Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who notes:
The Federal Register has today published the proposed rule for AM stations to go digital. This is close to the final step.
Comments before 2020-03-09, replies by 2020-04-06.
Thanks for the tip, Paul!
Reginald Fessenden: “The Father of Radio Broadcasting” (Source: Wikipedia)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), who writes:
The story of Reginald Fessenden has a background in Bermuda.
Before he finished his college education in Canada, he spotted an advert for Headmaster at a school in Bermuda. He applied for it and got the job. At the right age of 18 he became headmaster of Whitney Institute, a school near the top of the hill in Flatts and where your scribe went to school starting in 1968! He met Helen Trott of Flatts and they were married and he moved on to his radio and scientific fascination. The main school building that I attended is exactly as it was in Fessenden’s time (and is to this day).
Later, they moved back to Bermuda and bought Wistowe a house on North Shore Road in Flatts (on the east side of the inlet), which was no more than a stiff 10 minutes walk to Whitney). The school and house still stand although the roads are now so very busy (and the house literally within an inch of passing buses) it’s hard to see them (I do have pictures!). Wistowe is just yards from the Bermuda Aquarium across the road.
In October 2007 the amateur radio special callsign VP9F was used to celebrate his life (indeed he held the callsign himself in 1929).
A fuller article is at http://vp9ge.com/vp9f.htm as written by myself and Ed, VP9GE.
The celebrations also included Ken Hubbard who demonstrated radio to students from Whitney and other Bermuda schools (Ken was my Physics instructor at Bermuda College, although not a radio ham). In 1976 Ken and I did a public demo of radio while I manned the world’s first all solid state transceiver, the Atlas 210X at a similar open day at Bermuda College (ironically the student [me] taking the lead and having to supervise the instructor!).
Once again, a small world!
Thanks for sharing this interesting bit of Fessenden history, Paul!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who writes:
George Laurer (K4HZE), the inventor of the Bar Code (that’s on everything you buy) died recently: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50726950
I happened to meet him and fellow IBM ‘pusher’ of the idea (Norman Woodland) when they were visiting Bermuda. Ed Kelly (VP9GE) invited them to give a presentation to the RSB (Radio Society of Bermuda) meeting at the Elbow Beach resort in November 1975.
It turns out they were promoting the idea to local supermarkets because Bermuda was an isolated test subject that would be ideal for a limited roll-out. We couldn’t understand why they would stick a label with bars on it onto every thing and then scan it! It just wasn’t going to take off…. or so we thought!
Well, it never took off in Bermuda. Today ‘Marketplace’ (formerly Piggly Wiggly) still sticks price labels on every item and there is no bar code scanning. It must be one of the last places to do so in the First World!
It’s interesting how they were both hams and that the idea was based on Morse code. It’s a small world.
I had no idea…his legacy will certainly live on. There’s hardly an item on the planet that doesn’t have a barcode these days. Many thanks for sharing this memory with us, Paul.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who shares the following short radio documentary from the BBC World Service:
The end of the Cold War in 1989 spelt the demise of a little-known, but surprisingly popular sport behind the Iron Curtain – high-speed telegraphy competitions. With the help of two of Czechoslovakia’s best former Morse-coders, we revisit the inaugural World Championship in Moscow in 1983 when the Soviet Union rolled out the red carpet for teams from across the Communist bloc. Ashley Byrne reports. The programme is a Made-In-Manchester Production.
Click here to listen to this program via the BBC.
As Paul points out, “HST is still going strong as a sport!” Indeed it is because CW is simply timeless! Thanks for the tip, Paul!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), who shares the following article from Hackaday:
The origin of the term “breadboard” comes from an amusing past when wooden bread boards were swiped from kitchens and used as a canvas for radio hobbyists to roll homemade capacitors, inductors, and switches. At a period when commercial electronic components were limited, anything within reach was fair game.
[Andy Flowers], call sign K0SM, recently recreated some early transmitters using the same resources and techniques from the 1920s for the Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party. The style of the transmitters are based on [Ralph Hartley]’s oscillator circuit built for Bell Telephone in 1915. Most of the components he uses are from the time period, and one of the tubes he uses is even one of four tubes from the first Transatlantic contact in 1923.[…]
Click here to continue reading at Hackaday.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans (W4/VP9KF), who notes that HRO’s Black Friday sale features the Icom IC-7300 for $899.95 after rebates. That’s the lowest price I’ve seen on the IC-7300! Thanks for the tip, Paul!
Click here to view this deal at Ham Radio Outlet.
Check out all of our holiday sales tips by bookmarking the tag Black Friday Radios 2019.
Do you have a deal tip? Please share them via email, or simply leave a comment!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who shares the following video and article via Hackaday:
There’s been a spate of apocalypse related articles over the last few weeks, but when I saw an AM radio made from a hand-wound coil and an oxidized British penny, I couldn’t help but be impressed. We’ve covered foxhole radios, stereotypical radios that are cobbled together from found parts during wartime.
This example uses a variable capacitor for tuning, but that’s technically optional. All that’s really needed is a coil and something to work as a diode. Surprisingly, copper oxide is a semiconductor, and the surface oxidation on a penny is enough to form a rudimentary diode.[…]
Thanks for sharing this, Paul. I absolutely love simple receivers like this one. In the past, I’ve built several crystal radios and had great success hearing local AM broadcasters. Indeed, the very first kit I ever built was a crystal radio, then later a foxhole style receiver.
Post readers: Have you ever built a radio similar to this one that uses an oxidized penny? Please comment!
Click here to read posts from our archives that focus on crystal radios.