The AM Forum

George A. Bonadio, 97, East St. Watertown died Sunday July 12, 2015 at his home under the care of Hospice of Jefferson County and his family. Arrangements with D.L. Calarco Funeral Home, Inc. are incomplete.

I talked to George many time back in the 60's/70's and then lost complete track of him.  I will always remember his VOX scheme while on AM to improve the overall efficiency of his transmitter.   Personally I never cared for it, but George was a very innovative and great guy.  Glad he made it well into his senior years and hopefully he enjoyed some good quality of life in those very senior years.   

Joe-GMS

Wow....I suspected he had passed on some time ago. He really had quite a run with those Iridium(?) drops.

There are numerous posts on here from recent years about George. Many of us remember him from our early days in AM. I remember working him back in the 80s-90s regularly. He usually talked over my head since I was a newbie, but it was always fun hearing his peaky, loud signal from Watertown come rolling into VT. I was only running a 32V then and George was one of the few stations I could work easily on all but the worst nights.

In a previous thread I posted about his WWII service. George was the guy who put together the master list of items needed for the US Army's D-Day invasion, how many duplex tanks, trucks, etc etc. There's a good write up on one of the military sites about it.

And of course, all of his articles in the AM Press Exchange and elsewhere. Sure do wish he'd been active sometime over the last decade. Would've been great to work him again.

So long, George.

R.I.P. George.
97 is a pretty good run.

He also wrote a paper on adjusting the transmitter frequency response to compensate for the response of AM boatanchor receivers.

R.I.P.

Back in the 70s, George wrote an article for 73 on a concept for balanced wire tuners that he called "compatible tuners".  It involved a design with the antenna connected across a whole parallel or series tuned circuit, instead of being tapped down.  His rationale was that it prevented circulating currents and reflections within the tuner.
I have built and used a number of such tuners over the years and have had few complaints on signal strength.  Eccentricity and thinking-outside-the-box are just two facets of the same thing.

George on War in his own words:

https://soundcloud.com/nys_military_museum/bonadio-george-a

Captain George A. Bonadio
DOB: 24 DEC 1917
Hometown: Watertown, NY
Place of Birth: Watertown, NY
United States. Army
World War, 1939-1945
United States. Army. Infantry Division, 5th
United States. Army. Infantry Division, 9th
United States. Army. Infantry Division, 44th
Prisoner of war (POW)
D Day
Omaha Beach head
Rhine River
Morocco
Algeria
Gibralter
Belgium
Luxembourg
Germany
Normandy (France)
Memoir is available at:

http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/veterans/transcriptions/Bonadio_George.pdf

Veteran oral history interview published by the New York State Military Museum.

Jim
Wd5JKO

Jim,

Thanks very much for posting this.  It was an incredible story that George recorded and he did it so well.   

Joe-W3GMS 

So sorry to hear of George's passing. He was a fixture on 75 meters years ago.

George had articles published in numerous amateur radio publications, including The AM Press/Exchange. He also had one of the first (maybe the first) 2-meter FM repeaters on the air in the Watertown area. He also held certificate #28 of the Carrier Net.


AMPX Articles (Hyperlinked ones available on AMfone)

http://amfone.net/AMPX/101.htm


Issue #   Page #   TITLE

004           08       AVOIDING SWR 1:1 TUNER LOSSES BY POWER FACTOR

009           10       THE CHEAPEST AND EASIEST DECIBELS THAT WE CAN BUY

015           06       SIMPLEST AUDIO SPECTRUM ENHANCEMENT

016           04       AN OPEN LETTER TO THE FAA

018            07       BONADIO'S OBLIQUE ANTENNA THEORY

020            03       THE ULTIMATE OBLIQUE ANGLE ANTENNA THE BONADIO SPACE DIMENSION ANTENNA

023            04       HIGH EFFICIENCY ANTENNA FOR LONG WAVELENGTHS: THE BONADIO SQUARE DIAGONAL ANTENNA

031            11       MAKING AM MORE READABLE THAN SSB, part 1, BASIC PRINCIPLES THAT APPLY

065            07       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 1 or  HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/65.html)

066            10       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 2 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/66.html)

067            11       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 3 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/67.html)

068            08       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 4 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/68.html)

069            10       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 5 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/69.htm)

070            10       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 6 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/70.htm)

072            11       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 7 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS ON AM (http://amfone.net/AMPX/72.htm)

075            12       AN AM ANTENNA FOR REACHING THE OTHER HALF OF THE WORLD EASILY (http://amfone.net/AMPX/075.htm)

078            08       A SIMPLE GIMMICK TO UPGRADE THE READABILITY OF ANY AM TRANSMITTER

79            10       OUTBOARD PREEMPHASIS FOR ANY AM TRANSMITTER (http://amfone.net/AMPX/issue_number_79.htm)

081            10       MAKING AM THE GREAT NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK, part 11 or HOW YOU CAN GREATLY OVERCOME POWER LIMITATIONS

101            08       AMPLITUDE MODULATION HAS WON (http://amfone.net/AMPX/101.htm)

102            11       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 1 (http://amfone.net/AMPX/102.htm)

103            11       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 2

104            11       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 3

105            08       THE "B" FORMULAS (http://amfone.net/AMPX/105.html)

105            10       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 4 (http://amfone.net/AMPX/105.html)

106            12       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 5 (http://amfone.net/AMPX/106.html)

107            08       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 6 (http://amfone.net/AMPX/107.html)

108            10       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 7 (http://amfone.net/AMPX/108.html)

109            10       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 8
(http://amfone.net/AMPX/109.html)
110            11       YOU COULD BE USING A SIGNIFICANT READABILITY IMPROVEMENT ON YOUR AM RIG BY SIMPLE PREEMPHASIS AND DEEMPHASIS part 9 (http://amfone.net/AMPX/110.htm)

Georges writings are always good for a chuckle.   Everything's better when it's named Bonadio!.    :)

And where would the world be if George hadn't been able to figure things out that 'Antenna engineers cant' explain" and 'computers can't model'. 

b.

George and my father (W2GOW now SK) were good friends during the pre war era.
Does anybody know his callsign pre-war? George was a friend and mentor to me on AM from the time I got my ticket. When I'm up at my camp in Old Forge NY I still use the repeater he built in Watertown, one of the first in Upstate NY. I missed hearing/working him after he dropped of the air in the 90's and always hoped he'd get back in the air. 73 George , you were a class act.

here's one I didn't see but it is interesting.

Another W2WLR article.

https://archive.org/details/73-magazine-1968-01

George was licensed in July 1935 as W8OMM. I think his first magazine article may have been "An Adventure in Noise Reduction" published in the November, 1937 issue of Radio World. I found this quite by chance a few months ago when I was researching something else. You can find it on the American Radio History site, if you're interested. As with many of George's other articles, it makes an interesting read.

Dave.

Just for fun and to honor George, I modeled the 75 meter version of his Bonadio Space Dimension antenna. The file, for those of you who have EZNEC, is here:

http://liberty.3950.net/Bonadio%20Space%20Dimension%2075.ez

Here's his article about it in the AM Press Exchange:

http://amfone.net/AMPX/075.htm

It's actually a very good antenna for low-angle use, with a fundamental pattern like a vertical dipole's. It is reasonably efficient, not a lot of reactance so the losses will be pretty low on your open wire feed for the entire HF spectrum, and it maintains reasonably good low angle radiation up through ten meters (though it's best on the low bands). Looks like the 75 meter version will even present a tolerable impedance and efficiency on 160, very much unlike a 75 meter vertical dipole! The hard part would be finding or making the three high supports needed.

George Bonadio was an eccentric self-educated genius, not always right but constantly doubting "received wisdom" and figuring things out for himself -- the kind of man who made our once so creative and inventive civilization tick. I will miss him.

73,

Kevin, WB4AIO.

"Reinventing the wheel" and being too stubborn to acknowledge it. 

Merely a Vertical Skeleton Biconical Antenna.  In other words, a form of a Tapered Vertical Dipole.   

Besides curing himself of malaria, George patented a mineral supplement, "Indiumease".

http://www.indiumease.net/index.htm

http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-14178-indiumease-indiumease-liquid-the-silver-bullet-0-5-oz?redirect=1

Yes, he was an interesting fellow.

Jim
Wd5JKO

$6 or 0.5 OZ.  what a patent medicine indeed. I've seen what happens to people who take metallic nostrums. Usually it is not good, unless they are lucky and it does nothing.

He was anti-corn, long before the current rage.

Yes he was! I recall several conversations warning me that corn would disrupt my sleep patterns or such. I know it's a little harder to digest, but never knew this.

He also spent a good deal of time explaining pre-emphasis and de-emphasis to me, much of which went over my head at the time.

Yes, it was Indium or such, not Iridium. Oops. :D

Whatever he did, it sure worked for him. Almost made the century mark, by golly!

Talking about some Ham's making it a long time such as what George did, W3TTW who is a good friend of mine will by 99 next month.  Still very sharp and the only thing he has given up is climbing towers! 
Joe-GMS

I never had the pleasure to talk with him. What a brillant man!

Modern corn may be engineered to yield mostly carbs in the kernel at the expense of actual nutrition, protein, etc.

More than one health food nut has told me this and a couple of others have said that the 'old' corn, including what we called "Indian corn" which is the beautiful corn with multi colored kernels, is best but is not grown because of lower yield.

I am told by farmers that some crops are proprietary and require a license, that being a 'chemical' that has to be bought and sprayed on it or they don't grow properly and make the profitable yield.

Ask a diabetic about corn.

I don't know enough about corn to have an opinion on it.

GMO corn, refined corn products ..canola oil..high fructose level corn syrup that's in almost everything as a sweetener... wheat, soy beans, veggies..etc etc.. any GMOs or mutation bred food products....the adding of hormones and other cancerous additives to food...the use of the glyphosate herbicide sprayed onto crops...the health risks/implications are bad news for everyone. Guinea pigs for Monsanto and GE amongst others. The almighty $$ and greed trumps human health and well being. If farmers dare to defy them, they can become the victims of corporate terrorism.

http://music.cbc.ca/#!/Radio-2-Drive/blogs/2015/7/Watch-Neil-Youngs-powerful-mini-doc-about-one-farmers-fight-against-Monsanto

The lack of labelling of these products is a huge problem. Everyone has the right to know whats in their food and how its grown, if they want to know.

Al VE3AJM

This is not true.  The main use of corn is as an animal feed for which its protein content is very important.  There are dozens and dozens of varieties of corn for dozens of different uses.  Some are higher or lower in protien or carbs, but overall nutrition is important for most uses.  Don't get suckered into the paranoid crowd that somehow modern foods are all bad.


Of course farmers are not going to grow low yielding crops that make them lose money.   I doubt you can find any scientific studies showing indian corn is 'best' whatever that is.  

[Added:  Saying indian corn is 'best' is like saying "Fords are best".  Which one? For what purpose?   There is/was dozens and dozens of indian corn varieties with various differing characteristics.  It is over simplification to lump them all together and claim they are better than todays modern varieties which are the peak of 500 years of agricultural improvement.]

Untrue.  More from the paranoid rumor mill.   GMO seed (whether corn, wheat or soybeans) are considered proprietary and the agreements farmers sign is that they will not save seed from the crop for replanting.  No special activating chemicals are involved.  It's a protection of invention and patented technology.

p.s. My family farms wheat, soybeans and beef cattle.  b.