Topic: Detailed history of NWR

[ｓｐｃ ｆｒｅｓｎｏ]

It's pretty cool. I'm just posting it here (instead of my comment on another post) so that more people can read it, because it is hard to find. I found it a year ago but nearly forgot about it (and it was hard to find via Google):

http://cliffedits.com/thesis/ch3_genesis_evolution.pdf

[miraculon]

Interesting history of the Weather Radio. Thanks for posting it.

Greg H.

[kb4mdz]

spc fresno - 

What an awesome article!!  Thank you very much for posting that link.

For whatever it's worth, I was a contract radio technician for several NWS Transmitter sites in North Carolina from mid-1995 to 1996, and then 1997 to 1999.  At that time, the transmitters (in my care) were 1KW+ capable, tube-final behomoths, 2 cabinets side-by-side & 5 feet tall.  Huge, power-hungry, RF flame-throwing beasts!! 

While I was doing it, one forecaster I talked to said that the whole NWR program has always been run on a shoestring.  It's amazing what can be accomplished on a small but dedicated shoestring!!

[ｓｐｃ ｆｒｅｓｎｏ]

(I am bumping this topic for people that may not have noticed it. There are some people asking about the history of NWR, and I'd like to move this to where people can find it easier.)

[K2GW]

Very Cool history.  As a sailor and ham radio operator living near NYC, I remember listening to that early NWR transmitter from the RCA building in the late sixties.  The WX bureau was located on the mezzanine of 30 Rockefeller Center before they moved to Yaphank and you could visit them if knew where to look.

One thing the history overlooks is the migration of most pleasure boat two way radios from the Medium Wave AM to VHF-FM near 156 MHz in the 1960's.  Most folks first learned about NWR on 162.55 MHz when it was then built in to the new VHF radio for their boat and that built demand for non-sailors to get receivers at home.