Signals Museum

01/12/2024

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The Morse Code system was created in the 1830s by Samuel Morse with the assistance of Alfred Lewis Vail and later improved by American scientist Joseph Henry. As telecommunications evolved, this code became a pivotal means of long-distance communication during multiple conflicts.

On this “National Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day,” introduce, or perhaps reintroduce, yourself to this valuable and historical method of communication. The Museum’s website has a student guide to Morse Code here:
🔗 nmmc_morse_code_booklet_final_1.pdf (usmcmuseum.com)

As the legacy of the Morse Code lives on, be sure to visit the National Museum of the Marine Corps and tour our galleries to see how.

📸: Lewis B. Puller’s Pocket Signal Book from 1914.
(Marine Corps History Division)

11/18/2023

Grantee Update: Visiting the SIGNALS Museum and the VBAS Planetarium and Observatories November 17, 2023 Rebecca Key - KO4KVG The Huntsville Hamfest, also known as ‘The World’s Friendliest Hamfest’, occurs in August of each year in Huntsville, AL. With this Hamfest – or any Hamfest for that ...

09/09/2023

“Suggested for you” 😂
Yes, please!

1972 Panasonic RS-296US
20 Cassette Tape Carousel Player.

06/17/2023

CQ Field Day from K4BFT! Huntsville Amateur Radio Club will be participating in ARRL Field Day from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on June 24-25, with setup on June 23. We will be in the field in front of the Marriott and north of the campgrounds. You won't be able to miss us! All visitors of all ages are welcome!

Come see what amateur radio has to offer! Almost every aspect of amateur radio, from emergency communications to contesting to satellite to hands-on electronics building will be on display. Whether you've never heard of amateur radio or you've been active in the hobby for years, Field Day is a chance to see it all in action.

We'll have four main stations operating as K4BFT on 10/15/20/40/80M on CW and SSB, a Get On the Air (GOTA) station for those who want to experience the magic of HF for the first time (operating as K4GIG), a UHF/VHF station (primarily 6M), and a satellite station.

In 2022, Huntsville Amateur Radio Club's Field Day team came in first place in its category for the ninth time in the past ten years and scored sixth place among all stations in the U.S. and Canada.

For more information about Huntsville Amateur Radio Club, visit www.harc.net. For more information about ARRL Field Day, visit www.arrl.org/field-day.

06/08/2023

K4MIE, Amateur Radio Station of The SIGNALS Museum, is W1AW/4!

Look for us on 40m SSB from 6PM to 9PM during the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club meeting this Friday!

Members are encouraged to take a turn operating, especially if they are already well familiar with using the N1MM logging software which is the subject of Friday's program.

Don't forget! Saturday at 9:30 until noon is SIGNALS Volunteer Open House! Please sign up if you plan to come to Open House. https://forms.gle/P2xADTZYzhWCQPM56

05/26/2023

As we begin to approach our grand opening in the fall, the Museum would like to share ways in which your donation and generosity will impact our community for the better. From the U.S Space and Rocket Center to the world’s first Genomic Medical Center, Huntsville has the opportunity to keep making...

05/16/2023

Before you could stream video to your cell phone....

In 1959, you might have purchased a Philco Safari!

As we prepare our TV galleries, some wonderful artifacts are appearing and this one shows how you might have watched your favorite show on the beach more than 60 years ago. Anyone out there with memories of something like this? Was it really as easy to watch as the adverts imply?

05/13/2023

This Mother's Day...

05/11/2023

Her Servant's Voice? 🐱

This wonderful image (a print, not the original) is in our collections.

It's obviously a clever play on the famous picture of Nipper, the black and white dog, looking down the phonograph horn to hear "His Master's Voice".

Unfortunately, we don't know much about it and a Google Lens image search only found a postcard on ebay that doesn't identify the picture title or artist. If anyone has superior search skills and wants to figure this one out, we'd be very grateful.

Chasing down information is only one of the tasks that needs doing here at SIGNALS and if this research task captures your imagination, consider applying to be a volunteer!

SIGNALS – Museum of Information Explosion Volunteer Volunteer Today Getting SIGNALS ready to welcome our visitors is a team effort, and volunteers are at the heart of it! Discovering the voices of a century ago on an unlabelled wax cylinder, restoring a magnificent Art Deco radio to its former wor...

05/11/2023

The BBC archive is always fascinating!

05/10/2023

Our Volunteer Open House date has changed from this Saturday to Saturday June 10th to respect those with Mother's Day weekend plans.

04/29/2023

Not quite 'control/alt/delete'...

Volunteers at the Signals Museum learn how to trouble shoot and repair vintage communications technology - from early radios and phonographs to vintage computers!

Finding the problem is just like solving a mystery, with the reward being to experience these devices as they were intended. When sound comes through the headphones attached to a vintage radio, or through the horn of an old Edison phonograph, it is a really special moment.

If you'd like to know more, check out our volunteer page and watch for our upcoming volunteer open house event!

SIGNALS – Museum of Information Explosion Volunteer Volunteer Today Getting SIGNALS ready to welcome our visitors is a team effort, and volunteers are at the heart of it! Discovering the voices of a century ago on an unlabelled wax cylinder, restoring a magnificent Art Deco radio to its former wor...

04/28/2023

Portable Power

Early batteries of the early 1800's were zinc and copper discs, stacked with brine soaked cloth between them. They leaked and dried out. Not very practical!

Mid to late 1800's bottle or jar batteries used zinc and copper with an acid electrolyte. These 'wet cells' were relatively powerful and could be topped up, but they could still leak and break.

In 1886, a zinc/carbon battery with an ammonium chloride 'dry' electrolyte paste revolutionized portable power, and in 1896, the National Carbon company - later known as EverReady began mass production. Their invention of a flashlight based on their battery insured commercial success!

04/25/2023

"Ship to Shore" the 'talkies' and synthesizers..

Zoom in on this century old radio telephone and telegraph apparatus and you'll see the name DeForest.

Lee DeForest - who spent his formative years in Talladega, AL - was an inventor and larger than life character whose creation of the 'Audion' triode vacuum tube paved the way for radio broadcasting, long distance telephone and even motion pictures with sound!

There's too much to summarize here, but highlights include the first ship to shore broadcast in July 1907 in Lake Erie, early radio broadcasts from the Eiffel Tower while on honeymoon in 1908 and even one of the first electronic musical instruments - the Audion piano of 1915. An internet search will take you on a fascinating journey now, but soon you'll be able to explore some of these innovations in person at the Signals Museum.

04/22/2023

An early 'streaming' service..

From the late 1930's until just after World War II, you could find coin operated radios in hotels and motels across the country. For a dime or a quarter, you could pay to listen to the radio for a period of time.

As they were built for hotels, they were usually designed to resist tampering and theft, and many had a second, unmarked volume control on the back (or inside the back cover) so that the hotel could set a maximum volume. This helped avoid complaints from adjoining rooms!

Anyone remember these? I remember a coin operated TV in a holiday rental!

04/14/2023

"Dial it in"

The phrase 'dial it in' - meaning to get something set up precisely - predates radio receivers like this beauty, but is definitely one of the first things to spring to mind when you think about the skill needed to understand and operate these controls!

Notice how the tuning k**b (lower center) is so much larger than the rest. That would allow you to more easily move it in the teeny increments needed to pick up that elusive signal.

What memories do you have of trying to find a radio station on the dial?

04/12/2023

Psst, hey Nipper, listen carefully.....🐶

Signals Museum is opening to the public in the Fall of 2023 (we're already open as an event space!). We have a lot to do to get ready for our visitors and we need YOU!

Discover the voices of a century ago on an unlabelled wax cylinder, restore a magnificent Art Deco radio to its former working glory, support our fundraising and outreach events, take photographs and video for sharing on social media, work with our cutting edge XR exhibit developers to bring the past alive, or just be a willing pair of hands.

What inspires you to commit to helping SIGNALS make a difference?

You can find out more about our opportunities here!
https://www.signals-museum.org/support-the-museum/volunteer/

A museum and event space exploring the history of communication technology, located in Huntsville AL.

04/11/2023

"Oh, put a sock in it!"

Phonograph (record player) horns were developed from the late 1800's but there was no volume control. If you wanted the sound to be a little quieter, you needed to stuff something into the opening of the horn....and hence the expression 'put a sock in it!'.

Here's a few horns waiting to be reunited with their phonographs..

Do you remember the first record that you bought? Was it vinyl, 8 track tape, cassette, CD or did you download it?

04/10/2023

Welcome to the Signals Museum page!

We'll be open to the public in 2024 (we're open for events right now!) and at that time, this page will contain all the usual information that you'd need about the museum. Until that time, we'll be using this page to highlight some of our collections, share some stories and engage with many different communities. Many of the posts will be written by the team currently bringing the museum to life.

We want to hear from you!

If you have stories about technologies past...and if you want to get involved with us, please head over to our website and select "Support the Museum" to find our volunteer and donation opportunities.

04/10/2023

I walked past this tube tester a number of times before I realized what was bothering me. It was that the default setting was "bad" (see where the needle is pointing?).

It feels very negative. Perhaps I need to give it a job to do! 😂

Tell us your memories of testing (or buying) tubes!

(Or are you trying to figure out what I mean by 'tubes'? )