Si-diodes in Second World War radar & Communication equipment

Probably you could start by finding information about this gear but there would have to be someone on the team who can understand German:

Many such sites have links to British and American gear but often also in German. Another option are senior centers. A few of the EEs from those days are still alive but there won't be much time left.

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Regards, Joerg

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1N23 is a good place to start.

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Oops... brain fart.

The 1N23 didn\'t appear until the \'50\'s, I believe.

JF

Thanks! I will check this out. German is no problem whatsoever!

Best regards,

Ronald Norway

In which case it was likely used in the FPS19 radar or/and the Tropo systems if my memory isn't fractured. But the early Projects were begun in the 50s.

John's post reprogrammed my erroneous thought that the 1N23 is germanium. It is the 1N21 that is germanium, and likely existed in the 40s.

Volume 15 of the MIT RadLab books, "Crystal Rectifiers" 440 pages, is all about that. History, theory, parts, applications. Appendix D lists the common mixer types. The history part mentions early mineral-based rectifiers.

Some interesting sections are one which notes that some diodes have power gain when used as mixers, and a suggestion that semiconductor triodes should be possible, and some interesting 100-volt welded-junction "power" diodes.

Volume 16, "Microwave Mixers" has some more stuff.

These books show up on ebay, or a used-book thing like Alibris.

I think Bliley Corp may have some papers on the history of quartz crystals. They, along with the point-contact diode, helped to win the war.

John

Ah, Norway. Then you might even find some WW-II veterans from the German side. I've met a few when I was younger. Some had been stationed there and liked it so much that they later moved to Scandinavia or bought a summer house there. One friend of mine would have known a lot about these Radars but unfortunately he passed away. He went on vacation to Norway pretty much every year.

In contrast to today the guys at the sites were intimately familiar with the circuitry because they had to repair this stuff on the component level.

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I thought at that point in time, practical diodes were all germanium point contact types, at least the ones used for RF detection. But I see from some web searching that I was wrong about that. The series of articles at this site may be interesting:

That page mentions that the P-N junction was discovered by a researcher using purified silicon in 1940. Robert Buderi's book, "The Invention that Changed the World: How a small group of radar pioneers won the Second World War and launched a technological revolution," might be a good place to do some research too. I'd have a look in it to see what he says about silicon diodes, but my copy is at my office at the moment.

Quartz crystals for frequency control were used somewhat before that. This paper:

says that a piece of quartz was used to control the frequency of an oscillator in 1919. Perhaps that is the first. I know there was a lot of interest in quartz crystals among amateur radio operators/builders in the 1930's. If you can find copies of QST or other ham magazines from that era, I'll bet you can find articles about quartz crystals.

Cheers, Tom

Hi Joerg,

Not a bad idea at all! I should try to locate one of those organisations for WW-II veterans, you never know!

Thanks!

Ronald Norway

OK, thanks for the titles, will definitely look for them on eBay or Amazone. Alibris is new to me, but I'll check.

I will definitely try Bliley!

But otherwise, yes, that is one of the important issues I want to document: to what extent where these components decisive for the outcome of the war. Interesting stuff, good for the museum expositions I am working on!

Ronald Norway

Thanks for this link, hadn't seen this site before! Excellent info!

I knew that one. I also bought a number of old magazines on eBay with atricles about piezoelectronic quartz crystals.

WW-II info on diodes has been more difficult so far.

Thanks!

Ronald Norway

"Don Bowey" skrev i melding news:C42650B2.B518B% snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net...

I googled for 1N23, some say germanium, others silicon...

But you are sure it IS silicon!?

One datasheet I found was in Japanese/Chineze, and the other didn't mention Si/Ge at all. Max f=9,325 GHz

It's hard surfing effectively with only 56 kbs at a hilltop far from the civilized world.

At Wikipedia they said germanium:

I am out on a job, but when I get back in Mai I can check my own sample with a multimeter, that will give a result.

Ronald Norway

Also look into mica capacitors, and the use of mica as structural insulators in vacuum tubes and as a filler in phenolic sockets and such. Mica is unique: it's a good dielectric, a great high-temperature insulator and support, and naturally fractures into high-quality transparant sheets of nearly any desired thickness, yet is easily sheared and punched.

John

I've a R1359 UHF receiver. It formed part of the UK's 'Home chain' radar network. Tuning is via a diode stuck in the end of what looks a circular Lecher line. Diode is marked with the military designation 'CV364' and is same package as the IN23 series. I never found any data on this diode but for curiosity took it out and measured it. Germanium!.

Here is another link for you. Looks like the first patent for a silicon diode was issued in 1906. That blew me away. Starts at page 7:

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Regards, Joerg

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As mentioned by another, Vol 15 and 16 of the Radlab series has a lot of what you will be after. But also check out the Vol 17: "Components handbook" that also has a fair amount on diodes.

Also, look at "A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System1925-1975" There are 6 volumes, ranging from 360 to about 1000 pages, and they all cover diodes to some extent.

The RSGB "Technical Topics" scrapbooks (there's now 4) compiled by G3VA, Pat Hawker, also mentions WW2 equipments and components in many places. He was initially a VI, then joined Special Comms and SOE during the war.

I also had an interesting book by Philips back in the 60's on diodes, long gone now tho!

Barry

Some of the "documentation" is so bad it's impossible to interpret it with any assurance of being correct. However, I did find what I believe to be valid data: the 1N23 is a Point Contact, Silicon device.

Now I am.

Wiki has some Very bad information about diodes.

Handle them carefully, as static discharge can destroy them easily.

But Chain Home was an HF system.

John

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http://www.advancedsemiconductor.com/pdf/diodes/SiliconPointContactMixer.pdf


And, here\'s a _good_ one:

http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1941-semiconductor.html

JF