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About Digger Dave - AKA Dave Ness)
(some stuff you may want to know, or not)
HOME
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About Digger Dave - AKA Dave Ness)
(some stuff you may want to know, or not)
The Early Years
About the time I turned 10 years old, we had a fellow who was attending university
that boarded at our house. He was an engineering student and was taking what
then was called “Electrical Engineering.” The term “Electronic Engineering”
hadn’t been “coined” yet. (This was over 50 years ago!)
His name was Ron, and Ron was a radio amateur. (they still call them “Ham Radio Operators”) He would spend hour after hour with a microphone in front of him, calling “CQ, CQ, CQ, this is VE5 XX, anyone out there?”
I would spend hours sitting
with Ron while he talked to people all over the world.
I was fascinated and I wanted to become a radio amateur too.
In those days to get a “ticket” (radio amateur operator’s license) you had to pass some pretty tough examinations on the technical parts of the equipment. Not many companies made commercial Radio Amateur hardware, so to help me learn the basics; Ron had me build my own transmitter and receiver. Keep in mind the word “transistor” wasn’t in the dictionary yet. This stuff was built with vacuum tubes, transformers and resistors. And ALL hand wired! I loved it!
Move the clock forward 3 years (13 years old). I was already buying every hot rod magazine on the stands. I even bought a ’28 “A” Ford Roadster (my dad didn’t know about it until one night the police caught me driving up and down alleys in the dark and then the “jig” was up!) but I had to sell it because I was too young. Sadly, the city I lived in didn’t have a whole lot of “hot rods.”
Then one day it happened - a family moved in across the street from my house and the 17-year-old son, Doug, had a “T” roadster hot rod. He couldn’t get rid of me. I hung around every waking hour. This was when a turning point occurred that would shape my future.
Doug knew of my technical expertise at constructing radio equipment. Especially the hand wiring. So, the night after the wiring harness in his “T” burned to a crisp, he approached me and asked if I thought I could rewire his hot rod. I hesitated (for about 2 milliseconds) before I said, “sure!”
From that wiring job, the word spread about how this “kid” knew his stuff and, as a result, I wound up doing so many cars, I lost track.
Then it became time for high school where I took electrical, machine shop and automotive.
After high school, I worked a night shift at a television station as a technician and, during the day, I owned and operated a manufacturing company building high-end audio equipment and musical instrument amplifiers. The manufacturing operation “died” (bankruptcy) after a year and a half - mainly because musicians were always behind on their payments! Plus people weren’t ready for “High End” stereo equipment.
The Highlights From Then On
I did wiring and maintenance of timing equipment, (did a short stint with Chrondek, the makers of the Xmas Tree) and sound systems for several drag strips around Canada and the US. I also wound up announcing at a few racetracks (including Bonneville) as well. (My mother was a radio broadcaster, so I had a good teacher) I still was doing wiring jobs from time to time.
I spent a couple of years in the geophysical industry operating and maintaining equipment. Then I bought and sold for a machine tool company, then switched and bought for an oil and gas plant engineering company and I specialized in purchasing electrical equipment.
I then decided that it was time to find a way to save time on the wiring jobs I was still doing on and off; so started Nesstronics, a small automotive wiring panel manufacturing company. Nesstronics continued to do custom wiring jobs as well as build custom electrical wiring panels.
Then the bottom fell out. I was stricken with a health problem that forced me to close the manufacturing operation.
In an effort to keep my mind operating, I changed the name of the company to Nesstronics Ink Publishing - with the idea of keeping some of things that I have learned over 50 years of “tinkering” with automotive electrical, somewhere where others could put the information to use.
I hope you can use it along with some of the stories.
Digger