19-08-2012, 06:00 PM
Fascinating John - it's another indication of just how far things have progressed in such a short space of time.
Obviously when that promotional film was made they thought that it was a huge quantum leap in progress from the valve era, as indeed it was, but it's quite quaint now to hear the narrator referring to 'these minute transistors'. 'Minute' is a relative term, but when you think that the chips in a cellphone - never mind about a computer - have millions of transistors on them, it gives a sense of perspective as to the relativity of the term 'minute'. He also referred to the tiny battery needed for the transistor radio, showing a PP3 in his hand, but consider how many hours an i-pod, (which fits in the palm of the hand, is no larger than an 'After Eight Mint' and will store thousands of songs) will run for on its rechargeable lithium battery.
It's reached a stage at which people are no longer astonished by even breathtaking achievements.
Consider the recent Mars landing, which was flawless, and the ongoing experiments and research by the 'robot' on Mars. It hardly featured on TV news or in the press in the UK, especially in the tabloids, mainly written for the 'hard of thinking' with short attention spans, only interested in trivial gossip about so called 'celebrities'. The distance from Earth to Mars varies from 34 million to 250 million miles as both planets orbit the sun in an elliptical orbit, they can be sort of "close" and then later, they can be "distant" from one another. They're closest when they are on the same side of the orbit on the near side of Mars orbit, when Mars is closest to the Sun. They are farthest away when on opposite sides of the sun.
What an amazing feat of engineering and planning to send a space module that far, from one orbiting planet to another, land it where planned, and to receive signals back and transmit instructions to it. Yet the media paid little heed to it, while covering such things as the Olympics in the minutest detail. Nothing was too trivial to not be worthy of a mention, yet a landing on Mars? Less important than Beach Volleyball and jingoisitic hype about ‘Team GB’. What was that all about? There’s no such country as ‘Great Britain’ - it’s the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ normally shortened to 'UK'. Our driving licences simply say ‘United Kingdom’ and our passports 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ but in their desire to hype up the term ‘Great’ (the origin of which was simply distinguish between Brittany and Britain), the media and the Olympics seems to have erased Northern Ireland from the map. That's not very nice is it? Well I don't think so.
Pedantic rant over, back on topic!
Isn’t it strange the way that Americans always seem to pronounce ‘solder’ as ‘sodder’, losing an ‘l’ and gaining a ‘d’. Same with soldering – ‘soddering’. Intriguing to note the rudimentary ‘sodder bath’ in the film, with it’s slowly revolving wheel of printed circuit boards being dipped in and out to ‘sodder’ all the connections. It was a production line of sorts, but still quite labour intensive - not too far removed from pre-war assembly lines of valve radios. I wonder how many of those transistor radios were made, and how many have survived? It’s a tad ironic that many radio collectors and restorers dislike transistors and dismiss them as ‘modern’ when they’ve been around for fifty years or more – longer than some restorers themselves have been around! I bought my first transistor radio in Switzerland in 1959 – a Hitachi, which cost me £10.00 - the equivalent of £190 today. I used for several years and haven’t a clue as to what happened to it.
Dribbled and waffled Yorkie
Obviously when that promotional film was made they thought that it was a huge quantum leap in progress from the valve era, as indeed it was, but it's quite quaint now to hear the narrator referring to 'these minute transistors'. 'Minute' is a relative term, but when you think that the chips in a cellphone - never mind about a computer - have millions of transistors on them, it gives a sense of perspective as to the relativity of the term 'minute'. He also referred to the tiny battery needed for the transistor radio, showing a PP3 in his hand, but consider how many hours an i-pod, (which fits in the palm of the hand, is no larger than an 'After Eight Mint' and will store thousands of songs) will run for on its rechargeable lithium battery.
It's reached a stage at which people are no longer astonished by even breathtaking achievements.
Consider the recent Mars landing, which was flawless, and the ongoing experiments and research by the 'robot' on Mars. It hardly featured on TV news or in the press in the UK, especially in the tabloids, mainly written for the 'hard of thinking' with short attention spans, only interested in trivial gossip about so called 'celebrities'. The distance from Earth to Mars varies from 34 million to 250 million miles as both planets orbit the sun in an elliptical orbit, they can be sort of "close" and then later, they can be "distant" from one another. They're closest when they are on the same side of the orbit on the near side of Mars orbit, when Mars is closest to the Sun. They are farthest away when on opposite sides of the sun.
What an amazing feat of engineering and planning to send a space module that far, from one orbiting planet to another, land it where planned, and to receive signals back and transmit instructions to it. Yet the media paid little heed to it, while covering such things as the Olympics in the minutest detail. Nothing was too trivial to not be worthy of a mention, yet a landing on Mars? Less important than Beach Volleyball and jingoisitic hype about ‘Team GB’. What was that all about? There’s no such country as ‘Great Britain’ - it’s the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ normally shortened to 'UK'. Our driving licences simply say ‘United Kingdom’ and our passports 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ but in their desire to hype up the term ‘Great’ (the origin of which was simply distinguish between Brittany and Britain), the media and the Olympics seems to have erased Northern Ireland from the map. That's not very nice is it? Well I don't think so.
Pedantic rant over, back on topic!
Isn’t it strange the way that Americans always seem to pronounce ‘solder’ as ‘sodder’, losing an ‘l’ and gaining a ‘d’. Same with soldering – ‘soddering’. Intriguing to note the rudimentary ‘sodder bath’ in the film, with it’s slowly revolving wheel of printed circuit boards being dipped in and out to ‘sodder’ all the connections. It was a production line of sorts, but still quite labour intensive - not too far removed from pre-war assembly lines of valve radios. I wonder how many of those transistor radios were made, and how many have survived? It’s a tad ironic that many radio collectors and restorers dislike transistors and dismiss them as ‘modern’ when they’ve been around for fifty years or more – longer than some restorers themselves have been around! I bought my first transistor radio in Switzerland in 1959 – a Hitachi, which cost me £10.00 - the equivalent of £190 today. I used for several years and haven’t a clue as to what happened to it.
Dribbled and waffled Yorkie
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
