History of Cushman Electronics

[kb5zxm]

Hi, I hope I am in the right area, for this topic
I wonder if there is any thing written about the History of Cushman Test equipment, the people who made it happen etc.
My interest is with radio related service monitors, I have a hobby of restoring/conserving  them. I currently have 2 MCM 1's , 2 CE 3's , 1 CE4, 3 CE5's and 1 CE 6a, and 1 CE 6b, 2 CE7's, and various plug ins and accessories.<also any radio test gear even home brew>
My other hobby is studying for my Extra Class lic.In my past life I was a Radio repair shop, and still have my Lifetime General Radio Telephone lic.
I think it would be nice to get this story together before all the sources are gone from this world.
Any ways I am new here , I hope to learn a lot,
thanks and 73's de Darylynn KB5ZXM
 

[W2PFY]

Well I am not the official welcoming committee but welcome aboard from someone who cares

Who is our Welcoming committee?

I can't say I ever heard of Cushman. I think the Cushman I know makes golf carts or some other 4 wheel stuff.

Here's someone who repairs their stuff

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=18903.0  

Heap big load of stuff here

http://www.repeater-builder.com/cushman/cushman-index.html

Looks like the web has tons of stuff on them and I'm surprised I never heard of them

http://www.google.com/search?q=cushman&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&source=hp&channel=np#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=kUF&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&channel=np&source=hp&q=cushman+electrronics&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=951dc7972bfd90fb&biw=1024&bih=597

[Pete, WA2CWA]

A Company that went down the tubes.
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-15/business/fi-14057_1_san-jose

[W3GMS]

Welcome Darylynn to AMfone!  I know you will enjoy the site and there are always lot of knowledgeable folks on hear willing to help.  I am sure with your radio background, you will have little trouble in passing your Extra exam.   

I have fond memories of Cushman Spectrum Analyzers when I was Chief Engineer of an RF company back in the late 70's.  They were not considered top end, but they did the job for a reasonable cost.  I also remember that they were pretty reliable. 

I am not personally aware of anyone doing historical research on the company.  I am sure you can find some former employees who would be willing to discuss the company.  If you could locate one of the principles of the company, they sometimes will give you the history your looking for.  If you do have success, it might make a nice article in Electric Radio Magazine. 

Good luck and maybe others on here will have some suggestions for you. 

73,

Joe, W3GMS       

[The Slab Bacon]

I dont know anything about their history, but I have a CE-5 that I have had for many years. Also have a bunch of the "plug ins". It has always been a good, reliable piece of test equipment.

[kb5zxm]

Thanks, to all, and for the links
I got my first Cush in 1979 < a CE 6> when I went to work for a shop that ultimately went out of business, I bought that shop, contents and customers, and ran it till 1999 .
I made a good living . BUT, I had to give up due to complications from Polio.
When the Micro wave  Casting area of the CE 6 Failed I had to start to looking for parts, Keeping up that machine led me to others. So I would buy them when I saw them at a reasonable price. I sort of got into a Hobby that was a subset of Radio.
I would often see ppl who say in Repair Service Adverts that they had worked for Cushman, or one of their Authorized Repair Depots.
There is a Yahoo groupe Called Cushman Radio, that is mostly about the MCM thru CE7 series of machines, But they welcome any and all Cushman Discussion.
I was thinking May be Some one could begin an On Line Story,where ppl could write in Their Own chapter, I don't know how such things are done.
I was impressed/ Inspired by  the Hammerlunds Story when a friend asked me to help him find repair info on converting His AM Hammerlund to receive SSB.
As far as the CE 15 , there was a lot of them out there. Using a Spectrum Analyzer
to trouble shoot radios will spoil a tech in a hurry. Un fortunately, it has a thing called  a YIG osc. and when that fails it requires a replacement that is non extant.
I have seen the same machine sold and re sold on Ebay, with the disclaimer " it just need some thing small to fix it and make it 100%"
So thanks to all, and I'll be watching for more info on this "History"
I may also ask the ppl on the Cushman Radio Yahoo groupe if they want to try to create some sort of on line book
again thanks for the welcome m and I'll be reading
de KB5ZXM Daryl   

[W3GMS]

Very interested story Daryl and best of luck on your quest.  If you keep digging, I am sure you will be able to put that story together.   A "Want Ad" in some of the radio publications asking for info about the history might bring you some good results.  Its worth a try for sure.
73,
Joe, W3GMS
 

[n1ps]

Yep I owned several CE service monitors over the years both as a radio shop owner and as a ham.  I also was a rep for Cushman back in the late 80s.  Up to that point they were the top of the line.  We even turned down an upstart test equipment line called IFR.  A year later Cushman went belly up IIRC.  There was a test equipment repair company in GA whom I cannot recall their name.  They continued to service the Cushman line into the 2000s. 

I usually see a CE3 or 5 at the Nearfest fester every year. 

Back in the 70s when I was a little younger  I recall tying a CE5 to a backpack and hiked to a top of a mountain TX site.  I think it weighed about 40 lbs and was the size of a TV.

Welcome to AMfone.  Don't mind us old buzzards....

Pete

[kb5zxm]

I have one of those upstarts, an IFR 1000 S, and have back packed it up towers with elevators, KUHT and KTRK , we could not go up KUHT unless they reduced power on the Ch 8 TX.. And calling that an elevator ? it was a Basket. Also you had to climb a ladder 100ft up to get to that! There was an ACSSB rptr mounted on a tower leg of that thing I had to add a front end filtre to it. One scarry night.
One thing about the IFR you could calibrate it on the fly. Can not Imagine being able to get on an airplane with one today or a grip of tools either.
When I repaired steering gyros < German made Anschuetz> on ships, I often flew carrying, a Live Spinning gyro, in a case they would spin for days with out power connected.It took less time to get them up to speed when you installed/replaced them on board the ship. 
Today snipers would take you out, as soon as you got out of the cab.<grin>
My IFR has a power supply problem. The battery charger circuit melted down and destroyed the inverter. I recently got one <power supply> for parts, got to clean of a big enuff place to work on it. Old Things like Cushmans take up a lot of room in the shop. Moving them about in a wheel chair is a pain.