Clear communications were critical to the success of the Allies in World War II. The stability of the Allied transmitters and receivers depended on the performance of tiny quartz crystals. During WWII, the heavy reliance on these crystals spurred on tremendous advances in the manufacturing of dependable crystals. Before the wartime need, the performance of radio crystals was largely inconsistent but there was little need for wireless communications of the wartime magnitude, and wired radios and telephones were the primary communications methods in World War I. But the tactical needs of WWII essentially created the crystal resonator/oscillator industry beginning in Carlisle, PA and spreading all across the country, with hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of workers pressed into service.
Aside from the Manhattan Project, the advances in crystal-oscillator manufacturing represented the second-largest scientific undertaking of WWII. This 41 minute film, produced in 1943 by the Reeves Sound Company, describes the process of quartz crystal manufacturing from start to finish. While the physics of quartz resonance was fairly well understood, the manufacturing methods avaialble were crude by today's standards - highly manual and labor-intense. But given the national emergency, more bodies made up for the inefficiency of the process.
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Visitors to the Elgin National Historic area along the Fox River in Elgin Illinois may not realize they are at the site of a famous shortwave radio station - W9XAM - the time signal station operated by the Elgin Watch Company.Elgin was the only watch company maintaining an observatory that observed, recorded and broadcasted time from the stars correct to the hundredths of a second. Located a... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 05/09/2022
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The Mosley CM-1 receiver is quite well known and not especially hard to find in the US even though it was the only radio produced by the company that has been well-known for antennas since 1939. Or is it...?A full-page ad (advert for you on the other side of the pond) appeared in the RSGB Bulletin in 1963 for a nice looking and very capable SSB transmitter called the "Commando II&... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 04/15/2022
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DIY DEG - Homemade Droplet Energy Generator works!Producing electricity from flowing waterCategory: Technical
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/30/2022
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When I was first licensed in the 1960s in Nebraska, two groups of hams were commonly heard on the air before those with jobs got off work - other teens like me and the disabled hams. Some of my earliest Novice ham buddies were blind students at the Nebraska School for the Blind in Nebraska City, and there were many other visually-impaired hams, all of whom were exceptional operators, e... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/21/2022
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Old style mica capacitors were used in the pi-net matching sections of several vintage transmitters and the combination of age, heat, and high RF currents have made them likely failure items. My Collins 32V-2 transmitter was to the point where it would not properly load to full power on 75 meters so something had to be done. Mica capacitors are no longer made but fortunately new... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/19/2022
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I found myself wanting to convert various frequencies to other frequencies and wanted a cheap and easy solution, so I designed a simple "universal converter" using the NE-602 and a programmable oscillator from Epson. I'd used the same combination in hundreds of "RANVerter" SDR Upconverter projects since my Dec. 2013 QST article and knew that while there were limitatio... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/17/2022
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It's always a challenge to hold PC boards during assemly and testing. After purchasing a magnetic holder from Amazon I realized I wanted more and could easily make as many as I wanted using inexpensive 3 mm hardware from eBay and some strong "fridge magnets". All that's needed is to epoxy a standoff to the magnet - both tapped and threaded ... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/09/2022
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The Si5351 has been the biggest boon to homebrewers since the invention of the NE-602, especially now that quartz crystals are essentially obsolete. But it's redundant to run the output of the 5351 through a johnson counter to develop the quadrature signals required for QSD/QSE SDR front-ends when there are three clock outputs available and the IC allows for phase offsets. &nb... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/09/2022
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It's pretty well accepted that the Pacemaker was not EF Johnson's finest effort. In fact it was the first of several failed attempts by the King of the AM Transmitters to make the transition to SSB. In the end, it was the rise of CB popularity that kept the company viable, along with its component business, while their ham business gradually faced away. &... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 03/03/2022
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LTC William L. Howard amassed a collection and in fact realized his dream of creating a museum that showcased the Army's technical intelligence operations - and a lot more. The following excerpt was written by Col. Howard and Todd KA1KAQ:William L HowardI first got interested in radio while a Cub Scout back in 1954. I built the crystal radio set and the one tube set with help from an ama... READ MORE
- Robert Nickels (ranickels), 02/18/2022
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