PV Scientific Instruments ?

[W1UJR]

Hello all,

Does any one know about PV Scientific Instruments in the Finger Lakes region of NY?
Nancy has been trying to find a Christmas present for me, she knows that I love kits,
but I'd rather have hollow state. I came across these folks site, was quite impressed.

They make some awesome looking vintage radio kits, wondered if the fellow was a ham.
http://www.arcsandsparks.com/twinregenerative.html

-Bruce

[WB2EMS]

Curious. They are about 10 miles up the road in Trumansburg, but I've never heard of them. I don't see anything anywhere in the pages that says anything about a name of any of the participants. I can think of one person who it might be, a fellow named Jim who was really into Tesla Coils (think 220vac, 40 amps, 20 foot bolts of lightning) and crystal sets last I knew. If it's him, he does various artistic endeavors (silk prints) which involve some craftsmanship, if that helps.

I'd be curious what else you find out.

Kevin

[W1UJR]

Thanks Kevin, and nice to hear from you.
I've sent him off an email, will see what he reports back.

I didn't see any Tesla coils on his site, just a static machine which he named the Tesla. He does have good reviews on his radio sets, look like fun winter projects.

-Bruce

[W1UJR]

It was Jim, Kevin, the tesla coil guy, N2DRT.
Spoke with him this evening, a very fine business fellow.

[Rob K2CU]

QRZ lists him as N2DRT, James M. Hardesty

[W3GMS]

Bruce,
I knew this name sounded familiar so I started going through my AWA OTB's when the conference was held in Canandaigua.  Well, I attended Jim's Telsa Coil Workshop that he held on Saturday, October 7th 1989 in the Ontario Room at 10:30AM.  I remember it well because when Jim fired up this very large Tesla Coil it totally trashed the Hotels PA system!!  He had sparks jumping to the ceiling tile grid work and it was some show. Wow that was a long time ago...
Joe, W3GMS 

[W1UJR]

Neat story Joe, wish I was there.

Seems like a nice fellow, Nancy was happy to find me something which I would enjoy as a Christmas present.
She ordered the twinplex regen kit below.

http://

[W3GMS]

Bruce,
Looks like a great Christmas gift but don't open the package up before Christmas!
Joe, W3GMS

[WQ9E]

Bruce,

I hope you find something that makes your wife equally happy, she is getting a great gift for you!

My favorite Christmas present to date (probably never to be topped) was the Viking Valiant my parents bought me for Christmas in 1974.  My mother apparently couldn't find a box to fit so the controls were readily evident pushing out against the wrapping paper.

Our 6 year old daughter's major request of Santa this year is a pair of night vision goggles-I wouldn't mind being six again myself.

Rodger WQ9E

[W1UJR]

Bruce,

I hope you find something that makes your wife equally happy, she is getting a great gift for you!

My favorite Christmas present to date (probably never to be topped) was the Viking Valiant my parents bought me for Christmas in 1974.  My mother apparently couldn't find a box to fit so the controls were readily evident pushing out against the wrapping paper.

Our 6 year old daughter's major request of Santa this year is a pair of night vision goggles-I wouldn't mind being six again myself.

Rodger WQ9E

Wow, what a cool present Rodger, back in the day.
Wish we could buy things like that "off the shelf" again, oh well.
The PV rig is the closest I can come.

Night vision goggles, how times change!
She's on the right path, clearly very curious about her environment.

Prob have the parts laying about the house to build one, but Nance (my YL, not XYL yet)
was so eager to find me something for Christmas, it is even more meaningful than
something which I whipped up. She also bought me a RME-69 at the 2008 AWA Auction - now
that's love! 

As for Nance, she's getting something in a round and sparkling in little blue box this
Christmas. A surprise, so please don't tell her. 
Both of us are in our mid 40s, never married before, so this will be a very special
Christmas, she's a very special girl. Glad I waited.

My best to you and yours for the holiday season!

[WQ9E]

Bruce,

Keep an eye out for an RME-99 to go with your RME-69.  It is a unique receiver that works much better than the later RME-45.  I live about 30 miles from the original RME factory site and I do like a lot of their efforts.

It is interesting that for women the best things come in little boxes while for us big and heavy boxes are a better indicant of good content.  Maureen is also getting a little box containing a big sparkle.

Anna explained to me why she wants night vision goggles.  I told her last summer that when we go back to the Smoky Mountains in the spring we can hike to Sutton's Ridge to watch the sunset over the mountains if she doesn't mind hiking back after dark.  She feels she needs these to watch for bears on the return trip.  Her other big present is a nice microscope and we hope her interest in science continues.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

[Pete, WA2CWA]

A number of years ago, I gave my wife a very nice new faucet for her kitchen as a Xmas present. The old one was starting to show its age. The gift was also wrapped in reasonably clean newspaper with a nice red bow. She was "thrilled" beyond belief, as most women probably would be, getting a kitchen faucet as a gift on Xmas morning wrapped in newspaper. It wasn't until she spotted the diamond earrings dangling from the faucet aerator that the "thrilled" response drastically changed.

[WB2EMS]

Jim Hardesty, that's the guy Bruce! He's an interesting guy, he'd fit in well with this group. Maybe we can get N2DRT active on AM. He gave a friend of mine and myself a *great* tesla coil demo a number of years ago - very impressive. Frightening even. 

Bruce - Congrats on finding the right gal! She certainly sounds like a keeper!

Night vision goggles are interesting. I have the use of a pair from time to time. PVS-7, gen3. One thing that surprised me was how while you can see well in the one direction, you feel almost claustrophobic because you lose all peripheral vision while wearing them. I keep expecting something to come up behind me. Another was watching some grasses fluoresce - brightening up or even strobing for several flashes and then going quiet again - who'd have thunk it? And seeing far distant planes in the sky from their flashing lights, normally too dim to see with the naked eye. Makes the night sky look a lot more busy. And of course the stars really show.

OTOH, I don't know how the folks in the military shoot with them - you can't see any sights because of the very limited focusing range. They must use IR laser designators on the guns. I tried to shoot a bb gun wearing a pair and couldn't hit a thing. But shining a cheapo pocket laser looks like a major death ray while wearing them.

Interesting tools.

[Opcom]

PVS problem is there is only one intensifier, but two eyes. A prism splits the single image. A better solution would be a tube for each eye.

For a 'kit' I would like a NMR imaging tool that uses the earth's magnetic field. No pesky superconducting magnet to quench and fill the place with nitrogen.

http://magritek.com/
http://www.teachspin.com/instruments/efnmr/index.shtml
http://www.rototec-spintec.com/files/Terranova-MRI.pdf

reasonably afforable. Not cheap, but reasonable.

[WQ9E]

For our daughter (Anna just turned 6), size/weight is the big issue.  When she gets older she may get an upgrade to some of the surplus Russian goggles.  She is pretty confident that Santa is going to come through on these because we overheard her last night telling Jungle Cat (her kitten) that after Christmas they can both explore the basement in the dark.

There is no depth perception with the type she is getting so we will have a little safety orientation early on.  She is a pretty careful little girl but risk manager daddy is pretty focused (perhaps too focused) on avoiding danger.

Santa is also going to bring her a microscope that daddy will borrow from time to time.

Next year I am going to see if I can prompt her to ask Santa for a Tesla coil.  I have wanted one since I ran across the "Big TC" article in Popular Electronics when I was a kid.  If she asks Santa for one that will be enough motivation that I will have to build one for Christmas.

Rodger WQ9E