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Re: [TenTec] In praise of older technology

To: tentec@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] In praise of older technology
From: Doug Reid <n1068d@aol.com>
Reply-to: Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment <tentec@contesting.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 15:39:54 -0500 (EST)
List-post: <tentec@contesting.com">mailto:tentec@contesting.com>
You guys are a hoot ! I resemble that remark about me and my old pal Mahion 
Loomas !



-----Original Message-----
From: Rick - DJ0IP / NJ0IP <Rick@DJ0IP.de>
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment' <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Feb 24, 2014 3:27 pm
Subject: Re: [TenTec] In praise of older technology


Doug, I think you've been hanging out with Mahlon Loomas too long!
 
And for those of you who can't remember who he was, it might be worth your
hile to look it up.
 
I bet most of you didn't even know that wireless communications was invented
y a DENTIST!
 
Yes, he also invented the very first Aerial, although some might argue it
as Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin only used the kite wire to capture electricity; Loomas used it as
n Aerial to send and receive signals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahlon_Loomis 
 
Though his patent for a wireless telegraph was in 1872, as I recall he
iscovered this about 4 years earlier.  Hard to remember exactly.  I was
ust a young whipper snapper back then.
 
So guys, take it from me; next time you're having problems with your
ntenna, don't ask an engineer, consult your dentist!
Hey, I oughta know... I work for an antenna company!
;-)
 
What does all of this have to do with Doug's comment?
Everything.
Mahlon discovered that if he made the length of the wire of the TX and RX
erial the exact same length, communications was much more reliable.  Thus
ou might conclude that the length of wire was determining the frequency.
 
But that's not quite accurate.
Actually it was transmitting on (almost) all frequencies, but only
fficiently radiating into the ether on the wavelength associated with the
ength of his aerial.  So specifically, the aerial, not the transmitter,
etermined the frequency being radiated into the distant ether.  In the near
ield, a broad frequency spectrum was being radiated.
 
... at least that's my understanding of what was happening.  
Then again, how would I know?
I'm neither an engineer nor a dentist!
 
73 - Rick, DJ0IP
(Nr. Frankfurt am Main)
 
-----Original Message-----
rom: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Doug Reid
ack when I started out, we used a spark generator and the frequency was
etermined by the length of our antenna...... 
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