[QuadList] History - what is the REAL story--details, source(s)

Tue Apr 28 14:28:22 CDT 2009

here is  some quickie notes on K.D. Smith  from the museum's  memorial on 
him.
_http://www.smecc.org/k_d__smith.htm_ (http://www.smecc.org/k_d__smith.htm) 
   is a bunch on him. Interesting guy.

these are the  type of people I sought out as  friends when I was  a kid  
In Palos Verdes  there were lots of people in electronics and  aerospace on 
the hill there. but over on the other coast you have the bell  labs....  a 
place I only could dream of visiting..

... gee I was a pest....

1946-1947 
K.D. Smith at Bell Laboratories, Cont.
K.D. Smith was project  engineer on the TE-1 and TE-2 short haul microwave 
relay system intended for  Television studio to transmitter site service; 
and for repeatered routes of 2 to  3 links. The TE-1 system operated between 
3.7 and 4.2 Gigahertz. 
An excellent explanation of this system can be found in a  publication 
entitled "A New Microwave Television System" that K.D. Smith  co-authored with 
J.F. Wentz. This talk was presented at the winter meeting of  the AIEE in 
January 1947, and the paper was printed in the Transactions for the  AIEE 
Volume 66, pages 465-470 in 1947. 
For an in depth look at what it was like to set up the first  test between 
Hollywood and Mount Wilson, we have on file K.D. Smith's Field  notes of 
this event. It chronicles the events from unboxing the equipment  through the 
successes and problems that were encountered! 
1948-1951 
K.D. Smith was the circuit design supervisor on the TD-2  Microwave Radio 
Relay System. The TD-2 was the backbone trans-continental  microwave relay 
system carrying network television programming as well as long  distance 
telephone traffic. Long before communications satellites were a  practical 
reality, the TD-2 system was what brought us the television shows we  so much 
enjoyed from the network studios in New York, and gave us enough long  distance 
telephone connections to talk to Aunt Martha back on the Eastern  seaboard 
during Christmas day! 
K.D. Smith's specific responsibility was the F.M. terminal  systems used in 
the TD-2. The F.M. terminal converted video signals to a 70 MHz  frequency 
modulated signal that modulated the microwave transmitter circuit that  
generated the output signal of the microwave relay link. 
K.D. Smith standing in front of a Radar console during the  World
Excellent reference on the TD-2 system can be found in "The TD-2  Microwave 
Radio Relay System" by A.A. Roetken, K.D. Smith and R.W. Friis. This  
article was published in the BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL, Volume 30 (part 2)  
Pages 1041-1077 on October 1951. 
An interesting side light is that this publication was one of  the three 
selected from the BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL to be preserved until  the 
year 6939 AD, in the Westinghouse TIME CAPSULE II. This time capsule  contains 
a panorama of what was then current human activities. The capsule was  
buried alongside TIME CAPSULE I. Both capsules reside under ground at the site  
of the two New York world's fair. TIME CAPSULE I was buried in 1938 and the  
second was buried in 1965. This historic time capsule is discussed in BELL 
LABS  NEWS, May 15 1965. This newsletter as well as the publication on TD-2 
that K.D.  Smith co-authored is on file at the museum. 
Another excellent reference on the TD-2 system is contained in  THE TD-2 
STORY, a book that was authored by A.C. Dickieson, and presented to the  
museum by him. Both publications, as well as the time capsule story in the BELL  
LABS NEWS present an excellent view of the TD-2 system for the person with 
the  curious mind! 
The TD-2 system and its steel and concrete towers was a  communications 
marvel! It deserves a large article here in VINTAGE ELECTRICS in  the near 
future. 
Rumor whispers the demise of the TD-2 system, as widespread use  of 
communications satellites is now a reality in our everyday existence. The  large 
"wide bandwidth" fiber optic networks that have been created also  supplement 
the satellites for long distance communication involving television  
transmission and long distance telephone calls. 
TD-2 indeed enriched our lives, and let us take a moment to  thank K.D. 
Smith and all the other developers that made this communications  marvel 
possible.

In a message dated 4/28/2009 8:22:27 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
park at videopark.com writes:

>From the  Ampex list I posted about AT&T Long Lines:  

AT&T provided "Long Lines" microwave and coaxial cable. Before 1957,  kines 
were used for delay, quad tape after that.

At one time Long Lines  provided all the television distribution for all 
the television networks.  Prior to television over the microwave radio it was 
provided by Long Lines via  coaxial cable on B2 (Black & White) terminal 
equipment and later on B3  (color) terminal equipment." - Roy Juch.

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