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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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17th Mar 2014, 9:45 pm | #21 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
The MIT Radiation Laboratory Series.
Andy |
16th Apr 2014, 3:19 pm | #22 |
Pentode
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Daventry, Northamptonshire, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
The manual of modern radio, published in 1933 by the great John Scott -Taggart.
In my humble opinion, probably the first and the best book that anyone keen to learn about valve radios and how they work, should read. Copies can be found on Amazon and E Bay for just a few pounds. Alan |
16th Apr 2014, 3:43 pm | #23 |
Tetrode
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Bristol, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
The 1968 edition of Practical Wireless Circuits by FJ Camm.
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Mike M1DPB |
16th Apr 2014, 4:22 pm | #24 |
Octode
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Leicester, Leics. UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
John Scott Taggart also wrote 'The Book of Practical Radio', 1934, lots of information on reaction sets of the era.
To the other luminaries, Camm and Scroggie, I would add W T Cocking, especially his 'Wireless Servicing Manual', a nice section on adjustment of ganging, trf and superhet. Several editions. |
16th Apr 2014, 4:42 pm | #25 |
Hexode
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 354
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Re: Your favourite books?
Complete wireless by Edward Molloy I only have the first two volumes .and practical electrical wiring and construction by a c greenwood
Regards Robin |
16th Apr 2014, 6:47 pm | #26 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Lynton, N. Devon, UK.
Posts: 7,061
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Re: Your favourite books?
Old: Radio Designers Handbook, F Langford-Smith
New: Art of Electronics, Horowitz and Hill. Though this latter one is fast approaching 'Old', I fear... |
16th Apr 2014, 9:50 pm | #27 |
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
Zverev!
David
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16th Apr 2014, 10:18 pm | #28 |
Rest in Peace
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Location: Dartford, Kent, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
I would nominate "Modern Practical Radio and Television", A 3 volume set by C.A. Quarrington, (Caxton 1946/1948). I was given a set and found them most readable and informative even at the age of 11. I also have the 1963 updated edition which includes transistors.
For a modern book "The Tannoy Story" by Julian Alderton is a very good read:- http://www.norwoodsociety.co.uk/book...noy-story.html Regards, Mick. |
16th Apr 2014, 10:22 pm | #29 |
Rest in Peace
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Location: Chard, South Somerset, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
Two authors and their books spring to mind.
1. M.G Scroggie: The Radio Laboratory Handbook.(Mine is the 6th. edition). For me, the one outstanding feature of this work is that the undercurrents throughout that work remain timeless. Scroggie makes the twin concepts of clear, rational thought and the principle of 'not necessarily believing what you think you see' as significant features. It's work of a true and enlightened engineer. 2. Anything by Roy C. Norris. His books carry a remarkable amount of useful information and data for their size - and he explains complicated things in clear and correct English. Al. |
17th Apr 2014, 3:34 am | #30 |
Hexode
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Medway towns, Kent, UK.
Posts: 271
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Re: Your favourite books?
yes I like the setmakers too
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17th Apr 2014, 10:00 am | #31 |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 507
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Re: Your favourite books?
Radio Designer's Handbook bought from Angus & Robertson Ltd Sidney Australia 18/1/1946 and I still have the receipt, 6 shillings in old money.I believe the company has recently gone bust.Also the Technical Press series, Basic Electronics 6 volumes.Ted
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17th Apr 2014, 10:48 am | #32 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
Nobody said the favourite book had to be electronics related, and mine is "Not much of an engineer", the autobiography of Stanley Hooker.
Hooker joined Rolls Royce as a mathematician with an aerodynamic flair at just the right time to increase the power output of the Merlin just when it was most needed and went on to equal success with jet engines such as the Olympus, even being brought out of retirement when the RB211 was in danger of bankrupting RR itself. An informative and extremely readable book. |
17th Apr 2014, 11:13 am | #33 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
1. Most Secret War by R V Jones
2. Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks |
17th Apr 2014, 11:22 am | #34 |
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Re: Your favourite books?
I have just read those two.
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17th Apr 2014, 12:38 pm | #35 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Lynton, N. Devon, UK.
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Re: Your favourite books?
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17th Apr 2014, 12:48 pm | #36 |
Octode
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 1,574
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Re: Your favourite books?
For radios it has to be Chas Miller's 'Practical Handbook of Valve Radio Repair', the original 1980s hardback version. You can learn the whole hobby from just this one book, that's what I did. I used to have the local library's copy out on seemingly permanent loan, so for reasons of embarasment as much as anything a copy had to be bought in the end. Not cheap back then, but excellent value for money.
For colour TV the choice is the Mazda book of PAL receiver servicing, a lavish production in full colour. It reads a bit like a circuit description of the BRC2000 chassis in places (OK, everywhere) but it is so much better than anything that Philips / Mullard came up with - unlike the tubes themselves! |
22nd Apr 2014, 10:05 pm | #37 |
Dekatron
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Re: Your favourite books?
Hi,
I love browsing old electrical & engineering books and I acquired quite a few from a chap I worked with who bought job lots of old books at auction. He kept the best and flogged me the others for 50p each: 'The Modern Practical Plumber' from around 1909, A 'Sunco' electrical catalogue from 1931, 'The Wonder Book Of Electricity' from the 30s, to name but a few. I have a 'Mullard Maintenance Manual' too (price 10/6d) from, possibly, the fifties with pink supplementary pages describing newer valves. I believe these are quite sought after. Modern reading? Several Viz annuals and 'Roger's Profanisaurus'. Always good for a giggle! I think 'Fifty Sheds Of Grey' is possibly worth a read, but haven't got a copy yet. Cheers, Pete.
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22nd Apr 2014, 10:56 pm | #38 |
Moderator
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Re: Your favourite books?
The RV Jones book is well worth finding, just for the practical jokes alone.
He once persuaded some fools that he was the post office engineering department handling a fault report and persuaded them to fill a bolw with salted water and immerse their telephone in it to fix 'bad contacts'. What makes his powers of persuasion all the more impressive was that there was someone in the room where the telephone was, laughing and saying 'It's Jones you idiots!' yet the phone is reported to still have been dunked. This is a method of repair I've not yet seen suggested on this forum.... yet. There was also a book on the navy's department of miscellaneous weapons development the 'wheezers and dodgers' which documents a lot of what Neville Shute Norway did in the war, though it never settles the mystery of why a dedicated aeronautical engineer joined the navy. David
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Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done |
22nd Apr 2014, 11:17 pm | #39 |
Octode
Join Date: Jul 2011
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Re: Your favourite books?
I've given this some serious thought and have a lot of trouble limiting it to just two so I've chosen books which after reading them changed the way I looked at the world.
Richard Dawkins' "Selfish Gene" and Eric Berne's "The Games People Play". There's a whole lot of others but for now that's my two. Steve.
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23rd Apr 2014, 11:48 am | #40 |
Dekatron
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Re: Your favourite books?
In the context of radio I'm a fan of pretty much all the ARRL amateur radio handbooks - they seem far more comprehensive and logical than their RSGB equivalents.
I also recall a series of books I borrowed from the University library in the late 1970s - they were fairly slim, called "Common Core", had orange and black decor, and covered a range of electronics-related topics [including things like thyratron and transitron timebases]. My favourite non-radio book is "Godel Escher Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid", for its eclectic mix of Alice-in-Wonderland storytelling and easy-to-understand examples of recursion vs self-reference [Can a program produce a copy of itself as output? Can a record-player reproduce the sound of its own destruction?]. Favourite computing book: "The psychology of computer-programming" by Weinberg. Although dating from the 1960s and majoring on mainframes it gives a wonderful and still-relevant-today insight into the mindsets of programmers, managers and system-specifiers. |