[MRCA] Seventies Technology

Fri May 23 17:21:45 EDT 2014

I agree with your sentiments, except "demand for rare earth metals".

China is already buying scrap electronics. I'd bet it is easier to extract
the rare earths from old electronics than to mine it, especially if there
is no EPA or OSHA and labor is nearly free.

-John

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

> I've been an electronics tech since high school and am disgusted by the
> throw away engineering mentality we see today. It is coming around to bite
> us in the butt when demand for rare earth metals outstrips supply and the
> ever increasing pile of recently made electronic devices thrown away
> because a widget in them failed and isn't available on purpose. That's why
> I have always liked military hardware where it's repairable in the field.
> My M-37 and GRC-106 is testament to the great engineering this country is
> capable of. Too bad HP is now run by marketing instead of engineers like
> it
> used to be...
> 73
> De KA1LHZ
> Steve
>
>
> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 9:12 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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