew are EMT and
Cop-trained--can handle anything! Terminals are quick-thru-security, no bars, no
smoking, and no checked baggage [remember?]...Frequent fliers can get photo ID-
badge [like we used to wear on our sites!] with barcode--gets you in/on/paid!.. Cost
to fly wud be about 60-something% of what fares were--or shud be?..Airline makes a
modest profit and avoids all the stupid drama of Major Lines!..
Is there any value to this? Oh, bring your own 4-600 ohm headset and listen to music,
aviation traffic [VHF], announcements...or silence [Bose, etc.]...
Think the 'airline industry' and the FAA willever get it right?...Pls think about this--we
really need to clean up what's going on--or trying to!..
Respectfully,
Aaron [551, 931. ADC/AACS/AFCS 57-65]..

As a former FAA contoller of the early 60s, I left AF for FAA at that time you were hired on your resume,experience, and interview, I would venture to say at least 90% or more were former military types, left FAA before strike, not what it was cracked up to be, can!t imagine doing it in the NYC area, Boston was bad enough, left for the good life and raising family in paradise "Cape Cod" Ma.

To all of us who spent many hours staring scopes, I offer the following news story. Please be prepared to shake your head in amazement.

'Air Panic: FAA woos teen controllers as mid-air crashes loom'

That's the sensationalistic headline on the front page of today's New York Post, which writes "the FAA has offered an unprecedented $100,000 bonus to air-traffic controllers throughout the country to lure them to the New York area's five understaffed radar centers … ." In its story, the New York tabloid says the FAA "has even begun trolling local high schools to recruit for the jobs," placing ads on websites like MySpace and Craigslist as part of its campaign.
The Post says the agency's effort is meant to combat a "severe staffing shortage and lack of experience among workers at its air-control towers" in the New York area. The paper says 30 new controllers have already accepted an FAA offer of a one-time $27,000 bonus to move to New York "plus another $75,000 paid over four years." The bonuses were offered to applicants from June 17 through July 8 as the FAA moved to offset a higher than expected wave of retirements, the Post reports. But the paper notes the effort also follows what it says were "two terrifying close calls (that) rattled controllers at two area airports."

For the record, I've removed the broken Fort Gordon link on the Radar Equipment page.

Jim

Thanks. My message re SCR584 was not meant to be a dig.

Yesterday I turned 73. Amazing!

The wife of Steve Hiatt. tech rep at the 768th at Moriarty NM passed away this am after an extended illness. May she rest in peace!

Well, I got my SCR-584 question answered by going to MSN search. Up came Wikipedia with several paragraphs. It was automatic gun laying radar, circa WW2, by MIT. It replaced the SCR-286. That trailer by the Sets hangar has probably been moved by now.

......and that's precisely why we were somewhat nervous when stationed along the Mexican border during the cold war. I don't even know if our foghters were allowed to cross the border to intercept a bogey?

I flew the RC/EC121s out of Otis AFB and used to look out the window of the A/C at the Texas Towers and wonder what that kind of duty would be like. I was a Radar Tech and ended up with 2000 hours more or less. I retired as an E-9 and now live in Northern MN. As I,m prone to tell people, I live so far back in the woods they send sunlight in by UPS. Great WEB Site.

I clicked on the left on Radar Equipment, then Directory of SCR Equipment-Fort Gordon, but my computer says no such animal? I was looking for the SCR584. ? I think it was an automatic gun laying radar in a blue trailer. One was parked just south of the Sets hangar at Keesler. At least it was in 1955.

One might wonder why air-traffic / air-defense surveillance radar networks are shared by NORAD between the United States and Canada, but not between the United States and Mexico. Apparently, a proposal was made back in 2005 to do just that -- to have NORAD engage the enroute air-traffic control radars in Mexico. See http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/apjinternational/apj-s/2005/2tri05/spinettaeng.html.

Best Air Force tour of duty I could have hoped for. Worked in the Great Falls Air Defense Sector SAGE Direction Center from early 1961 until August 1964. Was assigned to AC&W (MSgt Pappy Garvin, operations supervisor) to provide a variety of Battle Staff support functions, but largely to operate the Kelvin&Hughes digital-to-film Battle Staff projection system and to produce/project battle staff briefing/presentation media. Won some awards for developing upgraded projection methods to better distinguish friendly and bogie tracks (color in a black-and-white era), as well as a quicker system warm-up process, and for updating console boards in-house. Also did courier visits to radar sites (Kalispell unforgettable, Cutbank too for a whole different reason). Our local aircraft at the time were the MD F-101 Voodoo -29th FIS- and the Great Falls ANG F-89 Scorpions. Elsewhere in the sector (Minot) we also had the F-106. One of the highlights for me, aside from going hunting with some of the GRADS command officers, was knowing and working with our RCAF NORAD colleagues, and learning the fine art of Curling and becoming an ice hockey fan. Packing into the Bob when possible was awesome, coupled with regular fishing trips to Glacier or exploring closer to Great Falls in the Little Belts. But working in that direction center was like working in the next century, and I loved every minute of it. It was an important time history, including the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy. After later completing my undergraduate and post graduate work at Kansas State, spent my career in the space program President Kennedy made the hallmark of America's leadership. I'm pleased that Malmstrom is still in business, and that they did a nice job of sprucing up our direction center for its later role with the 341st (I was there when it was created, at roughly the same time the 29th Air Division was moved to Kansas City, if my recollection is accurate).

Duke I was also stationed at Malmstrom and worked in the SAGE Operations Section. I remember your name but didn't work with you. I was there from when the DC went operational in Feb 61 until Jun 66. Did you get one of the yearbooks that was made sometime around 1964? Both of our pictures are in there under the 4642nd Support Sq. I was a TSgt and worked mostly as AST. A couple of my e-mail buddies were there at that time, A/lC Sam Regi (now retired CMSgt) and A/lC Bobby Argo (now retired CMSgt). I have been back to Great Falls a couple of times. Now live in Spokane Valley, WA.

To everyone: Please, please, please use the Guestbook for radar, air defense, and Air Force / military related matters. Please do not use it for unrelated matters. Thank you.

Ernest Boyette, if you haven't yet done so, check out the information and pictures here in the museum pertaining to the 714th. We were apparently at Cold Bay at the same time, '70-'71. You also may want to check out the Yahoo Cold Bay group.

Ron

Refrence Tom Page. I agree completely!!! Enjoy reading about radar stations and personell. Jerry

Does anyone have an expert opinion on runway surface material as to which is best? Concrete, asphalt, iron ore, steel mats, logs, etc? I ask because we're having our driveway repaired/replaced.

685thACWRON Las Cruces AFS callsign was YONDER for the years 1956,1957,1958 and 1959. I was an A/2C then and made many crosstells to ELSEWHERE, Sonnyboy (Kirtland and Walker AFB), also to Mt.Lemmon (Tucson Ariz) aka the 684th. I cannot find their callsign anywhere.I hope that you can help out on this. I wish to join, also.

My son and I used to belong to The Pima Air Museum, but we're no longer active. A must see if you're in Tucson.

I was stationed at Havre A F Station 1955 to 1958. I was the radar maintenance officer, Crypto, etc.

May 17th had picture taken with my grandson A1C Mike Giles and his best friend AFA Cadet Andrew Cooper. We were all three in fatigues. Mine last wore in 1977 (fit good). Needless to say the tailored blues were a no go.

A B-36 is currently undergoing restoration at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, AZ. For more information and some pics, go to http://www.pimaair.org/view.php?=21 and scroll down to the "popular aircraft" section.

In the back of my closet was a fatigue shirt with three strips on the sleeve, a Tactical Air Command patch, my name in blue and white, and U.S. Air Force in blue and kind of a silver. It was one I kept from my enlisted days, circa mid-1975 at the latest. It has a couple of small holes on the back where a guy and I were carrying barbed wire for some reason and he let his end slip, thus the wake-up for me on my end. I tried this item on. Still fits. (This was not always the case, but it's nice it does now.) How about you? Can you get into yours? I recall our commander used to go out for a morning run. I thought he was a little crazy. This morning at 0545, I was out for my two miler. Then again, I know I'm crazy, something like Yossarian.

I watch Strategic Air Command w/ Jimmy and June, also on a regular basis. I was stationed in Las Cruces when it came out. The boys at Biggs were SAC, if I remember correctly. I was raised in Wichita, and my father worked for Boeing, so it's doubly meaningful for me.

I looked up Blog on Encarta. It said a web based personal diary. Is that what I'm doing? ??

Your ? can we get in our fatique shirt, brings back time at Keeslaer right out of basic(Sampson)mar 1954 1st thing went to tailor and had my khaki uniform shirts tailored narrow the sleeves and took in the sides they looked real sharp, a year later in Germany all that good beer and stuff, thank goodness we did not wear are uniforms very much, had to start over with new ones, as for fatiues we wore big baggy army type with cargo pockets not as sharp looking as todays troops but we got our job done.

Sorry about the spelling!!!

The production models of the B-36 began flying for SAC in 1948. The bomber was built by Convair. The B-36 was decommissioned in 1959. During its day, 385 B-36's were built.

AtHamilton AFB in the 84th Fighter Interceptor Squadron as a radar observer in the back seat of F-89's and F-94's 1952 and 1954.

Also served in 1945-55 with the 666th ACW on Mt Tam. In operations as intercept director.

I notice when I get emails from addresses that end in .aol, they always have a one or two line advertisment at the bottom. Is that standard with aol, or do they pay you to put those ads on the end of your emails? Just curious.

It's like tee shirts. I deliberately buy only tee and polo shirts that are free of pictures, logos, etc., because for some reason, they don't want to pay me to advertise their products, even though I paid for the shirt with their advertising on it. Ditto for caps.

I also have a tailored fatigue shirt with 3 stripes, last name, US Air Force, and Air Defense Command patch on the pocket hanging in my closet. My wife thinks it is silly, but, until our youngest daughter went into the Air Force in '98, she was from a non-military family.

The blue uniforms and kahkis (1505s) are in moth balls. No, none of them fit any more. Our first stop after processing into the squadron at Keesler in '64 was the tailor shop with fatigues and 1505s. We also went to the BX and bought a Ridgeway hat which is hanging on a hock behind me right now.

Our daughter served 4 1/2 years (held over because of 9/11), did a tour in the mid-East, and was in Italy fixing a KC-10 when the USS Cole was hit by terrorists. That scared the bajesus out of my wife (me too for that matter). She has a set of BDU's with 3 stripes hanging in her closet. She is a school teacher now. The GI Bill put her through college. Her husband is TSGT teaching maintenance on the C-17 Globemaster III at Charleston AFB. He was a crew chief on KC-10s at MacGuire AFB and did 3 tours in the UAE before going to Charleston. His plan is to get out at 20 years (he will be 38) a become a school teacher also.

When my basic flight picture was taken in 53, I was 6' 1" and weighed 142 lbs. Today I'm 5' 11" and weigh 275 - 285, depending on the time of day and the dew point. Needless to say, nothing fits except the brass.

I was stationed at Cold Bay AFS from '70 to '71. I was in ground to air commumications. I have some pictures taken at Cold Bay.

I don't agree with a timetable on drawing down the troops in iraq. You?

Regarding the troop withdrawl timetable, I believe we should keep politics out of this guestbook.

Roger that.

Famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey dies at age 99, from natural causes. He set up the VA hospital system and instituted the MASH program for the military, among other things.

Thank you John...There are thousands, if not tens-of-thousands of blogs out there where one can "blog" to their hearts content. I, for one, would hope that Radomes does not become just another blogging arena.

Jeff & John DITTO to that

The other day I watched (again) the movie "Strategic Air Command" starring Jimmy Stewart. It was made in 1955, at the height of the Cold War. I can remember going to the movies as a 12-year old and watching that movie when it first came out. I believe it was influential in my decision to eventually join the Air Force. It appears every month or so on Turner Classic Movies. Be sure to watch it the next time it runs. It is a great snapshot in time of the Air Force in the 1950s. It also has some great scenes of B-36s in flight.

When I was stationed at Keesler circa 53/54, you could buy one gallon of L&J Sweet Vino for 90 cents. Not that I would ever drink anything like that. Gas was under 20 cents per gallon. I didn't have a car, but I had access to a Vespa, and a man could go far on a dollar, driving one of those. I think my pay was about $85 per month, and back then, they paid in cash. Of course, there was always a table or two just past the pay officers table, where you were volunteered to make donations to the Red Cross, The Air Force Aid Society, The United Way (Community Chest?), your base laundry bill, etc.

Notice! I'm not knocking any of these organizations. Later, in 1958, I went TDY to Keesler for advanced sets. I received notice while there I'd been promoted to S/Sgt and I also received a letter from my Grandmother, informing me that my Father was very ill with MS, and had been laid off from Boeing w/o insurance or retirement. I was just finishing my TDY. I applied for emergency leave. It was investigated by the Red Cross in Wichita, KS where my father was, and they confirmed his condition. I was not only given an emergency leave, but I was ordered to report to the base commander, Major General Harlen C. Parks, if I remember correctly. He presented me with a grant check from The Air Force Aid Society in the amount of $500 and back then, that wasn't small change. I was able to get my father and younger rother declared dependents, and moved them back to Ajo, AZ where I was stationed, and I was granted separate rations and allowed to live off base. My father was over age 52 and he applied for, and was granted Social Security Disability. You'll never hear me complain about any of these organizations. I also have nothing but good to say about the Salvation Army.

Bertha is headed toward Cape Cod. Maybe. Maybe not.

An excellent graphic of hurricane activity in the Carribean.

http://www.intellicast.com/Storm/Hurricane/CaribbeanSatellite.aspx?animate=true

Call me what you want "But Hell NO I do not want to go" made it out of the last one by the skin of my A-- sent my son this time he just retired 28+ yrs. USAF I enjoy my new 32" Samsung HD TV with a cold beer (sorry not a cola) and watch the Red Sox beat the H out of NY Yankees (except yesterday) to much to leave and go anywhere we fight a war here on Cape Cod right now the Tourists own the place, labor day we get our island back. HAPPY 4TH Weekend to all!!

Gene,

Radomes cannot afford a new webmaster---therefore your "almost" return trip to a local recruiter will have to be denied. The lost to the US military services will be a gain for Radomes!!

Are you talking about US Military Personnel in Iraq reupping?

Do the recruiters accept "Old Dogs" who show up to reenlist? I'll bet that happens more times than we can imagine. Maybe the next Pres can think of something useful in the military for old vets.

Along that line, I've often thought it would prove valuable to the military, if they accepted people with physical disabilities, diabetics, etc., having them serve stateside only. This would give those individuals the pride of having served, even though in a limited capacity.

I thought about joining the French Foreign Legion, then going in to their recruiting service in the US, and drawing overseas pay. Would they do that?

Larry: Yup, in Iraq. You've got to believe that we're doing something right there if the fighting men/women are willing to re-up while in-theater.

I've been mentally preparing a letter to somebody in DoD about some of us old goats who can still do something in the military, and freeing up combat assets in the process. Hell, any of us could work in one of the depots, for instance, and free up active duty guys for "more important" work.

One of the presidential candidates is an old soldier. If he can do it, why shouldn't the rest of us be able to do likewise. However, I don't want to myself. I prefer to stay home, drink colas, watch TV , give advice to others and vegetate. Vegitate?

Patton said, "Don't tell people how to do things. Just tell them what to do and you'll be amazed by their ingenuity." I just thought I'd throw that in to see if it applies.

Gene. I take that to mean YOU should simply tell the Joint Chiefs, and let them figure out how to do it. I'll do it for six figures.

Didn't find the SCR-584 (trained on at Ft. Monmouth in 1958)
Didn't find the FPS-36 (Gap Filler) which I spent two years servicing in Grand Haven, Michigan as part of the Chicago-Gary Defense system (Nike) based out of Arlington Heights, Il in the late 50's(Signal Corps maintenance support). Not to mention the Missile Master System being installed at Arlington Heights in early 1960. I remember finding parts of a TPS-1D (I believe Phillips) in an electronic scrap yard near Herkimer, NY in the mid 1960's.
Thanks for the memories.
Eric
Eric

I just watched a most impressive reenlistment from one of Saddam's palaces on Fox News. Over 1,000 reenlisted in-theater on the 4th of July. Every state was represented, and each was recognized individually. Damned near (but not quite) had this old dog headed for the recruiter's!

Does anyone out there know my dad Col. George Glen Getz. He was a commander of geeiaa in 1965 i believe and was called "mr radar"?!!

You may find of interest a vintage Department of the Air Force film, “The SAGE System,” 23 min. long. This is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06drBN8nlWg

Color has faded (be cool to have that remedied), but has views of then state-of-the-art computers and equipment.

My Arm! Help! I was looking at something under a magnifying glass (words) and noticed my arm is getting wrinkled! I must have some terrible disease! Any ideas?

I'm reluctant to try any of the MSN op systems after ME because there are so many conflicting rumors about same. Are there any comparitive surveys I could look at. $500 including XP sounds like a plan.

Gary Jacobs et al.: We recently added that "The SAGE System" video from YouTube to our "SAGE Documents" page, linked from the menu on the left. The video window is located about halfway down on the "SAGE Documents" page.

Re the "What's New" entry for the new "Document" for the 707th AC&W Squadron at Grand Rapids AFS, MN, which shows the newly-dedicated memorial marker there: I myself am not all that politically correct; however, I really like the use of the word "professionals" on the memorial marker. Not only is it gender-neutral, it's is everything-neutral. Heck, this includes even the four-legged professionals of the K-9 corps. This marker should serve as an example for all future memorial markers. Well done!

I got spammed today by the USAFradarsitesveterans yahoo group.
I unsubscribed....what's with these people?

usafradarsitesveterans-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Chuck same thing here can not unsubscribe, the AH that is the webb master signed me up without permission he a guy by the name of LG Woodworth Email him at lgwdwrth@earthlink.com he is a former AC&W guy I think

Radar Vets a group set up on Yahoo a web master LG woodworth anyone know him?? I have seen his name pop up many different places enrolled me in radar veterans group without permission, bombarded with emails of NO interest to me, tried to unenroll still more emails anyone else have this problem??

There is a link on the Radar Sites Vets e-mails that allows you to unsubscribe. After you respond to this link, they send you another e-mail asking you if you really want to unsubscribe. Only after you respond the second time will the e-mails stop.

At Micro Center in Minneapolis they sell USB flash drives:
1 GB $6.99
2 GB $8.98
4 GB $13.99 (now we're startin' to talk real money)
8 GB $24.99
16GB $49.99 (Fifty bucks and you can back up your computer and your brother in law's computer and .......)

LARRY: My neighbor just bought a Dell complete with XP for just a tad over 500. Works great--Fast too. Might try it..It was at Walmart.
Reference getting signed up on those 2 sites..I finally got off today. Don't know who signed me up..I didn't..Sure was a lot of uninteresting clutter there!--Bill

$49.99 sounded like a bargain, so I bought a round trip ticket to MN. How do I get to the mall and where does Superman live?

I also unsubscribed to that thingy (Thingee?). You can also complain to Wahoo.

I'm not going to get involved in the propriety of the USAF Radar Sites Veterans site to automatically enroll those who use this site, but if the major concern is that when it happens you suddenly get a lot of e-mails you don't want, it is a simple matter to alter your Profile to a "Web Only" status and no e-mails will be sent to you at all: you would only see messages by going to the web pages of that Yahoo! Group.

I think part of the problem is that recently the roster of members of that Group was lost or compromised and Woody was using lists from other related sites to recompile his list.

I am a member of that Group (and several others that are more geographically limited in their scope) and I've got my Profiles all set for a Daily Digest. That greatly cuts down on the number of e-mails I receive from them. But, as I said above, it is possible to eliminate all e-mails if you don't want them. It costs nothing to be a member of the Group(s) and you just might find someone posting there you'd be interested in.

David E. Casteel

How can I change to a new system and still retain all the files we have on our old drive. Speaking of thingy's, is there an old drive systems sucking thingy that I use to transfer my old files? My wife is the computer expert. She said our little flash drive wouldn't begin to hold the trillions of files I've created, and we'd have to hire a tech to do that. It took me 28 minutes to boot up this morning. Arrghhhhh!

If only I had some incentive to upgrade. What could it be. By the way. I waited up till 9PM, but Bill Gates never showed.

I have a Panasonic pencil sharpener, with a little red light that lights up to let you know the pencil is sharp. As if things aren't bad enough already, that damned light didn't come on this morning and I went through 3 boxes of pencils, before I noticed. Now I have to go to their website and see how much it will cost me to have one of their techs out here to replace the darn thing. Maybe they have some Aggies working for them. They'll want to know if it's still under warranty. I bought it in 1971. Now where did I put that receipt?

Larry
Once a month I back-up my computer by downloading
everything to a DVD. Cost: $.25 Time: a few minutes
I can then delete anything that I dont use often. If
I want something I just stick the disc in and there
it is. It will knock down your log-on time to a few
seconds and speed up your computer a bunch.

David

Thanks for the good advice to all who responded, here and by email.

How do I go about printing one, or more, of the messages at this site?

Larry L and Dave P, I bought an external hard drive. Just plug it in to a USB port and it's way, way easier than backing up everything monthly on a CD. I back up every file I create the minute I save it to the internal drive. If youre not talking about a lot of data you can go even cheaper and get one of those little Flash Drives

Regarding system backups/recovery.....What I have done is purchase a fairly large external hard drive. Then, using Acronis True Image, I backed up my entire hard drive to the new drive. This should be capable of backing up your entire system to a hard drive on another machine, or a replacement drive for one which has crashed on an existing machine. This backup would include the operating system, all programs, files, and their configurations. I purchased the external drive as a back-up in the event my existing hard drive failed, allowing me to restore my entire system to the new drive (which would be replacing the drive that failed). I would suggest that this or other software migration package would allow the restoration of your system to a new machine.

I do this backup to the external hard drive periodically so I have a pretty good image of my machine as it currently exists. The setup is supposed to allow a boot-up from that external hard drive in the event of a crash. The backup can take a few hours, but when it completes, you have a mirror image of your original drive.

I have not suffered a failure since having the external hard drive.

HankB

I'm beginning to think I should look at the instruction books sent to us by MS and Gateway, via Gateway, when we purchased our computer from them. We got one of the last of their steam driven computers.

I let my son take care of all my computer problems, and the grandchildren can program the remote. There are benefits of being a "Senior Citizen".