[MRCA] Seventies Technology

Fri May 23 10:03:41 EDT 2014

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

Not at all. I'm pretty much disinterested in money. My needs are very modest.

Yes, LEDs were a breakthrough in the mid 1960s, as were ICs which I first
saw in about 1964. By 1967, I was using DTL in spacecraft payloads.

But since the 1970s - 1980s I still believe that the developments have
been evolutionary.

Smaller, lighter, and faster are not 'breakthroughs', IMO.

YMMV,

-John

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

> 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
>>> > ______________________________________________________________
>>> > 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
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
>
>