[Milsurplus] The Ed Shape KF7RWW ATV gathering project for the communication museum!

[Ray Fantini]

There was a lot of the early ATA, ATH, AFG and later AXT ( Block 1 and 3) television equipment that was surpluses in the fifties and sixties, all of this was equipment that was designed in the early forties for remote pilot weapons like the GB-4 Glide Bomb, operation Aphrodite the remote piloted B-17 flying bombs and TDR assault drones. The CRV-59 image orthicon television camera appears to be the most common of them and the one in the picture. I have owned two at one time or another and still have one of the very unusual tubes in my office. They were ok by nineteen forties standards but by the early fifties not equal to the development that had taken place in the commercial television world. Better tubes like plumblicons and vidicon, improved amplifier response and improvements in sweep systems all had the effect of making those cameras almost useless. The transmitter were never useful for Ham television being that they were all far outside the Armature ATV allocation. Would think that by the sixties B&W surveillance cameras would have been available and far outperform any of that old stuff from back then so that any use of such equipment would have to have been in the fifties and not much after that time. Back in the seventies as a kid I played around with video cameras and ATV and at that time had access to newer and better equipment that was produced commercially and surpluses from the late sixties that preformed way better then the CRV-59 that I had so cannot imagine anyone using one. A good web page for this stuff is at:
http://www.qsl.net/w2vtm/mil_television_history.html
A good resource for this would be the seventies vintage ARRL Specialized Communications Handbook, whole chapter on ATV with how to build a camera, modifying the RCA CMU-15 UHF transmitter for ATV and a lot of other neat stuff from back then. I wore out at least two copies back then. Can't remember what I did with the CMU-15 but still have a couple spare 5894 tubes incase Analog Television comes back. 
RF


-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of COURYHOUSE at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011 6:27 AM
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Milsurplus] The Ed Shape KF7RWW ATV gathering project for the communication museum!

 
A moth ago I got my General class  Amateur Radio License as a  few of you 
know.
 
As A kid could have passed the theory portion in 6th  grade  but was 
totally  Morse code dyslectic... so  I spent my  time  helping other people build 
and fix things...  Time passed and    eons later  well   the  code  
requirement went away  so... I finally got my license. Next month I may take a stab 
at the Extra test  as well.
 
We have always had a display of Amateur  Radio equipment here  at the 
museum ... 1kw  spark transmitter,  Collins KWS1   and  lots of  other  Ham and 
SWL gear and the library is pretty  full too!
 
 
There was one big gap,  with is the ATV display  we are  now building.  
Some of it was already  on  the shelf like CONAR  Cameras and  some of the 
older  CCTV stuff Hams   adapted..
 
Even some nice photo of converted surplus gear such as this one we  bought 
the negatives of.
if anyone has this  rig  we want it!  ( or a  similar  rework)
(PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHER LISTS YOU MIGHT BELONG  TO)
 

W6UZO Amateur Radio Television 
 (http://www.smecc.org/video/am-television1.jpg)  
(http://www.smecc.org/video/w6uzo.jpg)  

Please can you tell us more about this fellow and  his camera? 
Note the 'creative' use of military surplus parts and  cabinetry to build 
this camera..  Kudos to this pioneer! 
WAS MENTIONED THAT THEY WERE TAKEN IN THE WENTSWORTH STORE IN  THE 
WESTCHESTER DISTRICT OF LOS ANGELES 
 (http://www.smecc.org/video/wpe3gm5i8fm5f.gif)  

so... there you have it!  
Looking to  amass a groups of  equipment  that   does a good timeline.... 
looking to add more to the   museum's library... 
BUT!  Also  would be  fin to put  some  of it on the air!  

The  idea has been suggested to me about a museum  active  amateur  
station.... this  might be   fun! 
Any.. read on... drop me a note off list.
 
Ed#
 
 here is  what we are looking  for the  ATV display.
both the physical one in the building and the  online  pages...
-----------------------------------------------
 
we need photos, early catalog issues and magazines.
 
Also:
Posters
coil kits
 
First complete ATV cameras and  tx /rx  equipment.
 
other suggestions welcome!
 
These were be  for a physical display plus an added  section  to the 
reference library we have and also add  material to  the SMECC website.
 
 
Please feel free to forward this  letter to  others with  interest in the 
history of  ATV
 
Thanks,

Ed Sharpe, Archivist for  SMECC 
KF7RWW

See the Museum's Web Site at _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org/) 

We  are always looking for items to add to the museum's display and ref. 
library -  please advise if you have anything we can use.

Coury House /  SMECC
5802 W. Palmaire Ave. Phone 623-435-1522
Glendale Az 85301  USA