Artie Moore and the Titanic

I had never heard of Artie Moore, but his is a very interesting story from the earliest days of radio. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artie_Moore

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118053768802799

"The Electrical Experimenter" -- A Treasure Trove of Inspiration

Oh this is really phenomenal.  Nick "the Vic"  M0NTV is on the mend from some routine surgery.  While mending he found this 1915 issue of Hugo Gernsback's "The Electrical Experimenter."  I just spent a few minutes quickly going through it and I can see that this is a treasure trove that could keep us -- the modern day electrical experimenters -- busy for a long time.  

-- We see Signor Marconi in Italian military uniform (I never saw that before).  

-- There is mention of successful DX reception of the station in Arlington Va. (just down the road from me).  

-- There is a an article about the radio station of T.O.M -- Hiram Percy Maxim.  

-- There are detailed maps of Mars, complete with the canals. 

And there is a lot more.  

Above all, I think what stands out from this magazine is the homebrew spirit,  the notion that we can and should build our rigs ourselves, and seek to understand them. 

Below is the whole magazine.  Please take a look and use the comment section below to point us to passages of interest to the electrical experimenters of today.  

Thanks Nick.  Your e-mail came during a discouraging period filled with a few "tales of woe."  The magazine really lifted my spirits.  

Here it is: 

http://soldersmoke.com/EE-1915-10.pdf 

Did Marconi Cross the Atlantic with a Coherer? No.

Jagadish Chandra Bose

A while back I posted the re-mastered version of the excellent "Secret Live of Machines" episode  on radio.  Among other amazing things, Tim and Rex build a spark radio transmitter and a receiver that uses a coherer and a tapper.  They even set up a demonstration and sent signals from the pier to the shore.  Very cool.  

I shared this with George WB5OYP of the Vienna Wireless Society because he had been looking carefully at the gear that Marconi allegedly used to make that first transatlantic contact.  George wondered if Marconi could have really done this with a coherer as his detector; he was -- for good reason -- skeptical.  Could a glass tube filled with metal filings really detect radio waves sent from across the mighty Atlantic?  

Marconi claimed that he did it with a coherer as the detector: 

On December 12, 1901, Marconi attempted to send the first radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean, in spite of predictions that the radio waves would be lost as the earth curved over that long distance. He set up a specially designed wireless receiver in Newfoundland, Canada, using a coherer (a glass tube filled with iron filings) to conduct radio waves, and balloons to lift the antenna as high as possible. The signals were sent in Morse code from Poldhu, Cornwall, in England. Marconi later wrote about the experience:

"Shortly before midday I placed the single earphone to my ear and started listening. The receiver on the table before me was very crude -- a few coils and condensers and a coherer -- no valves, no amplifiers, not even a crystal. But I was at last on the point of putting the correctness of all my beliefs to test. The answer came at 12: 30 when I heard, faintly but distinctly, pip-pip-pip. I handed the phone to Kemp: "Can you hear anything?" I asked. "Yes," he said. "The letter S." He could hear it. I knew then that all my anticipations had been justified. The electric waves sent out into space from Poldhu had traversed the Atlantic -- the distance, enormous as it seemed then, of 1,700 miles -- unimpeded by the curvature of the earth. The result meant much more to me than the mere successful realization of an experiment. As Sir Oliver Lodge has stated, it was an epoch in history. I now felt for the first time absolutely certain that the day would come when mankind would be able to send messages without wires not only across the Atlantic but between the farthermost ends of the earth."

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt01ma.html

-------------------------------------

I mentioned this in SolderSmoke Podcast #242.  This resulted in a very interesting message from Steve AB4I: 

The reason that I am writing is to comment on the coherer and Marconi's transatlantic test. One of my research interests in my doctoral studies was the development and evolution of early radio detectors.  Marconi did not use a coherer for the successful transatlantic tests, but secretly used a detector and telephone receiver that had been invented by the Indian polymath Jagadish Chandra Bose of Calcutta.  Bose's iron-mercury-iron detector was sensitive to a wide range of wavelengths and he used the detector in his 60-GHz millimeter wave and experiments. Bose presented his results to the Royal Society in London in 1899 and his paper was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society the same year.  Marconi came by the mysterious mercury coherer detector through a friend in the Italian Navy who constructed the device from Bose's paper in the Proceedings in an effort to improve the performance of the Marconi equipment aboard . The Bose detector was superior to anything that Marconi had and was key to the success of the transatlantic tests and for Marconi's subsequent successes. Marconi then filed a patent for the detector in his own name in 1902, even though it was not his invention.  

A lot of nasty business went on in the early days of wireless. The scandal around the "Italian Navy coherer" raged for years, but eventually the role of Bose was revealed. The popular view of Marconi as radio inventor extraordinaire is idealistic, because he did not actually invent anything, but he was very good at dragging laboratory hardware into the real world to serve practical ends.  In every case, crucial parts of Marconi's patents were stolen or copied from other sources and successfully defended through aggressive litigation, deep financial backing, and extensive public relations through advertising and newspaper interviews. Marconi absolutely deserves recognition for his successes in the development of practical wireless communications although he is not noted for his ethics. Marconi's reputation is a bit tarnished nowadays, but that of Jagadish Chandra Bose has blossomed and he is now acknowledged for his epochal work that was fully a half-century before his time.

As for the coherer, we still do not have a full understanding of how the thing actually works.  The cohesion effect of small particles clumping together in the presence of a static charge has been known from antiquity as evidenced by dust bunnies under beds through the ages. There were coherer-like lightning arrestors used on telegraph lines just after the American Civil War and in 1879 David Hughes found that a carbon microphone with loose contacts could detect arcing in nearby equipment and from considerable distances too.  He was told that the phenomenon was nothing new and he just missed the discovery of radio waves.  Thanks to some monumentally bad advice we now speak of Hertzian Waves instead of Hughian Waves.  Branly made a detailed study of resistance changes in metal particles and is generally acknowledged as the inventor of the coherer detector. Oliver Lodge coined the name 'coherer' and demonstrated the detection of Hertzian waves in 1894 a few months after Hertz's death.  Lodge wrote a tribute to Hertz, which was to inspire the young Marconi to begin his own experiments with Hertzian waves.

--------------------------------

Hack-A-Day looked at all this back in 2016:  

https://hackaday.com/2016/01/19/j-c-bose-and-the-invention-of-radio/

Here are the key passages:  One improvement invented by Bose in 1899 was the iron-mercury-iron coherer, with a pool of mercury in a small metal cup. A film of insulating oil covered the mercury, and an iron disc penetrated the oil but did not make contact with the liquid mercury. RF energy would break down the insulating oil and conduct, with the advantage of not needing a decoherer to reset the system.

Bose’s improved coherer design would miraculously appear in Marconi’s transatlantic wireless receiver two years later. The circumstances are somewhat shady – Marconi’s story about how he came up with the design varied over time, and there were reports that Bose’s circuit designs were stolen from a London hotel room while he was presenting his work. In any case, Bose was not interested in commercializing his invention, which Marconi would go on to patent himself.

---------------------------------------

Here is a lot more background on Dr. Bose: 

http://www.cse.iitm.ac.in/~murthy/sirjcbose.pdf

----------------------------

I think the more we learn about Marconi, the less admirable he seems. 

Tim Hunkin's "The Radio Set" Drawing, and The Secret Life of the Radio (Remastered)

 

Click on the image for a better view. Click here for the whole drawing: 

https://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/secret_life_of_the_radio_set.shtml

I really liked this, and there is a lot more like it on the site of Tim Hunkin, the fellow who made all the great Secret Life of Machines shows.  His site: https://www.secretlifeofmachines.com/index.shtml

They remastered the show about radios.  It is worth watching: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMxate9gegg

Thanks Tim! 

Marconi the Fascist

For obvious reasons Marconi stories pop up in my news feeds.  This morning an article  from Wales reminded me of a very dark and disheartening aspect of Marconi's life:  his fascism and his participation in the persecution of Jews. 

There have been at least 14 stories in SolderSmoke extolling the technological virtues of Marconi.  I even met his daughter Elettra while in Rome and wrote it up for the blog.  But it is just wrong to sing Marconi's praises while ignoring his fascist involvement. 

His fascism wasn't even separated from his radio work.  He won fascist honors and he won his appointment to Mussolini's  Academy of Italy  because of his radio work.   Take a look at this quote: 

He became President of Mussolini's Academy of Italy -- and it was in that position that he participated in the persecution of Jews.  He was a member of the Fascist Grand Council.

If you have doubts about this, just take a look at the short clip (above) from Marconi's 1937 funeral procession.  Note the fascist salutes, note Mussolini himself marching in the procession. 

The article from Wales: 

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/south-wales-echo/20220527/281590949186995

More background here: 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/19/physicalsciences.humanities

SolderSmoke Podcast #233: PIMP, Boatanchors, Novices, MMM, Heathkits, DC Receivers, Mailbag

SolderSmoke Podcast #233 is available. 

http://soldersmoke.com/soldersmoke233.mp3

Travelogue: Cape Cod. SST. Marconi Site.

The WFSRA:   The World Friendship Society of Radio Amateurs.

Pete's Bench:

The Pimp.
The NCX rig.
The Collins.
The many DC receivers built worldwide.
The parts shortages are real! Several key radios on hold. Si5351 sub.
Talk to G-QRP convention

Bill's Bench:

FT-8. Not for me. I tried it.
Novice Station Rebuild.
Globe V-10 VFO Deluxe.
Selenium rectifier removal CONTROVERSY?
Not crazy about my Novice station. Not crazy about CW. 
Mate for the Mighty Midget. Again. 
Mike W6MAB -- Detector problems LTSPICE Check
One more mod for MMM RX. Ceramic filter at 455.
Dropped screw inside tubular cap on Millen 61455 transformer. 
Talk to the Vienna Wireless Society
Thinking of a Moxon or a Hex beam.


BOOK REVIEW Chuck Penson WA7ZZE New Heathkit Book. http://wa7zze.com

Mailbag

-- New SPRAT is out! Hooray!
-- Todd K7TFC sent me copy of Shopcraft as Soulcraft. FB.
-- Dean KK4DAS building an EI9GQ 16 W amp. FB.
-- Jack NG2E Getting close on Pete's DC receiver.
-- JF1OZL's website is BACK!
-- Tony K3DY sent link to cool books. 
-- Sheldon VK2XZS thinking of building a phasing receiver.
-- Peter VK2EMU has joined the WFSRA. FB!
-- Ned KH7JJ from Honolulu spotted the Sideband Myth in the AWA video.
-- Chris M0LGX looking at the ET-2, asks about the variometer.
-- Pete Eaton Nov 64 anti HB rant in november 1964 QST. Wow.
-- Josh Lambert Hurley spreading FMLA stickers in the UK. FB
-- Stephen VE6STA getting ready to melt solder.
-- Got a great picture of Rogier PA1ZZ back on Bonaire.
-- Farhan reading the manual of Hans's new digital rig.
-- Paul G0OER wonders if FMLA getting ready to move on 5 meters.

Remastered! The Secret Life of Radio -- With Updated Comments from Tim Hunkin

Thanks to Stephen 2E0FXZ for alerting us to this important video. 

We first posted about the original many years ago.  We were delighted to learn that they have remastered the video and added 10 minutes of retrospective commentary from Tim Hunkin.  

Here are some of my reactions after watching the updated version:

-- The Marconi videos were amazing.   I actually met Elettra at a diplomatic reception in Rome.  

-- I was pleased to learn that Marconi was trying to "call up" Mars.  FB OM. 

-- My son Billy and I sat in that same Royal Institution auditorium where, 100 years before, Oliver Lodge had demonstrated spark gap technology. 

-- Tim's comment on the connection to supernatural beliefs was right on the mark.  We found out that the house we lived in in London was a center for occult beliefs and practices. 

-- Those square lantern batteries brought back fond childhood memories. My first power supplies.

-- The Rexophone -- used by Rex. 

-- Very cool of Tim to homebrew a coherer.  Extra credit for that.

-- One of the capacitors looks familiar.  EF Johnson? 

-- I agree with Tim -- crystal radios are a must-build for true radio hams.  And do it with galena and a cats whisker. 

-- Finally, the RCA ad introduces a term we might want to surreptitiously enter into the Enhanced SSB lexicon:  That "Golden Throat" sound.   

Music Video -- "The Spirit of Radio" by Rush

Thanks to Thomas from The SWLing Post for putting this on his blog.

The Secret Life of Machines -- Radio

We had this on fhe blog three years ago, but it is so good that it deserves a second posting. 
Thanks to our old friend Stephen Walters for reminding us of this gem.  There is so much soul in these old machines. Thanks Stephen. 

The Secret Life of Machines -- The Radio (Video)

Thanks to Rick N3FJZ for sending this to us.  In 25 minutes these fellows manage to capture and explain much of the "magic" of radio.  Great shots of Marconi, and of Hertz's first rig.  Amazing how they built their own spark transmitter and coherer receiver, launched a kite antenna and sent a signal across the harbor.  Great stuff.  Lots of history.   We've met Mr. Wells before -- he was "jailed for having the Knack!"

Who is this earnest young radio amateur?

Name that ham!  Here are his comments:

This is vintage early 1960’s and my call sign at that time was K3???.   One of my favorite rigs was the Johnson Adventurer which I built and had a 6AG7 driving an 807 –50 watts input. On the top shelf near the lamp is the screen grid modulator for the Adventurer. I was in tall clover.

 

On the bottom opening is a 40M CW transceiver I built – it had a 6CX8 MOPA—about 5 watts. The RX was a two tube regen.

 

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Brilliant! New "TX Factor" Ham Radio TV Show from the UK

I really enjoyed this.  It is the first episode of what I hope will be a long-running series.
These guys did a great job.  Excellent quality video production and very interesting subject matter. A LOT of work went into this.  I liked the PSK from a smart phone on a foggy hillside (with Moroccan soup!).  The Marconi stuff was wonderful.  Beer barrels as 2 meter cavity resonators! Excellent Knackish-ness!  And a two meter repeater in an astronomical observatory.  Well done! 

Thanks to Nigel and Dino for alerting me to the TX Factor.

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Marconi Archive

Brian, G0NSL, alerted us to this very interesting archive on Marconi: 

http://markpadfield.com/marconicalling/museum/html/archivehome.html


Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" http://soldersmoke.com/book.htm Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmoke Our Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Twisted Waves Across the Venice Lagoon

I don't really understand the physics behind this, but it seems to be important. And the video is a lot of fun. There is much Italian brio and bella figura in this. They even got Princess Elettra Marconi involved. And the video features audio from Marconi himself.
Hypertuning! Radio Vorticity! Helicoidal Parabolic Antennas! Gondolas! Segnale Ricevuto! Bravi!

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/48869

Our book: "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics"http://soldersmoke.com/book.htmOur coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http://www.cafepress.com/SolderSmokeOur Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/contracross-20

Another Amazing AT&T Video

This one is more focused on history than on a particular bit of theory, but what a treasure trove of history there is in this 1976 flick! Walter Brattain (transistor inventor) reading from his lab notebook! Edison's lab assistant describing the first recording of human speech! Marconi's daughter! Alexander Graham Bell's granddaughter. You guys will like this one. Three cheers for AT&T!

http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2011/2/14/AT&T-Archives-1976---To-Communicate-Is-The-Beginning

Was Marconi the First Radio Amateur?

Steve, WG0AT, posed this question in the title line of his latest (excellent) video. I really liked the recordings of Marconi speaking in English. (I'd heard him in Italian, but never in English.)

So, was he one of us? I say yes. Definitely. Why? Because he very clearly had what we would call a shack. This is discussed in SolderSmoke -- The Book. When his mom saw that his tinkering with electricity had some potential (!), she had an attic room in the family home near Bologna configured as a workshop for her Knack-afflicted son. And there he tinkered. Just as we do.

Marconi's House in London

In London, the places where famous people lived are marked with Blue Plaques. I knew that Marconi's name was on the list, but I had never actually seen his plaque. When we were up in London last month we were staying in Marconi's old neighbourhood (Bayswater) so and Billy and I decided to take a look. Video by Billy.

This house is mentioned in the book Thunderstruck by Eric Larson and in Peter Jensen's wonderful Early Radio. Marconi lived here as a young man. His mother took him to London in order to get patent protection for his wireless invention. The way in which Marconi's mom watched out for her son's intellectual property rights reminds me of the way Bill Gates' dad watched out for his.

Marconi's arrival in the UK was a bit difficult. British customs officers were apparently very suspicious of the strange device being brought in by the young Italian. One book hinted that they might have thought that Marconi was involved in some plot to kill Queen Victoria. During the inspection serious damage was done to Marconi's rig.

Meeting Princess Elettra Marconi

Last night at a diplomatic reception in Rome I had the privilege of meeting Princess Elettra Marconi, daughter of the inventor. She is a charming lady. We talked about ham radio, about her dad, and about some the recent books that have come out about him (including Thunderstruck.) Above is a photo of Princess Elettra on her eighth birthday, onboard Marconi's yacht Elettra. This must be a very poignant photo for the family -- the caption indicated that the inventor died later that day.

G4KKI to Poldhu Marconi Site

Bill, G4KKI, recently visited the Marconi site at Poldhu, Cornwall. He took with him the book "Thunderstruck" by Eric Larsen. (He also took along SolderSmoke -- The Book). He has a nice slide show of the visit posted on his blog. Check it out:

http://g4kkibill.blogspot.com/