Posted on 11/18/2011 5:38:57 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
Today on the 40th anniversary of the 4004, the world’s first microprocessor, the world should salute Intel and the three inventors of that microchip for the accomplishment.
But let’s not forget that a little bit of luck and good lawyering helped too.
The 4004 was essentially a contract engineering assignment.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Ahh... the old R390 was the first radio I ever learned to repair
I could tweek that thing to an mds of -127 dbm
Fair warning. There is not a lot of content out on the airwaves anymore. SW is mostly religious broadcasters and Hams nowadays.
Though there are still interesting things out there.
I use a Grundig Millennium Sattelit 800 and a Ten Tec rx320 as my main receivers.
They are both a bit pricey and the grundig 800 is no longer made.
The Kaito 1103 is a great portable and is about $80
The Tecsun pl660 Is a great portable as well. I think they can be had for about $70
I really liked this one till some one broke into my truck and stole it last month.
CC Crane generally just rebrands radios with their name.
I think you would be happy with this.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=tecsun+pl-600
I was 30 years old, in Los Angeles and building a pc from scratch in an S-100 box. Gave up on that later and bought one of the first TRS-80 model 1's (Z80, an improved 8080) off the end of the assembly line - which I promptly began to modify repeatedly.
With some 'puter friends, we opened one of the first stores in town offering custom programs we had written for the business community. (accounts payable, receivable, inventory - others)
Today, I'm still working with 'puters handling ultra-high speed data via international satellite. But, being over 70 years old, I've decided to retire soon and go back to playing with 'puters as a hobby versus vocation.
The Kaito 1103 is an outstanding radio. My only gripe with it is that it does not have a dedicated volume control and it does not display the time while it is on.
Its performance as a radio is excellent, even stunning.
Thank you very much, mylife. I appreciate the heads up and tips.
Grundig has been less than stellar with service in recent years. All of their radios are made in china. Eaton too.
Try the Kaito 1103 or Tecsun pl600.
They are under $100
Best wishes and Good listening.
Enjoying the 4th grade.
Again, thanks very much for all the good info, mylife. You’re very kind.
The Kaito and the Tecsun come with AC power supply, rechargeable battery’s that charge in the radio (though the supplied battery’s suck and I replace them with high amp after market battery’s from CVS pharmacy), they also come with an external 40 foot long wire antenna , and ear buds(I crank mine through computer speakers at the house),and a carry case(Tecsun)/pouch(Kaito)
The Kaito has a dedicated external audio output as well as an earphone output.
This is nice if you want to plug it into a sound system.
Also the Kaitos back light system lights the keypad so you can read the controls at night.
I didn't care for RPN, so I bought a TI scientific calculator about the time the HP-35 came out. It finally quit working, and I donated it to the Engineers Club of Dayton for their museum.
The first computer I learned to use was the size of the kitchen table.
It was called the Comp 10.
You booted it with code on paper tape.
It was able to add, subtract, multiply and divide. LoL
>>Where were you in ‘71 ?
Still in diapers.
Thanks. Now I’m all excited.
I owned a R390. Sadly I sold it. Big, clunky, but an amazing receiver.
Mechanical tuning mechanism was unique.
The PTO on the S-line is also unique. Slug tuned, a real challenge to tweak. Had to buy at Bristol (splined) allen wrench to accomplish some fine tuning. Mine has the best mechanical CW filter. Wonderful quiet receiver. Not that sensitive on higher frequencies, but can really handle front end overload.
Of course now, some of that thrill is gone as the world is all networked up.
But... there are still thrills to be found. There are covert operators out there on SW Numbers Stations
I picked up a station out of Iraq that was sending covert messages to fighters against Muqtada Al Sadr.
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