Having said that, I like this video because W0QE is an engineer and he brings that experience to this video. He talks my language. He points out some of the shortcomings of the unit he bought (and nanoVNAs in general), but overall thinks they are worthwhile tools.
This is a good look at one of our most basic operating practices.
This is an amusing look back on ham radio in the 1970s.
This was originally published on the National Institute of Science and Technology’s blog, Taking Measure.
NIST’s Role in the Early Decades of Radio (1911-1933)Even if you weren’t able to watch the recent Super Bowl on TV, you could still listen to the play-by-play commentary on the radio. But radio does more than just broadcasting sporting events or playing music. It plays a major role in emergency response, navigation and science.
The word “radio,” however, didn’t become part of our regular vocabulary until 1911, and it happened thanks in part to J. Howard Dellinger, a radio scientist at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), the agency that became the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This came about when the second International Radiotelegraph Conference was being planned in London, and a professor sent Dellinger a paper that he was going to present to the conference for review.
At the time, “wireless” was used as the term for radio communication, especially by the British. However, NIST was charged with revising standards in preparation for the conference, and Dellinger suggested that the professor use “radio,” which was already becoming a popular word in the U.S., instead of “wireless.” The professor agreed, and the word “radio” went on to become the universally accepted term.
Dellinger not only played a role in popularizing the word “radio,” but he also played a role in the first radio work done at NIST. A commercial company asked NIST to calibrate a wavemeter, a device developed by one of its engineers that measures electromagnetic waves like those of radio. Dellinger was known as the wireless expert and took on the project of calibrating the first radio instrument at NIST.
But for radio to become mainstream, it first had to be commercialized, which began with its introduction into households. However, the challenge was building a radio set that used the electrical current, called alternating current (AC), which powered lights, fans and kitchen appliances when plugged into wall sockets. The predecessor to this technology was developed and patented by two researchers, Percival D. Lowell and Francis W. Dunmore, at NBS in 1922. They called their invention the “mousetrap.”
The “mousetrap” was a receiver for a radio amplifier that could run on AC. This was considered a breakthrough because at that time radios were only able to be powered by direct current (DC) provided by batteries. These batteries were bulky and heavy, had to be charged from time to time and were considered dangerous because of the acid used in them. The researchers’ prototype meant the radio could be used in homes without causing damage and with the same performance quality.
Lowell and Dunmore filed two more patents together for other innovations, and for the “mousetrap” they sold the rights to the Dubilier Condenser Corporation. Little did they know that, because there was no uniform policy on patents issued to government employees, their actions would result in more than a decade of litigation over who legally had the rights to the patent.
While they were tied up in court, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) developed its own model of the AC radio in 1926. Its model later became the first AC-powered radio sold to consumers.
During the early years of flight navigation, NIST was doing research to assist pilots while they were flying and landing. Pilots needed three things to get their bearings when flying “blind,” meaning it’s foggy, too dark or too cloudy to see. They needed to know the longitudinal position, altitude and speed of the aircraft, which were all achieved by various beacons installed in the plane. The remaining issue was that there were two frequencies the pilot constantly had to switch between the frequency that the Department of Commerce used to send weather information to planes and ships, which sometimes caused interference for pilots, and the frequency the radio beacon operated on, which gave altitude and other information.
Dunmore created a prototype, but Harry Diamond, a radio engineer who joined NIST in 1927, completed the device, called the radio guidance system. Diamond solved the problem by developing a separate device that allowed for voice communication to the pilot without receiving any outside interference from ships’ radios.
A Curtiss Fledgling, a trainer aircraft developed for the U.S. Navy, was equipped with the device, and flight tests were performed between NIST’s experimental air station at College Park, Maryland, and Newark Airport in New Jersey in foggy weather. After a series of successful tests were performed, the device was turned over to be used by the Department of Commerce in 1933.
While mostly intended for serious users, some of NIST’s journals and publications were popular with the public. One such book, titled The Principles Underlying Radio Communication, covered topics such as elementary electricity, radio circuits and electromagnetic waves and was also published as a textbook for soldiers in the U.S. Army. The famous inventor Thomas Edison received a copy from NIST and wrote a letter thanking the first director, Samuel W. Stratton, for publishing it, saying it was “the greatest book on this subject that I have ever read.”
As these and other examples show, NIST had a significant influence on radio research between 1911 and 1933. However, NIST’s radio work didn’t end with the first blind landing. NIST would continue to contribute to the field leading up to and during World War II, and research continues to this day in areas such as 5G, public safety communications and spectrum sharing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Boss is a general assignment writer in the NIST Public Affairs Office and covers standard reference materials (SRM). She has a B.S. in biology from Rhodes College and an M.A. in health and…
“Ham radio operators have volunteered to keep our community safe for a very long time,” said Amy Ellison, exhibition curator.
Admission is free. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
For more information, visit losaltoshistory.org.
FRAMINGHAM – Attorney Fred Hopengarten literally wrote the book on how to get a personal radio tower approved by your local government.
It’s called: “Antenna Zoning for the Radio Amateur: Everything you and your attorney need to know to obtain a permit for your antenna-support system.”
Prospect Street resident and licensed ham radio operator Mikhail Filippov hired Hopengarten to help him convince the Zoning Board of Appeals to reject a challenge by a large group of neighbors who say the 80-foot radio tower Filippov wants to build in his yard is unsafe and will destroy the woodsy area’s charm.
The radio tower would allow Filippov, as an amateur “ham” radio operator, to communicate with other operators around the world without the internet.
Fred Schelong is one of several neighbors who strongly oppose the tower. Schelong said he and his wife bought their home on Prospect Street 56 years ago, and have always viewed their property as “our private oasis.”
In 1978, John David was surprised to discover — upon calling his parents in Hamilton, Ont. from the Golan Heights — that a five-minute conversation cost $20, a hefty chunk of change for a soldier making roughly $300 a month.
This morning’s Electronics Design TODAY has an interesting link to a Lou Frenzel (W5LEF) article, “Who Really Did Invent the Transistor?” He had previoiusly report on the 70th anniversary of the invention of the transistor, noting:
The various historical records say that the transistor was invented Dec. 23, 1947 at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories by scientists William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain. On that day, they demonstrated transistor amplification with a point contact transistor.
What I should have said was that Bardeen and Brattain did indeed invent the first transistor, a point contact type. However, Shockley was not included in that patent. Later, in 1948, Shockley developed the first bipolar transistor. In 1956, Shockley moved to California and established Shockley Semiconductor, one of the first, if not the first, semiconductor company in what we now know as Silicon Valley. And the rest is history, as they say. More details can be found in Shockley’s definitive biography Broken Genius by Joel Shurkin.
There are some other musings about other events in the history of electronics that are interesting to read.
Hams sometimes say that amateur radio was the original Internet. In the latest episode of The Secret History of the Future Podcast, New media, old story—the progress of radio, Tom Standage of The Economist and Seth Stevenson of Slate attempt to make that comparison. The blurb reads:
Radio was originally a social medium, as early radio sets (each of which could transmit as well as receive) turned cities into giant chatrooms, populated by Morse Code-tapping enthusiasts. But the excitement of this democratic, digital platform did not last, and radio was tamed by corporate interests in the 1920s. The utopian dream of platforms that are open and meritocratic has been reborn in the internet era in the form of blogging, and more recently podcasting. But can it ever come true?
It’s not really an in-depth study, but it does make an interesting comparison between the early days of radio and the early days of the Internet. I think that one of the things that the podcast misses or de-emphasizes is that ham radio really morphed into something of its own. It didn’t just morph into broadcasting. By the same token, the Internet didn’t just morph into an evil, completely ad-driven medium.
In this episode, they interview Dr. Susan Douglas, who is the Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Communication and Media here in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. One of the books she’s written is titled, Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination. I’m planning on inviting her to speak to our amateur radio club.
This has been making the rounds lately. It comes from the October 1920 QST. It really is true. There is nothing new under the sun…
Here in the U.S., we laud the amateur radio operators that helped out with the effort to win World War II. The U.S. was not, however, the only country where hams contributed to the war effort. As described in a very interesting article on The Conversation yesterday, hams also contributed to the German war effort.
One of the ways that the German leaders hoped that ham radio could help the war effort is by spreading Nazi propaganda around the world. This backfired, though, as hams are generally more interested in talking about technology than politics.
They did, however, help the Nazis secretly rebuild their military. Communications was critical and amateur radio operators, who could maintain radio equipment and send and receive Morse Code at high speed were recruited by the armed forces, the intelligence services and the communications service of the diplomatic corps. In order to disguise the fact that Germany was building up its military, the new radiomen were said to be just hams.
To this day, our own regulations have a section that one might interpret as a recognition of the usefulness of amateur radio in wartime. One of the purposes of amateur radio is detailed on Part 97.1 (d). It reads, “Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.” Trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts certainly have value in peaceful times, but World War II might have turned out differently had we not had so many hams here in the U.S.
At some point while teaching my latest one-day Tech class, I happened to mention that I’m Slovak-American. That is to say that my great-grandparents emigrated to the U.S. from the region now known as Slovakia. They came to the U.S. early in the 20th century to work the mines in SE Ohio.
At the lunch break, one of the fellows attending the class came up to me, and with a definite Eastern European accent, introduced himself. Jozef, as it turns out, was born in Slovakia. He was already licensed (KD8SAH), but he was there with his teenage son, who was hoping to get his license. (He did.)
First, Jozef asked if I knew about Ss. Cyril & Methodius Slovak Catholic Church (I did). Then, he asked if I knew about Fr. Jozef Murgas, who, he said, was an inventor in the early days of radio. I had heard the name Murgas, but didn’t really know what he was famous for. Jozef promised to send me some links.
A couple of days later, I received an email from Jozef with a couple of links. Murgas’s story, as it turns out, is quite interesting. His big claim to fame is that he invented (and patented –U.S. Patent 759,826, “Method of Communicating Intelligence by Wireless Telegraphy,” May 10, 1904.), a method for sending multiple tones via spark-gap telegraphy. The theory was that sending multiple tones would be more efficient than conventional telegraphy. One tone would be a dit in conventional telegraphy, while the second tone would be a dah. But, because the second tone needed to last only as long as the dit, more information could be sent in a given time. It was also thought that it would be easier to distinguish between tones of different frequencies than to distinguish between a short tone and a long tone of the same frequency.
He was granted a U.S. patent because, at this point, he was living in the United States. He had emigrated to the U.S. in 1896, and was pastor of the Sacred Heart Slovak Church in Wilkes-Barre, PA. There, he found a couple of investors, and they formed the Universal Aether Telegraph Company. The company built several antenna towers and successfully demonstrated the system, but an unfortunate series of events, including the death of one of the investors, and a storm which destroyed one of the antenna towers, caused the company to fold.
All told, he was granted more than a dozen patents, including one for a unique way to build an antenna – U.S. Patent 860,051, “Constructing Antennas for Wireless Telegraphy,” July 16, 1907. He was also granted a patent for a fishing rod reel.
Murgas was much more than an inventor. In addition to his work as a priest, he was involved in the Slovak independence movement and collected butterflies. He amassed a collection of more than 9,000 butterflies before he died.
His memory lives on in the guise of the Murgas Amateur Radio Club, of Wilkes-Barre, PA. Their QSL card, shown below, contains a photograph of the towers constructed behind the church to support his radio experiments. (I guess there were no onerous homeowners association agreements back then.) They seem like a very active group.
Before leaving, Jozef invited me to the Slovak festival at Ss. Cyril and Methodius. It takes place on Friday, August 26, from 6 – 11 pm, Saturday, August 26, from 1 pm – 11 pm, and Sunday, August 27, from noon – 9 pm. I’ll also extend that invitation to you. If you go, let me know, and I’ll meet you there. We’ll drink some Slovak beer and eat some klobasa (sausage) and holubky (stuffed cabbage).
The 1/26 issue of the ARRL Letter reports:
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports relating to Amateur Radio in the former Soviet Union (including the Baltic States) and Warsaw Pact countries are among documents declassified to a new searchable online database, the CIA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic Reading Room. Documents cover translations and assessments of Amateur Radio clubs; training; monitoring Sputniks; technology and equipment; QSL cards, and ruminations on a plan to monitor US ham radio transmissions for activities “of interest” to the intelligence community. Searches on “Amateur Radio” or “ham radio” will yield multiple documents, some heavily redacted.
Many of them are simply translations of articles from Eastern Bloc magazines. For example, I found a translation of an article from Radio magazine (No. 5, 1950) written by Col. Gen. V. I. Kuznetzov titled, “Radio Amateurism Should be Encouraged in Every Way.” In it, Kuznetzov writes, “Undoubtedly, the success of radio amateurs in short-wave amateur activity, set building, radiofication of villages, etc., would be considerably greater if the Dosarm committees and organizations gave more encouragement to the development of radio amateurism.” Dosarm, as far as I can tell, is some kind of volunteer society whose purpose is to support the military.
What’s striking is that Kuznetzov, who was a decorated Hero of the Soviet Union, saw the very real benefits of amateur radio and having a population trained in radio techniques. He concludes his article with, “Complete development of radio amateurism is one of the most important tasks of the Dosarm in reinforcing the economic and defensive strength of the soviet state.”
Now, where can we find a present-day Kuznetsov here in the U.S. to be our champion?
Homage to first shortwave trans-Atlantic radio broadcast. Members of the Radio Society of Great Britain took part at the North Ayrshire coastal town on Sunday. They exchanged broadcasts with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Club of America in Connecticut. The groups said the first transmission helped pioneer global communications.
DIY space explorer gleans dramatic pictures from GoPro balloon rig. Wayne, N5WIN, writes, “I am a regular reader of you blog and was wondering if you happened to read this story. Jacob, N5WON, is my son and this was a great little project that is getting a lot of attention. I, N5WIN, drove chase for this and it really was a lot of fun. There is some great background behind it all and I believe these kinds of stories help attract a new generation of amateur radio operators. He resurrected the Baylor Amateur Radio Club when he started school there in 2013 and I told him at the time he had to do cool and fun stuff to get the current generation away from smart phones to something as “archaic” as amateur radio. This is just the thing and since he is graduating in May hopefully this will light a spark to carry the club on.
Elders who use tech tools feel less lonely, more physically fit, Stanford study finds. Ham radio operator Rudy Bahr, 93, of Mountain View uses a computer program that, in an earthquake or other crisis, can communicate radio messages directly to emergency operation centers, hospitals and other critical facilities. Created by the volunteer-run Southern Peninsula Emergency Communications System, it offers a direct connection that is more reliable than traditional email or cell services.
