[ale] Engineering Archaeology

[Steve Litt]

On Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:12:48 -0500 (EST)
"jon.maddog.hall--- via Ale" <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> > I'm guessing the statue of limitations has been exceeded his
> > crimes.  
> 
> 
> when I was in electronics class at Dulaney Senior High I built a
> transmitter that jammed all the car radios for about 15 minutes in
> Lutherville, Maryland in 1967.
> 
> There!  I got it off my chest!
> 
> md

Maddog, you're under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used
against you in a court of law. You're entitled to an attorney. If you
cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.

Maybe I'll be your cellmate. At 17 I took my Ocean Hopper regenerative
radio (you'll doubtlessly remember how tube regens of the era
oscillated and therefore transmitted out the antenna), hooked a
microphone to the output transformer which I'd converted to an
input transformer, and transmitted my own radio show about 1/2
block. The station was called "Bear Nine Radio" from Cincinnati Ohio,
even though I was in a northern suburb of Chicago. Nobody sent me a QSL
though.

I was friends with the girl upstairs and also with her boyfriend, who
was a Gymnastics teammate. She and I planned a prank. She tuned in my
radio, on which I played all sorts of contemporary Top 40 from my reel
to reel, gave them about 10 minutes to get busy, and then gave them a
personal shoutout.

Another prank. My family lived in a second story apartment. I stashed a
portable radio on the sidewalk below, and every time a pedestrian
walked by, I'd say hi to him or her. My friend and my dad were watching
and laughing. Then an ancient, ancient man, must have been almost 70,
walked by and my radio said hi to him. He clutched his chest, looked
like he was about to drop dead, and then staggered away. My dad told me
not to do that anymore. 

I kind of miss the days when any teenager could buy lye, aluminum foil
and calcium chloride to make hydrogen balloons, could buy metallic
magnesium ribbons and sulfur to burn. The kids smarter than I used
ammonia and iodine to make explosive "touch powder". Every male
child had a huge blob of mercury to play with, garnered from many
thermometers. We endlessly rolled it around, and used it to turn copper
pennies silver. when our moms said mercury was dangerous poison, we all
said the same thing: "Mom, I'm not going to eat it!"

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques