Thanks to Armand WA1UQO for alerting me to this. I really liked the book — “Crystal Fire” — that this 1999 video is loosely based on. I’m also a fan of the narrator, Ira Flatow, whose melodious voice is heard each week on NPR’s excellent “Science Friday” radio show.
A few observations and thoughts on the video:
— I liked the irreverant Calypso song “Hell’s Bells Laboratory.” It looks like those folks had a lot of fun. And wow, Shockly’s secretary was named Betty Sparks. TRGHS.
— I have the same big Variac on my bench. And I have one of those “third hand” devices.
— I’d like to build my own replica of the point contact device with the triangular piece of lucite and the gold foil.
— While Shockley seems to be the real bad guy in this story (he seems to have all the bad characteristics of David Sarnoff, Lee DeForest, and Steve Jobs), I liked the his use of “physical intuition” to understand devices and the problems they were meant to solve.
— The image of the two Japanese founders of Sony working in the late 1940’s in a bombed out department store was very powerful.
— Although I came on the scence a bit later, I WAS one of those kids who used a transistor radio and an earphone to surreptitiously listen to rock-and-roll music.
— “More transistors are made each year than raindrops fall on California.” Hmmm….
More info here: http://www.pbs.org/transistor/
Extra interviews: http://www.pbs.org/transistor/tv/index.html
Category: California
The Ham-Radio Thermatron Roots of Silicon Valley
Hack-A-Day had an excellent piece on tubes and Silicon Valley this week. Makes me want to get the book “Secret History of Silicon Valley.”
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/02/silicon-valley-was-built-on-tubes-of-glass/
Note above the Klystron prototype mounted on a wooden board. These guys clearly had THE KNACK.
Straight Key Night — Bandscan from WA6ARA (audio)
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| WA6ARA SKN Station |
Mike Herr WA6ARA was on 40 meters with old gear this Straight Key Night. Mike was receiving with a venerable Heath HR10B. One of his favorite QSOs was with Keith W6SIY; Keith was running Conar twins that had the kind of “swing” that stirs up the kind of memories that SKN is all about. FB. Mike made a bandscan recording of what 40 sounded like, and he made another of W6SIY’s beautiful signal.
You can listen by clicking on these links:
http://soldersmoke.com/SKNBANSCAN.mp3
http://soldersmoke.com/SKNQSO.mp3
My own SKN effort was cut short this year by technical difficulties. The HT-37’s relays stopped doing their thing. Probably the relay drive tube going soft. But I did manage to make two great contacts on 40:
WA6URY is in Los Angeles. This was a very timely contact — my wife and I went to see the movie “La La Land” on New Year’s eve — the film features a lot of beautiful LA scenery. Dan was running a kilowatt to a 2 element Yagi on 40. He too owns an HT-37 and a Drake 2B. He was on a straight key “with dirty contacts.” FB Dan, thanks.
And then I worked W1PID! Wow! Jim is well known for his operations from field locations and for his intrepid participation in many of the radio adventures of Michael Rainey AA1TJ. Jim was on the Maine sea coast expedition when Michael was attempting to cross the pond with his voice-powered radio. On SKN Jim was in New Hampshire running 35 watts to a Windom off-center fed dipole. His Morse key is a Kent. TRGHS. Thanks Jim.
Happy New Year!
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