Welcome to the website! I have been collecting and restoring antique clocks for two decades in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area. Along the way, I have gathered a pretty substantial collection and have acquired some skills too -- as I am TOO CHEAP to hire much work done! It is my hope that some of the reference materials housed on the website might be found to be informative and interesting. Comments are always welcome -- send e-mail to thomasrsammon@gmail.com
Restoring and collecting radios came about 5 years after my passion with clocks began; so, for about 15 years, I have been collecting and doing minor restorations to antique radios. I must admit though, electronics is a "long hard slog" for me but I have just recently made it a goal to become a better, more educated radio repairman. I have a long way to go but I'm chipping away at it. A special "THANKS!" to the folks at Nostalgia Air who have been immense help to me over the years. Their website link is at the below left of this main page. I am not affiliated with them but I like the helpful people there! In trying to master electronics, it became clear-- early on -- that a large amount of reference materials would be needed. Having collected some of those materials, I thought it might be good to share a few -- so some of the best and major items can be found by clicking the various buttons on this page.
I am including a few web programming links here too as most people who collect "things" like to have websites to display "things." I am a retired Computer Services Manager for the government which is a title which would be more suitably represented by "network administrator" -- as that is what I did primarily -- maintain PC and mainframe networks. I also have always done some database programming and some simplistic web programming; I code HTML by hand and do not care much for "automated" web creation software. I do always start with a template of some sort though and then set about altering it to my specifications. I guess I like hand coding as I used to database program quite a lot. I am at present trying to develop some java knowledge as I go along -- it's interesting. The picture that heads this section is an old Timex Sinclair -- which happened to be my first "PC" -- complete with cassette storage and basic programming language -- not long ago -- but seems a lifetime ago too as I'm utilizing my current equipment. Well, enjoy the site -- it would please me if you find it useful..
All of the data on this site has been converted to PDF files which are viewed in the Adobe reader. Nearly everyone has this reader so shouldn't be a problem. If not, it can be downloaded for free below. These are generally LARGE files so it can take a minute or two to download in some instances. The books are all PDF and all Google or other disclaimer pages have been left intact; so, sometimes it may take 5-6 page turns to get to the meat of the book. I have done an exhaustive best-of-ability research effort and have concluded that all of the material contained here is public domain, out-of-copyright material. One caveat: Unfortunately, if you are using dial-up internet connectivity, this site probably would not be for you as the download times for the data would be impossible.
