[MRCA] Seventies Technology

[Rob Flory]

Planned obsolescence is almost a century old.

RF


On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 6:12 AM, J. Forster <jfor at quikus.com> wrote:

> IMO, the equipment "was built with the intention that it last", but rather
> it was NOT built NOT to last.
>
> Viz. In some iPods the batteries could not be repleced.
>
> The paradeigm of 'build it cheap. It'll last until it's obsolete in 6
> months" had not yet reached the TE areas.
>
> Personally, I am disgusted with the new feature de jour of cell phones.
>
> YMMV,
>
> -John
>
> ==================
>
>
>
> > John wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > *The 1970s & 1980s were pretty much the Golden Age of electronics. By
> this
> > I mean the instruments had reached a level of complexity to be really
> > useful, but not progressed so far as to be unrepairable, because of ASIC.
> > Stuff was built to last.*
> >
> > You are right about those instruments,  John.  The computers and
> counters,
> > and clocks that my grandfather built in the 1940s with vacuum tubes were
> > VERY clunky, though they provided lots of new capabilities.
> >
> > I don't know that a lot of this stuff was built with the intention that
> it
> > last, but a lot of it has.
> >
> > One of the reasons I chose(at the end of the 80s) not to pursue the
> > science
> > and engineering field as a career was a feeling that all the really cool
> > science had been done and all the really cool inventions had been made.
> > *    When the projection TV monitors based on mirrors that flex on pivots
> > close to the atomic level in scale, I realized I had been mistaken and it
> > was a lack of imagination on my part.
> >
> > *  I was also observing the disturbing increase in the hiring of fresh
> > engineers as "consultants" so that they could be more easily discarded,
> > and
> > my father had recently been burned during the takeover of RCA by GE.
> >
> > RF
> >
> >
> > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 5:46 AM, J. Forster <jfor at quikus.com> wrote:
> >
> >> The 1970s & 1980s were pretty much the Golden Age of electronics. By
> >> this
> >> I mean the instruments had reached a level of complexity to be really
> >> useful, but not progressed so far as to be unrepairable, because of
> >> ASIC.
> >> Stuff was built to last.
> >>
> >> Just look at the instruments from that era still in service.
> >>
> >> Also, if you think about it, most of the needed features existed by
> >> then:
> >>
> >> Very capable, easy to use, stable 'scopes were common.
> >> SAs had YIG preselectors and Storage Normalizers.
> >> VNAs existed and had normallizing fearures.
> >> Synthesized generators were available.
> >> Practical sampling and TDRs were available.
> >> Many instruments had GPIB
> >> Most gear was solid state, so little routine maintenance/cal.
> >>
> >>
> >> Some of these instruments were truly revolutionary. Most all since have
> >> been merely improvements on that stuff.
> >>
> >> YMMV,
> >>
> >> -John
> >>
> >> =================
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> > The Voyagers also lasted quite a while, and of course all these WWII
> >> > radios
> >> > that just keep on going are impressive.
> >> >
> >> > A piece of gear I worked with that was way beyond its design life was
> >> the
> >> > 300-foot radio telescope at Green Bank, WV which was built to do a 1-2
> >> > year
> >> > survey of the sky.  .  It was less than 2 years from concept to
> >> completion
> >> > but did world-class science for 26 years before it collapsed in 1988,
> >> only
> >> > a few years after I was messing with it.  (I didn't do it, honest!  I
> >> was
> >> > working on feedpoint antennas, not structural stuff)
> >> >
> >> > For milsurplus tie-in, see another long-lived telescope at Green Bank,
> >> run
> >> > by the Navy, which contributes to measuring what a day is.  The
> >> original
> >> > dishes were built from kits around the same time as the 300-foot.
> >> >
> >> > https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/historic/green-bank-interferometer
> .
> >> >
> >> > RF
> >> >
> >> > Ray wrote:
> >> > Back in 1978 NASA did the ISEE-3 program to study charged particles
> >> and
> >> > the
> >> > effects of solar wind and later used the satellite to do fly by
> >> Halley's
> >> > Comet in 86 and finally study Coronal ejections with the program being
> >> > shut
> >> > down in 1997, apparently the satellites final orbit will bring it back
> >> > around the earth later this year and NASA is allowing a private group,
> >> the
> >> > ISEE-3 Reboot Project to attempt to control the satellite, NASA has no
> >> > funding or interest apparently. It's amazing to see that something
> >> built
> >> > that long ago and subject to the worst environmental conditions
> >> imaginable
> >> > may  still be capable of operation, downlink of the main transmitter
> >> has
> >> > been detected so some systems must still be operational.
> >> > You can see more about this at:   http://spacecollege.org/
> >> >
> >> > Ray F/KA3EKH
> >> > ______________________________________________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >
>
>
>
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