[Elecraft] {OT} WW2DEM

[Fred Jensen]

On 1/9/2014 9:52 AM, WILLIS COOKE wrote:
> I did the same for USS Stewart with a TS-440 but they changed
> management and threw me out along with the TS-440.  I think they
> wanted me to modify the TBL to a modern SSB Transceiver or prove that
> TS-440s were used by the US Navy in WW2.

The RMHS out here on the western frontier has a story regarding the 
radio console from a Victory ship that they were going to restore. 
Somewhere during the Vietnam War, some call signs and frequencies had 
been penciled on one of the front panels.  Their first thought was to 
scrub them off and clean up the panel however the museum curators gave a 
firm "No."  The somewhat crude notes were part of the history of the 
console and as far as I know, they remain to this day.  Museum curators 
are very sensitive to things like that.

Modifying a TBL to SSB would be a very interesting project! :-))

   I am pretty sure that even
> the Japanese Navy did not have them in WW2 because Western Electric
> did not invent the transistor until 1948.

Actually, it was Bell Labs ... a team led by William Shockley.  He 
ultimately made his way to what would become Silicon Valley and founded 
Shockley Semiconductor Labs.  The Bell Labs work was primarily 
point-contact semiconductors and Shockley worked more to develop 
junction devices.  Unfortunately, he was a domineering boss with a side 
dish of paranoia, and people found him impossible to work for/with.  At 
one point, a large number of his staff [17 or so if I remember 
correctly] resigned en masse and moved over to what would become 
Fairchild Semiconductor.  All told, engineers and scientists from 
Shockley labs founded well over 50 Silicon Valley companies.

In the latter half of his life, he became exceedingly controversial, 
adhering to theories of eugenics and, as a Nobel Laureate, managed to 
bring a lot of notoriety on himself.  I know all of this because here in 
Auburn CA, we have Shockley Dr., Shockley Ct., and Shockley Cir.  After 
his death and the death of his wife, a final bequest from his estate was 
20+ acres of undeveloped land along Shockley Dr. to our local parks and 
recreation district.  Auburn isn't very big and excitement sort of 
resembles the solar cycle [every 11 years or so :-)] so the bequest 
initiated a civic uproar about accepting the land given his racist views 
since the bequest required that the land be named in his and his wife's 
honor.  The district finally accepted the land, I believe it is recorded 
in their name, and no plaque or monument will ever appear.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014
- www.cqp.org