Well, it is 80+ years since the first official TV broadcasts were made from Alexandra Palace. Logie Baird and EMI battled it out during an evening’s viewing in the late ‘30s, seeing which TV system would give the best results. Baird’s system was based on a frightening mechanical, 240 line system. If the main part, …
As you know, I like writing about engineers and personalities that, in my opinion never received the recognition that they deserved. This chap did, sort of receive acknowledgements in his home country, but nowhere else. I am sure that 99.345r% of you won´t know who Hedley Jones was. Read this and you will. Hedley, born …
Thos e of you who read my articles regularly, will appreciate that I have a passion for vintage electronics, engineers who have stamped their mark on our lives and who have gone somewhat unsung. I have written about some of the heroes of the WW2 code breaking establishment Bletchley Park, Tommy Flowers and Gordon Welchman. …
Now, the radio and car were invented around about the same time, Marconi did the radio and another chap did the car. One day, in the 1930s, someone had the bright idea of putting the two together. The problem was, radios in those days were rather large. Nice big valves and requiring a 20 foot …
In the 30s John Logie Baird was playing with his version of television. This was an electro-mechanical system and consisted of a metal disc with holes punched in it spinning in front a neon tube. The resulting picture was 3″ square, orange and viewed through a magnifying glass. You had to connect this contraption to …
Let’s have black & white 405 line television back!Read More »
A listeners’ request during my Valle radio 50s-60s wanting to hear a tune only available on a 78 rpm record, got to thinking about how recordings have changed over the last 50. The younger generation will have no idea what a 78 rpm record is. Ask to compare it to a CD, iPod etc, and …
We all love our electronic techie toys, be they, phones, PCs, labour saving gadgets, TVs and so on. Especially now that these sorts of commodities are so cheap. Remember in ’67 a 22” colour TV was a similar price to that of the Ford Anglia van that delivered it to your door. As a kid, …
Some time ago, I wrote about a chap called Mr. Strowger, inventor of the automatic telephone exchange. He set the way to enable us to call other phone users, without having to go through the operator, politely asking to be “connected” please. Up until the mid ‘30s, different areas of the U.K. had their own …
At the 3rd stroke, it will be…. The Speaking ClockRead More »
So, HF radio (High Frequency), what’s that all about? Well, we all have heard about amateur radio and Morse code etc. HF radio, was and still is a good way to make contact with people across continents. Let’s forget about the Internet for a moment. The radio frequency band we are talking about is around …
The nicer side of my working life is repairing vintage guitar amplifiers, for two reasons I guess. One, I like repairing equipment for people that appreciate a good job done on their treasured piece of kit. You see, us musicians are a funny bunch. We get attached to our instruments. The other, I get to …
