Cake Notes July 8

Cake Notes July 8, 2017

This was a smaller group than usual which was no obstacle to stimulating conversation among Glen KG0T,Peter K6UNO, Read N1WC and Ron W6WO. The session began with discussing a potential visit to the California Historical Radio Society in Alameda on July 22. An email message via he K6BJ reflector was recently posted which described the event and Ron would like to hear from anyone with questions or interest in a group trip. History continued to dominate our discussions.

A newspaper article was recently published describing the historic radio site to become preserved by the City of Palo Alto. We discussed other possible visits including one to the US Navy ship Hornet in SFO and the Marconi site in the Pt Reys area now part of the State Park. Rangers there had exhibited some WWII items at Pacificon in the past which included the famous RCA AR88. They were shipped to England at the beginning of WWII and became the radio of choice for monitoring enemy traffic.

Ron goes mysty eyes at the very mention of this HF receiver and purchased one for sale about 10 years ago. Peter asked about its condition and in short, it required a complete overhaul. Rene K6XW (an avid collector of WWII radios) stepped in and completely overhauled the complex spring-loaded gear box. Peter mentioned he had a 51-S1 which needed attention and I said that Rene (rene@elecraft.com) would be someone to contact. We learned that Bob had also found are rare Collins item lately
and we look forward to hearing more about it.

We shifted to discussing the evolution of computers and Glen described his early experience that has grown, making him our go-to person. He commented the latest uprocessors had more power than Eniac. Group marveled at the density of memory now available on flash drives. Reed mentioned that these are one of most faked items to be found on EBay. Ron recalled being present at the introduction of the 4004. Other noteworthy items were the HP 2116 mini, the Heathkit analog computer kit and a kit for building an
8080 that required a cpu chip costing $300

We can never hold a CAKE session without an antenna topic Glen had heard one idea was to include switches in a dipole that could be operated by air piped to them via small tubes. Ron commented that it sounded more medical than radio. The video of Field Day antennas from Bob’s (K6XX) drone was
mentioned as a new feature of FD which no doubt will be repeated.

So as you see this was a rather unusual session but much fun as always.

Alameda on the 22nd Leaders or other trips anyone ?

Ron W6WO