About 65 people attended the presentation about the history of the Global Positioning System (GPS) at the Marion Heritage Center & Museum Sunday, January 26. Collins Electrical engineers Robert Erlandson and David Van Dusseldorp, who worked mostly on military applications of GPS, offered an informative and sometime humorous account of their combined 64 years of experience taking GPS from a concept that needed a lab full of equipment to test 45 years ago to a set of microchips no bigger than your thumbnail, embedded in phones and everything else today.

Along the way, Erlandson and Van Dusseldorp provided a fresh perspective on Arthur A. Collins, his vision and his legacy. Convinced we were at the dawn of a digital revolution, Arthur drove his engineers to be prepared and on the forefront, and ultimately into the arms of a financial rescuer with deeper pockets. Though often framed as failing, the engineers emphasized the huge cost and weight advantages Arthur's investments in digital technology and expertise gave the company when it entered the highly competitive military GPS market and Arthur's ultimate success.

With the encouragement of about two dozen former Collins engineers in the audience, Van Duseldorp related the account of how the $1 million GPS antenna called for in their development contract wasn't finished when the military launched its first satellite in 1978 and the customer suggested a contest among its contractors to see who could acquire the signal first. Collins engineers dived into their scrap barrels and threw together a junk antenna. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. Their newest member, young Dave Van Dusseldorp was appointed to go up on the roof of the plant and aim the contraption at the western horizon where the satellite would appear. Bragging rights and a case of beer hung in the balance. The engineers ran a phone line up the the roof to supply aiming instructions, and Dave held his breathe every time it rang. . . would it be his colleagues, or his wife, nine months pregnant and due any moment? The Collins team won, of course, and acquired the signal fastest; Dave's new daughter waited a week, and a case of beer magically appeared in the lab and just as mysteriously disappeared over the next several weeks--a bottle at a time.

The Collins Story: On the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing will remain on display at the Heritage Center until February 28. Through the cooperation of the Collins Aerospace Museum and the Arthur A. Collins Legacy Association, the exhibition has recently been enhanced with the addition of several new features including a rare audio recording of Arthur discussing his 1925 Arctic radio-adventure, two replica 1925 transmitters built by Collins and a rare NASA Silver Snoopy lapel pin, on loan from Boyd Palmer, one of only 19 awarded to Collins employees on the Apollo program, plus an assortment of military GPS equipment showing the evolution of the technology, including the famous "Budweiser" antenna. ... See MoreSee Less

3 weeks ago  ·  

The Story in the Cards part X. Three last mini-bios taken from the QSL (post)cards sent to Arthur Collins and preserved by his son, Michael.

Norman H. Miller (1904-1980) (1AWE) of Providence, RI got his ham license in 1921. His father was a buyer for a local paint company. The city had a large and active radio club, the Providence Radio Association (PRA). Its roster numbered 101 in 1923, 31 had radio licenses; Miller served as Secretary. In '23 the club sponsored a contest among the members to identify the best receiver; Miller took second in the 1-tube class. Reportedly there's a photo in the Providence Journal, but we haven't been able to track it down yet. Miller worked as a sales and repairman and for a radio company after graduating from high school. He married Margit (Anderson) from Sweden c.a. 1936, and they had a son and daughter together. In WWII he worked for Brown & Sharpe a major U.S. machine tool builder founded in Providence. After the war Norm worked for Tri-State Wholesalers, an RCA dealer. See him at Find a Grave memorial # 59805566.

Ernest Edwin Harper (1907-2003) (7GR) was born in Jenks, Oklahoma. His father, a farmer, moved the family around Kansas and OK a number of times before pulling up stakes and relocating to Vancouver, WA after WWI. He worked as a brakeman on the RR. Ernest was probably finishing H.S. when he contacted Arthur--he omitted the year on his QSL card, but added a friendly, "Merry Xmas." After graduating from the University of Washington he worked as an announcer/engineer at a Seattle radio station. He married M. Tracy (last name unknown) c.a. 1929, but it only lasted a couple of years. He moved to Chicago c.a. 1935 where he went to work for RCA Communication, Inc. and remarried, Helen L. (Radalk). At RCA in 1944 he earned a patent (#2,352,541) for inventing a system of synchronizing signals in a time division multiplex telegraph system. He returned to Bellingham, WA c.a. 1949 and became the Chief Engineer at KVOS-TV when it began operation. He introduced the first cable TV service in the city in early 1950's, and worked as a TV and radio consultant in the 60's. He had one son, Ernest Terry, and stayed in Bellingham until his death. See him at FAG #139909110. Terry Harper became a ham too and was a charter member of the Bellingham H.S. Amateur Radio Club when it formed in 1955 (call sign W7WNS). He graduated in 1956 and went on to earn a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1961 and his Master's in 1964.

Gilbert H. Greenlaw (1VD) (1904-1992) was the son of a Quincy, MA plumbing and heating supply storeowner. He had a twin brother Seth A. They graduated from H.S. in 1923 and sold automobile parts and accessories together for many years before entering the retail liquor business. Gilbert got his ham license c.a. 1924 and stayed active in the hobby until at least 1934 (at W1CEZ). Seth died in 1975; Gilbert in 1992, leaving his widow, Viola (Nordstrom) whom he married in 1936. They had no children. See him at Find a Grave memorial # 111732049.

This completes our series of bios taken from the 44 QSL cards preserved by Michael Collins.

Don't miss our program about the history of radio technology today, its a good one! 1:30-3:00. ... See MoreSee Less

3 months ago  ·