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Rock & Roll technology innovation from Amateur Radio

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by W0PV, Sep 16, 2019.

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  1. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Ken passed along this important point--

    "Richard Factor (named in the excerpt as Eventide founder) is WA2IKL, who won this year's Lifetime Technical Achievement Grammy!"

    Also, I did a partial restoration of Ken's pic. Here it is-- kenschaffer2.jpeg.jpg
     
    W0PV likes this.
  2. K4PIH

    K4PIH Ham Member QRZ Page

    Nice thread! I remember being a 13 year old and going to radio shack to get a little wireless transmitter that clipped on your lapel. I took it out of the case and mounted it in my pawn shop guitar, replacing the microphone with a connection to the pickup. Horrible fidelity but no cord!

    Played that thing for hours until my neighbor came over and said there was some strange music coming in over their FM radio.
     
    K9ASE, N2AMM and K3SZ like this.
  3. W0PV

    W0PV Ham Member QRZ Page

    Additional FYI, as mentioned in the articles, the REM song was not the only hit inspired by the Ken N2KS pure Ham Radio spirit derived sat DX setup. After The Police, on his debut solo album Sting has a track titled "Russians" He said this about its source,

    "In 2010, Sting explained that the song was inspired by watching Soviet TV via inventor Ken Schaffer's (N2KS) satellite receiver at Columbia University:[1][2]

    "I had a friend at university who invented a way to steal the satellite signal from Russian TV. We'd have a few beers and climb this tiny staircase to watch Russian television... At that time of night we'd only get children's Russian television, like their 'Sesame Street'. I was impressed with the care and attention they gave to their children's programmes. I regret our current enemies haven't got the same ethics."

    Sting performed the song at the 1986 Grammy Awards. His performance of the song was released on the 1994 album Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I.[3]"

    :cool:
     
  4. W0PV

    W0PV Ham Member QRZ Page

    I had forgotten this song until now. Very moving. Proud its inspiration has connection with Amateur Radio.

    Despite Sting's lament about adversarial ethics, I am surprised no one has attempted an updated cover of it. Here is my five minute version of lyric tweeks,

    Across the globe there's a growing feeling of hysteria
    Conditioned to respond to all the threats
    In the rhetorical speeches of the terrorists
    The Strongman said, "We will bury you"
    I don't subscribe to this point of view
    It'd be such an ignorant thing to do
    If the terrorists loved children too
    How can I save my little boy from the Internets deadly toys?
    There is no monopoly on common sense
    On either side of the political fence
    We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
    Believe me when I say to you
    I hope the terrorists love children too
    There is no historical precedent
    To put the words in the mouth of the president?
    There's no such thing as a winnable war
    It's a lie we don't believe anymore
    Mister President says, "We will protect you"
    I don't subscribe to this point of view
    Believe me when I say to you
    I wish the terrorists could love all children too
    We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
    But what might save us, me and you
    Is if the terrorists would love all children too

     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2019
  5. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Here's Ken's pic with fractal based deconvolution and stitching---cleaned up nice! kenschaffer4.jpg
     
  6. WM1A

    WM1A Ham Member QRZ Page



    No fractal music? . . . thats a spankin'
     
    W1YW likes this.
  7. KM1H

    KM1H Ham Member QRZ Page


    Steve Katz is almost as popular a name as John Smith
     
  8. WR2E

    WR2E XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    OK
     
  9. W9YW

    W9YW Moderator Emeritus QRZ Page

    There was Shaeffer-Vega, and also Cerwin-Vega! I worked for Gene Czerwinski, another inventor who built audio power amps using RCA's 1B05 transistors that powered his E-horn as what is remembered as the Universal Studio's Earthquake effect for movie houses. Marshall Buck was his researcher, and his great and innovative engineering staff did much much more. Then Cerwin-Vega! was sold, and sold, and split and sold. Gene's gone, and wasn't a ham so far as I can remember, or his head of engineering (at the time) Kirk Armstrong. Vega Associates.... has a place in history, but I'm not sure if it's declassified.
     
  10. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Its important to tell these stories, when possible, so folks know the provenance of much that we take for granted today.

    Otherwise they will think that DeForest ,and Les Paul, invented everything ;-)

    Cerwin Vega was one of those brand-relics that Gibson bought up and had no idea what to do with--in the HENRY era.

    Geez...Baldwin, Oberheim, over a dozen more. Bought. Killed.By Gibson. Which eventually killed itself.

    The NEW Gibson is back to doing guitars. Just guitars. Wish them well.
     
  11. W1LOC

    W1LOC Ham Member QRZ Page

    SOLID, solid post!! Thanks and 7 3 all.
     
    W1YW likes this.
  12. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Here's what the NEW Gibson did with Oberheim...man, I like the new Gibson management(!):

    https://www.musicradar.com/news/gib...iving-the-oberheim-brand-back-to-tom-oberheim
     
  13. W9YW

    W9YW Moderator Emeritus QRZ Page

    The music business brought out folks like Bob Heil, who goes strong today. Cerwin-Vega! had strong speakers and well-tuned cabinets, but their arc-welder power amps ruled.

    In turn, they connect to another great inventor (or copycat, depending on your view-- let's agree on improver) Pete Traynor. Pete made killer Fender Twin improvements, then went on to develop much with Yorkville Sound in Toronto/Scarsborough ON. When Pete was good, he was amazing. I worked at their subsidiary, Long and McQuade....

    Later, when I was a manufacturer's rep, Gene found out I knew about electronics and acoustics and yes, woodworking, and so I became Cerwin-Vega!'s first QC Director, this long before Gene slowed down.

    The engineering talent in the San Fernando Valley of CA was immense. Add in access to materials, and great things were built there. I worked for JBL and Hitachi while there. Then I was tempted in to the evils of small CPUs and TTL circuitry.... and became lost in computing for nearly forty years. Inside computing were Wayne Green, 73 and Byte Magazines.... and solder jockeys with a clue had a great time, as did I.

    Much of tech today has been birthed as an amateur radio idea, and the engineers and technicians of yesterday paved the way. Although much noise is made about software engineers, the hardware people had Moore's Law on their side-- and also the resin-core wave soldering machines.
     
    K9ASE, N2AMM, W0PV and 1 other person like this.
  14. W0PV

    W0PV Ham Member QRZ Page

    WR2E likes this.
  15. KM1H

    KM1H Ham Member QRZ Page

    I first met Wayne Green on 2M AM when we both lived in Brooklyn, he was the RTTY Editor for CQ iffn I remember and later Editor. He offered me a job at 73 in Peterborough NH when I left the USN but he was too cheap :p National Radio offered me a much better job. We kept in touch all thru the decades and I last saw him a few weeks before he passed.

    I still have the first 3-4 issues of BYTE somewhere.

    Carl
     

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