Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Radio-Electronics,
published 1930-1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
The March 1962 "News
Briefs" feature in Radio-Electronics magazine was chock full of
interesting developments. Space flight was a big deal in the day, not that it
isn't today, but the difference is everything about it was new then. Fundamental
technology was in the process of being developed, and then continual
improvements would be made during the ensuing decades until we get to where we
are today with a permanent presence of men in orbit, interplanetary science
probes, space-borne telescopes, Earth environment sensors, and space weapons,
and thousands of active communications satellites. The sky is awash with manmade
objects. Whilst observing the night sky through my telescope, a satellite passes
through the visual field within a couple minutes if the ocular provides a field of view
greater than about half a degree (the angle subtended by the moon and sun). Seeing
a satellite was a thrill five decades ago when I first began in amateur
astronomy, but now it's a pain in the posterior. In other news, satellite TV was
quickly gaining in capability (including live transmissions and, gasp, "Living Color" per
NBC). States were trying to outlaw radar speed detector units in cars, even
though it involved only receiving signals, not transmitting them (the Communist
territories of VA, CA, and D.C. now ban them).
Four-foot resistors of glass are being used as dummy antenna loads for testing
and calibrating transmitters in Project Mercury tracking stations. They also act
as power-dissipating terminations for rhombic and other transmitting antennas. Produced
by Corning Electronic Components, the resistors consist of a tin oxide film, fused
into Pyrex brand glass cylinders 5 inches in diameter. The resistive elements were
spiraled to obtain specific ohmic values, uniform heat dissipation and minimum series
inductance and shunt capacitance. Resistances are between 140 and 300 ohms, These
produce dummy antennas of 700 and 600 ohms impedance. The impedance is very little
affected by changing frequencies, which run between 2 and 28 me. in the Mercury
network.
Trans-Atlantic TV Tests
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to use an electronically
equipped communications satellite for experimental telecasts to France and Britain
some time in 1962, according to a NASA spokesman.
Two such satellites are under construction now. The satellites will be fired
at Cape Canaveral, Fla., into orbit 300 to 600 miles from the earth. Thor-Delta
rockets will supply the power.
The date is uncertain, said the NASA spokesman, but the telecasts will not take
place before summer of 1962.
Ranger 3 spacecraft.
Rangers for Moon Trip
Ranger 3, the first of a series of 3 such satellites to be launched this year,
missed the moon by some 30,000 miles. A subsequent shot, if successful, should take
more than 100 TV pictures of the moon's surface as it approaches. Each photo will
show an area 800 feet square (about three city blocks) and definition will be great
enough to distinguish objects only 12 feet in diameter.
The Ranger is basically a 727-pound instrument capsule. Two panels carrying a
total of 8,680 solar cells are fastened to the base of the spacecraft. They develop
155 to 250 watts of electrical power. A 1,000-watt-hour silver-zinc backup battery
supplies power when the solar cells are not operating.
Besides its main mission of moon photography, the Ranger vehicle is expected
to deposit a 96.5-pound instrument package on the surface of the moon. This device,
a miniature seismometer and radio transmitter, is expected to detect and report
on moonquakes and meteorite impacts for a 30-day period. The main Ranger vehicle
will crash at 6,000 mph and be destroyed.
Two other scientific experiments will be conducted by the Ranger spacecraft.
Both are intended to help scientists determine the composition of the surface of
the moon.
First, a measurement of the gamma-ray spectrum found in lunar surface rocks and
dust will show the composition of this material. Second, a radar reflectivity experiment
will provide data on the nature of the lunar surface. This test is coupled to a
radar altimeter that also determines when the instrument package must be released
to land safely on the moon.
Police Move to Outlaw Highway Radar Warning Units
Devices used by motorists to detect the signals of highway radar equipment have
been declared illegal in Chicago, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. These
are the little gadgets designed to warn the driver of the radar's presence and cause
him to drive at the legal speed while approaching a radar unit.
In several states where police traffic officials do not have authority to rule
in such situations, they are pushing for legislative action to outlaw radar warning
devices. This move is being supported by large numbers of traffic safety organizations.
Joseph J. Cavanagh of the Chicago Motor Club said, "We condemn this new gadget,
which appears to be mainly for motorists who want to speed with immunity from radar
detection." Presenting the opposite viewpoint, manufacturers represent that the
radar detector is an aid to safe driving, and helps the driver to maintain legal
speed (at least in the vicinity of highway radar). It has also been pointed out
that the device might possibly violate that section of the penal law which prohibits
motor vehicles from being equipped with radio sets capable of receiving signals
sent on frequencies assigned to police transmitters.
Dr. Esaki of IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center, with
some of the equipment he used in discovering the bismuth kink.
New Property Found in Bismuth Crystal
Dr. Leo Esaki, who invented the tunnel diode, has discovered a new characteristic
in bismuth, an interesting semi-metal which changes its resistance with a change
in the magnetic field surrounding it.
Dr. Esaki applied strong electric and magnetic fields at right angles to each
other across a single crystal of ultra-pure bismuth at temperatures close to absolute
zero. Under these conditions he found that the semi-metal did not follow Ohm's law
but, instead, an abrupt change or "kink" appeared in its characteristic conduction
as the fields reached a certain strength.
This kink had never before been observed - and its origin is still to be determined.
Dr. Esaki and his associates believe the kink is caused by an interaction between
tiny sound waves and electrons inside the semi-metal. If a method can be found to
control these electrons, a new class of high-speed amplifiers and switches may result.
The phenomenon is observed with magnetic fields between about 10,000 and 20,000
oersteds and electric fields varying from about 0.8 to 1.6 volts. As the correct
combination of magnetic field and voltage is approached, most of the resistance
of the material abruptly disappears and the current-voltage curve suddenly kinks
upward.
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