Topband: History of directional MF antennas

[Pete Michaelis - N8TR]

About 40 years ago I had the opportunity to see the electro 
-mechanical device used
to generate those antenna patterns.  I was newly licensed and met Carl Smith's
son at a local hamfest,  He was selling some insulator clevises.  I asked if he
had any more.  He said they had some more at  their facility on Snowville Road
in Brecksville ,Ohio.   I drove there and picked up the clevises.  Carl Smith
was there and when he heard that I worked at NASA's Lewis Research Center
he wanted to hear about our new CRAY computer and wondered if he could
get access to it.  Well that was way above my pay grade but I gave him a name
to contact.  He then showed me the pattern generating device he had built.
I was impressed but did not fully appreciate its importance.  I had forgotten
about that visit till I read this message thread.

73 Pete - N8TR

At 01:25 PM 3/30/2022, Grant Saviers wrote:

>The reference book of patterns for 2 and 3 element verticals is
>Directional Antennas, by Carl E. Smith, E.E., Cleveland Institute of 
>Radio Electronics, 1946
>and is available in pdf from scribd.com
>
>It has hundreds of fascinating patterns created by Carl Smith's 
>analog computer.  Antenna patterns for every possible need, if you 
>have the space and expertise to work out the feed.