The Jersey Broadcaster NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW JERSEY ANTIQUE RADIO CLUB July 2009 Volume 15 Issue 7 MEETING/ MEETING NOTICE ACTIVITY NOTES NEW MEETING LOCATION! The July meeting will take place at Princeton's Bowen Hall (70 Prospect Ave- nue) on Friday, July 10th, at 7:30 PM. Directions to Bowen Hall are included in Reported by Marv Beeferman the June Broadcaster or may be found at the club's website (http://www.njarc. org). This month's meeting topic may include a look at Dr. Michael Littman's THE ON-LINE BROADCASTER exhibit of 1920s loudspeakers and 1930s cathedral radios in the Friends Center The New Jersey Broadcaster is now on- (a short walk from Bowen Hall). We may also briefly discuss LC resonators. line. To date, 97 of your fellow NJARC members have subscribed, saving the club over $1900 a year. Interested? Send your e-mail address to: come. Contact Al Klase at http://www. [email protected] skywaves.ar88net/ Be sure to include your full name. I recently received some very nice comments from member James O'Neal, a Last month, the club checked out its retired broadcast engineer, on the June new meeting location at Princeton's Bowen article "The Evolution of a New Jersey Hall. Except for a few minor glitches, all Radio Station." He questioned the two went well and it received the membership's columns in WAAT's broadcast log which seal of approval. A surprise accommoda- were suggested as being antenna currents. tion was an automatic beverage maker with James makes a good case in disproving a large selection of coffees and teas at 50 this assumption, but with space at a pre- cents a cup. The auditorium seating was Typical of Al's attention to detail is mium for this issue, we'll have to wait un- found to be quite comfortable and closed one of the many slides that supported til next month to get the whole story. Un- doors allowed anyone not interested in the his presentation. This one describes til then, take a look at the article; if you program to socialize outside without dis- the 1931 Hammarlund Comet. have any thoughts about what the num- turbing the presentation. Access to the bers really represent, please contact me so building was also relatively easy. we can get some other points of view. Described by one member as an "outdoor tailgater in the cool shade of the leafy trees of the InfoAge campus," get ready to spend a very relaxing day at our July 25th outdoor swapmeet. All the de- tails are in this month's Broadcaster. As an added feature, Al Klase has expanded the event into a "Ham radio play week- end" emphasizing 2-meter AM military field radios and general vintage operation. This will be an opportunity to get some of you "new guys" on the air. For those who are interested, sleeping accommodations Technical Coordinator Al Klase's pres- are available in Cottage #1 (bring a sleep- entation on the development of short-wave ing bag or fold-up cot) and some steaks communication receivers was a real crowd can be burned for Saturday dinner. The pleaser and the audio-visual support of- Military Radio Collectors Association fered by the auditorium's facilities was up will repeat their display at the museum on Sunday afternoon. Please let us know Dave Sica's artist conception of a to the standards that were available at the "harrowing experience." Read about David Sarnoff Library. your level of interest; your suggestions for enhancing the event are most wel- it on page 8 of this month's Broad- caster. July 2009 Volume 15 Issue 7 Page 2 INFOAGE THE JERSEY BROADCASTER is the newsletter of the New Jersey Antique AT THE Radio Club (NJARC) which is dedicated IMS to preserving the history and enhancing the knowledge of radio and related dis- ciplines. Dues are $20 per year and meetings are held the second Friday of By Ray Chase each month. The Editor or NJARC is not liable for any other use of the contents of this IMS is the International Microwave publication. Symposium, organized annually by the Microwave Theory and Techniques Sec- PRESIDENT: Other displays in the historical area Richard Lee tion of the IEEE. This year, it was held came from NEM (National Electronics (914)-589-3751 at the Boston Convention and Exposi- Museum in Linthicum, MD) where the tion Center from June 9th to the 12th. IEEE stores some of their permanent his- VICE PRESIDENT: Harry Klancer torical displays, the Museum of Wireless (732)-238– 1083 and Steam in East Greenwich, RI who had a small display of Fessenden artifacts, and SECRETARY/EDITOR: the Raytheon Co. that provided some very Marv Beeferman (609)-693-9430 early magnetrons and displayed several of the first Radar Ranges. TREASURER: Initially, I had no idea how much inter- Sal Brisindi est these historical displays would create, (732)-308-1748 yet all through the three-day exposition SERGEANT-AT-ARMS (WEST) : What might you ask does an Interna- there was continuous traffic through the Rotating tional Microwave Symposium have to area. Most visitors took the time to exa m- do with InfoAge? Well, think about it... ine the displays and posters and read the SERGEANT-AT-ARMS (EAST): the development and mass production of Rick Weingarten descriptive material. Who would have (732 )-370-8206 radar just prior to and during World War thought that this generation would be that II was the beginning of today' s huge interested in the history of microwave? TRUSTEES: and far-flung microwave industry. The show was an eye opener for me as Ray Chase (908)-757-9741 Camp Evans played a pivotal roll in Phil Vourtsis (732)-446-2427 well. There were over 500 manufacturers, Tom Provost (609)-259-7634 the creation of this industry and so IEEE technical institutions and agencies dis- invited InfoAge to be a participant. playing on the main floor. I have been TECHNICAL COORDINATOR: This annual convention and trade show essentially out of touch with current mi- Al Klase always has a historical exhibit area that (908)-782-4829 crowave technology for the last 20 years fits perfectly with our mission so I of- and it did not take long for me to realize TUBE PROGRAM: fered to make it happen. how many advances have been made Gary D’Amico A local Boston IEEE volunteer, Paul since then. Today, everything is super (732)-271-0421 Martynuik, coordinated the planning for tiny and in the GHz range. Only the test SCHEMATIC PROGRAM: this effort. He sent me preliminary equipment has gotten larger and horribly Aaron Hunter sketches of the area and stands that we more expensive. Automotive avoidance (609)-267-3065 could use, and arranged for my VIP cre- radars are being produced at 75 GHz and dentials. All this was at no cost to Info- CAPACITOR PROGRAM: some equipment was showing up to 385 John Ruccolo Age at a trade show where booth space GHz...microwaves have now turned into (609)-426-4568 goes for up to a hundred dollars a square nanowaves. foot. The symposium turned into a very re- RESISTOR PROGRAM: The historic exhibit area was 50' x Walt Heskes warding experience for me while Camp (732)-205-9143 50' on the main floor and InfoAge ended Evans/InfoAge received a lot of publicity. up with a full corner, taking up about An interesting side note: as a displayer, I WEB COORDINATOR: one-fifth of the total space. I brought received an invitation to the Chairman's Dave Sica artifacts, displays and posters that would (732)-382-0618 dinner on Monday evening at the Harvard http://www.njarc.org best show our Marconi heritage as well Club; needless to say a first class affair at as the Army's history of radar at Camp a very historic venue. Then. on my re- MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Evans. I should have brought even turn, I was at the NJARC club meeting at Marsha Simkin more since extra space was available. 33 Lakeland Drive Princeton. Not bad - Monday at Harvard, Barnegat, N.J. 08005 However, we ended up with twice the and Friday at Princeton; what a way to (609)-660-8160 space that Paul originally indicated that bookend a week. we could occupy. July 2009 Volume 15 Issue 7 Page 3 The InfoAge display area. Some "high frequency" military electronics. The Zahl tube and X- band beacon display. Historic Camp Evans A FINAL FAREWELL commodate the attendant security and Sarnoff Corporation's executives and staff access issues, especially given its ex- who, over the past nine years have done FROM THE panding business in government security so much to help make the Library a desti- DAVID SARNOFF technologies. When I started working nation for educational, professional, and here in 1998, the Library received per- scholarly audiences. I am also especially LIBRARY haps 100 visitors in a year; in the last grateful to our board members who, in year, that number has multiplied to 1,400 that nine years, have guided the Library's Our June meeting at Princeton's Bo- through our field trips, programs, and growth; to the New Jersey Historical wen Hall was well-received by the NJARC tours. That still small number, magnified Co mmission and the Secretary of State for membership. Some photos of the evening by the hundreds of thousands of visitors their operating support grants; to many follow this article, but they are tempered to our website, promised only to increase other grantors and donors for their finan- by the fact that some 10 minutes away, a as we continued to promote the Library's cial support; to the allied organizations very nostalgic era of our club's history offerings to tour companies and regional who share an interest in promoting science was coming to a close.