Someone used to sign off with "...and THANK YOU Major Armstrong!" Can't
remember who/what/where for sure but I believe it was one of the early FM
stations. Given where I grew up, and my listening choices, I would suspect
it was WRPI (from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) in Troy, NY, but I
certainly don't know that for sure any more...
*sigh* Who knew that FM as an art form would be so short lived?
---
Scott Gomez
-----Original Message-----
From: John A. Lind [mailto:jlind@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Subject: RE: [OM] Further on technology (R&D)
<snippage>
One name really pops out at me with the development of "radio" as we know
it today. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI. His name
was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. Not that he didn't stand on the shoulders of
other giants. What Major Edwin H. Armstrong did was create the
regenerative receiver, superregenerative receiver, heterodyne receiver,
superheterodyne receiver and the complete frequency modulation system
(receiver and transmitter). He created the heterodyne and superheterodyne
receivers for the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI in an effort to
intercept enemy radio communications from greater distances. The
superheterodyne concepts Armstrong invented are used in very nearly every
radio and television receiver manufactured today! (If it's the less than
~1% that's not a superheterodyne, it's a simple superregenerative, and
credit still goes to Armstrong.)
The more immediate giants on whose shoulders he stood were J.A. Fleming
(Fleming Valve; diode vacuum tube) and Lee deForest (triode vacuum
tube). His creations had more to do with the demise of "spark gap" and the
rise of "continuous wave" (c.w.) than any other person.
-- John
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