[MRCA] Seventies Technology

[J. Forster]

Yes, but it didn't really take of until the post-WWII era, when plastic
use became more common (and cheaper to make).

-John

======================


> 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
>> >> > ______________________________________________________________
>> >> > MRCA mailing list
>> >> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/mrca
>> >> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> >> > Post: mailto:MRCA at mailman.qth.net
>> >> >
>> >> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> >> > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>