Page 34 - EngineerIT November 2021

AMATEUR RADIO

Weak signals, amateur radio and

a Nobel Prize

ou may think that this is science
fiction, but it is not. It is story of a radio
Yamateur who achieved all three. At
a young age growing up he became a radio
amateur, he proceeded to university, became
a professor, received the Nobel prize for
physics and is now developing and promoting
software for weak signal communication. It
is the story of Joe Taylor K1JT who is giving
back to amateur radio, the techno hobby that
started his journey to success.
Joe Taylor. born on 29 March 1941 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was at heart a
radio amateur, an experimenter. When he was
seven the family moved to the family farm in
Cinnaminson Township, New Jersey and that
is where he started his journey in the world of
radio, science and technology.
Together with his brother Hal, he Joe Taylor K1JT in his radio room
developed in interest in radio and during their
teens they built numerous large, rotating, introductions to chemistry and physics did not dampen any enthusiasm for science, they just gave
antennas, high above the roof of the three- him more time for sport, at the time a greater passion.
story Victorian farmhouse. With one such “I began discovering the delights of what science is really about. A fascinating senior honours
project they managed to shear off the brick project in physics allowed me to combine a working knowledge of radio-frequency electronics with
chimney, flush with the roof, much to the an awakening appreciation of scientific inquiry, and to build a working radio telescope. My principal
consternation of their parents. references were an old friend, The ARRL Radio Amateur’s Handbook, and an early book on radio
“That incident was one of many practical astronomy by Pawsey and Bracewell. This thoroughly enjoyable honours project cannot really qualify
lessons of my youth, not all absorbed in as research – everything I accomplished had been done by others, years before – but it provided
the timeliest fashion, involving ill-advised excellent lessons in problem-solving of various kinds. It also delivered a valid reason for selecting
shortcuts toward some goal”, he said during something I had been hoping to find: a desirable field of physics in which to pursue graduate studies.”
his Nobel Prize acceptance speech which he
was awarded in 1993 for the discovery of a Enjoy what you do
binary pulsar, a discovery which has opened “I have noticed in recent years that many budding scientists worry much more than I ever did
new possibilities for the study of gravity. about what the future may bring: how to get into the best university, work with the biggest
During his school years, Joe and his names, find the best post-doctoral fellowship, and secure the ideal university position”, he told
brother filled most of the third floor of
the farm house with working ham-radio
transmitters and receivers. Their rigs were
mostly built from a mixture of post-war
surplus equipment and junk television sets.
They learned by experience, for instance
when you need high voltage, the power
company’s 6,000-to-120-volt transformers
work admirably in reverse; and that most
amplifiers will oscillate, especially if you don’t
want them to.
He was educated mostly at Quaker
institutions, in particular Moorestown
Friends School and Haverford College. In
school, mathematics was his first academic
love. Somewhat backward high-school Joe Taylor delivering the keynote address at the ARRL centenary celebration

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