Hang onto your Boat Anchors

[w1vtp]

Just finished reading an article in Nov QST about EMP protection.  Page 40: tube equipment is stated to offer additional protection against EMP.  No news there, but it's nice to see it in print

Al

[WA1GFZ]

Another funny fact is as die sizes get smaller we are starting to see ICs wear out like tubes. My homebrew counter with 74 logic still working fine since 1974 but I wonder about the FPGA in the HPSDR

[Opcom]

much older than '74.. the impurities in the chips can eventually ruin them. Things were not always as clean then. Anyway it seems we are in an electronic renaissance.

Let's look at a definition of the classical word which represented an ancient reawakening of interest and taste based on the arts and literature, then update it to the modern day meaning of an electronic renaissance.

renaissance
–noun
1.    the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.

Electronic Renaissance
e⋅lec⋅tron⋅ic   ren·ais·sance (i-lek-tron-ik, ee-lek-) (rěn'ĭ-säns', -zäns', rěn'ĭ-säns', -zäns', rĭ-nā'səns)   

–noun
1.    the activity, spirit, or time of a revival of the art, literature, learning, and personal execution of classical electronics, often without regard to cost, beginning in the late 20th century and continuing to the present time, marking for the great luminaries of the mid 20th Century as well as newcomers willing to learn the skills of the craft, the transition from a pedestrian, plastic, post-modern electronics paradigm to that of the fundamental elements of the art both classical and modern.
2.    the forms and treatments in art used during this period.
3.    a revival in the world of art and learning similar to the Great European Renaissance except in scope.
4.    (lowercase) a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival: a technical renaissance based on prudence and respect.

–adjective
5.    of, pertaining to, or suggestive of the Electronic Renaissance of the late 20th century and after: Renaissance attitudes.
6.    noting or pertaining to the group of electrical and electronic design styles existing in United States in the mid 20th century, most notably from about 1930 to 1960 as adaptations of classical technological design and construction details or compositional forms to contemporary uses, characterized at first by the free and inventive use of isolated details, later by the more imitative use of whole orders and engineering arrangements, with great attention to the formulation of compositional rules after the precepts of Frank Jones, Frederick Terman and contemporaries, and later William Orr and the precedents of existing examples, and at all periods by an emphasis on symmetry, exact mathematical relationships between parts, and a general effect of simplicity and repose.
7.    noting or pertaining to any of the various adaptations of this group of styles in American Technology characterized typically by the playful or grotesque use of heavy iron and hot glass details in more or less traditional communications systems.
8.    noting or pertaining to the escutcheons, operator panels, or cabinetry of the Electronic Renaissance, in which motifs of classical derivation frequently appear.
Origin:
2009; < AE, from MF: rebirth, equiv. to renaiss- (s. of renaistre to be born again < L renāscī; re- re- + nāscī to be born) + -ance -ance


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP4_BJI8OCM

Hand in hand in the Electronic Renaissance is the way to go, yeah..

lyrics mod-o-fied.. just sing along..


(man it's the way to go so drop a maul and set faders on (faders on..)..)

Play a game with your electronics
Take a step to the retrotech, and CQ
Go AM and slop buckets pissing moan and cry
And antennas look like steeples

Hand in hand with the Electronic Renaissance Is the way to go, yeah
Hand in hand with the Electronic Renaissance is the way to go, boy
Hand in hand with the Electronic Renaissance is the way to go
You're learning, soon you will do the things you wanted
Since you were wearing callsign badges

If you drop maul much very longer
You'll be known as the boy who's always strapping
If you tune too much very longer
You'll be known as the boy who's always tuning

Monochrome in the 1990's
You go disco and I'll go my way
Vacuum tubes in the 1990's
You go plastic and I'll go my way
Monochrome in the 1990's
You go disco and I'll go Funkadelic man is the way to go
So drop a maul and then say hello

[k4kyv]

–adjective
5.    of, pertaining to, or suggestive of the Electronic Renaissance of the late 20th century and after: Renaissance attitudes.
6.    noting or pertaining to the group of electrical and electronic design styles existing in United States in the mid 20th century, most notably from about 1930 to 1960 as adaptations of classical technological design and construction details or compositional forms to contemporary uses, characterized at first by the free and inventive use of isolated details, later by the more imitative use of whole orders and engineering arrangements, with great attention to the formulation of compositional rules after the precepts of Frank Jones, Frederick Terman and contemporaries, and later William Orr and the precedents of existing examples, and at all periods by an emphasis on symmetry, exact mathematical relationships between parts, and a general effect of simplicity and repose.
7.    noting or pertaining to any of the various adaptations of this group of styles in American Technology characterized typically by the playful or grotesque use of heavy iron and hot glass details in more or less traditional communications systems.
8.    noting or pertaining to the escutcheons, operator panels, or cabinetry of the Electronic Renaissance, in which motifs of classical derivation frequently appear.

... because we are upon the upwelling of an Electronic Rennaissance. People are fed up with cheap plastic hightech. Some of us, and we know who we are, take forms from the ancients. Frank Jones, Frederic Terman... These engineering forms are merged with modern technology creating a new class of functionality and robustness. You can't buy it in the stores. 99.9% couln't afford it were it available.

[KE6DF]

Speaking of Electronic Renaissance, technology seems to go through cycles where something interesting happens, everyone jumps on the new idea, it is built up with a flurry of opportunity and new companies formed, then it cools off and either matures or fades away.

But, the interesting thing is, that there are cycles where eventually, after a long period of less research and excitement, the worm turns, and the old ideas come back to the forefront with new technology applied to the old problems.

I see this most in computer science and computer engineer -- probably because they are the field I worked in.

For example, in the late 1960's, the idea of Timesharing caught on. Companies were formed to enable users to share a computer system rather than have their own (in those days, computers cost millions).

That went great guns for a while. If you were a grad student at MIT or Stanford you could have done a PhD in issues relating to it. Companies raised money and new ventures were formed to  pursue timesharing.

Then gradually it faded. Most of the companies went away.

Then about 12 years a new generation of people "discovered" it again. Only this time they called the companies that provided shared computers Application Service Providers (ASPs).

VC money went into that, but then it faded.

Now we have all sorts of talk about "Cloud Computing" which is again the same general concept rediscovered by a new generation of computer scientists at Google etc.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has also undergone a period of hype, fading, and then renasainse a couple times. It's about due for another renaissance.

Well, if you were a smart young student in the 1930's, 1940's, or even the 1950's you could have done a PhD thesis on some aspect of radio communications. Working under Terman or his contemporaries

But, if you look at the graduate research programs now days, you won't find much, if anything, about radio research going on. If you find anything, it will be wireless digital data communication -- but I suspect even that may be a saturated area on it's way down from a research perspective.

Perhaps general radio communications will have a renaissance at some point. When a technology has been absent from major university research agendas long enough, new technology comes along but doesn't get applied as much as it can to the old problem, and eventually researcher find new discoveries are possible by applying new ideas to problems that were considered solved years ago.

And the cycle continues.

[k4kyv]

Well, if you were a smart young student in the 1930's, 1940's, or even the 1950's you could have done a PhD thesis on some aspect of radio communications. Working under Terman or his contemporaries

But, if you look at the graduate research programs now days, you won't find much, if anything, about radio research going on. If you find anything, it will be wireless digital data communication -- but I suspect even that may be a saturated area on it's way down from a research perspective.

That has become a concern in the broadcast engineering field. There are very few newcomers who have had any exposure whatever to MW and HF rf technology, even if they have an engineering degree.  The emphasis at university and engineering school is digital/ computers/ satellite.  As the older rf competent generation dies off, who is going to keep AM and FM broadcast stations on the air and running at optimum performance?

This ties directly to the much touted "demise" of amateur radio due to the lack of newcomers and lack of interest within the younger generation.

[W9GT]

Interesting article and certainly not the first time we've heard that our old tube-type stuff might survive an EMP event when "modern" solid state gear might not.  Problem is...the power grid is largely dependent on those solid state devices for various control functions.  So it is likely that commercial power would go out.  You might be OK with an emergency generator, however, you might have problems getting fuel for the generator if the gas pumps can't be operated because there is no power, or the pump's computer controlled mechanisms are rendered inoperative.  Also, if your new regulated/inverter type generator utilizes some solid state devices, it might be cooked as well???  And....with all the computer stuff in cars these days, in addition to alternators with solid state rectifiers...vehicle power systems might also be rendered useless.
Interesting food for thought.  Maybe just another thing to contribute to our already growing paranoia over the general state of the world.  Oh well...global warming will kill us all any way.  

73,  Jack, W9GT

[KE6DF]

My son is an EE with a masters in power engineering and is the engineer in charge of power distribution for a large district with a major Northern California utility.

I've discussed this EMP issue with him a couple of times.

FWIW, it's his opinion that EMP knocking out a major part of the power grid is not a major concern.

Lighting strikes on power lines put transients into the system consisting of 1000's of amps and 100K's of volts all the time -- and the grid has to handle them.

Most of the time, if a lightning strike opens a relay (his terminology for a circuit breaker), the relay resets itself automatically. The relays are able to protect transformers and control electronics.

And obviously the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system has to withstand the transients from lightning and high power / high power switching that occurs during power re-routing.

He thinks that an EMP event would probably be handled by the automated system in most cases, with perhaps some need to send out repair techs to fix more serious problems and any outages would be temporary and brief.

Of course, if nucs hit and take out several major power plants, then that's a bigger problem.

But if several major cities get nuc'ed then EMP will be the least of our problems.

So now we can go back to worrying about Global Warming.

[k4kyv]

And obviously the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system has to withstand the transients from lightning and high power / high power switching that occurs during power re-routing. 

But didn't the utilities industry successfully lobby the FCC to dismiss our petition for a ham band in the vicinity of 130 kHz because our piss-weak longwave signals might interfere enough to wipe out those control systems and risk shutting down the power grid?

[KE6DF]

But didn't the utilities industry successfully lobby the FCC to dismiss our petition for a ham band in the vicinity of 130 kHz because our piss-weak longwave signals might interfere enough to wipe out those control systems and risk shutting down the power grid?

I didn't follow that lobbying effort. I'll ask him about it.

But what comes to mind is that there is a big difference between a one time event that puts a big transient into the system, and on-going day-to-day interference.

I suspect that Scada systems have to withstand occasional glitches in the data stream and the system is probably resilient enough to keep going on automatic for a while.

But constant interference from communications on the same frequencies would be a big problem -- at least my guess is that's what they were worried about.

But I'll ask.

[ka3zlr]

Well first things first, just like buzz words an buzz phrases they come an go.

As Tech progresses they can't wait for the elimination of Analog, No independent Nothen....No No...these young Cats Today don't want to be dealing with old Gates toobular xmitters..Massive condenser power supplies Climbing old rusty towers...Man we can make the same power with solid state now an plug'em into 110 V..LOL....send it up to the satellite and an charge "Money" for that convenience. It's a great Racket...you don't need any power...Howmany folks have Radio Sat Sat TV, Sat internet...Cell Sat..I don't know but I know what I see coming...

"Now" we're worried about EMP..an your TV an Radio is based on what there's that word again ..Satellite...Oooopps..... "Need a Moment"...it won't matter any how most times anything happens they just Herd'em like Cattle remember we're the cattle... FEMA's a waste of time..so go on now, get behind that fence ya'll, Yeaaaaaahh...an wait yer turn...anything befalls that Sat system these genius's have generated man LOL the world will take one big Big poop..

I just hope i'm here to see it..Yes Sir
Field service techs can't do a thing without communication.what'a they gona do run to a pay phone eeeeh wrong answer...


73
Jack.

[KE6DF]

I ended up going to a performance in our local area of the US Marine Corp band with a bunch of ex-marines the other day.

Anyway, one woman mentioned that she had just retired from working in a Navy communications center. They coordinated allocation of satellite channels between armed services and forwarded traffic etc.

I asked her what would happen if, in a future war, someone shot down all the satellites? With inter-ship communications so dependent on satellite traffic.

She very much agreed that that was a big problem.

I assume the armed services are planning for that.

But I wonder how well they could operate if they had to fall back on RTTY, AM, and SSB phone using HF and skip?

Can they even function at all?

Not to mention -- how much practice at navigation without GPS does anyone piloting ships or aircraft get any more?

[Ed/KB1HYS]

As a "thought project" (gendanken?) I worked up a simple ASAT program based on an adversary who did NOT rely heavily on satilite coms/resources.

Mass destruction of a large portion of LEO sats (and others) is straight forward, IF you don't care about your own, or don't have any. We called it the buck-shot approach.  Launch a payload that consisted of several thousand small diameter (under an inch but bigger than .5 inches) steel balls with a medium to low energy bursting charge. (this could be multiple capsules on a single sat/orbiting device.  Once it gets to the correct altitude, burst the container and provide a bit of energy to the projectiles. Depending on the mission you could use a highly elliptical orbit and get some variation or talor the insertion to just take out a few key sats.  This cloud of high speed buck-shot zooms around taking out the sats.  Once they smash a few the bits of those becomes more space junk to take out others.

Very cheap, so you could launch a few and sweep large areas of sky clear of active sats.  The resulting cloud of junk would also hinder replacement and limit the life of operational spares.

Sounds unlikely, unless you were planning to use that approach and had developed (or just retained) HF com systems.  Anyone seen what the chinese use for military coms lately??

We all laughed when the Russian defected with is Mig and they were still using Vacuum tubes, until someone pointed out that VT's can survive EMP's...

Things that make you go Hmmm.

[ka3zlr]

The Idea is Disruption, the issue isn't tactical,... one or two well placed hits by certain parties with Laser ability and sit back an watch the fireworks it's over crowded up there...I sat here for two days one time counting the ones that could be counted ya know it would be Like LA Freeway at 4:30..LOL...

Alot of those things were built on the Cheap in certain respects.

73
Jack.

 

[w1vtp]

Interesting article and certainly not the first time we've heard that our old tube-type stuff might survive an EMP event when "modern" solid state gear might not.  Problem is...the power grid is largely dependent on those solid state devices for various control functions. <snip - etc.>
73,  Jack, W9GT

Talk to Roger KB1CMR about this.  He is completely off the grid and runs a Viking II and a DX-160.  All this on a not too big solar panel.  He has tons of NiCads and uses inverters - a truly innovative guy.  Yes he does have a generator for backup during prolonged cloudy days and in case he gets snowed in with 3 feet of snow.

He runs the filaments (the line variac) down at 80 volts  during standby and brings the variac up to regular line voltage just before he transmits. Knowing this, I try to remember to tell Roger "OK, Roger, turn up your filaments -- it's coming over to you."  Works pretty slick and you would never know he was off the grid except he mentions it every once in a while.  We should all think about this as an alternate source of power. It's one of my projects after I retire.

Oh yeah, he knows EXACTLY where everything is on his work bench

Al

[Bill, KD0HG]

The R-1051 military receivers are solid state with one tube in the RF amp for that very reason.
And I've heard the rumor that they still have working R-390s.

Nevertheless, the Chinese have already demonstrated they can shoot down communications satellites.

That gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

There's no way the military could replace all of the traffic handled on their satellite links with HF radio, unless they've got a secret Plan B..

[WA1GFZ]

plan B "nuke em till they glow"

[W9GT]

We probably don't even want to know how vulnerable the commercial "land-line" network is to such events as EMP bursts.  I don't think it could be considered as "hardened", although (pure assumption on my part) one would think that the military has considered these factors and has back-ups for the back-ups!

73,  Jack, W9GT

[k4kyv]

Oh yeah, he knows EXACTLY where everything is on his work bench

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, nature abhors a flat surface.

[K9PNP]

As a "thought project" (gendanken?) I worked up a simple ASAT program based on an adversary who did NOT rely heavily on satilite coms/resources.

When I used to write the intel [OPFOR] portion of field training scenarios, at times I would include just 1 nuke with delivery device for the OPFOR.  Used it about day 2 or 3 to level out the technology on the battlefield.  Basically, to see if you can still shoot, scoot, and communicate without the high tech stuff.  Some could, some could not.  It's really interesting to see artillery fire control without computers [the way I learned it].  Makes commanders say all kinds of nasty things, especially when things don't work out as planned.  Can you imagine a digital-commo-trained troop working in a CW HF net?

[N0WVA]

Interesting article and certainly not the first time we've heard that our old tube-type stuff might survive an EMP event when "modern" solid state gear might not.  Problem is...the power grid is largely dependent on those solid state devices for various control functions. <snip - etc.>
73,  Jack, W9GT

Talk to Roger KB1CMR about this.  He is completely off the grid and runs a Viking II and a DX-160.  All this on a not too big solar panel.  He has tons of NiCads and uses inverters - a truly innovative guy.  Yes he does have a generator for backup during prolonged cloudy days and in case he gets snowed in with 3 feet of snow.

He runs the filaments (the line variac) down at 80 volts  during standby and brings the variac up to regular line voltage just before he transmits. Knowing this, I try to remember to tell Roger "OK, Roger, turn up your filaments -- it's coming over to you."  Works pretty slick and you would never know he was off the grid except he mentions it every once in a while.  We should all think about this as an alternate source of power. It's one of my projects after I retire.

Oh yeah, he knows EXACTLY where everything is on his work bench

Al

Who needs gasoline for a generator as long as you have a source of wood?
http://www.windmeadow.com/files/fema_wood_gas_generator.pdf