[MRCA] ARC-5 RCA Dayton project

[Ray Fantini]

Age is a big factor. I have a 1938 HRO that still works without issue along with a couple Atwater Kents from 1924 and 1927 and hope to live long enough to be able to operate all these set on there 100th birthday, considering I would be 78 in 2038 going to hope that’s not too lofty a goal. I have a Enfield Mk 3 from the first world war and if I can get all the parts to it together look forward to firing that one day. Somehow my 98K Mauser or Mk4 Enfield from WW2 don’t appear to be old when you take them out in the field although don’t think I would feel the same about shooting something like a 1862 Springfield.
I also collect vintage computers and have a equal size collection of military and commercial computers from the seventies and eighties. Data General Novas, DEC PDP-11 and the like and much of the old stuff is a somewhat risky thing every time you power it up. Lot of the integrated circuits are starting to develop a disease where they grow whiskers or what ever that causes them to short. Much of the older stuff and the military spec stuff hold up better but a lot of the newer stuff has smaller traces and manufactures think nothing today of using LSI devices that may only have one application and when it fails that radio or other device is non recoverable. Read only memories and Programmable read only memories are suspect too although I have not seen one fail myself have been told it happens. Have had memory chips, processors and I/O devices fail but not any ROM yet. On the really old systems starting to get into paper tapes being that can last forever as opposed to magnetic media but somehow have been lucky with disks and the like so far.

Ray F/KA3EKH
________________________________________
From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net <mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Gene Smar <ersmar at verizon.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2017 12:20 PM
To: 'Peter Gottlieb'; mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [MRCA] ARC-5 RCA Dayton project

A couple of weeks ago I bought my third cell phone in 4 years.  I also own a
working BC-611.  FWIW.


73 de
Gene Smar  AD3F



-----Original Message-----
From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Peter Gottlieb
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2017 11:24 AM
To: mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [MRCA] ARC-5 RCA Dayton project

The chances of today's technology working in 80 years is slim to none.  For
basic, long term functionality that old technology is hard to beat.

Peter
kb2vtl