As part of its 2018 Guest Speaker Series, The Fair Lawn Amateur Radio Club September program featured a look back at an overlooked part of radio history virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
What did early radio sound like? Our speaker starts with the history of the 500kHz system and the early Marconi stations. The discussion includes some interesting ships and examples of distress communications. The program concludes with the actual final CW transmissions between English, Irish and other European stations. The presentation includes both visuals and video to help tell the story of this aspect of early radio communication.
Dr. Cohen was born in New York City and still maintains that he is a New Yorker. He was educated in the NYC public school system including the Bronx High School of Science. Barry continued his education at Brown University where he earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, and then at the Johns Hopkins University which conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Engineering. His first Ham License was issued in 1945, W2PDG, and his first QSO occurred early in 1946, on 40 meter CW. He has been active, mostly on CW, ever since.
Upon graduation from Johns Hopkins, Dr. Cohen worked at Bell Laboratories Murray Hill for about 10 years. His research was on semiconductor devices and materials for use in high-speed circuits. His most intriguing project was the development of the infrared solid state laser, a device used today in every CD and DVD player. A Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Cohen founded Research Devices Inc. a New Jersey Corporation which manufactured and sold infrared and other equipment for manufacturing and failure analysis of semiconductor devices and integrated circuits. Now retired, he works to establish ham radio related programs with school children, the Emergency Response Team established with NPARC, communications and space programs at elementary and high schools in New Jersey, and organizing communications for public events such as street fairs, road races, OEM exercises, Ham Radio summer camps, and others.
