Chapter 1272
Li Aiguo Tests Transistor Radio, Yi Zhonghai Discovers Dieter
In the evening, Li Aiguo drove his large SUV back to the courtyard house.
The reason for using this vehicle was simply because the transistor radio was quite large, about the size of a modern double-door refrigerator, and a bicycle simply couldn't pull it.
The equipment was all packed in heavy wooden crates.
Li Aiguo gave a shout and called Yan Jiecheng for help. The two of them huffed and puffed as they carried the boxes to the backyard.
I had just reached the crescent-shaped gate in the backyard.
Then they saw an older woman helping a deaf old lady walk in from outside, with Yi Zhonghai following beside her, leaning on a cane and limping.
The deaf old lady also saw Li Aiguo, her face so gloomy it could drip ink.
"Zhonghai, some people just have no good intentions. First they harmed my eldest grandson, and now they want to harm me. They're just delusional." The old lady deliberately raised her voice, making veiled accusations.
Yi Zhonghai laughed heartily, his voice tinged with smugness: "Yes, old lady, don't worry. As long as I, Yi Zhonghai, am still in this compound, some people won't be able to cause any trouble!"
The two men spoke in unison, their eyes fixed on Li Aiguo, but neither dared to name him.
Even Yi Zhonghai himself didn't realize that, perhaps out of fear, his lame leg was moving much faster than usual.
Once inside the crescent-shaped gate, and making sure Li Aiguo couldn't hear him, Yi Zhonghai lowered his voice and said, "Grandma, don't worry. With Director Yang's support this time, I'll definitely work hard and become a leader as soon as possible. Before Sha Zhu comes back, I'll definitely kick Li Aiguo out of the compound!"
The deaf old lady nodded in satisfaction, her cane thumping heavily in her hand.
"You should have thought of this a long time ago."
Neither of them noticed that their voices had unconsciously become much softer.
An older woman listened from the side, shook her head helplessly, and sighed inwardly, "Isn't this just impotent rage?"
Li Aiguo had long expected the deaf old lady to be released, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
As he wiped his sweat, he casually asked Yan Jiecheng what had happened.
Yan Jiecheng, who was well-informed, said, "I don't know the specifics, but it seems that Director Yang put pressure on Xu Damao, and the deaf old lady suddenly fell ill in the police station, so the station granted her medical parole."
The concept of medical parole did exist in this era, with relevant provisions found in the "Labor Reform Regulations" issued as early as 1954.
Li Aiguo, however, did not find it strange.
"What about the glass?"
"The police station counted the number of windows that had been smashed in the past, and they all attributed it to the deaf old lady."
Li Aiguo: "."
He felt that he had underestimated Wang Zhenshan.
This method is the same as the way to deal with people injured by falling objects from high places in later generations, when the object that was thrown cannot be found.
Moreover, these windows were most likely smashed by the deaf old lady.
These days, what kid would dare to be so unruly?
"In the end, we tallied it up. There were dozens of pieces of glass, and the deaf old lady had to pay more than thirty yuan in compensation." Yan Jiecheng felt particularly satisfied.
Li Aiguo smiled.
Old women like the deaf old lady who rely on their age should be taught a lesson, otherwise they'll really think they're the ancestors of this courtyard!
back home.
Chen Xueru was already busy preparing dinner.
As always, eating is the most important thing, no matter what.
After eating and drinking his fill, Li Aiguo began to pack the boxes.
Several key components were moved into the study and connected to power. As soon as the power was turned on, a "buzz" sounded, and the light bulb in the room flickered a few times, the light shining on and off.
Fortunately, the power output of this thing isn't too outrageous, otherwise it would have definitely tripped the circuit breaker.
What followed was the tedious and meticulous process of debugging point by point.
This transistor radio relied on a whole set of technologies including transistor amplification, radio frequency oscillation, and frequency modulation, which was quite advanced for that era.
Even so, given the current industrial base and technological conditions, it still seems somewhat inadequate.
In particular, the problems of frequency drift and signal distortion were so difficult that even Professor Xia and Lao Kong from the Red Star Computing Institute, working together, could not completely solve them.
If this technology can be thoroughly streamlined, the frequency stabilized, and the signal transmitted far, even if transistor radios are phased out in the future, this technology will not be phased out and will be remembered in history.
Li Aiguo's hands trembled with excitement.
It seems that the technologies developed within the system are indeed good things; the key is how to implement them.
Li Aiguo was in high spirits when there was a knock on the door.
Li Aiguo went over and saw Chen Xueru standing at the door with several children.
"what happened?"
"The light in the inner room keeps flickering, which frightens the children," Chen Xueru said with some confusion.
Li Aiguo chuckled to himself, realizing that the voltage instability must have been caused by a sudden surge in power during the test.
Li Aiguo explained it to Chen Xueru. Although Chen Xueru didn't understand, she knew that the rough man was doing research again, so she gave each of the three children some instructions.
"Did you hear that? It's not a bad guy, it's your dad doing research."
The three little ones nodded repeatedly with adorable expressions, their eyes filled with admiration.
"Father, we are not afraid anymore."
Li Aiguo felt a warmth in his heart, rubbed the three little ones' foreheads, and asked Chen Xueru to take them to Aunt Liu's house next door to play for a while, so that He Yushui could help the three little ones with their studies.
The three little ones nodded, deeply moved, their faces flushed.
At least that's what Li Aiguo thinks.
After some more debugging, we finally found the root cause of the frequency drift.
Li Aiguo disassembled the transistor radio, picked up a soldering iron, and modified several circuit nodes amidst the hissing smoke.
I tried it again, and the waveform was much more stable. The effect was okay.
However, there is still a thorny problem: there is no suitable signal transmitting device.
Anything related to signals and with even a little bit of technical sophistication is extremely scarce in this era.
Even the signal transmission tower of Beijing TV station was not built until 87 and was not completed until the Asian Games.
The weather station does have a radio transmitter, but it's classified equipment, and borrowing it would be against regulations and could easily cause trouble.
Because of this problem, Li Aiguo struggled with it until the next morning, but still couldn't solve the signal transmission issue. Chen Xueru, on the other hand, watched with great interest as Li Aiguo fiddled with this and that, finding it particularly amusing that she rarely saw her seemingly omnipotent, rough man scratching his head in frustration.
It was almost noon, and Li Aiguo was still pacing around the room. Chen Xueru felt a little sorry for him and asked, "Brother Aiguo, what are you looking for? Tell me, maybe I know."
"It's a device that can transmit signals." Li Aiguo thought for a moment and explained what he was looking for in the simplest language possible.
Chen Xueru tilted her head and thought for a while, then suddenly her eyes widened: "I don't understand what you mean by signal transmission, but the TV signal is bad over at the tailor shop. My brother tied some steel bars to the roof and held them up to the outside with bamboo poles, and the TV signal improved. Do you think you can use that?"
Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo slapped his thigh and exclaimed that there were still many skilled people among the common people.
Isn't this just like the outdoor antenna of later generations?!
While it can't compare to a professional signal transmission tower, it's basically sufficient for testing purposes!
Li Aiguo was overjoyed and grabbed Chen Xueru's hand: "Wife, you've done me a huge favor! Haha!"
Chen Xueru blushed, but then remembered something and became concerned about another issue: "My eldest brother thinks that after the outdoor antenna was erected, sometimes when it rains, the thunder is particularly loud. Why is that? My second brother thinks the antenna attracts lightning, and he's asking my eldest brother to take it down."
Li Aiguo understood the problem instantly.
Tall or conductive objects are more likely to attract lightning.
Especially now that there aren't many tall buildings around and no lightning rods have been installed, a lone metal pole standing there is practically a sitting duck for lightning.
"That's easy. We can connect a dedicated ground wire under the antenna and bury it deep into the ground along the wall with a thick iron wire. The deeper the better. If lightning strikes, it will first drain into the ground along the ground wire and not go into the house."
Of course, there is another way, which is to build a lightning rod at a high place, but that is too complicated and costly, so it is unnecessary.
Li Aiguo didn't hide anything and explained the principle to Chen Xueru.
Upon hearing that the antenna had attracted lightning, Chen Xueru panicked and quickly pushed Li Aiguo to the tailor shop to help with the modifications.
"Okay, I'll go right away."
Li Aiguo found a thick iron wire and took Chen Xueru to the tailor shop.
The eldest brother, Chen Xingjia, and his sister-in-law were watching TV inside when they saw Li Aiguo and Chen Xueru arrive. They warmly came out to greet them.
The two were startled when they learned that the antenna might attract lightning.
"It's all your fault! What a terrible idea you came up with! We almost attracted lightning and struck the house!" the sister-in-law complained to her brother, still shaken.
"How would I know?!" Chen Xingjia scratched his head, looking aggrieved.
"Actually, it's not a big problem. The antenna isn't very high, and it's not very dangerous. Adding a ground wire will make it safe."
As Li Aiguo spoke, he busied himself with his hands and feet.
In just a short while, they helped the tailor shop connect the ground wire to the outdoor antenna and buried it in the ground.
Chen Xueru watched from the sidelines, feeling incredibly proud.
Look, this rough-looking man can do everything!
While Li Aiguo was busy, his sister-in-law came in and prepared lunch, which they ate at the Chen family's tailor shop.
"Aiguo, you said this iron rod doesn't receive signals well, what should we replace it with?" Chen Xingjia poured Li Aiguo a glass of wine.
Li Aiguo took a sip of wine and said, "It would be best to replace it with an aluminum one. It has good conductivity and is lightweight. We also need to redesign the structure."
Chen Xingjia simply took two iron rods, twisted some wire together, and used that as an outdoor antenna. That's really something else.
"Aluminum is difficult to obtain now, and it's too troublesome."
Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo had a small idea.
With more and more televisions being set up in the future, all of them will need these outdoor antennas, so why not just make our own antennas?
This thing doesn't require much technology, but there's a huge demand for it, and it can be exported to earn foreign exchange!
Having made up his mind, Li Aiguo didn't bother with drinking anymore. He hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of rice and rushed back to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop.
Zong Xianfeng has already come to work. He heard about Li Aiguo's idea and strongly agrees with it.
“That’s easy, we have aluminum pipes in our logistics department.”
Zong Xianfeng obtained several aluminum pipes from the logistics department, and Li Aiguo, drawing on his previous life's experience and combining them with the principles of Yagi antennas, assembled two new outdoor antennas.
We'll experiment with transistor radios first, and then mass-produce them once they're proven to be suitable.
Two sets of antennas were made. Li Aiguo planned to take one set back with him, and the other set would be left in the workshop for Zong Xianfeng to take over the night for walkie-talkie testing.
In the evening, Li Aiguo returned home with the antenna.
He took a long bamboo pole from his third uncle's house, tied an aluminum antenna to it, erected it on the roof, and then connected it to the transistor radio in the study with a feeder cable.
Night fell, and all was quiet.
Li Aiguo turned on the transistor radio, put on the headphones, turned the knob, and asked Chen Xueru to adjust the antenna direction.
"Buzz buzz buzz, this is the Yangtze River, this is the Yangtze River, please respond."
"Yellow River, this is the Yellow River! Received! Received! Clear voice!"
At that moment, everyone in the workshop of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot erupted in applause and cheers.
"Success!!"
"Success!!"
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!
If they weren't in a serious studio, these young men might already be dancing.
The courtyard house is several kilometers away from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, with countless buildings in between, yet the sound is so clear. It seems that the transistor radio solution is entirely feasible!
This means that in the future, trains across the country, no matter where they are, will be able to communicate with the locomotive depot at any time, and railway communications will usher in a revolution!
Hearing the voice coming from the receiver, Li Aiguo's emotions became uncontrollably excited.
"Brother Aiguo, have we succeeded?"
"It's basically a success! But we should still test it a few more times, including in windy and rainy weather, to see how well it resists interference."
Li Aiguo thought about it and decided to conduct a week-long test, just in time for a heavy rain two days later.
The next morning, Li Aiguo went to the studio early to debug the transistor radio again based on the tests conducted the previous night.
Just as Li Aiguo was busy at work, a person from the steel rolling mill's security department came.
Yi Zhonghai walked into the duty room with his cane, wiped the sweat from his face, and said to the security officer.
"Comrade, I have to report! I've discovered an enemy spy right here in our compound! He's set up a radio station in his house and is contacting people in the middle of the night!"
(End of this chapter)