Golden Age?

[Michael.N.]

This is one of those questions that can never have a definitive answer, although I'm quite sure people will have plenty of opinions.
When was the 'Golden age' of electronics?
I suspect that early radio must have been a rather strange and exciting time. People, for their very first time hearing the human voice/music emanating from a box.
Likewise B&W TV. I can just about remember the first person in our street obtaining a colour TV. It caused quite a stir and much excitement.
What of the era of electronic construction magazines and a TV/Radio shop on every high street, complete with an in house engineer/technician? Perhaps the advent and mass appeal of the home computer?

[threeseven]

I would say from about 1965 to 1975. Lots of new technology, new products, good build quality, viable repairability and plenty of variety.

[mark pirate]

I would say the 1930's, Radio was really taking off, and the start of Television.

Mark

[Radio Wrangler]

Every age is magical if you look at the right things.

1920s radio got going, at least for the rich or the clever
1930s radio spread to everyone. TV was on the horizon
late 40s and the 50s tons of war surplus plus lots of trained people, TV for almost everyone

60's microgroove records, pop music, record players, tape recorders, hifi and then colour TV for the rich
70's colour TV everywhere, VCR. Japanese amareur gear.
80's pretty much the same CDs, but PCs for the rich and Acorns for the comfortably off
90's computers everywhere.
00 DVDs, hard drive recorders

I think we're at a changing point where a lot of future development is not going to be purely electronic. Work on the genome is likely to start tailored drugs for all sorts of ailments. Electronics may have matured, for a while. Progress is rarely smooth.

I thought the sixties were the best for me. Lots of surplus gear and a wonderful sunspot maximum. It'll be different for other people.

David

[P.Pilcher]

I don't think that there has ever been a golden age. Electronics just keeps progressing with more and yet more fascinating discoveries and developments. When I was at University, we were just saying goodbye to the valve and hello to the transistor and integrated circuit. In those days (mid 60's) the drift in parameters of a MOSFET transistor could be measured as depending on "the number of shovelfuls of coal per hour they fed into the power station boilers" according to one of my lecturers and an 80% failure rate in IC's was normal. Since then I expect that my degree course can have been completely rewritten with completely new material about four times. In one of our labs a few were playing around with circuits to drive colour TV tubes (imported from the USA). In about 1971 I overheard a couple of colleagues announcing "they've done it - but they won't say how." This was a reference to the discovery as to why MOSFET transistors drifted and this opened the gates for the development of LSI - desktop computers, laptops and so on and so on. By this time Colour telly had appeared in the U.K. and was much more reliable than the early USA ones. James T Kirk's "beam me up Scottie" communicator then became a reality with the development of the mobile telephone. Then we got direct broadcasting by satellite (remember Telstar) with the associated electronics needed. For many years now we have had GPS where our mobile telephones now can detect signals from satellite extracted from below the noise floor. An old ex-university friend of mine has become a world expert in digital television transmission techniques (He tells me it is really just all analogue). He has explained to me how it is done and I can just follow him - it is totally fascinating - as are the latest television receivers.
No - electronics is fascinating and to me the golden age has continued since the science first split off from ordinary electricity and magnetism. My best hero will always be that Scotsman, J.C. Maxwell. The brain which developed his equations describing so beautifully the transmission of an electromagnetic wave has got to be on a par with that of Sir Isaac Newton!

P.P.

[G6Tanuki]

I'd say the 1950s/early-1960s.

In that timespace we got:

Widespread adoption of decent-quality television at a price which everybody could afford.

Emergence of transistors, meaning the portable-radio was affordable for teenagers.

The move of professional and amateur communications to Single Sideband.

The first communications satellites.

[In the UK] the appearance of ITV which showed everyone that the State didn't have a monopoly on broadcasting.

The emergence and subsequent ubiquity of integrated-circuits - which could only have happened following the late-1940s Printed Circuit developments.

The Pirate-stations in the mid-1960s.

The spread of computers out of specialist military/industrial niches to general acceptance [the IBM360-series must truly be a major transformation].

[Junk Box Nick]

The golden age was when we were young and discovering this fascinating electrical world.

[AC/HL]

As many definitions as there are people. It tracks your interests as they change too.

[ITAM805]

Any period before SMD's

[Bazz4CQJ]

Originally Posted by threeseven

I would say from about 1965 to 1975. Lots of new technology, new products, good build quality, viable repairability and plenty of variety.

The Golden age of everything in whole world was 65-75. Apollo11 heading quickly towards the Moon and the poor over-worked computer screaches "1201 Alarm" (translation; I cannot cope with this) and Neil A. Armstrong says, "Don't worry, I can!"

.

[evingar]

Originally Posted by ITAM805

Any period before SMD's

Some SMD is OK IMHO - I can handle the likes of PLCC and SOIC- It's BGA's that prove a real challenge unless you have the right gear or the wrong gear and a "shed load" of skill

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by ITAM805

Any period before SMD's

Without SMDs you wouldn't have the Smartphone, so yes

[peter_scott]

Each to his own! I wasn't around in the 1930s but that has always been my favourite decade for all man-made developments be they engineering or architecture and design.

Peter

[Radio Wrangler]

I might give the 1930s a miss as far as dentistry and medicine are concerned. Some nice architecture and design. Good for a day-trip once the time machine is going, but I wouldn't want to emigrate

David

[Peter.N.]

The 1950s was when TV really took off, I started work in '54 and although there was a fair amount of activity, in '55 when ITV started it went mad, we were up half the night doing band 3 conversions and the demand for new sets really took off.

Many people were becoming more affluent as the country recovered from the war. An indication of this was that you could get employment as a TV engineer with no qualifications whatsoever, as long as you could repair TVs and fortunately I could having been mad on radio and TV since I was a kid.

The only qualification I ever got was the City and guilds exam for an amateur radio license and that was about 25 years after I started in the trade.

This shortage of engineers lasted until the demise of the trade in the '90s just before I retired.

Peter

[PaulE27]

Although there was much to admire in earlier decades, for me the "Golden Age" was the 1980's. Why? In my opinion, almost all of the useful technology had been invented, and the useless junk had not!

For example:

CD players were available and affordable by 1985

The FM tuners then available (Denon TU-800, Hitachi FT-5500/2, Trio KT-990SDL) were probably the highpoint of FM tuner design

Classic 1970's technology (monster receivers etc.) was readily available and cheap

We had 4 or 5 TV channels, all worth watching, and we could record them with acceptable quality on a good VHS machine

Personal computers were available and affordable - either a hobby machine or an IBM PC clone, depending on your inclination

There were some great cars available, e.g. VW Golf GTi, Peugeot 205 GTi, all at reasonable prices

We had fridge-freezers. washer-driers - all built to last 30 years or more

And we didn't have:

Smartphones

Internet addiction

Stupid looking cars, not even from BMW or Citroen

White goods designed to be scrapped after 5 years

I could easily go back to 1980's technology! In fact, I would only have to throw away a few items ...

Paul

[Brigham]

I'm inclined to regard 'electronics' as starting with the thermionic valve. Cathode-ray tubes were earlier, but weren't in use for anything other than technical demonstration. The human voice 'emanating from a box' was much earlier, as was the wireless telegraph with its coils, gaps, alternators and coherers. This pre-electronic era is the one which fascinates me most. Everything we have today, including wireless telephony, had been demonstrated during this era, except for Television and atomic fission.
I have long aimed to redress this situation, at least as far as Television is concerned.

[Tazman1966]

For me it would be the 70s. This was the period that my interest in television and radio really blossomed although my interest started as a toddler! I was born in 1966.

One point that we all should agree on though is that if the internet hadn't been invented, then this discussion wouldn't be happening right now!

[peter_scott]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

I might give the 1930s a miss as far as dentistry and medicine are concerned. Some nice architecture and design. Good for a day-trip once the time machine is going, but I wouldn't want to emigrate David

Nothing's perfect and I admit you'd need to be rich to enjoy the decade but I might just thumb a lift so do let me know when you are ready to go.

Peter