MIT's Haystack Observatory and Dr. Herb Weiss

We are really privileged to have among us (and in the SolderSmoke Direct Conversion Hall of Fame) Phil Erickson W1PJE.   Phil is the Director of the MIT Haystack Observatory. 

Phil writes: 

Hi Bill, Dean, and Pete,

  I surfed over today to Soldersmoke and noticed you had put up a very nice film from the 1960s made by MIT "Science Reporter" on the DSKY design for the Apollo Guidance Computer.

  In the same vein, you might enjoy viewing something from the same era on the Haystack 37m telescope / radar in its early mid 1960s days:

https://youtu.be/Xjvr5qCKYWc?feature=shared

 

  The video features Dr. Herb Weiss who is still with us at nearly 106 years old (he visited a couple years ago).  

https://www.haystack.mit.edu/news/founder-herb-weiss-celebrates-haystack-history/

  Herb built the observatory for its original ballistic missile radar / satellite imaging mission and was involved in early MIT microwave radar development.  

"Growing up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Herb liked gadgetry. As a teenager, he became a ham radio operator and built a primitive television set at the same time NBC was trying to get its first signal on the air. His shop teacher was so impressed by Herb’s genius that he contacted MIT, which invited Herb to attend the college.

He spent the bulk of his career developing radar when there was none in the United States. He joined the Radiation Lab at MIT, which was just being established to support the war effort during World War II, designing radars for ships and aircraft. In 1942, when England was in the throes of its air war with the Nazis, Herb went to England and installed radar in planes with a novel navigation system that he and a team had designed for the Royal Air Force. He later spent three years at the Los Alamos, New Mexico, laboratory improving instruments for the A-bomb. After seeing the need for a continental defense network against the Soviet missile threat, he returned to MIT to build it. If not for Herb, there also likely would be no MIT Haystack Observatory, a pioneering radio science and research facility."

  As you can see from above, Herb is also a ham:

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=913698

"Weiss:

Okay. I was born in New Jersey, and my first acquaintance with electronics was about the age of 12 or 13. We had a battery-operated radio, which didn't work, and I asked around about what do we do about it. They referred me to a man two blocks away, who was a radio ham it turned out. So I carried this monster with the big horn and, I guess, the dog sitting on the speaker to his house. We went down in the basement, and I was just fascinated. I was hooked right then and there. A year later I became a radio ham at the age of 13, 14 and literally have been in the field ever since, until I retired. I was fortunate enough to go to MIT as an undergraduate, and most of the people I ran into of that vintage didn't really have a hands-on feeling for electronics. By the time I got to MIT, I had built all kinds of things, including a TV set. Then it turned out that NBC was just trying to get their TV set on the air in New York on top of the Empire State Building."

https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Herbert_Weiss

  Herb and his wife Ruth had another career after MIT as a wind power pioneer and he is still an avid sailor:

https://maineboats.com/print/issue-178/still-boating-after-all-these-years

  One of our inspirations, and it came from building ham radio sets as a youngster.  Enjoy the history.

73

Phil W1PJE

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Phil Erickson

phil.erickson@gmail.com 

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I would really like to get more info on Herb's homebrew TV receiver.  His was significantly earlier than the one described by Jean Shepherd. 

Thanks Phil!  And thanks Herb! 

CuriousMarc Powers up (and Explains) Old Cathode Ray Tubes

Wow, really cool video from CuriousMarc and the guy who wrote the "Open Circuits" book.  But fellows, you really need to be more careful with the high voltage. Remember poor Ross Hull.  One hand behind the back would help.  Volts jolt, but mills kill.    

Watch Mr. Wizard! 1952 Program on Electromagnetism. And more! (video)

Wow.  This is a very thought provoking program.  It is kind of like "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood," but with science. The lessons provided by Mr. Wizard are really good, but one shudders to think about doing the these experiments with kids (or even with adults!) in today's world.  Here are a few of things that would cause trouble today:  

-- Liquid mercury.  

-- A big power supply. ("Here Willy, you hold the positive terminal.") 

-- Even the sprinkling of iron filings would probably require masks at a minimum.  

-- In the end, letting poor Willy drop to the floor when Betsy turns off the electromagnet that was holding his swing in the air.  

-- And of course, poor old Mr. Wizard's affinity for the kids would stir suspicions. 

We also see a sad and very early example of the influence of advertisers and what they call today "product placement."  Note the fairly obvious plug (via Morse Code!) for breakfast cereal.  In the credits you will see that the program was sponsored by "The Cereal Institute."  What next kids?  Cigarettes? 

But there is a lot of virtue in this program:  The development of the telegraph key, Morse Code,  CW sidetone.  Unlike many of the Box Top Extras of today, young Betsy was not afraid to wind a coil.   

We should all embrace the spirit of Mr. Wizard.  We are, after all, the International Brotherhood of Electronic WIZARDS!  These experiments reminded me a lot of the Trivial Electric Motor that my son Billy and I made when he was around Willy's age (thanks for the idea Alan Yates).  

Thanks to Chuck KF8TI for alerting us to this show.  Chuck says this program was an early influence on him, and was one of the things that provided a connection between the theory he was learning in college and the real world of electronic devices. 

Many more great programs like this can be found on Mr. Wizard's YouTube Channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/MrWizardStudios   Please let us know if you find other videos (on this channel or elsewhere)  that will be of special interest to the IBEW. 

Finally, color TV in 1952?  That seems a bit early for color.  What do you folks think was happening here? 

The Story of Television (Sarnoff's Version) -- 1956 Film

Of course, this has to be taken with a huge grain of salt.  "General" Sarnoff sits there and claims that Vladimir Zworkyin "invented" electronic television.  But Philo Farnsworth really did that.  Zworykin's claim to invention has about as much validity as Sarnoff's claim to having been a General!  

But still, there is a lot of interesting info amidst the RCA propaganda.  Again, it is really striking how far they had come before WWII put things on hold for four years.