LINKS
If you like my pages, try some of these links found in my travels on the web (in no particular order. )
Remember that keeping a "links" page up to date is really hard, so on occasion some of the links won't work, because the sites have changed URL's or the owners have been arrested or kidnapped. I try to prune and update the list regularly. Send me links you think I should add, but nothing stupid such as mesothelioma attorney spam or porn sites !
RADIOMARINE (RCA): The world famous Radiomarine web page. Don't miss a visit to historic station KPH-KSM if you are ever in the San Francisco Bay area! CW forever...
SWEDISH MOBILE RADIOS: Looks like life must be more fun in Sweden! Here's a Swedish amateur who has a nice collection of SRA, Motorola and Storno mobile radios as well as a personal helicopter in his back yard! Whatever happened to those girls from Abba, anyway... I wonder if they like radios...
NEW ZEALAND POLICE RADIO: Here's an interesting site with the history of New Zealand's police radio. The only time I have ever seen a Command Set from a B-17 being used as a police car radio! Note that for some reason qsl.net now only resolves with the latest browsers and you will get a security error and a refusal to take you there on older versions of Explorer and Chrome (XP users.)
BRITISH MOBILE RADIO MUSEUM: Fellow surplus mobile radio enthusiasts in Great Britain have this massive website, where everything you ever wanted to know about British police radios is there (somewhere...)
PYE MOBILE RADIO HISTORY: The British PYE Corporation was a prolific producer of mobile radios for decades, which resemble a cross between GE and RCA mobile radios from the USA except with often bright color schemes or bizarre shapes.
http://www.pyetelecomhistory.org/prodhist/mobiles/mobiles.html
HISTORY OF GERMAN B-Netz MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEM: This site is in German and covers the early German mobile telephone service. It is basically the German counterpart of my Bell System Mobile Telephone History web pages. The page layout has been improved and everything is there, but it helps to read German...
http://www.oebl.de/B-Netz/BNetz.html
PHOTO GALLERIES OF GERMAN AND INTERNATIONAL MILITARY AND UTILITY RADIOS: Website from Germany created by friend Klaus-Peter, DH4PY. Use the navigation menu on the left side, there are lots of photos.
http://www.greenradio.de/e_index.htm
CONVERTING JOHNSON MOBILE RADIOS TO 900 MHz AMATEUR USE: It appears that it's fairly easy to convert the dash mount Johnson 900 MHz radios to the ham band. On the other hand, it may be more satisfying to attack them with a hammer. You be the judge...
http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/900mhz/EFJohnson.txt
and
http://www.qsl.net/k0kn/efj.html
URBAN EXPLORATION FORUMS: Not a radio site, but here's a fascinating website about breaking and entering, otherwise known as urban exploration, i.e. exploring the abandoned and crumbling industrial infrastructure of what was once a great country where people actually had good jobs, manufactured quality goods, lived in affordable, comfortable homes and where men looked like men and women looked like women (instead of a pile of tires in a warm-up suit)...oh...never mind, here's the link::
http://www.uer.ca/forum_showcats.asp?fid=1
INLAND MARINE RADIO HISTORY: Fascinating site about the history of inland marine radio on the Great Lakes:
http://www.imradioha.org/index.htm
NICK'S NAVY RADIO PAGES: Photos and data of vintage naval radio stations and gear. Please send Nick any old naval radios larger than a refrigerator that you don't want anymore:
http://www.virhistory.com/navy/index.htm
REPAIRING COLLINS MECHANICAL FILTERS: This apparently works! For the R-390A receivers. Avoid paying a fortune for some old filter when you can fix your defective one. Be sure to tell the hardware store clerk you are buying the mini torch to melt solder and not to smoke crack:
http://www.r-390a.net/FilterRepair/index.html
ABANDONED AND DERELICT COLD WAR INFRASTRUCTURE: This page has interesting links and information about various communications facilities from the 1950's-60's, which for the most part are no longer with us. I particularly like the abandoned RCA facility in Tangier, Morocco:
http://coldwar-c4i.net/index.html
RETROBRIGHT PROJECT: Have you ever been exasperated by finding that your once white telephone, computer monitor case, mobile phone, calculator, etc. has become yellowed or even brown with age? These guys figured out that it's caused by a photochemical reaction with the fire-retardant component of the plastic. They have also developed a chemical solution to return the plastic to (nearly?) its original color! Check it out. The formula is over on the left side of the page as a link. You may actually need to buy some Oxy-Clean from Billy Mayes!
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Retrobright-Whitening-solution/
MOSCOW RKK RADIO MUSEUM: This is a massive project undertaken by friend Walt Gromov and associates in Moscow to document and display military radios from the 20th century, from a Russian perspective. Lots of rare equipment. Very frustrating to a Californian who will never be able to acquire examples of that Russian radio gear for his own collection...
http://www.rkk-museum.ru/index_eng.htm
LOS ANGELES POLICE RADIO: [ GONE! ] Friend Harry Marnell had created this massive website at HarryMarnell.net about Los Angeles' police radio system from start to today. Cool audio clips and great photos. LAPD was still broadcasting on medium wave AM up until 1965!
*** NOTE: I removed this URL because as of 2 / 2017 the domain name and URL no longer worked and the domain name is for sale by GoDaddy. Some inquiry produced the response that Harry is still alive but for whatever reason took the site down completely. ( I should have downloaded and mirrored the whole thing.) You can still see some of the old content on his original site below, but it has not been updated since 2001 and may also disappear without warning:
http://users.snowcrest.net/marnells/kma368.htm
MOTOROLA PROGRAMMING CABLE PINOUTS: Batlabs has all the schematics for Motorola programming cables in one place, which saves a lot of rummaging around.
http://www.batlabs.com/pinouts.html
ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S MUSEUM: This is the site for the new Orange County, California Sheriff's Museum. You can buy interesting things on the Museum Store page at this site. Many interesting photos and there's lots of work underway building this museum.
http://www.ocsheriffmuseum.com/
1955 BRITISH PYE SALES FILM "Calling V.H.F." Fascinating instructional video showing salesmen how to sell PYE "superior AM" VHF police and fire two-way radios.
http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/1801
1959 BRITISH PATHE "Phone in Your Car" short news video. Covers introduction of British VHF car telephone service in 1959.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/phone-in-your-car/query/car+telephone
HILARIOUS BRITISH TELECOM RADIO PAGER TV AD: I am one of those people who always has his cell phone off or in the car glove box. Thus this ad describes me perfectly, per my girlfriends. Especially the part about "It's no use to try to find him" and "His goose is cooked."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbrKK_NPcw
Ver. 09/14/2018