Profit from educating people is far too long term for today's powers that be. Best instead to control them with addiction, fear, anger and other emotional responses. Programs like this stimulate people into thinking for themselves and actually doing things that may not involve looking at screen media.
It is.. people just take everything for granted.. like hot showers and clean water. If some societal collapse... Radio would be almost important as food
The mechanisms are not obselete tho, the way they work can be applied to all current tech. The way radio is used hasnt changed and neither has the way computers worked. Or car engines. Everything has just gotten more complex, but its still a great resource for learning!
I love these old educational videos. For some reason they have more information in them than modern productions. Probably because they got to the point faster.
@@CelticSaint The masses must be kept docile and uneducated so they will buy all the needless crap sold to them by their ruling overlords! It is as simple as that buddy!
It's because people are generally stupid and need to be entertained by theatrics or else they won't watch it, so in order to sell information and actual learning is valued less and marketing is more
I first started seeing this show on Sunday mornings, I think, on either The Discovery Channel or maybe A&E. Being an American, I’d never heard of BBC Four, and I think I’m a lot worse off for it. What a great show, what a great channel!
As an amateur radio {HAM) operator and a former U>S> Military electronics (communications technician) operator I learned more from this video than all of my previous teachings combined! Thank you from the bottom of my heart felt wavelengths. !
Can I ask you good folks what's the future job outlook like for RAN engineers in your opinion? I currently work as a wireless network engineer ( has to do with WiFi) but I'm passionate about mobile networks to such an extent that I'm thinking of going back to college for a telecommunications engineering master.
I wonder if this type of show could be done with today's high-tech industry? After all, integrated chips are just highly involved etching techniques. In other words, could he break it down for common people to understand? WE NEED HIM, is he still alive?
@@charlemarcharlemar2401 Nerds are hardly ever racist or political activists. They are too busy making things or learning how things are made. God bless the nerds.
I remember when it first came out in the U.S. It was broadcast on Public Television (because commercial TV networks would never have picked up something as nerdy as this.) It was a real gem! I loved the demonstrations, usually done with hardware store bits and pieces. Some of them were downright dangerous, and can't be recreated these days because of safety regulations. Thanks Carl for posting these!
I'm really glad someone posted these. Beings back a lot of memories. Tim Hunkin has his own youtube channel and has been posting remastered episodes with a few minutes of his commentary at the end.
Thanks for the video. I grew up with AM and in college FM came along and we were thrilled. Stereo? We were blown away. Again, thanks for posting the video.
@@deafmusician2 I'm blown away by cell phones TODAY. We have a little device in our pocket that can do a myriad of things including some phones that can be a literal PC that rivals some of them.
OH MY GOD ITS BRUM! NEVER IN MY LIFE WOULD I EVER THINK I WOULD GET TO SEE THE PROP CREATOR LET ALONE HIM EXPLAINING HOW IT WORKS. Please excuse me while I pick my jaw up from the floor
The music sounds like a variation of the tune "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck. Great program. I remember when channels like TLC showed actual educational programs like this instead of rubbish like reality shows.
You have a good ear. It is a variation called The Russians Are Coming and is available on Spotify. It's a good tune and it's definitely a version (sort of) of Take Five. Good one.
Glad to see this. No phony enthusiasm. Genunine enthusiasm without pretension and showing these principles very well usually easily obtainable items. And a lot of fun
@@papadop Like the Reality of young fellows Raping the Earth to obtain mere Particles of Gold, but They Can't tell you Where Gold Comes From!! 😮🤬⚡⚡🌟🌟💫
Very interesting explanation to radio, it bought me back the good old days I learned electronics as a hobbyist. One thing the video didn't mention and out of scope was aircraft uses AM instead of FM due to Doppler shift effect of fast moving transmitter.
@@wisteela Damn straight they're not concentrating on the stuff that matters fretting about fingernails We *could* all have had radio tuned *teeth* Stuff Apple specs and such like. I *want* musical teeth.
16:23 *Rex fiddling with his homemade radio receiver. * REX: "I shall call it the Rexophone!" *looks at Rexophone on the other end of the table* REX: "Well, shoot!"
When i was studying in high school was very obsessed with the radio or electromagnetic waves and this obsession led me to be a physicist as well as a lecturer 🙏
I think that it is most marvelous, the hypnotic effect that people with British accents have on me. I love radio and have been a ham operator for over 40 years and thats what attracted me to this vid. But listening to it lulls me right off to sleep. I think that is just fantastic!
@John Ashtone Not as though us Ultravox fans are bitter, but someone really should 'smasha ya face' of Joe Dolce. I mean, he's not even bloody Italian...
My dad started his professional life after wwii at an engineer for KPRC in Houston. For the rest of his life, he would nearly constantly listen. I too am obsessed with finding distant stations that come in as though next door at night, As well as with antenna design. My son is as smart as his gramps, and is himself a ham, among other things. Thank you for this content!
Thanks guys, loved this show as a kid. When I saw this on RU-vid and heard the intro after 30 plus years, the hair stood up on the back of my neck. Smacked in the head of find memories.
Erm, it was shown on Channel 4 in the UK back in 1987, I remember sending a SAE to receive an infopack! Edited versions were also shown in other countries (most of the cartoons removed) on the Discovery channel.
@8:39 - That specific radio is called a ‘One Tube Regenerative Receiver”. It was a clever design, invented by Edwin Armstrong. It used a single triode (3 element) tube, as the RF amplifier, oscillator and detector. Very clever, indeed! I just finished restoring one of these radios, made in 1923, by the Tri-City Radio Electric Company, in Davenport, Iowa, USA. It works great, but like most radios of that time, you can only listen by using headphones, and it doesn’t have a standard radio dial. It uses one 6 volt battery for the tube filament and a 22.5 volt battery for the tube plate. I really need to make a video of it. It’s my oldest, and most favorite, radio restoration.
What a treat to see Gerry Wells in his garden shed again... Being from the USA his little museum was a MUST SEE in 1987 & 1996. Love this series here on RU-vid since I never saw the originals.
Mythbusters is a modern portrayal of this idea. Although the characters ( Adam and Jamie + Company) were far more entertaining, to get todays youth to look up from their smart phones. Although at superior in technical knowledge, "Secret Life" I'm guessing wouldn't have held good footing in todays society. Both have merit, and their place in history. Both have had an influence on me.
But there is nothing in common, one is a documentary on a particular kind of machine each episide, the other is myth busting. Perhaps you think anything involving something technical is like anything else involving something technical?
@@RadNitro I grew up on myth busters, I wish I grew up on this. I wouldn't dare to call them in anyway similar, they both build gadgets and thats really the only similarity. The reason we bring up myth busters is because it was one of the few science/engineering programs on air. I wish there were shows that actually taught engineering when I grew up, but unfortunately all American science shows are utter trash, they only give facts never explanations. But alteast kids these days have the internet and they get to choose wether or not they want to brain wash themselves.
This show explained how it does what it does. Mythbusters showed if it can be used the way some people claim. They would sometimes revert back as to how it works, to explain why they got the results they did.
@@oukid2633 Except as a kid in the 90s I watched absolutely countless science/technology shows from the US so MythBusters wasn't the only one. These shows are not similar and comparing is a waste of time.
Hi Carl, thank you for posting the old but, quite informative documentary on some of radio's history. I wanted to point out an error on the video, the earliest spark gap transmitters did transmit interference all over the band but, that was okay for a while, with only a hand full of stations operating part time. However, when this new technology became more popular, interference quickly became an issue. To solve the problem, a combination of inductor/capacitor filters were used, along with the transmitter antenna being electrically matched to the transmitter, which added another layer of filtering. The filtering was a huge improvement (although not perfect) as it allowed many stations to use the band similtaneously. After vacuum tubes/valves were invented and transmitter circuits devised, these were found to be much cleaner in regards to interference. As a result, the filtered spark gap transmitters were obsoleted, being outlawed in the mid 1920's.
Thanks Mr. Carl, I like the old transmitters in your presentation. Even though I have worked on TV and radio transmitters since the tube days a simple crystal set is still magical.
Television in the UK has turned into a version of the Sun newspaper. Been so long since i have watched tv. Gone are the days of decent tv, Horizon, Equinox, Tomorrows World, TOTP's , any comedy before 1990ish with a few exceptions, even Panorama.
Great little documentary. I got interested in radio at around 11-13 years old. Building circuits with my 200 in 1 electronic project kit and using my father's short wave radio scanner to pick up all types of signals. A nice rendition of Take Five at the end as well.
Ten marks out of ten! What a great primer about the radio revolution. Gosh, it would have been such a thrill to get to operate Marconi's original equipment. I see the programme was made in 1990, just a year before Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web instigated another communications revolution by making the internet, hitherto an obscure boffin plaything which few people had even heard of, accessible to the broad public.
I was a child when this was shown, it was when Channel 4 was almost an indie channel, I remember watching this The Grandmother, Eraserhead, phil molloys animations Cowboys. It was a great time you would just get random animations and art films and Music after 11pm.
I was a bit older but C4 then was an innovative and creative channel with exceptional program content. Anyone remember Monkey Dust? A dark and foreboding cartoon animation.
@@DDS029 Channel 4 is the name of the broadcaster (at launch a national terrestrial analogue network) - and although it was the 4th channel in the UK at the time it's not actually a designated channel number (now) as would appear in other countries... (the others channels at the time being BBC One, BBC Two & ITV (UTV or STV , depending on region - a 5th channel appeared in 1997 and they called it Channel 5!))
The only reason the U.S gave the patent rights to Tesla in 1945 was because the Marconi Corp. was suing the U.S government for copyright infringement, lol.
I watched the whole 3 series/seasons in 2019 and I too am upset. Not only that the show did not continue, but that there's nothing I've seen that can match the charm, the style and the educational value through practical demonstrations - it certainly almost makes everything else seem rather boring and of lesser value.
I built a crystal radio when I was 10 or 12, it worked but I soon ditched the galena crystal for a diode I scavenged from where I don't remember. I'm 74 now and remembering that I decided to build one now from stuff lying around, the coil I bought off Amazon, it would have been too tedious to wind for me now, it works, but looks a little more professional than the one I made in 1960. Radio has been my job and now a hobby, thank you for this retro look into my favorite subjects, besides my kids and grand kids.
Tesla didn't invent the spark gap transmitter or the tuned circuit. While Tesla did much great work he pursued little in message broadcasting to focus on power transmission. if anything, Heinrich Hertz should have patented his discovery's
Do you think someone who who was pursuing transmission of industrial quantities of electricity wouldn't know anything about simple radio? Do you hear yourself? You must be very young.
considering the short distance that the signal had to travel, probably a very short antenna was used(actually, the leads going to/from the spark gap were probably the only antenna used). With such a limited antenna, the range would be quite short, so interference would be minor.
That is THE Brum. That was it. Rex Garrod built it for the children TV program. That was one of his jobs. We used to have loads of interesting, eccentric geeky, tech types, and there were a good number employed in TV, Radio and filming. Often coming up with incredible, groundbreaking stuff. Like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who were essentially a big group of such kind of blokes. They did many unique and never before heard effects and instruments and tools. They were the ones responsible for the first iterations of the Dr Who theme tune. Among many many more. Sadly such often charming, endearing and interesting characters seem to be becoming thinner on the ground as time goes by. Seriously, how can ya not love Tim Hunkin?
rationalmartian I believe that was brum’s original prototype, as his final design was based off an Austin 7 chummy convertible, whereas here he is modelled as the actual vehicle. Though there is a radio magazine from 91’ where it shown his mechanics such as underneath, and his eye mech, even describing the motor, battery and what he could do
@@Kebab_MC I really wish I knew. I think the mag was part of a magazine series called "Radio Modeller" or something like that. I looked up these mags, but they seem to be just about planes.
@@SupremeDoesGaming Do you know what the magazine was called? I really wish I knew. I guess the mag was part of a magazine series called "Radio Modeller" or something like that. I looked up these mags, but they seem to be just about planes. If you do know the name of the magazine, please tell me, and I'll pass it onto this guy called "JamesPropmaker" who's making a Brum replica. I think it'll greatly help him out. Thank you so much.
At 8:30, I spotted a diamond-shaped blue printed label, enclosing a number 4, attached to the radio dial. This brought back memories of when the BBC reorganised their transmission frequencies in November 1978 (when I was 13). These small stickers were delivered to each household to mark the new BBC station positions on their radios. I still have an old portable radio with its stickers in place! Amusingly, at 21:22, the benefits of the RCA Victor non-breakable case were extolled' I doubt, though, that the circuitry would have survived the drop.
As charming and interesting as I remember it when a younger version of me enjoyed watching the series. I still love radio but these days I can tap into big multi-user shortwave receivers over the internet. There's a certain strange magic to that.
