Customer Reviews

Crystal Clear: The Struggle for Reliable Communications Technology in World War II

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Just before World War II the Army Air Corp and the Armored forces ran some tests using crystal controlled radios vs. other typed of frequency control. Their conclusion, without crystals you have radios, with crystals you have communications.

The Army Signal Corp basically had no choice but to agree. Crystal controlled radios were so far superior tht there was really no decision. Except for one little point.

The production of crystals for radios in the United States (and in the rest of the world) was essentially intended for the ham radio market. In the united states this amounted to about 100,000 crystals a year. They were made by small 'mom and pop' companies across the US. Now every airplane was going to need from one to ten crystals, so will every tank. So will every radio from the hand held walkie-talkie up to the search radars. Let's do some calculating, and we come up with needing 2,000,000 crystals per MONTH.

This book is the story of coming up to eventually 2.5 million crystals a month.

It's the story of a couple of youngsters grinding five crystals and taking them for examination at the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (later to change its name to Motorola). They passed the testing and left Galvin that afternoon with an order in their pocket for 80,000 crystals.

It's the story of the technological manufacturing miracle that went a long way to helping win the war. Think about it. When you see American soldiers in war movies, they talk to each other using radios. The Germans and the Japanese don't.

Splendid book on a little knows aspect of World War II.

This is actually a history of the American production of 71 million quartz crystal oscillators for precise-frequency radios during World War II, starting from virtually no production ability in 1939. There's a lot of story here, as the Signal Corps deals with Brazilian quartz miners (virtually all the quality quartz in the world was mined there during these years), American "can-do" businessmen trying to support themselves and make a buck, demands from Air and Armor for masses of radios, quartz shortages, company trade secrets (very few in retrospect; there was a lot of information-sharing from top-down Signal Corps researchers and bottom-up factory floor guys), more quartz shortages, crystal "aging" causing radios to drift off frequency, cooperation (and non-cooperation) with British needs, a quick look at captured Japanese and German radio equipment, and an overall summary.

A little-known story of World War II, and well worth remembering: the quartz crystals were a technical miracle at least as important to the war as the better-known atomic bomb, radar, and proximity fuses.

Highly recommended.

This book is the story of how technological and industrial innovation brought reliable communication to our troops during World War 2. While the development of the atomic bomb, radar, and, to a lesser extent, the proximity fuse are well know, the development and mass production of crystal oscillators was fully as important to the successful prosecution of the war, especially among air men and tank crews. This is the story of how crystal oscillators were propelled from relative obscurity in 1940 to the dominant technology in use by 1944.

There are heroes and villains in this book, and the author perhaps speaks too well of the former and too ill of the later, but the interplay of personalities and technological advances makes for a good read. This is largely a historical reference book, but one will take away some new technological knowledge if one takes the time to read through the many details proffered.

Amateur radio operators (hams) can take pride in the positive influence ham radio buffs had on improvements in design and production of quartz crystals. Without the open sharing of knowledge and can-do attitude leading to new and improved techniques, the growth of the quartz crystal industry from a cottage industry of small, hand made production, to mass production of high quality crystals would not have been possible.

This book should be read by anyone interested in the history of technology, war, radio, or the military.