Mistakes of 150 Years Ago

This year the Reading Radio Club will celebrate 100 years in existence and affiliation with ARRL. However, the work of individuals who were not afraid of trying something new 150 years ago paved the way for the technology we have today. "A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new." Albert Einstein .

Names such as David Hughes, Heinrich Hertz, Nikola Tesla, and Alexander Popov all contributed in their own way to the development of components and theory involved in present day ham radio. I am sure they made their share of mistakes and experienced countless failures.
But they all persevered to try a new thing. Are you still using a Spark gap to send? How about a crystal set for your receiver? Do you even know what they are? You have been to a hamfest and maybe you even saw things people call "Boat Anchors." Have you ever had to replace an Acorn Tube in one? The early radios did not have any capacitors, tubes, transistors or integrated circuits to go bad. But you did need hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, and skills such as those of a mechanic, pipe fitter, electrician, sheet metal worker and tower installer (to name some) to build or maintain those radios.

This was due to a major improvement over the spark gap transmitter for High Frequency (HF) transmission. That improvement in 1904 was the Alexanderson Alternator. Of the 20 that were constructed, number 16 is still operational in Grimeton, Sweden. Improvements continued and in the 1920's, Sir John Ambrose Fleming and Lee de Forest developed the vacuum tube diode and triode, ushering in the advent of the 60-pound "Boat Anchors."

From November 17, 1947, to December 23, 1947, John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain at AT&T's Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, performed experiments and observed that when two gold point contacts were applied to a crystal of germanium, a signal was produced with the output power greater than the input. The transistor was born. The radio transceiver followed with units that can be carried by one person and fit in one hand. Most possess the capabilities of several racks of units.

Radios are no longer pieces of hardware, but are a combination of both hardware and software. They can be controlled via a computer program and allow users to communicate with signals that the human ear cannot even detect. Mistakes went into all this development, but that is what allows improvement and innovative ideas.
Have fun making mistakes and see what you can accomplish!
Joe, AC3DI