Ahhh... the smell of nostalgia! RF black magic voodoo!
Long term projects here Yesterday's Vid: Robot Resolver. http://www.Patreon.com/AvE
Easter Egg: https://youtu.be/Xj_8vaeP16I

By AvvE

15 thoughts on “Boltr: stone age radio voice based interwebs for frozen third world sit-holes.”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RedDogForge says:

    anouther thing.
    turns out ole jim spilsbury was an amazing fella!
    Jim SPILSBURY

    JIM SPILSBURY OBITUARY

    SPILSBURY Jim, painter, writer, pioneer and legend on the B.C. Coast has passed away on April 20, 2003, at the age of 97. Jim, although born in England in 1905, lived his life on the coast of B.C. His parents started out in Whonnock, moving to Savary Island by 1912. At the age of 17 Jim made his first Crystal set, which led to a career in marine radio telecommunications. He travelled up and down the coast, first on the 'Mary', later on the "Five B.R." and finally on the "Blithe Spirit", visiting logging and fishing camps to install and maintain radios, and open up communications to the outside world. The evolution of the accidental airline, Queen Charlotte Airlines, during the period 1944 – 1955 opened up the transportation links along the B.C. coast from Vancouver to Kitimat. His wonderful story telling abilities and life experiences were documented in "Spilsbury's Coast", "The Accidental Airline", and "Spilsbury's Album". Jim's books were interspersed with his pastel paintings, which displayed his love and reflection of the westcoast. His lifetime of achievements have been recognized with numerous transportation and communications awards, the Order of B.C., and most recently, the 50th Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He leaves an unparalleled legacy to his very proud and loving family, Ron (Candace) Spilsbury, Dave (Gloria) Spilsbury, Marie Langton, Lauren Spilsbury, Natalie Killough; his grandchildren Terri (Andrew) Ileander, Tracy (Todd) Wynes, Dawn (Dave) Pucci, Joanne (Roger) Gissen, Shayne (Kim) Langton, Chad Langton, Cheryl (Rob) Kwaksistala, Wendy Nielsen; his great grandchildren Mackenzie, Joshua, and Chloe Kwaksistala, and Cameron Wynes. Jim will be sorely missed, but fondly remembered, by his friends and family. Out of respect for Jim's wishes, there will be no memorial service.

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RedDogForge says:

    gotta love the internet eh?
    found this with a lil digging..
    The Company “Spilsbury & Tindall Ltd.” was incorporated in 1941. Founded by Jim Spilsbury and Jim Hepburn, their specialty was repair and maintenance of radio equipment used in remote areas and on boats. In 1943 they designed and built their first radio, the Model MRT-75 Marine Radio. Later that year Spilsbury purchased a single engine sea plane for transportation to service his customers. The bush flying operation eventually grew into the Queen Charlotte airlines, which became the 3rd largest airline in Canada!
    found elsewhere that they closed shop in 72 or thereabouts. ya might have one of their last models there!

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dru G. says:

    Nice Radio Raheem reference 👌

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars John Key says:

    Wow 3rd edition!

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Sébastien Leblanc says:

    Those circuit board traces are very likely hand drawn. My (long-then retired) electronics teacher explained to me how in the 60s and 70s they would design circuit board traces using acetates and vinyl tape, way before computer-aided design. The traces were drawn at scale and the vinyl tape would block out where the traces would end up. The "drawing" would then be projected onto a copper board covered with a photosensitive paste, through a lens that scales it down. The board was then dipped in etchant, and wherever the photosensitive paste remained, copper would stay.

    Very simple designs with limited part counts could be drawn entirely free-handed with black markers, but more complex designs that require precise traces would benefit from the vinyl tape process for its ease of working out curves and the ability to correct errors.

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars killian0408 says:

    You literally sound like an "old tech" merchant in a post apocalyptic pawn shop. If only that enthusiasm could be bottled!

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Lone Wolf says:

    Wow – does that ever take me back to the 70's flying w/ Okanogan in N BC . Belt model, all vehicles and birds- It was what was happening – saved my life more times than I want to recall.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Lorna Tonack says:

    Classic!!!

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Carlo Di Martino says:

    What? No slow blow joke!

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Simon W says:

    Keep fixing it 'til its fucked!

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Aiden Stefanson says:

    My best guess is that's Frontier Helicopters out of Watson Lake. Total North Communications is still in business, I think a buddy just picked up a SPOT unit from them!

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars bassmith448 bassist says:

    Chickadee is so adorable!!!!!

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Bill Hamilton says:

    The company has not produced anything since 1984. You have a genuine antique primitive piece of your own history even if you are frog like.

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Greg Burns says:

    These were still used in 1999 in Nunavut when I was in Pond Inlet at the north end of Baffin Island. We would travel across the sea ice to southern Bylot Island and stay at a hunters cabin and chat with other folks around.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars ChefSalad says:

    That conductor that you thought was thread is probably (almost certainly) Litz wire. It's essentially a bundle of braided, individually insulated, very thin wires that together function as a single wire for conducting AC at a high frequencies. High frequencies can't be conducted easily by single wires due to the skin effect. The skin effect is that when AC is put through a conductor, the electrons flow mostly on the outside of the conductor rather than throughout the cross-section. The higher the frequency is, the more pronounced the skin effect is. At 60 Hz (wall AC in NA), the skin depth (the depth above which almost all the electricity is) is 8.5 mm. This means that if a conductor is thicker that 17 mm diameter, then the center of the wire won't be used at all. This means that if you need wire thicker than 17 mm, you should use pipe with a thickness of 8.5 mm. At radio frequencies, the skin depth is practically microscopic, so big conductors are practically worthless. For example, 100 MHz, the skin depth is 6.02 μm (0.0062 mm). Litz wire is a good way of dealing with this problem at high frequencies. Furthermore, you can make good Litz wire for high frequencies by coating a non-conductive material with a few microns of conductor, and then an insulator, and then braiding those conductors together. This will feel like a weird sort of string. This is probably what you saw.

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