The reason for the hobby
 

Dedication taken form the Antique Radio Restoration Guide, by David Johnson:

"This volume is dedicated to all the designers and engineers, known and unknown, who developed the technology that has made modern communications possible. May we who work with their old equipment appreciate their genius."

Kinda brings a tear to your eye :)

A long time ago, I read an account of that first spark generator thing that Marconi heard. Wouldn't have been freakin exciting to have been there?
With all the technology out there, it's interesting that I still listen to radio today. Hell, AM radio even:) For some reason it gives me pleasure to listen to football games on my early seventies sony portable.
md

hey wait a minute; I subscribe to this forum. How did I miss this post?

by the way Tim, do you restore or just collect? I think I'll have to get that Johnson book.
md

I do both. As we speak I've got two cathedrals that were rather abused and look like they came out of someone's barn, on my bench.

Those first sounds as you bring a unit to life are magical :)

Yes it does because what they created WAS BEAUTIFUL and the crap it has turned into today IS HEART BREAKING.....

I am so glad there are so many LIKE ME who appreaciate how good things were and are willing to STICK WITH OLDER STUFF even if people critize them for it... THEY ARE THE BRAINWASHED ONES THINKING THE CRAP THEY MAKE TODAY IS BETTER!! -- The world is full of nothing but garbage today and its good having SO MANY OF US stick with WHAT WE KNOW IS BETTER AND NOT ACCEPTING THIS TRASH!!

Is it hard?? YES IT IS.... But thats what makes it even more pleasant living in this scum world. HOLDING ONTO THE GOOD THINGS WE REMEMBER AND NOT LETTING THIS GARBAGE THAT ISNT NEARLY AS GOOD INTRUDE IN OUR LIVES!!


We are the ones WHO THANKFULLY HAVE NOT BEEN BRAINWASHED!!!!!!!!


Im glad to be here amoung you guys!!

Peace and love to you all http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/435/grouphugym7.gif

I think it's the contrast between the old and new technology that makes the vintage electronics hobby so enjoyable, I guess some people call it nostalgia. But take our modern day technology and conveniences away, and the old becomes much less desirable. :scratch2:

BTW, David and Betty Johnson live about 20 minuets from me. I've been to visit them more than once. Very nice folks.

Golden Age of Radio 1&2 are two of my best books:thmbsp:

I can't help mentioning all the knowledge that was passed to us by WWII and Korea veterans who were the service gurus of the day. I believe there are some on this site but too modest to say so.

Mmmmmmm.... can't say I agree with you.

Yes, most definitely some of the older technology was a marvel, was crafted with care and quality materials, and was a joy to behold and use....and still is today. However as much as people don't like to admit it, -some- of it was crap, and some of it was NOT crafted with care.

Also don't forget. When that stuff was manufactured it WAS the NEW STUFF. I wonder if someone was yelling in the background back then about what a bunch of crap it all was?

Not all new equipment is crap. Just like 'back then' some embraces innovation and quality, and some does not. And I suspect maybe 50-75 years in the future, some of this current day stuff you call crap will be collected and appreciated.

That's very true. Consumer Reports back in 1955 was saying that the cars that year were thrown-together junk with style over substance. Coming from someone that owns (and loves) a 1955 Buick Century, I have to admit that they're right.....holes twice the size of the screws, chrome hung haphazardly everywhere, and systems that only survived on my car because it was retired in 1967 with about 54K on the clock.

It's not that things today are junk or good, or things back when were junk or good, it's what they had to work with, and the dynamic of the day. People today would rather replace something every 10 years of flawless service than have it fail every other year and need tinkering, but would generally last for decades.

That, and today we have CAD engineering that wasn't available back then. People for example, can wax philosophical about old snowblowers, for example, and how great their '60s Ariens Sno Thro is, but have them take one or two passes with a modern cheapy Craftsman two stage 5HP, and there's no comparison.....except the Craftsman will give up the ghost after a decade. But the Craftsman is still a better machine, just not built to withstand the hands of time.

Tim, Whut's a "Snowblower" ?!? (grin)

its a big metal thing-ei that chucks snow / rocks / gravel at your car ,when that white fluffy cold wet stuff falls from the sky ! [ i hate snow ] did i mention that.

Snowblowers: that ain't all: they also scoop up newspapers hidden in the snow and come to an abrupt halt, followed by a half hour of digging the darned thing out with hammer and screwdriver.

Geez...Sorry I asked...Bet they'd work REAL GOOD for slingin' Frozen Dog Turdingtons, too, right ?!? Mbwahahahahaha...

I always wanted to use an electric one in the house to launch the kids' toys back into their rooms. I bet it'd work wonders with legos :D

Yep ! :thmbsp:

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php...1&d=1348170155

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php...1&d=1348170155

Wow...Dat's a LOT of Snow...I've seen it like that here-Well, ALMOST-only oncet or twicet in my life. One time, in '85 or '86, it did that in like late April-REAL freakish-And then a day or 2 later it was up to 65-70 or so..Took awhile for it to melt, we were ridin' around in convertibles w/the tops down & havin' the time of our lives...

That sounds dangerous... Stepping on them is bad enough, I imagine that would impale the wall or anyone standing in the way :crazy:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We usually don't get much. But since I've been in this house (1991) we had a big snow event in 1996, 2003, and 2010. Seems like every 7 years we get SMACKED with a boatload of snow.

It won't be long until we see that....ugh.

I used to repair snowblowers, I've done HUNDREDS of them. My favorite were always the Snowbirds, they were built with more metal guards and shields than an up-armored Humvee, and weighed about 200 lb. Problem with those is that while they'd shoot snow awesomely to the right, the chute would clog when shooting to the left, because of the design of the discharge chute being similar to a conch shell.

I was sold on Ariens Sno Thros for MANY years, because of their ease of serviceability and their absolutely infinite lifespan, but when I got my hands on a trash-picked Craftsman that was falling apart, I was shocked and embarrassed to see that it tossed snow better than anything that I'd ever had. Polypropylene plastic chutes make a ton of sense too, as snow just can't stick to them, even the wet stuff.

So now I have a nice newer Craftsman :)

Back in the late fall of 1957, the shop where I worked did radio warranty work for the local Ford dealer and in comes the first Edsel to be sold in the town, with a dead radio. True to nature, it made it to the shop before the servicing information did.

My boss went out to look at it, confirmed it was dead and saw how deeply buried in the dashboard the radio was, and since I was the smallest one in the shop, called me out to pull it.

I walked over and hooking an arm on top of the dash, slid under the dash, just as the dash came down on top of me. It seems that most of the few screws holding the dash to the firewall had missed their holes and were just wedged between the trim and the firewall. We wound up having remount the dash before the customer could pick up his car.

Ford learned the quality lessen in a hurry and their next new make, the Falcon, was one of the best assembled cars for the era.

James.