A couple of interesting tidbits

[Brian Wood]

Had to pass this along to the list. After I restored the DX-100 that you've
all read about ad infinitum here, I tracked down the owner whose name
appeared in the manual. He's 87, a former Collins tech named Jim. He told me
that he did not assemble it, but that he bought it from a local ham who did
not use it much. That ham's name was Don, but he said he could not remember
his call and that Don was no longer a ham. Well, Jim just sent me a letter
with Don's address. I looked in a 1971 Callbook in the vicinity of Jim's
call and found the guy. Guess what his call was back then...W0DCZ. Mine is
W0DZ. Is that spooky or what? Sent a chill up my spine, I'll tell ya.

Also, since someone on the list recently asked for something out of the '56
Heath catalog, I got to perusing my '57 catalog tonight and noticed that the
AG-8 audio oscillator looked strikingly familiar. You see, I work at
Agilent, once a part of Hewlett-Packard, and by a strange coincidence I was
just today looking at Bill Hewlett's patent for the 200A oscillator that
started HP. The patent was applied for in 1938 and granted in 1942. So, here
15 years later is the spittin' image of the patented 200A circuit in the
Heathkit catalog, complete with the lamp from the cathode to ground that
stabilized the oscillator. How long were patents good for back then? Wonder
if HP noticed, or even cared at that point!

73,

Brian, W0DZ

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