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Description
Exhibit displayed at Foothill Electronics Museum to replicate Charles "Doc" Herrold's first broadcast radio station in San Jose as it appeared circa 1913. Station FN (later KQW) was built by Herrold and broadcast its first wireless voice signal in 1909, transmitted by a 15-watt spark transmitter, and carried more than 20 miles. Ham operators tuned in on a regular basis to hear music, news, and entertainment. The station became KQW in 1921, and later KCBS. The exhibit was originally displayed in a slightly different form at Douglas Perham's New Almaden Museum, and appears to have been expanded at Foothill Electronics Museum. The table and the two arcs for the transmitters appear to be replicas. The rest of the components are original to the time period, but apart from the water-cooled microphones and the conical tuning coils, there is no evidence that they are original to Herrold's station. (Note that the original station had the coils swapped; the double cone coil should be on the left). Components are cataloged separately.
Type
image
Identifier
2962E680-066B-4190-B729-768076412335 2003-1-791
Subject
Radio broadcasting (LCSH) Wireless telegraph (LCSH) Radio--Transmitters and transmission (LCSH) KQW (Radio station: San Jose, Calif.) FN (Radio station: San Jose, Calif.) Herrold, Charles
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