Re: Old timers

["Bernard G. Cleyet & Nancy Ann Seese" <georgeann@REDSHIFT.COM>]

I did the reverse (ex W6TFE).  I was experimenting with UHF  (surplus stuff and got a
single 6J6 to "put out" a few watts at 825 mHz.) and decided I should be legal, so got a
technician license.  On a field day (SBARC) managed to voice communicate one way from San
Marcos Pass to down town Santa Barbara (15? miles) on the 420 band.  (ca. 1955) .  I also
made window glass caps. for a Tesla Coil.  The neighbors complained to my mother about the
TVI!   ('50)

bc


P.s. Later I put this to use for a Prof. at UCSB.  Large area cosmic ray shower detector.
Used APS-13 transmitters and receivers (six?)  Big ( 20 gal. ?)  soup kettle *Cerenkov
detectors with  two 5" MPT in coincidence, which drove the 2D21 cap. &  pulse xformer
supply for the double 6J6 transmitters.  He was going to use co-ax. and video amps. 'till
I suggested the above.  I bought the APS-13s at a surplus place on Market St. in Frisco.
(Wonder if I ever got reimbursed.)  The rcvrs. drove an Esterline 20 pen recorder, so we
knew what combinations of detectors got counts.  Typically, he didn't include my name on
the paper.


Leigh Palmer wrote:

> All this talk of electrical matters reminds me of the first formula
> I learned after V = I R (one of the three Laws of Ohm). It was:
>
>                               K A
>                    C = 0.224 ----- (n-1)
>                                d
> where
>                    C = capacity in mmf
>                    K = dielectric constant
>                    A = area of each plate in square inches
>                    d = distance between plates
>                    n = number of plates in the condenser
> and
>                     capacity = capacitance
>                          mmf = pF
>                    condenser = capacitor
>
> I was about twelve years old when I learned it and I still remember
> it. Did anyone out there ever buy stuff from an ad in CQ or QST for
> Joe Palmer Surplus Electronics in the '50s or '60s? He's my father.
> We used to salvage power pole transformers ("pole pigs") for power
> supplies, bathing in PCBs up to our armpits without expiring, and
> in earlier days my father made condensers from "tinfoil" and window
> glass, though that became unnecessary after the war.
>
> Does anyone get into physics through amateur radio these days?
>
> Leigh