The Rise and Fall of Heathkit
Steve Leibson begins this six-part series with, “If you came of age in the 1960s or 1970s and then later became an EE, chances are you’re more than casually acquainted with Heathkit. Many engineers started their budding careers by building one or more kits made by the Heath Company. I certainly did.”
Since this is a ham radio blog, I’d say, “If you came of age in the 1960s or 1970s and then later became radio amateur, chances are you’re more than casually acquainted with Heathkit. Many hams started their budding careers by building one or more kits made by the Heath Company. I certainly did.”
This is a remarkable series based on an interview with Chas Gilmore. Gilmore started as a design engineer at the Heath Company in 1966 and worked at the Heath Company on and off for more than two decades. He eventually became vice president of product development, marketing, and sales.
Antennas 101
Lou Frenzel, W5LEF (SK), was a prolific writer and editor. He was also a ham. Here, he explains antennas in way that we call can understand.
He writes, “Antennas are much more than simple devices connected to every radio. They’re the transducers that convert the voltage from a transmitter into a radio signal. And they pick radio signals out of the air and convert them into a voltage for recovery in a receiver.”
Understanding circular polarization
John Dunn writes, “An electromagnetic wave or signal traveling from “here” to “there” has an electrostatic field component that we call its E-field and whose direction we assign as the signal’s polarity. Often, the E-field is either vertical or horizontal as developed by a dipole structure or a ground plane antenna, but it can also be rotary which means it can be rotating around the signal’s axis of travel. The conventional terminology for that case however is not the word “rotary”, it is the word “circular”. We thus speak of vertical polarization, horizontal polarization, and circular polarization.”
I’m still not sure that I understand circular polarization after reading this article, but take a look for yourself.
Although my father-in-law, Alfonso Ruiz, was born in the United States, he was of Mexican descent, and for a while lived in Guadalajara, where he met and married my mother-in-law. He served as a Seaman Signalman in the U.S. Navy during World War II (the photo at right shows him aboard ship in 1944), and after the war, he and my mother-in-law moved to Detroit. Detroit was booming then. Jobs were plentiful, and his sister already lived here.
The S-52 is a single conversion general coverage receiver, and is the AC-DC marine version of the S-40 First built in 1948, the set covers 4 bands from AM broadcast to 44 MHz. It uses nine tubes, including a plug-in ballast that was selected for either 120 volt or for 240 volt operation. The 1948 price was $99.50 (about $1,000 today).
