ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Electrical Nostalgia 1955 Computer

Heck, my dad has trouble with the new phones being too small-- his fingers are too large to operate only one button at a time.

Naval gunfire and director controlled. While a gunnersmate in the navy the guns were controlled by a mark56 and 68 gun director. The 68 model was newer but the 56 was part of the original part of the ship. Dials and wheels all over the place. The gun mount was also controlled at times by a onc. One Man control. They were as beautiful as they were functional. Cant forget the vaccum tube tester either. Thanks for a trip down memory lane. For anyone interested punch in DD-937 and see the destroyer I served aboard.

Holy mother of goat crap! Thats one small cell phone iwire. You could just leave that thing in your ear like a hearing aid.(haha)BTW.. Nice radio Pauluk, woodgrain realy goes good with the silver face and radioactive green display, but compared to the new ones, with the huge lcd displays and flashing and blinking lights and colors, could give some people seizures!

I have a radio just like that. I'll send in a pic of my old Marantz valve (tube) set that I rebuilt. Those old things sound great!

That stereo very closely remindsmy of the Monarch (I think)branded stereo I used in the mid 80s.

This is becoming a very interesting discussion! It's really two inter-related topics: aesthetics and usability.

If it's OK with the moderators, I'd like to suggest starting a new thread, with a title along the lines of "Control Panels and Switchboards". I think I can find lots of pictures of vintage beauties to post.

For example, here are a couple of Bell System test consoles from the 1970s. These were installed at the hardened underground "main stations" on the L4 coaxial-cable system, which was an important part of the nation's long-distance network before fiber optics became the dominant medium:

http://long-lines.net/tech-equip/coaxial/L4RCC-1.html
http://long-lines.net/tech-equip/coaxial/L4RCC-2.html

Look at all of those knobs, buttons and meters - even a built-in oscilloscope! I'm sure the modern-day equivalent is just a Windows PC on a desk somewhere.

[This message has been edited by Albert (edited 09-07-2006).]