historysanjose – History San Jose

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Ampex

May 16, 2021May 16, 2021 by historysanjose

View items related to Poniatoff and Ampex in the Perham Collection of Early Electronics In 1944, at the suggestion of his Dalmo-Victor employer, a Russian immigrant and former aviator named Alexander M. Poniatoff (1892-1980) started a manufacturing company in the loft of their San Carlos building. This spin-off, named Ampex,…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Russell & Sigurd Varian

May 16, 2021 by historysanjose

Brothers Russell (1898-1959) and Sigurd Varian (1901-1961), sons of Irish intellectuals, grew up in Palo Alto and at the utopian community of Halcyon, California. All three of the Varian’s sons were fascinated by electricity (youngest son Eric later became an electrician). View items related to Varian Associates in the Perham…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Seefred Brothers

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

Brothers Howard C. (6EA) and Lyndon F. Seefred (6EB) were early amateur operators in Los Angeles, California, operating station W6EA on South Fremont Avenue. They were heavily involved in the amateur scene in Los Angeles and Pasadena, and recorded many firsts in Pacific radio communications. Lyndon and Howard Seefred, ca.…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Jane Morgan

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

Guide to the Jane Morgan Papers (Online Archive of California)Photographs from the Jane Morgan Papers in the Perham Collection of Early ElectronicsAudio recordings of interviews of radio pioneers by Jane MorganElectronics in the West: The First Fifty Years by Jane Morgan (1967) Jane Morgan (1916-2008) was the author of several…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Thorn Mayes

May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

Thorn Mayes (Courtesy of the New England Wireless and Steam Museum) Thorn Mayes, born April 19, 1903, graduated from the University of California in 1927 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He was an avid amateur radio operator, working W6AX, W9AX, 6BDQ, 6AX, K6BI, K2CE, and W1CX under the handle…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Charles Litton

May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

Among the many Bay Area radio hams in the 1920s who later became leaders in electronics was Charles Vincent Litton (1904-1972). He built his first ham set at age 10, and as a college student had two 100-foot towers at his family home in Redwood City, enabling him to transmit…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Colin B. Kennedy

May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

In 1919, Leonard Fuller (1890-1997) left Federal Telegraph to join another Federal employee, Colin B. Kennedy (1885-1942), to found The Colin B. Kennedy Company of San Francisco (but operating out of Los Altos), the first vacuum tube radio builder on the West Coast. Although originally established for the manufacture of…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: John Kaar

May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

As a young ham radio operator, John Kaar built his first crystal set at age 13 while at the Palo Alto Military Academy. The Depression left few opportunities in electronics work when he graduated from Stanford in 1935, so he briefly worked in assembly with the Remler Company in San…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Leo Jones/Fargo

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

Leo Jones: Pioneer in Electronic Surveillance by Ralph Simpson, History San Jose Volunteer, February 2012 Introduction Leo Jones at his boat dock, early 1950s (Private collection) Leo Hugh Jones (August 17, 1926 – February 10, 2002) was an early pioneer in the development of electronic surveillance and countermeasures devices. In…

Perham Collection Creator Profile: Jo Jennings

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 by historysanjose

At 12, Jo Emmett Jennings built his first radio receiver, with an oatmeal container to form the coil and a “catwhisker” detector. In 1931, the 20 year old ham operator was hired as the night and Sunday operator at San Jose radio station KQW. After graduating from San Jose State…

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