What's it all about Wolfie?

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Balanced Line

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Aug 14, 2006
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For my very first post I'm callin’ out Wolfie.

OK what’s it about, the love affair with Armstrong? Have you felt the need to climb very tall antennae for your wife’s amusement? Or do you just wish to share knowledge of one of the most technologically important persons of the Twentieth Century?

Armstrong, the Nobel Laureate that should have been but never was. Armstrong, the man that created the Regenerative and Superhet radio circuits. The basic Superhet circuit is used until this day in every analog TV and Radio. FM radio is another of Armstrong’s inventions. He was a patriot too. He freely allowed the military to use all his patents during WWII. More than Marconi or DeForest, Armstrong was the most important figure in radio’s technical development. Many are given but few deserve the appellation genius as does Edwin Armstrong.

Armstrong was driven to suicide by “General” David Sarnoff. Sarnoff attempted to cheat Armstrong out of royalties due on his patents. Sarnoff installed spies to keep him abreast of developments in Armstrong’s laboratory and tamper with his efforts. After lengthy court proceedings, Armstrong’s estranged wife won all the contested royalties posthumously vindicating Armstrong’s claims.

OK Wolfie, tell us what’s it all about.
 
Couldn't have said it better myself. Edwin Armstrong has always been a hero to me.

And it's great to see you here, my friend. :)

For those who aren't familiar, Balanced Line has much technical experience to share. I am happy to welcome him to ODJT.
 
Feels like home

Thanks for the greetings guys.

It feels like home.
 
Edwin Armstrong's contributions to radio transmission and reception went largely unnoticed outside the technical world. Technical stuff was beyond your average Joe's understanding.

Armstrong was a private person who avoided photographers. He remained dedicated to his work throughout his life.

Armstrong was first and foremost an electrical engineer. As an engineer he understood how things worked and why they did what they did. One of the early controversies he dealt with was DeForest's Audion, the first working vaccum tube. The original Audion was simply an electric light bulb with a wire mesh grid installed. While there is no doubt that DeForest discovered the Audion, when pressed in a court of law, he admitted that he didn't understand how it worked.

Armstrong did. He took the rudimentary device and caused it to oscillate by overdriving the voltage that was fed to it and feeding back some current to it. This phenomena was called regeneration. Armstrong figured out how to cause the Audion to amplify an electrical signal.

Keep in mind that the telegraph was the predominant technology at the time. Telegraphs needed wires in order to work. Armstrong's discovery led to the wireless telegraph.

Armstrong is best known for his discovery of FM radio. We all know that FM sounds better than AM. But Armstrong didn't set out to make a better-sounding radio. His goal was to eliminate static ~ a feat that no one believed could be accomplished at the time.

In 1935, General Electric was contracted by Armstrong to build the first FM radio receivers for sale to the public.

In 1946 the FCC decided that FM would be used for television sound. Also, the decision was made to abolish the existing FM band in favor of the 88-108 band we know today. This misguided decision caused millions of FM receivers and broadcasters to become obsolete and set FM back decades. This explains the Zenith dual FM band receivers that were produced during the short transition period.

David Sarnoff, the head of RCA was once in good company with Armstrong. Armstrong eventually married Sarnoff's secretary. However, Armstrong wanted to be paid a royalty for every radio made that contained his patents. Sarnoff disagreed and continued to build FM receivers without paying royalties. RCA had money and time.

RCA was not alone. Countless radio manufacturers were building receivers that utilized Armstrong's inventions while paying no royalties. Atwater Kent offered an aftermarket component that caused their breadboard radio sets to regenerate ~ an obvious (and legal) attempt to bypass royalty payments. The component wasn't described in detail... but AK knew what it was. Buyers knew it made their radios work better.

Before Christmas, Armstrong, stressed and beaten, his patents due to expire soon lashed out at his wife with a fireplace poker. She fled their apartment and went to stay with her sister.

On New Year's Eve, dejected, alone and bankrupt from fighting RCA, Armstrong donned his suit and coat, removed the air conditioner from his apartment window and stepped out to his death.

Upon hearing the news, Sarnoff remarked "I did not kill Armstrong."

Armstrong's widow continued the patent infringement suits and eventually won them all.
 
Thanks, Travis.

Balanced Line and I have posted a rough overview of Edwin Armstrong's life and accomplishments. There is much more to his life and times.

If you're interested, do a Google search for the name. :)
 
Wolfie -

Just one modification and I'm not looking this up first so working without a net...wireless telegraphy already existed. Marconi invented it BUT it was just a spark gap technology. My guess is that Armstrong made a tuned circuit that allowed the radio spectrum to be divided as it is today. Right? As I remember it the spark gap wasn't tuned, everyone heard whatever was keyed in. My guess is that Armstrong developed CW for the wireless telegraph? Just a guess.

And BTW your piece on Armstrong is very nicely written.

- Bob (aka Balanced Line)
 
Thanks for the correction, my friend. :)

Yes, absolutely. The spark gap or wireless telegraph was in service already. Armstrong's electrical regeneration discovery did away with the need for electrical generators to power it.

Early radio transmitters utilized huge, high-speed generators to produce the high frequency power to transmit broadcast signals. If you were broadcasting at say, 1100 Hz your generator had to rotate at 1100 RPM. Regeneration essentially eliminated the need for mechanical generators (and the maintenance expense that accompanied them).

The tuned circuitry or heterodyning was Armstrong's next contribution to radio broadcasting and reception (and telegraphy). The need was evident for shipboard communications which, at the time simply overrode and walked all over each other. Were a ship to be in trouble at sea, a MayDay telegraphy transmission might be heard... or it might not be. There was no standard tuning frequency apparatus available.

Early radio sets had three or four tuning controls, each of which had to be tweaked to receive a signal. And the signals weren't always on the same frequency every night. The heterodyne and later superhet design stabilized radio broadcasters and receivers alike. The superhet circuitry has been built into every radio and analog television produced since.

Did you know... Analog TV sound is FM but the picture or video is transmitted as AM. :) For the old-timers among us, this explains the snowy, interference-laden pictures we all swore at before cable TV came to the masses. No one complained about TV sound reception... the sound was always good. Complaints were always about a poor picture. Gazillions of dollars changed hands over the years to get a better picture, especially so when color television came into vogue in the 1960s.

This was yet another bone-headed decision from the FCC in 1945 to appease RCA. RCA had heavily invested in AM and fought FM at every opportunity. RCA and Sarnoff understood well that AM was easily interfered with... but that's the bank they had their money in.

RCA branded products are made in China today. In keeping with RCA's reputation from the old days, the quality is hit-and-miss. :rolleyes:

Hope it helps.
 
My uncle was very much a be American, buy American kind of guy. I had recently bought a Sony. He of course bought an RCA. Looking at the box his set came in, said Malaysia (I think). Jeeze, Art, I said to him, at least mine was assembled in San Diego. Does that make me a better American than you I asked? That was a while back. For another time, I have a story from my father about RCA and the "golden throat".

Ohh the stuff about the early transmitters is comming back from the far recesses of memory. You put a smile on my face.

No my friend, easier way to tell the picture was AM. Did you ever sit at home with the (AM) radio on during a thunder storm? Maybe with your kids? My dad used to do it with me and then count the seconds till the sound arrived. If the static was really loud and long you knew it was going to be a loud long rumbling thunderclap too.

Well...he would turn on the TV and we'd do the same thing with the picture as he explained that amplitude modulation was used to send the picture. Then we'd get into audio sub carriers and color sub carriers...yada yada yada. How I wish I could hear one of those lectures now.

AND NO IT DOESN'T HELP TO KNOW THE STUFF COMES FROM CHINA!

- Thanks again
 
Ah.... memories of the old days. :)

As I understand, the Malasian stuff is Funai. Funai makes Magnavox, Sylvania and some RCA branded items among others. I think the RCA plasmas and Scenium projection sets come from China - but I could be wrong. Funai is making more and more of the stuff all the time.

I remember well my father's electric razor screwing up the TV reception when we were pups. That was typical of my father ~ screwing things up for us pups... but that's another story for another time. :)

I remember well the lighting static on AM... could hear a storm coming long before it arrived. Wolfman Jack was on AM. So was the American Top 40 on Sunday nights. Remember the CBS Radio Mystery Theater?

The public schools don't teach this stuff anymore. Everyone wants to work with computers now... there is little in the way of public education in consumer-related electronics and electricity. Pretty soon, us old dogs will be all that's left.

Something that I have wondered about for several years... FM multiplexing (stereo) was available on radio broadcast in 1962. Why did television sound not become stereo until the '80s? :confused:
 
Empire Of The Air is one of my favorite DVDs. I got it at Amazon.com a couple of years ago. The DVD is not identical to the original PBS TV special that aired years ago ~ the "dark screen" moments have been removed.
 
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