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70th Anniversary FM Commemorative Broadcast
Anonym1ty writes "A special commemorative FM broadcast Saturday, June 11, at noon (EDT) will mark the 70th anniversary of Edwin H. Armstrong's first public demonstration of wideband frequency modulation (FM). The transmission, from Experimental Station WA2XMN (reminiscent of Armstrong's W2XMN call sign) will be on Armstrong's original 42.8 MHz frequency and will emanate from his landmark 400-foot Alpine Tower in NJ. The program will tell the tale of FM's difficult birth, as well as its impact on present-day communications and will include excerpts from a recording of a 1941 test broadcast of the New England Yankee Network. For those unable to receive 42.8 MHz FM, the broadcast is being retransmitted by WFDU-FM on 89.1 MHz and via the Web. Rebroadcasts will take place June 14 and 16 at 7 PM (EDT)"
Good thing that FM radio has been used for so much good since then. 70 years later, and half the stations play the same 5 songs, over and over and over...
Wonder if he saw that coming...
E = m * c^(Hammer)
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Hasn't radio been one of _the_ most important inventions of all-time? We use it for everything now: 802.11x, microwaves, television, some Internet... lots of stuff to do with digital. :P It's been so incredibly useful that it's actually quite a nostalgic event that's about to take place.
...why does everyone flaunt Marconi when Tesla had voice transmission long before Marconi's public demonstrations were nothing more than Morse?
Armstrong also once was working on a live radio transmitter when his finger touched the bare leads of a capacitor.
Yes, he was the worlds first FM Shock Jock.
d00d!!! just underclock your radio, and while you're in there, put in a cold cathode blue light!
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
To play it via linux:
mplayer -cache 128 http://64.92.199.76/WFDU-FM
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I hope we can setup some mirrors so during the broadcast they don't get slashdotted. anybody know how to convert asf to mp3? if so someone setup a mother stream. I am writing up a script right now for dynamic redirection on their server.
I think this is particularly cool considering FM almost didn't make it out of infancy. Armstrong worked for RCA and they had so much invested in it that they tried to kill it. He had to pay to put up his own transmitter. RCA even tried running an FM smear and fear campaign. HAHA
Madre de Dios! Es El Pollo Diablo! -- Captain Blondebeard
Well, -you-, anyway. I'll probably just run down to the clubhouse and listen there on the Icom 738. Amateur radio kicks ass. =)
Sean
KI4IIB
'If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit.'
AM radio's susceptibility to interference makes it fun and useful for "listening" to electronics. For example, an AM radio will let you listen to transmissions on an ethernet cable and tell if it is plugged in and handling traffic. Old programmable calculators make the most interesting sounds as they chug through their calculations. Another plus is that you can hear lightening strikes from a great distance and listen as they approach or recede.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Any company selling a vacuum-tube radio for the 70th anniversary? I always did love the orange glow from the back of the radio console.
Why we can't listen to 42.8 on a radio anymore? Forgive me but I'm just a radio newb who just has one in his car. Thanks!
...in bed
Carousel is a lie!
American radio stations register with the FCC, and get a station name of a few letters. West of the Mississippi, stations get an initial "K"; eastern stations get an initial "W". Why those particular letters? Why choose "W", the longest and most difficult letter to say, as a generation of Websters have rediscovered three times over?
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make install -not war
I used to love to DX on my Sony ICF-5500W table radio in the 70's. Then moved up to CB, then the linear amp, then amateur radio. Ahhh, the memories......
It is possible to transmit FM signals unlicenced, as you can probably find from your iTrip, etc. You can find the regulation on it here: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/lowpwr.html
Will there be a rush on Thomas Salter Crystal Radio sets in the morning amongst the radio ham community? And is 70 really a birthday worth going to town for? 75, or 100, yes. 70?
Maybe it's just me, but I always thought WLW was a more interesting station.
500,000 100% modulated watts is a little crazy. you would have to practially feel it on a humid day.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
The Internet transmission will, of course, also be through frequency modulation; you will be required to ping a particular server and make a signal curve from the resulting ping values (this could actually work as a really dodgy multicasting mechansim ;) )
Me (Blog)
Can't they just round these people who sell "miraculous" objects on ebay up and execute them, or something?
Me (Blog)
It was actually an FM radio band back before FM broadcasting got moved up to 88-108 MHz. Now it's part of the public service band, as in police, utility companies, forest rangers, etc.
As was pointed out above, most scanner radios will receive that frequency just fine.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
I'm serious. While FM is nice, there are a lot of new technologies that permit digital communications over multiple frequencies (or even multiple directions on the same frequency) that are simply better than FM and and are held back for no other reason than cumbersome regulations and the notion that frequencies should be disected into chuncks of teritory like property. Property is about things that have real natural limits in supply and demand, not about things that have regulatory limits simply for the sake of locking in an industry and a particular technology.
People still have them? I thought they went out years ago once satellite radios came into being.
http://www.fatkidsong.com/
Here's the whole list, if anyone is interested.
I have a scanner capable of picking up 42.8 MHz, but I live nowhere near New Jersey. Will there be an effort to repeat the signal around the country, or should I just sleep in tomorrow?
Tube radios are relics of the past. Vacuum tubes live on, however, in guitar and hi-fi amps. Several manufacturers build highly acclaimed hi-fi amplifiers, such as:
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www.manleylabs.com
www.divertech.com/antiquesl
www.jolida.com
They meet your requirements of having a warranty and using current production tubes (such as Sovtek brand tubes, made by New Sensor in Russia).
Anyone else notice 1337 engraved at the top of his transmitter building?
FTA:
Throughout the 1940s he continued to lose money on promoting FM radio, fighting protracted patent litigation, and attempting to ward off regulatory attempts. He desperately craved recognition, bringing lawsuits and writing letters to the editor in an effort to demonstrate his accomplishments. Colleagues recognized his brilliance but viewed his desire for glory as obsessive and unnatural. Ill and despondent, in 1954 Armstrong put on his evening coat, hat, and gloves, and stepped out the window of his thirteenth-floor Manhattan apartment.
THIS is what IP law will get you.
What?
Well, -you-, anyway. I'll probably just run down to the clubhouse and listen there on the Icom 738. Amateur radio kicks ass.
I'm curious how you think you are going to pick up a 250W broadcast on 42.8Mhz originating in New Jersey when you are on the gulf coast?
Amateur radio doesn't kick that much ass. Of course, 42.8Mhz isn't an amateur radio frequency anyway.
but without the good music?
I remember my dad's excitement as he finished typing in a BASIC program from 80 Micro (or similar mag) and held a transistor radio near the comp to listen to it groan out "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."
This space available.
The Kraftwerk song has the tones made by a calculator on an AM radio. It was considered very avant-garde in 1975.
What frequencies would one have to listen to to hear data going through ethernet cable?
This is true, but the ICOM 738 can pick up that frequency. Also, depending on the sporadic-E conditions that evening, I may well actually be able to hear it.
:: helps ...actually, on second read, we'll be in the middle of a hurricane/tropical storm. I'll be lucky if I'm dry; in fact, I'll probably be out in it.
:D If you wanna actually seriously hear about why it is, just comment back, I suppose.
This map:: http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/tropo.html
plus, it's FM, which doesn't transmit well over long distances. On the THIRD bad-situation hand, it really SUCKS because the TS/Hurricane makes propagation conditions SUCK.
Amateur radio IS cool, though
'If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit.'
Old radios in Germany were perfectly capable of tuning way under 88. They only had some mechanical lock that prevented listeners from tuning that fare. By removing the lock as a kid I could listen to police car transmissions :)
Oh how sweet, now isn't that just special. I will be sure to listen in...
I took the same route and have a General Class license, but I find Amateur Radio to be VERY BORING and most Hams are jerks. I'll bet I've had less than 10 QSOs since in the past 7 years!
The only reason I don't sell my transciever is to listen to the occasional shortwave broadcast, or use it on CB when I'm traveling.