I have been receiving very positive feedback from my latest column. Here is a great email I thought you might enjoy reading. I have plans on watching his suggested video. David Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: p.wesling@ieee.org <p.wesling@ieee.org> Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 6:27 PM To: Minster, David NA2AA (CEO) <na2aa@arrl.org> Cc: HQ Zendesk <hq@arrl.org> Subject: The Genealogy of Amateur Radio -- some comments David -- I enjoyed your editorial this month -- the genealogy of amateur radio. You discuss engendering a love of radio at an early age, which brings to mind what a friend of mine said during a talk I gave about how “Silicon Valley” and its successes grew out of ham radio. Here’s the story: [cid:image003.jpg@01DA31C6.B397DA10] I gave a talk to the West Valley ARA<https://wvara.org/wordpress/2023/02/> (in San Jose, CA) last March, titled “The Origins of Silicon Valley: Roots in Ham Radio”; I give various versions of this talk, as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. I even gave an early version at the ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford back in 2014. I begin by describing the technology starting around 1909 near Stanford University involving Cyril Elwell, then Fred Terman 6AE/W6DI, Bill Eitel W6UF, Charles Litton 6AO, David Packard 9DRV, and others, resulting in trans-Pacific communications, the nation's first scheduled broadcast, Eitel tubes, klystrons, microwave radar, the silicon transistor, ICs, venture capital, the Internet, and more. It started with a bunch of kids (“faculty brats”) experimenting with radio electronics. Surprise attendee was Steve “Woz” Wozniak WA6BND (at right), co-founder of Apple Computer, who shared some of his early experiences in the Valley. In the edited video, he says, "Radio was a so important part of my life. If I hadn't been a ham, I don’t know if I would have ever got to Apple." This exposure was when he was 10 years old -- like the tale you told about you and your Dad. It drives home your focus on opening up the spark of radio in the lives of young people -- we don’t know in advance what the effects will be. You can view the edited video of this presentation on IEEE’s server (https://ieeetv.ieee.org/video/origins-of-silicon-valley-roots-in-ham-radio) for the background; set aside a full hour some evening, or watch it with ARRL staff on the “big screen” some day. If you do, please let me know your thoughts. Especially review Woz’s comments starting at about 49:00, and you’ll hear the above quote. I had worked with Woz locally, where we both volunteered on local school projects, and Gail and I also ran into him and Janet on a cruise in Norway last summer. One of my observations is that the density of nerds here in the Valley is very high! Several of my friends and I organized two ham licensing classes for my Boy Scout troop several decades ago, and we then used radio on our outings and in the back country (even saved some lives with radio, as reported in QST). I might help with another class for our church’s Scout troops soon; we have the largest girl Scouting group in the nation, right here. 73, Paul KM6LH ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Paul Wesling, IEEE Life Fellow Advisor, Silicon Valley Chapter, Electronics Packaging Society p.wesling@ieee.org<mailto:p.wesling@ieee.org> EPS Society Vice President, Publications (emeritus) Phone: +1-408-252-9051 past Comm'ns Director, IEEE San Francisco Bay Area Council
