2 thoughts on “for Marco (and for the young ones to learn)”
I know you know these things, Miss, but maybe others don’t. The video doesn’t really help because clearly we’re not hearing the output of the radio that’s being demonstrated. Here’s how mechanical-control radios work:
You tune to a station with one of the twist-knobs. You pull a button out all the way and push it back. That locks that button’s mechanism to a set distance of a ferrite rod going into a coil, so that becomes the button for that tuning. You do this with the other buttons, so thereafter you have a button for each of the stations you like. And you can change them later at any time.
To turn the radio on and set the volume you twist the other knob to the right. To turn it off you twist it to the left.
You can do all of these things easily by touch while driving. You never have to look away from the road. This technology was perfect, elegant, safe, tactile, enjoyable, and I miss it. Touchscreens for radio and heater and lights and etc. don’t measure up. They tried touchscreens to control warships and crashed enough of them into each other to decide to rip them out and put real controls back.
I am pretty sure the ’89 Ford Escort I owned had the volume knob on the left and the radio tuner knob on the right.
But I think you answered my question about how the preset buttons worked. I noticed in the video that has the buttons were pushed (after being set), I saw what might have been the AM tuner on the left move, indicating it was tuned in to another part of the AM dial.
I know you know these things, Miss, but maybe others don’t. The video doesn’t really help because clearly we’re not hearing the output of the radio that’s being demonstrated. Here’s how mechanical-control radios work:
You tune to a station with one of the twist-knobs. You pull a button out all the way and push it back. That locks that button’s mechanism to a set distance of a ferrite rod going into a coil, so that becomes the button for that tuning. You do this with the other buttons, so thereafter you have a button for each of the stations you like. And you can change them later at any time.
To turn the radio on and set the volume you twist the other knob to the right. To turn it off you twist it to the left.
You can do all of these things easily by touch while driving. You never have to look away from the road. This technology was perfect, elegant, safe, tactile, enjoyable, and I miss it. Touchscreens for radio and heater and lights and etc. don’t measure up. They tried touchscreens to control warships and crashed enough of them into each other to decide to rip them out and put real controls back.
I am pretty sure the ’89 Ford Escort I owned had the volume knob on the left and the radio tuner knob on the right.
But I think you answered my question about how the preset buttons worked. I noticed in the video that has the buttons were pushed (after being set), I saw what might have been the AM tuner on the left move, indicating it was tuned in to another part of the AM dial.