[MRCA] Seventies Technology

Fri May 23 09:35:59 EDT 2014

What you are "personally disgusted" with, is probably the reason you came to
the USA from Canada, and, are still here - money. 

I have been continuously working in the electronics field for over 50 years,
and, am still at it. I saw a lot of amazing things come to pass.  I recall
discussing LEDs in solid state physics class, and before you know it, we are
getting samples at work. Then LCDs. First they were real slow, but, they
improved quickly. The biggest thing for me was digital signal processing. Of
course we did not call it that back then, but, to be able to implement an
analog transfer function digitally was just amazing. First using serial
arithmetic, then, with nightmares, going to parallel. Now all that stuff is
on a single chip so small I can no longer see it. Then in the 90's came
MEMS. Just fascinating, and it continues to be, at least for me. - Mike 

Mike B. Feher, N4FS
89 Arnold Blvd.
Howell, NJ, 07731
732-886-5960 

-----Original Message-----
From: MRCA [mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of J. Forster
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 9:12 AM
To: Rob Flory
Cc: mrca
Subject: Re: [MRCA] Seventies Technology

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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