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Fun Stuff
NEW! Here are some links for interesting or fun things. We will add to this section from time to time.
Claude Shannon, the Bell Labs Scientist that Created the Information Revolution
(NEW!) Article on Claude Shannon in Quanta Magazine
(NEW!) “The Bit Player” movie, commissioned by the IEEE Information Society
There is an interesting list of books on Shannon, Bell Labs, and Information Theory at end of the article on this film.
25 MICROCHIPS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD
IEEE Spectrum article on microchips that provided new functionality to consumers and the world (remember “Speak and Spell”?)
(NEW!) Nature article on “Ten Computer Codes that Transformed Science”
MYSTERIOUS RADIO BURSTS FROM SPACE
Mysterious radio burst FRB 121101 from space every 157 days
(NEW!) SHORT WAVE LISTENING (SWL)
Many of our members are not licensed radio amateurs. However you don’t need a license to listen to the shortwave bands, if you have a radio with those bands and a simple long wire antenna. This section will have articles on stations that you can listen to, depending on ionospheric conditions.
(NEW!) Finding Stations:
(NEW!) Decoding WLO (Mobile AL) Maritime RTTY weather broadcasts
MYSTERIOUS SHORTWAVE STATIONS
Numbers Stations: clandestine short wave radio stations of unknown origin and use
(NEW!) List of Numbers Stations
The Conet Project: In 1992 an Englishman, Akin Fernandez, started to record numbers stations. He eventually recorded many of them and created a 5 CD set (later a 5th CD was added). The CDs are not available to buy, bu the contents are on the Internet. Do a search on this and you will find much information about this project.
- The original 4 CDs, a total of 149 recordings, available on freemusicarchive.org, are very interesting to anyone who has never heard these stations before
- You Tube of some of the stations from the Conet project
- Information on the Conet project from Wikipedia, and from irdial
- Also the ARRL’s QST magazine, November 2019, pages 70-73 had an interesting article on numbers stations
RUSSIAN WOODPECKER
Some members may remember the Russian Woodpecker, an over the horizon early warning radar that transmitted in the HF (short wave) bands during the Cold War. Here is a video about the Russian Woodpecker (thanks to member Bob Walsh).
Here is an article about the Russian Woodpecker.
Mysterious Russian shortwave station UBV 76 at 4625 and 4810 kHz.
(NEW!) Additional Information about Over the Horizon (OTH) Radar:
Explantion of 10 MW Duga 3 OTH radar
IARU Very complete explanation of shortwave radar systems with sound files
(NEW!) National Capital Radio and TV Museum Historical Electronics Periodical Holdings
OLD AMATEUR RADIO CALL BOOKS
A link to old amateur radio call books for researching old calls and hams. Later editions mainly only have zero call sign pages. Older editions (1920s, etc. ) are complete with all call signs. Note that not all years are available.
ENGINEER FIXES COMMUNICATIONS FLAW TO TITAN SATURN SPACE PROBE
IEEE Spectrum article on how years after it launched, a Swedish engineer figured out how to fix a link problem on the Titan space probe that would have prevented getting vital information back on Saturn.
PIONEER SPACE PROBES DE-ACCELERATION MYSTERY SOLVED
Interesting IEEE article on what we learned from the Pioneer 10 & 11 space probes launched back in the early 1970s, and the mystery of the slight de-acceleration and how it was solved with scientific detective work and good records keeping.
WIRELESS MUSEUMS
Note: because of the pandemic, some museums are closed, others have altered operating hours. Check the Website!
In the U.S.:
Our partner the Antique Wireless Association, has a museum in, Bloomfield NY (near Rochester): https://antiquewireless.org/homepage/museum/
NEW! Senator Barry Goldwater’s recreated amateur radio station at the Arizona History Museum
Marconi – RCA Wireless Museum, N. Chatham, MA: https://historic-chatham.org/marconi_center.html
New England Vintage Wireless and Steam Museum, E. Greenwich, RI: https://newsm.org/
Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut , Windsor, CT: https://www.vrcmct.org/
Radio Technology Museum & Camp Evans, Wall Township, NJ: http://rtm.ar88.net/
Wireless Museum, 268 Bush St. #2400, San Francisco, CA: no further information available, this museum may be defunct (7/2020)
American Radio Archives Museum, Thousand Oaks, CA: https://www.americanradioarchives.com/
Early Television Museum, Hillard near Columbus, OH: http://www.earlytelevision.org/
Edison Museum, Beaumont TX: http://www.edisonmuseum.org/
Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park NJ: https://www.menloparkmuseum.org/
Thomas Edison Depot Museum, Port Huron, MI: https://www.phmuseum.org/thomas-edison-depot-museum/
Thomas Edison National Historical Park West Orange, New Jersey: https://www.nps.gov/edis/index.htm
Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago IL: https://museum.tv/
Museum of Radio & Technology, Huntington, W. VA.: http://www.mrtwv.org/
National Capital Radio & Television Museum, Bowie, Maryland: https://ncrtv.org/
National Cryptologic Museum, Ft. Meade, MD: https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/
National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, Maryland (defense electronics): http://www.nationalelectronicsmuseum.org/
National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting, Union Township (near Cincinatti) OH: http://www.voamuseum.org/
Pavek Museum of Broadcasting, St. Lois Park, MN: https://pavekmuseum.org/
SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention (formerly the American Museum of Radio and Electricity), Bellingham, Washington: https://www.sparkmuseum.org/
Outside the U.S.:
Orkney Scotland Wireless Museum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney_Wireless_Museum
The Radio Museum, Watchet, United Kingdom: https://www.museum-info.co.uk/the-radio-museum.html
Military Wireless Museum, Kidderminister, Worcestershire, United Kingdom: https://www.qsl.net/g4bxd/
The British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum, West Dulwich, London, UK: https://www.bvwm.org.uk/
Virtual:
Virtual Radio Museum, UK (no physical entity): http://www.radiomuseum.co.uk/entry.html