Enter

The Fascinating World

of Vintage Communications

Spring, 2016

Marconi

transmitter complex

Poldhu, Cornwall, England

Enter

The Fascinating World

of Vintage Communications

2

The Awa

The AWA Gateway is an electronic publication of the Antique Wireless Association, downloadable without charge from the AWA website, www.antiquewireless.org. Its purpose is to stimulate interest in vintage communications history, equip-ment, restoration, and collecting. OFFICERS

Director……………….Thomas W. Peterson, Jr. Deputy Director…..Robert Hobday Curator………………..Bruce Roloson Secretary…………….William Hopkins Treasurer…………….Stan Avery

TRUSTEES

Stanley Avery, WM3D James Kreuzer, N2GHD David Bart, KB9YPD Richard Neidich Lynn Bisha, W2BSN Thomas Peterson, Jr. Geoffrey Bourne Ronald Roach, W2FUI Marc Ellis, N9EWJ Bruce Roloson, W2BDR Robert Hobday, N2EVG John Terrey, W5TDQ Prof. William Hopkins, AA2YV Morgan Wesson David Kaiser Roy Wildermuth, W2IT Felicia Kreuzer, KA2GXL

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES COMMITTEE

Chairman .......................... Richard Neidich AWA Journal Editor .......... Marc Ellis, N9EWJ Membership Data ............ Ed Gable, K2MP* AWA Review Editor .......... Eric Wenaas* Conference Chairman ...... Roy Wildermuth, W2IT AWA Gateway Editor ....... Mike Rosenhouse, K2CDX* * Ex officio members

VISIT US ON THE WEB www.antiquewireless.org AWA GATEWAY Editor ................................ Mike Rosenhouse, K2CDX COVER ART (by Will Thomson): Transatlantic electronic wireless communication began on Decem-ber 12, 1901, when three “dits” — “s” in Morse Code — were trans-mitted from the complex pictured on the cover to Guglielmo Marconi, at his St. John’s, Newfoundland, receiving station (pictured here). The towers shown on the cover were successors to the antenna masts used on that historic occa-sion (photo courtesy David Read). The Antique Wireless Association, is nonprofit historical society founded in 1952.

Copyright 2016 Antique Wireless Association

P.O. Box 421 Bloomfield, NY 14469

Hi Everyone. It is a time to express deep gratitude and to tell you about some recent changes. Marc Ellis, who founded the AWA Gateway and has done an excellent job editing it for many years, wants to focus his full attention on the AWA Journal. We are extremely grateful to Marc for the great job he has done over a long period of time with the Gateway. At the same time, I am pleased to welcome our new Editor of the Gateway, Mike Rosenhouse. Mike is an extra-class ham (K2CDX) with significant professional editorial and writing experience. A graduate of University of Chicago Law School, he is a practicing lawyer, and the author of two law books and numerous published law-related articles. Over the years, he has also worked for Newsweek , the Chicago Sun-Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Yale Daily News. Mike was a history major at Yale, and his intellectual curiosity and non-technical perspective should be helpful in keeping the publication accessible to its intended audience. Mike says he can use all the help he can get. If you are inter-ested in being a Gateway contributor or columnist, please contact Mike at mike@rosenhouse.net. I know you all join me in wishing him the best of luck with the Gateway and in standing ready to offer any help that he may need.

* * * Do you buy items on Amazon.com? Well, who doesn’t? When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Antique Wireless Association. Book-mark the link http://smile.amazon.com/ch/16-1501004 and support us every time you shop. It is really easy. Just sign in at the bookmark above or go to Smile.Amazon.com and des-ignate the Antique Wireless Association (EIN: 16-1501004) for the AWA to receive 0.5% of your eligible total purchases. You only have to designate the AWA once, but EVERY TIME you want to make an Amazon purchase, sign in using Smile.Amazon.com and you will be redirected to Ama-zon.com automatically. It is just that easy to support the AWA and it does not cost you anything extra. If you have not been to the AWA Museum recently, Phase II is nearing completion and the new exhibits are being in-stalled. Because the Museum is now over 7,000 square feet, we need people to volunteer as guides or docents on Satur-day afternoons from 1 pm to 5 pm. We provide the training and it is a great opportunity to learn more about the history of communications and meet some very interesting visitors to the Museum.

—Bob Hobday N2EVG Deputy Director, AWA Museum

F r o m t h e D e p u t y D i r e c t o r

AW A Gate wa y

3

From the Deputy Director by Bob Hobday 2

Better and Better: Broadcasting in the ‘20s

and ‘30s by Jim Cook

4

My Early Radio by Bill Phillips 8

Gravity Makes Waves by Prof. Alan Entenberg 11

Other Clubs 15

About AWA 17

Contents Spring 2016

Kilowatts for Freedom: Above are a Collins 821A-1 250,000 watt transmitter and control

room console from the Delano, California, VOA (Voice of America) Station, now on display

at the AWA Museum in Bloomfield, NY, courtesy of an alliance between the AWA and the

Collins Collectors Association to preserve and share the history of Collins Radio and Rock-

well Collins.

4

On this label on a 10-inch 78 RPM phonograph record from the 1920s that belonged to the author’s father, the term “electric”, at the top, was meant to convey “state of the art,” meaning that it was recorded with a microphone, audio amplifier, and electric stylus, allowing for better regulation of volume. On the left side are the words, “Radio Broadcast Not Licensed For”; early radio stations hired their own musicians to avoid such license restrictions. The recording is of “I Don’t Love Nobody,” by the Fiddling Doc Roberts Trio, on the Perfect label.

History in the First Person

AWA Gateway

Broadcasting in

the ‘20s and ‘30s

Better and

Better

The first radio broadcasters

were amateurs, i.e., “hams,”

and in the early days of com-

mercial broadcasting, radio

and recording were seen as

competing with each other.

Volume control was a big

problem.

By

Jim Cook, W0OXX

A lthough communications between radio-

telegraph stations had existed for more than 20 years

before broadcasting began, no one had any experi-

ence providing a radio broadcasting service that

would appeal to the general public. The earliest

broadcast stations, such as KDKA in Pittsburgh, Penn-

sylvania, began as amateur radio stations. They

brought news reports and sometimes set up a phono-

5

graph next to a microphone to

play music for their listeners. Lat-

er, they had studios for live perfor-

mances. But there were questions

about how to pay for this service

and what program material could

be used.

In the United Kingdom, broad-

casting would be owned and con-

trolled by the government. Listen-

ers had to pay a tax on each radio

they owned to cover the costs of

this broadcasting service. Alt-

hough this possibility was debated

in the United States, there was a

strong desire to keep American

broadcasting under the control of

private companies and to make

radio listening free to the public.

For this to be financially feasible,

advertising was allowed to cover

the costs of broadcasting.

The development of the phono-

graph also had an impact on the

radio broadcasting. Prior to the

1920s, all phonograph recordings

were made acoustically by having

the musicians perform in front of a

giant horn that collected the

sound and carried it to a mechani-

cal stylus that made the recording.

The only way to control the loud-

ness of the recording or the sound

levels of each musician was to re-

arrange them on the stage in front

of the horn. In retrospect, it is

amazing that some of the early

acoustic recordings sound as good

as they do.

Fortunately, the development of

vacuum tube amplifiers provided

an opportunity to make better re-

cordings. I have included an illus-

tration of the label on a 10-inch 78

RPM phonograph record from the

1920s that belonged to my father.

This recording is on the Perfect

label, and the selection is "I Don't

Love Nobody" by the Fiddling Doc

Roberts Trio. At the top of the la-

bel is the word "Electric" which

meant that this record was "state

of the art," recorded with a micro-

phone, audio amplifier, and elec-

tric stylus.

“Radio Broadcast Not Licensed

For”

On the side of the record label is

the statement, "Radio Broadcast

Not Licensed For." The sentence

structure is odd, but the meaning

is clear. Most early radio stations

hired their own musicians to avoid

these limitations. Later, there was

an understanding that having rec-

ords played on the radio would

actually increase the sale of pho-

nograph records, benefitting eve-

ryone, and eventually arrange-

ments were made to reimburse

musicians whose records were

used on the air.

By the 1930s, electric recording

and reproduction of phonograph

records provided the possibility of

recording radio programs in ad-

vance on transcription disks.

These were large records, typically

16" in diameter, that operated at

33 RPM, long before long-playing

records at this speed were offered

to the public. By using these tran-

scription disks, a 15-minute pro-

gram could be recorded without

interruption. Transcription disks

were largely replaced by magnetic

tape recordings in the 1940s.

Early broadcast stations transmitted at

5 watts; better vacuum tubes allowed

power to be increased.

WLW of Cincinnati was given an

experimental license for a 500,000 watt

transmitter, but the experiment was short

lived, and stations since have been limited

to 50,000 watts.

6

As radio broadcasting became pop-

ular, many companies were eager

to put a station on the air. A list of

radio stations included in the Fall

1925 edition of the Radio Listener's

Guide and Callbook shows an inter-

esting mix of stations, most owned

by schools, religious organizations,

radio shops, or retail stores. The

transmitter power of some of these

early broadcasting stations was as

low as five watts, and there were

only a few stations operating with

power levels above 500 watts.

There were only three stations

listed with power levels of 5,000

watts. The listener had many sta-

tions to choose among, but only a

few had enough power to break

through the static and provide en-

joyable listening.

By the mid-1920s, the Federal Ra-

dio Commission reassigned broad-

cast frequencies to avoid interfer-

ence, and eventually most stations

used at least 500 watts of trans-

mitter power. The development of

better vacuum tubes allowed trans-

mitter power to be increased. By

the 1930s, 1,000 watt and 5,000

watt stations became common. By

the mid-1930s, there were even a

few 50,000 watt stations, including

station WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio,

which was owned by Powel Cros-

ley, Jr. who also manufactured

Crosley radios. For a few years,

WLW had an experimental license

to operate a 500,000 watt trans-

mitter, but the Federal Communi-

cations Commission later terminat-

ed this license and limited all AM

broadcasting sta-

tions in the Unit-

ed States to a

maximum of

50,000 watts, a

power limit that

is still in effect

today.

Audio quality

was also a prob-

lem in the early

days. Carbon

microphones

were used, simi-

lar to the trans-

mitter section of

a telephone

handset. They

were not very

sensitive and

had poor fre-

quency response.

Fortunately,

better micro-

phone designs were developed and

sound quality improved. Harold

Black, an engineer with Bell Tele-

phone Laboratories, invented neg-

ative feedback in 1927 to improve

the performance of audio amplifi-

ers. This invention was originally

This photograph of the author’s 1937 Silver-tone shows the markings for police, foreign,

and amateur frequencies that were com-mon on many radios during the 1930s and

7

used for "repeaters" to amplify

long-distance telephone calls but

was later applied to audio amplifi-

ers for other applications including

radio broadcasting.

The technology of modulating the

transmitter signal with the audio

program material also improved.

Throughout the 1920s, a method

called Heising modulation was

used. It worked, but was ineffi-

cient, especially for high-powered

transmitters, and could not fully

modulate the radio frequency sig-

nal. A better method called Class B

Plate Modulation was developed

by Loy Barton, an engineering in-

structor at the University of Arkan-

sas, in 1930. This was the first

modulation method that provided

full 100% modulation. This im-

provement made AM radio signals

sound better to the listener. The

University of Arkansas radio sta-

tion, KUOA, was the first to use

Barton's invention, but it was later

adopted by all broadcasting sta-

tions.

The use of leased telephone lines

and phonograph recordings made

remote broadcasting possible. Ra-

dio broadcasts could be made live

directly from the sources of inter-

esting events, or could be recorded

for broadcasting later. An example

of this capability was the memora-

ble report of the crash of the Hin-

denburg air ship at Lakehurst, New

Jersey, on May 6, 1937. Radio an-

nouncer Herbert Morrison de-

scribed this shocking event as it

was happening. That emotional

broadcast is still available today on

the internet.

By the 1930s, radio was being used

by law enforcement organizations.

Initially, police departments made

arrangements with existing broad-

casting stations to interrupt their

programs with dispatches to their

patrol cars. The Chicago Police De-

partment used radio station WGN

for this purpose. Later, police de-

partments established their own

radio stations on separate frequen-

cies. Some were at the top of the

AM broadcast band, between

1,650 and 1,720 KHz. Others had

assigned frequencies between

2,400 and 2,450 KHz on the short

wave band. These frequencies

were often marked "Police" on ra-

dio dials, and listening to police

dispatchers appealed to the public.

I read a report in an old radio mag-

azine about a listener in Alaska

who enjoyed tuning into the Los

Angeles, California, police frequen-

cy, 1,712 KHz, when radio propaga-

tion conditions were favorable. He

learned the names of the police

dispatchers and could recognize

them by their voices.

By the early 1950s, nearly all law

enforcement organizations used

two-way radios operating on VHF

frequencies. The police bands

marked on the dials of old radios

are no longer used. My next article

will discuss developments that al-

lowed radio to move from the liv-

ing room to the automobile, allow-

ing broadcast listeners to enjoy

their favorite programs on the

road.

JIM COOK, the son of a radio techni-cian, became a licensed amateur radio operator at 15 and obtained commer-cial radiotelephone licenses before he was 20. He worked as a transmitter operator for two radio stations while studying electrical engineering at the University of Kansas. After graduation he became an electronic circuit design-

By the 1930s, broadcast radio was being used by

law enforcement; police made arrangements with

stations like Chicago’s WGN to interrupt their

programs with dispatches to patrol cars.

8

Crystals, diodes, and

transistors….my house to

the schoolhouse

By Bill Phillips, KD2BME

It all began with a crystal set. The year was 1952 and

my father brought home a kit. It had a card board base and the

parts were held together with pins. The circuit was the usual;

coil, crystal, ear phone and capacitor. The parts were joined by

strips of metal. The coil had an arm that slid in an arc along the

surface of the windings. The arm had very little effect as it

worked in only one position.

The crystal was another matter. It worked when the cat’s

whisker hit a sensitive spot on a crystal of galena. The galena

was protruding from solid solder that was filing a small cup. The

cat’s whisker was a short piece of thin tough wire that was used

Galena crystal

9

as a probe to randomly poke around the

crystal’s surface. When it hit a sensitive

spot you could hear a crackling sound in

the ear phone. If you could hold the end

of the cat’s whisker in that place, it was

possible to hear a station.

The set needed an antenna and a

ground. My bed room was overlooking

the back yard. I placed small holes at the

bottom of the window just large enough

to get the wire through and small enough

so dad wouldn’t notice. That hole al-

lowed me to stretch a wire the length of

the yard. Somehow dad noticed, he was

a keener observer then I guessed. If the

antenna hadn’t caught his attention the

ground wire would have. A heavy wire

coming down the side of the house con-

nected to a steel rod planted in the gar-

den mixed in between mom’s zinnias.

Then, it was time to listen. I held the

ear phone up, holding it in place with the

bail from a paint can. With a steady hand

and unlimited patience I poked the cat’s

whisker around the surface of the galena.

I spent a long time poking before I heard a

faint sound. Then finally, there it was a

radio station. After the time spent listen-

ing to a whisper I was able to identify the

station as WKBW the strongest station in

Buffalo. I didn’t know it at that time but

my great piece of technology was

doomed to receive that one station.

The dawn of semiconductors

If technology had stopped with the crys-

tal, I would have been happy to listen to

the only station on the air. Progress con-

tinued the boy next door got a diode. He

was four years older than I was and

would always find the next best thing.

Diodes met the dreams of any true radi-

oman. My success at building better crys-

tal sets was certain. My next model was a

splendid improvement. Mounted on a

board with a bigger coil, variable conden-

ser and that new diode. It was a marvel

of planning, a sight to look at, all neatly

spread out with the wire connections

twisted together. With great pride in my

advanced design, I was ready to hear all

the stations that I heard on our radio. I

picked up the earphone moved the arm

on the coil and heard nothing. I wasn’t

surprised because I hadn’t adjusted the

condenser. As I turned the shaft of the

condenser, I heard a station. It was

WKBW in Buffalo, where I lived. With

glee, I realized I had a real radio. I could

tune it and get any station I wanted. I

soon found out I could get the station I

wanted as long as it was old KB. That was

it, not much better than my original crys-

tal set.

It was three years later, when I saw a

drawing of a small radio using something I

never heard of. The transistor had been

born. I was taking a short course in elec-

tricity. I learned what a circuit was and

how to wire one. Best of all I learned to

solder.

My teacher was interested in electronics

and knew all about radio circuits. I found

a plan for a one transistor radio in “Boys

Life” magazine. I showed it to my teacher

who wanted to see one built. My first

experience with parts was a trip to a radio

parts store. I had never seen such a store.

It had shelves; of mysterious things, I was

hooked. I didn’t know what they were

but I wanted some. The man at the coun-

ter helped me get the parts I needed.

They were the usual; resistors, capacitors,

an adjustable coil and a small flat variable

condenser. The best of all was a transis-

tor, the CK722.

At home, I found a small plastic box, some

wires and a small battery. I drilled holes in

the box. Soldered the parts together plac-

ing them in the box with wires soldered to

the battery. I had a bolt on the side to

attach the antenna. For a switch, I ex-

tended two wires from the box I could

twist together to power the set. It

worked with a long enough antenna, I

could get any station I wanted and that

was, take a guess. That’s right, WKBW

from Buffalo.

10

Transistors were new, with a mystery that

goes with a break in discovery. My next

Idea to improve my radio was to make it

portable with a special antenna. It had

four wires each one spreading out along

my arms and legs. Today, that would be

stealth technology.

The best part was getting to show it off to

my friends. First, I took it to a Boy Scout

meeting. By then I had an earphone like a

hearing aid. I walked around the meeting

with only the earpiece noticeable. The

Scout Master came over to say, he didn’t

know I was deft. I went home knowing I

had a success with a radio like the one

spies have.

The next adventure would be at school. If

I could get away with it in some places, I

could take the radio to school. The rea-

soning was, why not? It would be great to

sit in class listening to the radio while the

teacher went on without any idea I was in

my own world. In the end, that was not

rewarding enough. The radio however,

had to be shown to my classmates.

Showing off wasn’t going to be good

enough, There had to be an advance in

technology to make it really exciting. The

radio was miniaturized, the earpiece

couldn’t be changed, what was left was

an improvement in the antenna. The

antenna wasn’t flashy enough and could

be improved. The radio needed an an-

tenna that was long and portable but

could be hidden when not in use. In my

room was just the thing, a slinky.

That morning, I set out for school with

expectation that this would be the most

remarkable thing to show. Ever since, I

brought a hollowed out book with a

squirt gun inside. I waited until English

class to show off my newest radio. The

classroom was on the second floor giving

me some height to drop the coil. I had

the radio tucked into my shirt pocket and

hidden in my book bag was my stealth

antenna. As I walked into class, I knew

this was going to be the day that my tech-

nical genius would make a lasting impres-

sion.

The class started as usual. Then contin-

ued with the teacher working on a class-

room project with the students gathered

around at her desk. That was the mo-

ment needed to start my demonstration.

My friends saw me get out the slinky and

knew I was up to something. I handed

the slinky to a friend who was by a win-

dow. He opened the window and

dropped one end the slinky down the

side of the building. He secured this long

bouncing spring to the window frame

with a hook. I passed a small wire to him.

He connected his end to the slinky, now

turned into an antenna, and then I con-

nected my end to the radio. I was in busi-

ness and the students huddled around

me weighting for the moment I heard a

station.

Suspense was building, it was quiet.

Then, there was a knock on the door. A

messenger passed a note to the teacher.

The teacher read it and looked up at me.

The students around her looked at me.

My friends around me sat down. There, I

was attached to a wire, attached to the

window with something almost out of

sight.

The note, it turned out was from a

teacher in the classroom below. Saying

something about a dangling object

bouncing around in front of her window.

I knew my teacher knew that I had done

something that needed an explanation.

The suspense had changed; it was now

the teacher who held the attention. The

sudden stillness, spoke for its self. The

climax came with the predicable phrase, “I’ll

see you after school”.

BILL PHILLIPS, who is retired, taught high

school physics and industrial arts. He is an

Extra Class ham as well as an amateur geolo-

gist.

“The boy next door

got a diode. He was

four years older than

I was and would

always find the next

best thing.”

11

Now We

Know….

Gravity Makes

Waves

By Prof. Alan B. Entenberg

On February 11, 2016, it was officially reported

that gravity waves were finally discovered after Albert Einstein

used the theory of General Relativity to predict their existence

almost exactly a century ago in 1916. (The discovery was pub-

lished at Abbott et al, Physical Review Letters 116, 061102

(2016).) The means for detecting them was the huge LIGO

(Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) appa-

ratus consisting of one station in Livingston, Louisiana, and a

second in Hanford, Washington. Each LIGO apparatus is a light

interferometer with a perpendicular set of 4-kilometer arms

with mirrors. The setup can detect relative changes in the

length of these arms to a distance smaller than the 10-15 meter

diameter of a proton. The discovery was announced after obser-

vations at one of these stations were confirmed at the other.

Both LIGO observatories simultaneously received nearly identi-

cal signals on September 14, 2015 at 5:51 am Eastern Daylight

Time.

Scientists believe that these waves were generated from the

collision of two “black holes” over ten billion years ago at a dis-

History in the Making

AWA Gateway

12

tance of several billion light years from

our place in the universe, according to the

reports. As early as 2005, Dr. Manuela

Campanelli of the Center for Computa-

tional Relativity and Gravitation (CCRG) at

the Rochester Institute of Technology

(RIT) performed computer simulations of

two colliding black holes. The simulations

predicted a “ringing signal” of the gravita-

tional force field that would propagate to

Earth from such an event. The signals

detected by the LIGO systems were nearly

identical to more recent simulations by

Manuela and other members of the CCRG

group that she directs at RIT. Manuela’s

words were “I couldn’t believe it the first

time I saw what LIGO had detected and

how close it looked to the waveform we

had modeled on a supercomput-

er.” (Athenaeum, News and Insight from

Rochester Institute of Technology, Volume

7, Number 5, April-May 2016, Page 6.)

Shown nearby is an illustration (from the

LIGO website) of the simulated merger of

two black holes with the resulting strain

waveform for one of the LIGO arms.

Strain is the ratio of either the elongation

or compression of one of the arms divided

by the initial 4 km length.

The strain graph shows what happens to

either 4 km arm of the interferometer.

The black holes are approaching each oth-

er at about a third of the speed of light.

The whole merger is over within less than

half a second! Close to identical strain

signals were observed by each of the two

LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington

and Livingston, Louisiana.

What does this all mean?

As you probably know if you are a radio

enthusiast, a wave can be viewed as a

“propagating disturbance” in a particular

medium. For example, if we pluck a

13

clothes line, the distortion will propagate

back and forth until the energy that is

stored in the distortion gradually disap-

pears because of friction. Likewise, when

a rock falls into the center of a placid lake,

circular ripples will propagate outward

from the point where the rock hit the wa-

ter. Similarly, sound can propagate out-

ward in spherical wave fronts from the

point of an explosion.

Electromagnetic Waves

Electromagnetic waves, capable of propa-

gating through a vacuum, were predicted

on purely theoretical grounds by the

equations of James Clerk Maxwell over

150 years ago. In 1888, Heinrich Hertz

first generated electromagnetic waves

(the propagation of energy through empty

space) with a spark gap. Radio waves are

one form of electromagnetic waves; light,

x-rays, and microwaves are other exam-

ples. Each kind of wave corresponds to a

different frequency range. Eventually,

Guglielmo Marconi read of Hertz’s work

and developed a method for sending out

code signals over distances of many miles.

The basic mechanism for producing elec-

tromagnetic waves is to make an electric

charge (usually negatively charged elec-

trons) oscillate back and forth with a par-

ticular frequency, f. Energy must be sup-

plied to make the electrons go back and

forth. Much of the supplied energy is radi-

ated outward in spherical electric force

field wave fronts which move at the speed

of light, c = 3.0 x 108 m/s. The relation

between the speed of the wave and the

frequency of the source is c = f where

is the wavelength of the wave. For ordi-

nary AM radio waves, the frequency range

is from about 0.8 MHz to about 1.6 MHz.

The corresponding wavelengths would be

about 400 m to 200 m, respectively.

These electric field wave fronts are detect-

ed when they pass through a metallic con-

ducting material, such as an antenna wire,

thereby causing the electrons in the an-

tenna to oscillate at the source frequency.

Gravitational Waves

In principle, gravitational waves should be

similar to electromagnetic waves. A very

simplified mechanism for producing them

is to supply energy to a mass and cause it

to oscillate back and forth with a particu-

lar frequency, f. Gravitational “force field

wave fronts” will radiate outward in the

same way that electromagnetic wave

fronts propagate outward from an oscil-

lating electron. They will even move with

speed of light, c.

The difficulty is that they will be extremely

hard to detect! This is because they are

relatively weak— very weak.

Let’s compare the gravitational force of

attraction to the electrical force of attrac-

tion for a fundamental system like the

hydrogen atom. In the simplest model of

the hydrogen atom, the positively charged

proton (charge = +e = +1.6 x 10−19 Cou-

lomb) is orbited by a negatively charged

electron (charge = −e) in a way similar to

the way the moon orbits the earth. Cou-

lomb’s Law gives the electric force of

attraction between the electron and the

proton.

Felec = kelec qe qp / r2

where qe is the charge on the electron, qp

is the charge on the proton, and r is the

distance between the electron and the

proton. The constant kelec is the Coulomb

constant. On the other hand, Newton’s

Law of Universal Gravitation gives the

gravitational force of attraction between

the electron and the proton.

Fgrav = kgrav me mp / r2

where me is the mass of the electron, mp is

the mass of the proton, and r is the dis-

tance between the electron and the pro-

ton. The constant kgrav is the Universal

Gravitation constant. If we take the ratio

of the electric force to the gravitational

force, the denominators cancel and we

obtain the following:

Felec / Fgrav = (kelec qe qp) / (kgrav me mp) ≈

1040 !!!!

The ratio of the electric force to the gravi-

tational force is a huge number. The ratio

is more than “a trillion times a trillion

times a trillion.” (This calculation can be

easily reproduced with the fundamental

constants found in any introductory phys-

ics book.) Gravitational waves are hard to

detect simply because the gravitational

force is so much weaker than the electric

force.

Here’s another way to look at it: The hu-

man eye can sometimes “see” the wave

quantum or “photon” emitted when a

single electron moves from a higher orbit

to a lower orbit in a hydrogen atom.

When this happens, we say that a

“photon” has been absorbed by an elec-

tron in the retina. But, there is no way

that we could detect the presumed corre-

sponding “graviton” quantum which may

also be emitted from the downward mo-

tion of the electron mass. Its effect on an

electron in our retina would be more than

“a trillion times a trillion times a trillion”

weaker!

Because gravitational force is so much

weaker than electrical force, we need to

14

have a much, much more massive set of

objects generate a wave front in order to

detect it. Two black holes whose gravita-

tional attraction allows them to orbit

around each other will do the trick. (It is

now believed that our Milky Way galaxy is

“invisibly” held together with the gravita-

tional field produced by an enormous

massive black hole at its center. Typically,

a black hole might have a mass over a bil-

lion times that of our sun.) If the mutual

orbit of two black holes is unstable, then

they could collide with each other and

produce a sufficient gravitational disturb-

ance that could be observed many light

years away.

That’s what may have happened here.

Simplistically, the colliding black holes

could be viewed as basically a “huge natu-

ral oscillator,” and the two LIGO stations

in Washington and Louisiana as two big

receiving antennas. When the gravitation-

al disturbance passes through one of the

LIGO receiving apparatus setups, each arm

will periodically elongate and contract,

relative to the other arm, by less than the

10−15 meter diameter of a proton. Amaz-

ingly, the optical interferometry of LIGO is

capable of detecting this distortion!

ALAN B. ENTENBERG, Ph.D. taught and did

research for over thirty years in the Physics

Department at the Rochester Institute of

Technology (RIT). He received his Ph.D.

from the University of Rochester in High

Energy Physics and later worked on de-

tecting neutrinos interacting with protons

at the University of Pennsylvania. He also

worked on the use of laser beams to liber-

ate nuclear fusion energy from hydrogen

isotopes at the University of Rochester. He

is currently Professor Emeritus in the

School of Physics and Astronomy at RIT.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, LIGO was designed

and constructed by a team of scientists from Caltech and MIT.

In an effort to detect passing gravitational waves, researchers

bounce high-power laser beams back and forth in each arm.

Passing gravitational waves alter the length between the mir-

rors in the LIGO arms, which the lasers detect. There are two

LIGO sites; the Hanford, Washington, LIGO site is shown here.

Credit: NASA, LIGO Laboratory.

15

Other Clubs

AWA Gateway

·The following is a non-exhaustive listing of other vintage and

antique radio clubs, including some detail as supplied by the

clubs themselves at various times in the past. The accuracy of

the detail is not guaranteed. Readers are advised to check the

clubs’ websites or to contact the clubs directly for current, com-

plete, and accurate information; and if you are an officer of a

club, and you wish to supply or update a listing, please contact

us . — Ed.

The Antique Radio Club of Illinois (ARCI) — Meets bimonthly.

Meets generally held at the American Legion Hall, Carol Stream

IL but meets in June in conjunction with the 6-Meter Club of

Illinois at the DuPage County Fairgrounds and once per year for

Radiofest, this year at the Medinah Shriners, Addison, IL . Check

web-site for schedules, details and maps.) Contacts: President,

John Stone, arcipresident@com; general information, clubinfo@

antique-radios.org. Website www. antique-radios.org.

Antique Radio Collectors of Ohio — meets first Tuesday of each

month at 2929 Hazelwood Ave., Dayton, OH (4 blocks east of

Shroyer Rd. off Dorothy Lane) at 7 p.m. Also annual swap meet

and show. Membership: $10.00 per year. For more info, contact

Karl Koogle: mail to above address; phone (937) 294-8960; e-

mail KARLKRAD@ GEMAIR.COM.

·California Historical Radio Society —For info on current

meetings and events, see www.californiahistoricalradio.com.

·CARS, the Cincinnati Antique Radio Society — Meets on the

second Wednesday of each month at Gray’s History of Wireless

Museum, which is part of The National Voice of America Muse-

um of Broadcasting, Inc., located in a building that is now on the

National Historic Register at 8070 Tylersville Road, Westchester,

Ohio. 45069. For more information contact Bob Sands at (513)

858-1755, or oltubes@roadrunner.com.

·Carolinas Chapter of the AWA — Hosts “mini-swap-meets” plus

an annual conference, “Antique Radio Charlotte,” on the 4th

weekend in March. For more info, visit the website at CC-

AWA.ORG or contact Ron Lawrence, W4RON, Chapter President,

P.O. Box 3015, Matthews, NC 28106-3015; phone (704) 289-

1166; e-mail W4RON@carolina.rr.com.

·Central Ohio Antique Radio Assn. – Meets on the third

Wednesday of March, June and September at 7:30 p.m. Swap

meets: “Cabin Fever” in January and outdoor tailgate in July.

December Christmas party. For more info contact Barry Gould at

614-442-1518 or Dave Poland at 614-890-5422 or http://

coara.org/.

·Delaware Valley Historic Radio Club —Meeting and auction be-

gins 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month. Location:

Telford Community Center on Hamlin Ave. in Telford, PA. Annual

dues: $15.00, which includes a subscription to the club’s month-

ly newsletter The Oscillator. For more info contact Delaware

Valley Historic Radio Club, P.O. Box 5053, New Britain, PA

18901. Phone (215) 345-4248.

Houston Vintage Radio Association (HVRA) meets the fourth

Saturday (January thru October) at Bayland Park 6400 Bissonnet,

9 a.m. in SW Houston. Each meeting includes an auction and

program. Annual two-day convention held in February includes

three auctions, old equipment contest, technical talks, swap

meet, and awards banquet. One day MEGA auctions held in the

spring and fall. A newsletter, The Grid Leak, is published bi-

monthly. Event postings, announcements, photos and other

features are available on HVRA website: www.hvra.org. Mem-

bership is $20/yr. Address: HVRA, P.O. Box 31276, Houston TX

77231-1276 or call Bill Werzner, 713-721-2242; email:

werz1943@gmail.com.

·Hudson Valley Antique Radio and Phono Society [HARPS] meets

the 3rd Friday of the month 7:30PM at the Episcopal Church of

Suffern Annex, 65 Washington Ave., Suffern N.Y. 10901 for info

contact Rev. Dale Cranston at (845) 357-1615 or

dale.cranston@gmail.com.

·Indiana Historical Radio Society — Active since 1971. Meets in

Feb. (Lawrence), May (2-days, Kokomo) and Oct. (Greenfield).

Flea market, old equipment contest, and auction at all events.

Meet details and club info at website

www.indianahistoricalradio.org. $15.00 annual dues includes

the IHRS Bulletin published quarterly. Contact Herman Gross,

W9ITT, 1705 Gordon Dr., Kokomo, IN 46902, 765-459-8308,

email w9itt@ comcast.net.

·London Vintage Radio Club — This Ontario, Canada club meets

in London on the first Saturday of January, March, May, and

November. Annual flea market held in Guelph, Ontario in June.

Contact: Dave Noon, VA3DN, 19 Honeysuckle Cr., London, ON

N5Y 4P3, Canada. Email: va3dn@execulink.co. Website: http://

lvrc. home-stead.com/index.html.

16

·Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club (MAARC) — Meets monthly,

usually on the third Sunday of the month at the Davidsonville

Family Recreation Center in Davidsonville, MD. (But meets once

or twice a year in Northern Virginia—check website for sched-

ules, details and maps.) Contacts: President, Steve Hansman,

855 Arundel Drive, Arnold, MD 21012, (410) 974-0561, email:

shans01 a@ comcast.net; Membership Chair, Geoff Shearer,

(703) 818-2686, email: gshearer2@ver-izon.net. Website

www.maarc.org.

·The New Jersey Antique Radio Club — Meets the 2nd Friday of

the month 7:30 p.m. at either Info Age 2201 Marconi Rd. Wall

Township N.J. 07719 or Bowen Hall, Princeton University. We

hold three annual swap meets and four seasonal repair clinics.

Visit the club’s web-site for details www.njarc.org or contact

NJARC President Richard Lee (914) 589-3751 or presi-

dent@njarc.org.

·Northland Antique Radio Club (Minneapolis/St. Paul) — hosts

four events with swap meets each year (in February, May, Sep-

tember and November) including an annual conference, “Radio

Daze,” for two days in mid-May. Annual dues are $12.00, which

includes a subscription to the club’s quarterly newsletter. For

more info, visit our website at www.northlandantique - radio-

club.com.

·Northwest Vintage Radio Society — Meets the second Saturday

of each month at Abernethy Grange Hall, 15745 S. Harley Ave.

Oregon City, OR. Meeting starts at 10:00 a.m. Membership

$25.00 per year. Guests welcome at all meetings and functions

except board meetings. Spring show, the second Saturday in

May. For more information, contact Mike McCrow 503-

730¬4639; e-mail: tranny53@comcast.net.

·Oklahoma Vintage Radio Collectors —Meets second Saturday of

each month, (except for April, October, and December), at

Hometown Buffet, 3900 NW 63rd St., Oklahoma City, OK. Visi-

tors welcome. Dinner/Socializing, 6 p.m., meeting, 7 p.m. Swap

meets on second Saturday in April and October at 8 a.m., Mid-

west City Community Center, 100 N. Midwest Blvd., Midwest

City, OK. Membership $15/year including monthly Broadcast

News. Info: contact Jim Collings at (405) 755-4139 or jrcradio@

cox.net. Website: www.okvrc.org.

·Ottawa Vintage Radio Club — Usually meets the second

Wednesday of every month (except July and August) in the Con-

ference Room, Ottawa Citizen, 1101 Baxter Rd., Ottawa, Ontario,

Canada. Auctions in October and May. Call Paul Guibord (61 3-

523-1 315), or check www.ovrc.org for details.

·The Pittsburgh Antique Radio Society welcomes visitors to our

Saturday flea markets, contests and clinics held at least four

times yearly. A fall auction is included in September and our an-

nual luncheon program is on the first Saturday in December. An

annual Tri-State Radio Fest is held in April. Our journal, The Pitts-

burgh Oscillator, is mailed quarterly. For more information visit

us at http://www.pittantiqueradios. org, email President Chris

Wells at radioactive55man@comcast.net, or phone Treasurer

Tom Dixon at 412-343-5326.

·Society for Preservation of Antique Radio Knowledge (SPARK) —

Meets monthly at Donato’s Pizzeria, 7912 Paragon Rd., Center-

ville, OH. Annual swap meet. Membership $15/yr. Write SPARK

Inc., c/o Dan Casey, 10075 Morrow-Rossburg Rd., Pleasant Plain,

OH 45162 or call Dan Casey at (513) 265-8466 or e-mail dansra-

dioland@ gmail.com

·Texas Antique Radio Club — Meets alternate months in Kyle

and Shertz, TX. Contact: Doug Wright, 625 Rolling Hills Dr., Can-

yon Lake, TX 78133. Email: dwjw@gvtc.com; website

www.gvtc.com/ ~edengel/TARC.htm.

·Vintage Radio and Phonograph Society (VRPS) meets monthly

on the third Saturday. Located in the Dallas, Fort Worth

Metroplex, our current activities are annual convention, auc-

tions, swap meets, repair training sessions and monthly pro-

grams. For details visit our website www.vrps.org, or by con-

tacting VRPS President Jim Sargent at (817) 573-3546 or bsar-

gent@swbell.net.

17

About Us

AWA Gateway

The Antique Wireless Association is an organization of about 1600 international members linked by a common interest in the histo-ry of electrical and electronic communications. AWA members come from all walks of life and our ranks include teenagers, octoge-narians, and beyond in both directions. At one of our meets, you might find yourself shaking hands with a retired broadcast execu-tive or military electronics specialist, an engineer in a high-tech electronics firm, or an eager young person looking for advice on restoring his or her first radio.

The organization was started in 1952 by Bruce Kelley, George Batterson, and Linc Cundall—amateur radio operators and radio col-lectors from upstate New York. Their initial goal was to establish a museum where they could collect and preserve early wireless and radio equipment and historical information before it was lost to future generations. Decades later, their legacy continues to motivate our members.

Some of us are most interested in the technical background behind the epoch-making discoveries that now make it as easy to com-municate across the globe as around the corner. Others enjoy the romance surrounding the men and institutions that put these discoveries to work: the maritime radio operators who averted disasters with their alert ears and quick thinking; the short-wave stations that radiated glimpses of exotic cultures and mindsets; the giant radio networks that delivered unparalleled entertainment and timely news to our homes while hawking toothpaste, cigarettes and soap flakes.

Though AWA members share this common interest, which many can trace back to early child-hood, they express it in different ways. Some of us collect radio-related literature and manuals. Others collect and restore hardware: Morse keys and sounders, battery radios of the 1920s, telephones, advertising signs, cathedral and console radios—you name it! Collections can become very specialized, restricted to such things as radio components crafted of shiny Bakelite and gleaming brass or perhaps the fragile and intricate vacuum tubes that made the communications miracles possible.

Among our members are meticulous craftsmen who enjoy replicating vintage receivers and/or transmitters. Those who are li-censed amateurs frequently operate such equipment in special communications events sponsored by the AWA.

In addition to the commitment to the preservation of historical artifacts and background materials at our Museum, AWA also pub-lishes The AWA Journal and The AWA Review. The Journal is a quarterly publication that gives our multi-talented members an out-let to share their historical research, equipment restorations, troubleshooting and servicing tips and other information of common interest. The AWA Review, which also publishes member contributions, contains more extensive and scholarly papers. It is pub-lished once a year.

The AWA Gateway is the latest addition to the AWA family of publications. It’s delivered electronically and free of charge—downloadable from our web site www.antiquewireless.org.

Our content is targeted at those who may not be familiar with the AWA and who perhaps are just becoming interested in the histo-ry, collecting or restoration of vintage communications gear. For that reason, our technical articles are more basic than those in our other publications and our articles about AWA generally do not assume knowledge that that only those familiar with our organiza-tion might have.

The AWA also sponsors a four day annual convention in August featuring technical presentations and forums, a large auction, an awards banquet, an equipment and artifact competition, a book sale, and an active flea market. The convention affords attendees plenty of time to renew and make friendships, time to engage in long conversations on col-lection, preservation and all other as-pects of the hobby.

The AWA Museum campus is located in Bloomfield, New York. Membership in the AWA includes free admission to the world fa-mous facility. It is crammed with too many treasures to describe here, but you can see some of the exhibits on our web site www.antiquewireless.org.

The AWA is chartered as a non-profit organization in New York State, an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, and is a member of the American Association of Museums. To learn more about AWA or to join our organization, visit the AWA website.

DONATING ARTIFACTS TO THE AWA

You may have artifacts that you are interested in donating to the AWA. We would be pleased to discuss any possible donation. Please call us at (585) 257-5119.