IEEE NCA eScanner | Historical Electronics Museum

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Historical Electronics Museum Features Analog Devices, Military Radars

by Pete Sypher, Scanner Editor

An interesting way to spend a cold, rainy late fall or winter day would be a visit to the Historical Electronics Museum next to the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Founded in 1980, the 10,000 square foot museum focuses mainly on military electronics. The main emphasis is on radar, including jammers and other countermeasures. The displays mostly relate to analog devices that were developed before the introduction of micro- and mini-computers. The displays are therefore of most interest to those who developed or operated military or space equipment.

For young people, there is a Fundamentals Gallery, with hands-on exhibits of the basics of electricity and electronics.

The Communications Gallery has an extensive collection of radios from World War II days ranging from "walkie-talkie" hand-held radios to command sets and vans. There is a well-equipped amateur radio station for visitors' use.

The Space Gallery has good displays on the Amateur Radio Satel-lite Corporation (AMSAT) and on the magnetosphere.

Pioneer Hall has a wall display on the IEEE. Societies briefly described, with photographs of prominent people, include Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Antennas and Propagation, Micro-wave Theory and Techniques, and Electron Devices.

In the Electro-Optical Gallery, you can try out a television-type infra-red (IR) imaging system by standing on a raised platform, where you are illuminated with infrared radiation from heaters. You can view yourself both on a regular monitor using visible light and on the infrared monitor. You quickly learn what is highly reflective of IR and what is not.

The museum’s 8,000-volume library has an extensive collection of military and intelligence books and videos. Those of us who make presentations to clubs or school classes about historical military or electronic topics can borrow videos. The videos feature people who played prominent roles in the Cold War and the American manned space program.

The museum is located at 1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland, and the phone number is 410-765-3803. Hours and directions can be found on the museum website at www.hem-usa.org.

This article appears with several photographs in the November-December 2005 issue of the Scanner (PDF, 908k).

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11/1/05