Today in pulp... "Breaker one-nine for a copy. You got your ears on?" Ah the halcyon days of CB radio!

And let's look back at one phenomenon that swept the CB world in the 1970s - the eyeball card!

What's that good buddy? What's an eyeball? Well here's the 20... Image
QSL is the radio Q code meaning can you acknowledge receipt. Amateur radio enthusiasts would often send an (often humorous) home made QSL card to fellow hams on request. It was a way of building camaraderie off air. Image
And as CB radio began to spread more widely in the 1970s, users began making and sending their own QSL cards to people they met on air. It was the classy thing to do! Image
And often these CB QSL cards were given out in person at meet-ups, hence the name 'eyeball cards.' Image
An eyeball card normally showed your handle, your twenty, and the main channel you sandbagged. Very few showed your wrapper. Image
Eyeball card collecting was a huge pastime for many good buddies, and people spent a lot of time and money having them designed and printed. Image
A number of artists specialised in designing QSL cards, and there were plenty of customers willing to pay too dollar for a distinctive design. Image
Handles were varied and creative in CB, so some artistic licence was needed when creating an appropriate eyeball card. ImageImageImageImage
Many couples had shared QSL cards, as CB was a family-friendly hobby. That's affirmatory! Image
If you're interested In (or simply nostalgic about) QSL eyeball cards you can see a huge range online here: myqsl.org ImageImageImageImage
More CB another time good buddy: 3s and 8s to y'all, 10-10 'til we do it again! Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Pulp Librarian

Pulp Librarian Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @PulpLibrarian

11 Jan
Today in pulp I look back at the world of Soviet women's fashion!

It's not all berets, but it mostly is... Image
Now you may think that fashion and the Soviet Union go together like Groucho Marx and Friedrich Engels. However that is to misunderstand the nature of the Commad Economy: if she commands it, you'd better buy it for her! Image
So there is a rich history of fashion and fun (along with the tractor factories and endless ballet performances) in the old USSR. Let's take a sashay along it... Image
Read 18 tweets
8 Jan
What do you think folks, shall we do some bad book covers today?

I think we should...
"I have made some bad decisions in my life..."

Dressed Up For Murder, by Gary Brander. Fastback, 1986.
"It's not you Mr Darcy, it's me..."

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Bestseller Library, 1966.
Read 15 tweets
7 Jan
Today in pulp... the searing, evocative power of a well crafted opening sentence!

For this thread I will draw my examples from the greatest writer in the English language (based on synonym use): the Reverand Lionel Fanthorpe. Image
On death:

"Bellenger was dead when they found him. That Bellenger was dead was probably the understatement of the year. Bellenger was horribly, violently dead!" Image
On introducing characters:

"The alien was a strange looking beast. Even by the broad standards of the Galactic recognition code it was definitely non-U. [...] The alien's name was Khgnjsdag, which didn't really matter except to the alien." Image
Read 14 tweets
28 Dec 20
DATELINE: MARCH 1981. Shakin' Stevens is top of the charts, Tom Baker is leaving Doctor Who and Clive Sinclair is bringing computers to the masses. Britain is finally moving into a new age, and one object above all heralds its arrival.

This is the story of the ZX81...
Like many electronics companies Sinclair Radionics had been beaten up by the 1970s calculator wars: cut-price LCD products from Japan, plus aggressive price cuts from Hewlett Packard made Sinclair's LED calculators unprofitable. The company was in trouble.
The British government bailed out Sinclair in the 1970s, and wanted it to focus on instrument manufacturing - the only profitable part of its business. In 1979 Clive Sinclair resigned in disgust from the company he had founded.

He had a better idea...
Read 16 tweets
28 Dec 20
Today in pulp I ask the big question... which was better: 1981 or 1982?

For this thread I will need the paper of record for the age - Record Mirror!
Visage (1981) or Bauhaus (1982)?
The Human League (1981) or Soft Cell (1982)?
Read 10 tweets
25 Dec 20
Time for a Christmas pulp countdown now, and today it's my top 10 festive tipples!

Stand by for a world of sophistication...
At #10: port! It's basically turbo-wine for getting through to Boxing Day.

Best mixed with Pepsi apparently...
At #9: Guinness! Liquid power for grandparents that tastes... well let's just say there's a reason they don't sell it warm any more.
Read 12 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!