winslade@zeus.unomaha.edu (JOHN WINSLADE) (02/27/91)
In a recent message, "DONALD E. KIMBERLIN" writes: > Our Moderator, always the (rightfully) proud Chicagoan, replied: >> The first FM radio station in the US was here in Chicago, started >> in 1941 by the Zenith Radio Corporation. > I have to take some issue there, Patrick... > It was (retired) Major E. H. Armstrong (to whom we owe credit for > the superheterodyne receiver that made broadcast radio really a > practical medium for the general public) who in 1935 aired the > first broadcast FM transmissions in 1935, from a transmitter > atop the Empire State Building to receivers in New Jersey. Oh wow! I am trying desparately to retrieve data from memory cells that have not been accessed, let alone refreshed, for many years, but I can attest to hearing of (I am not *THAT* old ;-) E.H. Armstrong's experimental FM station of the 1930's. If I remember correctly, this was not a commercial 88-108mHz band transmitter, but one that ran in the frequency range of CB - 10m ham, if I remember correctly. The significance of Armstrong's transmitter (if the data coming down the rusty data paths are correct) was that it was the first practical ELECTRONIC frequency-modulation system, and thus could take advantage of the static-free high-fidelity medium that FM provides. Previous FM schemes used mechanical Rube-Goldberg contraptions, such as the 'Wobbulator' (no, I am not making that one up, it was used in some comm gear up through the early '50s) which was essentially a small foil-coned speaker with an accompanying stationary coil. Audio signals to the wobbulator varied the inductance of the coil, thus giving a means to frequency-modulate an oscillator. If I remember correctly, Armstrong's FM system used predistortion and phase shifting which is similar to some of today's methods. > He obtained a patent for FM that resulted in a bitter battle with > AT&T about patent rights; one in which the classic "phone company > stonewalling" often mentioned in the Digest may have resulted in > Major Armstrong's suicidal hurling himself out of a New York office > window. I remember the Feud with Ma Bell, but not the suicide. Is this a documented fact ?? (<boo-hiss> Contrary to lesser-known urban legend, E.H. Armstrong was NOT the inventor of the hand-operated adding machine. ;-) Good Day! JSW [Moderator's Note: As a matter fact, I believe the hand-cranked adding machine was invented by William Burroughs. PAT]
haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (99700000) (02/28/91)
Bits and pieces - maybe somebody will come through with the authoritative story. I remember the suicide, but thought the patent suit was with RCA, not AT&T. I remember reading that the courts awarded his estate a million bucks from RCA when the case was finally settled.
pssc@labrea.stanford.edu (Bert Cowlan) (03/03/91)
It is with some trepidation that I seek to reply to an item about
Major Edwin Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM. The trepidation
stems not only from dusty brain cells but from my lack of certain
knowledge as to how to send a reply to a conference. My memory, like
that of <winslade> who posted the original, is not quite so dusty,
though, that I do not clearly recall that Armstrong's suicide, which
has been documented, was as the result of his battles with RCA and
"General" Sarnoff and not - repeat not - with AT&T.
My recollection also is that his transmitter tower was located in
Alpine, New Jersey (although there may have been one either before or
after at the Empire State Building). At least, it was there at the
time that as a twelve or fourteen-year old (circa 1939, 1941) a ham
friend and I roller-skated about eight miles north of the George
Washington Bridge to visit it and to our delight and surprise were
taken on a tour of the facility by Armstrong himself.
Further, I remember that, when I ran WBAI-FM, New York in 1957-1960
and we went on the air with the country's first experimental stereo
transmissions, our assigned call letters were W2XHR which, I was told
at the time, were the call letters that had been used by Armstrong in
Alpine. That stereo system was based on one he developed. Again,
straining brain cells, I think that his experimental transmissions may
have been in the "old" FM band that existed prior to the end of WWII,
below 88-108MHz, usurped by TV.
Documentation: There is a book, written some time in the late '50s,
titled "Man of High Fidelity." When I get home tonight I will look up
the publisher and date of publication and cheerfully share same with
anyone who asks me. The author, whose name is still in my ancient
Rolodex, Lawrence Lessing, since deceased, was at the time a Senior
Editor of {Fortune Magazine} and he flat-out accused Sarnoff of
contributing to - even causing - Armstrong's suicide. That he was
never sued for libel speaks well for the quality of his research and
scholarship. I remember, having met him during the WBAI period (then
a commercial station), that he had expected some legal action to be
directed against him and that {Fortune} (in which I think part of the
book was published first) was prepared to back him to the hilt.crawford@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Brian Crawford) (03/05/91)
In article <telecom11.171.3@eecs.nwu.edu>, cdp!pssc@labrea.stanford. edu (Bert Cowlan) writes: > Documentation: There is a book, written some time in the late '50s, > titled "Man of High Fidelity." When I get home tonight I will look up > the publisher and date of publication and cheerfully share same with > anyone who asks me. Was this a biography of Armstrong? I would be most interested in this. If it isn't, better yet if there is an auto-biography, please do post the title (and ISDN # if possible), as well. Thank you. Brian Crawford INTERNET (current): crawford@enuxha.eas.asu.edu PO Box 804 (permanent): crawford@stjhmc.fidonet.org Tempe, Arizona 85280 FidoNet: 1:114/15.12 USA Amateur: KL7JDQ