Soviet home built computer arrives at the Bugbook Computer Museum

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Ukraine flag

I received an offer June 25th from  Oleg (Amateur Radio Operator UR8LV in Kharkiv,Ukraine) to send me a home built Soviet Computer from the 80's. I have several Soviet microcomputers in our collection but was intrigued by Oleg's offer and severel emails later the computer was on the way.
The computer arrived just 8 days later here in Floyd, Virginia. Oleg did an amazing job of shipping and getting the package here in such short time.

I have posted some of the emails at the end of this blog and you may find them interesting to read.

Click on photo's to enlarge

Soviet Microcomputer Package

Here are some photograph's  of the Soviet microcomputer.

The package was in good condition upon arriving in Floyd, VA.

 I don't know much about this computer but hope some of the readers will help identify the computer. It is most likely a Sinclair clone.
Video of this computer "CLICK"

Soviet Microcomputer

Nice packaging for this computer - made in late 80's.

Soviet Microcomputer

The one board Soviet microcomputer.

Soviet 8080 clone microprocessor

CPU is Soviet 8080 clone microprocessor.







Click on photo's to enlarge

Soviet EPROM

Soviet EPROM or POROM ( Program once ROM).

RAM Memory chips.

RAM Memory chips.

Soviet military parts in computer

Soviet military parts in computer.

Soviet Microcomputer Keyboard

Soviet Microcomputer Keyboard.


I had some interesting times visiting and teaching in the Soviet Union. See blog "CLICK"




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Raspberry pi 2 computer 

Here is the computer we are sending to Oleg.

Raspberry Pi 2 , Touch display,Wifi USB, power supply.

My wife sent the Raspberry out today 7-21-15. I hope it gets to Oleg as fast as the computer he sent to me. 



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Email June 2015 - David's is Red and Oleg's is Blue.
Hello, David.

My name is Oleg (UR8LV, ex EM1LV).  I"m from Ukraine, Kharkiv.

Do you have interest to home made computers of 1988-1989 as component of history? :)

One of my client want to sale interesting model called "Leningrad-2" for chipest money. 

Comps not working for corrosion of board, but looks well around. 

Not so good inside home made case, but all interesting moment are ready to enjoing: Soviet military chips with gold, capacitors with tantalum, military wires with PTFT. And home made board. 

I remember that time as well: a lot of radioenthusiast had made personal Sinklair...

Well, tell me know about your interest, please.

Hi Oleg - Thank you - what price and how would we get the computer here to the states?  Dave KK4WW

If disassembled into parts and sold for gold and tantalum, then give about 25 usd.

And, shipping in USA by airmail (via Ukrainian post) should be 17 usd.

Totally: 42 usd.

It seems, not so high price. :)

But, i'm not looking for money. This is not my business :)

Ready make a radioamateurs change to Raspberry Pi 2 with TFT screen (of course, not so modern for high price- something like 4").

How about that?

Hi Oleg - the price is fine - My concern is will the computer really show up at my address?? the Ukraine post does not seem to reliable?? 73 dave

Good morning/good evening, David :)

Give me your address, i am ready to send parcell today or tomorrow with track-code. 

Our post is working well for reliable price, i work as manager of Kharkiv regional amateur radio society and sent QSL"s all around world without lossless.

73 Oleg

Hi Oleg - Thank you - I will get some funds to you when the computer arrives - I will be looking for the "Sinclair in Russia " story and hope you will allow me to post it on my blog 

Welcome, Dave.

I'm not very good at English. I hope that you understand the basic idea.

Sinclair history in the Soviet Union is very well described here on this page.

http://old.computerra.ru/vision/606586/ 

In short, the first clone of Sinclair made in Lviv (Ukraine) in 1984 in one of the secret research institutes.

There are the names of these men: Edward A. Marchenko, Yuri D. Dobush, Evgeny Natopta, Oleg Starostenko.

Then, the scheme improved in Leningrad (Russia), Rostov (Russia), Moscow (Russia), Kharkov (Ukraine).

It was a real boooom. I think that in the USSR, Sinclair have made several millions since 84 till 90

The main problem has been in detail. They can not be bought, and they just stole those who worked in military factories. There was a lot of plants.

In one city-my Kharkiv- it was located 15 electronics factories.

In early 2015, I thought of Sinclair. Just was nostalgia. And I tried to buy a sample. When a person is brought to me, I'm just stunned: chip gold, palladium and capacitors tantalum wire with Teflon. This is the whole history of the Soviet military radio in one product! A case has been made lovingly homemade. This, too, reflects the desire of our people to science.

I do not need this machine, and I was ready to disassemble parts and to return the money, but the thought of your museum and thought it was a fine specimen for you.

And it's a beautiful monument to the Soviet idiocy, when, instead of the right people pans, pots, microwave ovens, washing machines, computers, all the forces rushed to war production. In the late 80's just started the hunger ...

That's the story.

Hi Oleg - Thank you for the story -it is most interesting.   What do you mean by this part at the end??

By the way, parcell now on custom in Kiev ----  who or what is parcell ??

I need to find out how to translated the web page from Russian to English.

I visited Lviv many times from 1990 to 2005.  Have many friends there - Helen Goncharsky just spent 4 weeks with us from Lviv. Helen and her husband, Victor hosted all our meetings in Lviv for the past 25 years.

73 dave

Good morning, Dave.

In 90-s in the Soviet Union was a real hunger, but the industry continued to produce military products.

Were coupons for food and essentials things. You may see form of coupons on sugar, vodka, salt, meat e.t.c. in 1986-1993 

Soviet coupons for food   

The people looked a new and designed the first computers even in such terrible conditions.

I know Victor and Helen very well: US5WE and UR5WA. :) 

It seems, they know English much better me and may help translate article. 

Another way is Google translator on-line. 

Parcel is parcel post with track code RC610549694UA. 

You have to get package a week or two.

Oleg

Hi  Oleg - The computer arrived in fine condition.  That was really fast.  How do I send you the funds ? I have your address from the package if I send the funds there.  I will be doing a blog about this good experience with you and the computer soon.

It was very generous of you to go to this effort to send the computer to me and I really thank you for sending it to me.

73 Dave

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David Larsen

L-R Roger Cain KI6FYF
Carol Milazzo  KPMD4

Obtaining the Soviet microcomputer has been a very pleasant surprise.  I have been writing this blog for several years and this work has many interesting offers. I have sure made a lot of new retro computer friends and many museum curators. I have also had many out of town visitors and a number from other countries that have made the trip just to visit me and the museum. Just this past week Carol Milazzo KP4MD and Roger Cain KI6FYF from California made a special trip to the museum.

Radio Contact N4USA Dave made with KP4MD - Carol was in Puerto Rico operating 17 meters SSB , 3 foot magnetic loop antenna and 12 watts of power. KP4MD 55 and N4USA 57 signal reports.

           .^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian} 

N4USA Amateur Radio Station at the Chantillly Farm

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                         N4USA at Chantilly

Chantilly Farm and Campground in Floyd Virginia just a few minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway (MP150). Ham Radio operators are welcome to operate at the campground.

Chantilly Campground is Ham friendly with Amateur Radio Station in our Campground office and many location with trees or other structures making it very easy to put up a wire antenna at a good height. The radio background noise extremely low as we are in a rural area with no industrial noise and very few close neighbors. QRP operators love this location. WiFi is available from most locations on our 200 acres. It is a delight to operate from Chantilly. 

David KK4WW Curator of N4USA and owner of  Chantilly Campground has been a ham operator for 62 years makes this comment  "this is the best radio location I have ever operated from". We are in Floyd County, Virginia the Heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ham operators love our 2500 foot  mountain top location for operating DX.  VHF/UHF operators have wonderful propagation up and down the East Coast.

Our camping guest can chose full service RV camping or tent camping at most any location on our 200 acres.  Some primitive tent location have ac power. We are open all year "Weather permitting"

Floyd County VA has many other interesting events and activities that the whole family can enjoy. The area is known for its many musicians and artist. Every week their are numerous music events within the county.  A number of art galleries and studio's are open 12 months of the year. Other activities include hiking, mountain biking, Blue water canoeing & kayaking, visiting organic farms and much more. You may want to visit Chantilly Farm during a weekend we have a music or other event at our farm. Check out this list of activities visit Floyd Virginia .

Check out these video's of Chantilly Farm - a view from the Drone "CLICK"   and a view from the ground "CLICK"

About N4USA

Amateur Radio station N4USA is part of the "Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service"  (FAIRS) -- a none profit foundation with the mission statement of "International Good Will Though Amateur Radio" . The LCF Group has been directing the activities for FAIRS for 24 years with projects in many countries. The "LCF Group" consist of myself David Larsen KK4WW, Gaynell Larsen KK4WWW & Dee Wallace KG4VMI.

Click on photo to enlarge 

Gaynell KK4WWW op at N4USA 

Here is Gaynell Larsen KK4WWW operating as N4USA. David Larsen KK4WW, and Dee Wallace KG4VMI are owner operators of Chantilly Campground and welcome visiting hams to operate the station at our campground office as N4USA.  Visitors are welcome to set up there own station here at Chantilly and operate with there own call as well.

Gaynell & David Larsen and Dee Wallace are also the Directors of "The Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service" (FAIRS).  FAIRS mission is "International Goodwill though Amateur Radio". The FAIRS Foundation has had projects in many countries during the past 25 years. Information at fairs.org

Clement J73CPL operating N4USA @ Chantilly

N4USA amateur radio station is located about 6 miles from the the town of Floyd VA  at Chantilly Farm. The operation from the farm is excellent with no industrial noise and on a mountain ridge at 2600 feet in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here is Clement Pierre Luis our friend from Dominica operating N4USA.

N4USA antenna at Chantilly Farm

The beam antenna at N4USA Chantilly is on a 35 foot crank up tower and works very good. A G5RV is used for other hf bands and several UHF/VHF antenna's & transceivers are part of the station. We have many tall trees making it easy to put up wire antennas for field day or camping style operation.  Here is an Ariel video of our 200 acres.

That is Dave KK4WW  cranking up the beam.



Check out these video's of Chantilly Farm - a view from the Drone "CLICK"   and a view from the ground "CLICK"

N4USA QSL card 

This is our large 8 x 11 QSL card for confirming contact during special events.

N4USA QSL card backside

The back of QSL enlarge to read about our the FAIRS foundation was started in 1992.

lr Dave Larsen KK4WW ,Vlad Goncharsky U5WF

FAIRS was formed as an Amateur Radio nonprofit in 1992 after a trip to the Soviet Union in October of 1990. The 11 FAIRS founders realized that a group of amateur radio hams had no recognition or ability to function at high government levels & applied for the nonprofit charter. Dave KK4WW shown here with Vlad Goncharsky (RT) U5WF. Vald was FAIRS member #3 and a very good friend until his death several years ago.  FAIRS members made about 20 visits to the former Soviet Country Ukraine from 1990 to 2007.  Amateur radio projects are still on going by FAIRS in Ukraine by Victor Goncharsky US5WE.

I was fortunate to  have funds to take a professional film maker on one of our Ukraine/Russia visits in 1992. Jerry Shelor (Film Maker from Virginia Tech) and our group carried 400lbs of video equipment  (AN Iphone would do the job today) on this trip of 4 weeks.  Jerry made a wonderful documentarty of that trip and you can see it here "FAIRS in the former Soviet Union" CLICK

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A few samples of  N4USA FAIRS projects at home and International.

Boy Scout JOTA at N4USA Chantilly Farm

Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts operating Scout Jamboree on the Air from N4USA at Chantilly. The local Floyd Amateur Radio Society W4FCV and the Amateur Radio Club from Virginia Tech K4KDJ assisted this 2014 JOTA.

Here is a short video clip from the JOTA CLICK

Floyd County High School Radio Club N4FCH

FAIRS assisting the Floyd Amateur Radio Society with the club station at the Floyd County High School N4FCH.

Dee Wallace KG4VMI (FAIRS teaching some radio skills- center is Tom King W4VZH (W4FCV club) directing the club day at the High School. Chris Walters is on the right one of the club members.

The Floyd County Amateur Radio Society members have installed a very nice hf  UHF & Vhf station at the school. The antennas are on the roof of the school and it is a nice location to operate from with good signals.

Bioche Dominica 

FAIRS operates from the Caribbean Island of Dominica as J79USA. Various grants of funds and equipment have been made to the amateur operators of Dominica during the past 18 years.

Here is a fish of gratitude for donating a computer to a fishing village project. We ate the fish and it was very good with the Caribbean spices. Yum Yum.

Joseph J73JT Dominica

This is J73JT Joseph on the East Coast of Dominica (Castle Bruce) one many hams FAIRS assisted with equipment to enable the Island to have backup Emergency Radio Communication.

Video of Joseph in Castle Bruce , Dominica 

Here is newest J73JT Video 2/20/15 "CLICK"

FAIRS Banner

The FAIRS banner with logo. We use this at many functions and Ham Radio Fest -- FAIRS has had a commercial booth at the Dayton Hamvention for more than 25 years, When you visit the Hamvention come by and say HI - we are usually at space 412 near ARRL.





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Update October 8, 2015 - FAIRS one of our entities listed below has been active in helping the people in Dominica with funds and supplies to recover from the September 4th storm Erika (See Story here). More then 30 lives were lost and 600 homes destroyed and  the cost to recover is estimated at  1/2 the annual GDP. Any assistance readers would like to donate  for this recovery effort will be appreciated. Here is link for secure donation Pay Pal   . Thank you , David Larsen, FAIRS Director & Computer museum curator.
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David Larsen

FAIRS is an Amateur Radio lMembership group and We would like to have you and other hams that like and believe in the work of FAIRS to be members. You can sign up on this page at the FAIRS website. Join N4USA every Sunday, Tuseday & Thursdays on 14,318.5Mhz at 1200z for radio schedule with our Caribbean and South American Ham friends.

.^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}   
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Vintage Computer -Computer workshops in old Soviet Union

Bugbooks

My wife and I have had many great travel experiences during the past 40 years and perhaps a few first. Our first trip to the Soviet Union in 1990 was justified to the Soviets as a visit to teach about using microcomputers for automated data collection. This workshop was in Lviv Ukraine in October. We had about 20 engineers and scientist participants in the class. They were very enthusiastic & this information was only available to a very restricted group. Most of the participants did not speak English and  I could not lecture in Russian. Victor Goncharsky UR5WE did the translation for me.  We have made 15 or so visits to the Former Soviet Countries and I have learned speak Russian.

Click on photo to enlarge 

Teaching in Ukraine 1990

Here we are in Lviv, Ukraine October 1990 teaching our first Soviet Instrumentation Workshop. Great experience. I had brought several suitcases full of  hardware to interface the computers with external devices -  The folks that organized the workshop had made arrangements to have 10 IBM compatible PC computers in the class. They worked just fine and the DOS software worked good also.  - the computers were good Soviet pirated IBM clones.  We did about 10 workshops during the early 90's in the Soviet Union and later known as the independent countries of the Former Soviet Union. Here is the full story about this visit "CLICK" A bonus from these visits are some home built Soviet computers in our museum.

This was exciting for us and the Continuing Education group at Virginia Tech (VT)  made available 'Continuing Education Units' (CEU's) . This  may be the first ever (CEU's) issued in the Soviet Union. I was a faculty member at VT from 1967 to 1998 teaching Instrumentation and Automation in the Chemistry Department. Some of the university administrators including the Dr. Jim McCommas the University president were very supportive of our work in the Soviet Union.  I was recognized for this kind of International work just before retiring from VT.  

                    Here is the CEU certificate for our Workshop participants in the Soviet Union.

CEU certificate issued in Soviet Union

Click on document to enlarge 

We had been teaching these kind of workshops for many years before the Soviet Union visit in 1990.

Typical Automation Workshop by me and colleagues 

Here is a poster from my regular classes at Virginia Tech.

Electronics for Scientist at Virginia Tech

David & Gaynell Larsen

My wife Gaynell and I have had some really great adventures in foreign travel  teaching and doing amateur radio work.  On many visits we took addition people to assist these adventures. In 1992 I had some funds to take a professional film producer - here is some of his work " FAIRS in the former Soviet Union"   .  We have made dozens - maybe even more than 100 trips- during the past 40 years.  A few years  we did 4 international  workshops and mission visits -- We still do at least one a year. Our last was just one month ago - here is info about this fun mission visit to Dominica. We still have a some travel energy but it does seem we are getting older another 25 years or so will be just right.

   ^{"by David Larsen"  KK4WW Computer Collector Historian}     Send Message    Like us on Facebook  My Blog about hometown Floyd VA

Soviet Union Vintage Computers - Donating computers to the old Soviet Politboro - USSR - 1991

Soviet Flag

Bugbooks

In my last post I mentioned the fun I have had the past 50 years with computers and looking back on this effort to donate & ship computers to the Soviet Union in 1991 is one of those fun times. The timing was really good as  this would have been a whole different story about 8  months later with the shift in power from Soviet President  Mikhail Gorbachev to  Boris Yeltsin .This shift in power was the break up of the Soviet Union into 12 independent countries and the downfall of the communist system.  

Boris Yeltsin

Mikhail Gorbachev

It all started with our first visit (October 1990) to the Soviet Union with an invitation from Victor Goncharsky ( An amateur radio operator UR5WE in Lviv, Ukraine) to help bring the average citizen into the computer world. Up until about that time Soviet citizens were not allowed to have a computer in their home or personal possession.  This first visit resulted in taking one computer and teaching material for a training workshop.

I was a tenured faculty member at  Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VT) and made arrangements to issue Continuing Education Units (CEU's) for the 4 day microcomputer instrumentation workshop. The process of getting approval to do this work and carry the computer required the approval of many agencies and groups.  President George W. Bush and the USA State Department were some of the groups helping with  these efforts. We did make this work and my wife and I in October 1991 made our way to Lviv, Ukraine via Moscow and a 24 hour train ride with our computer and all the teaching material. It is believed this was the first time an American University awarded CEU's in the Soviet Union.

KGB

This first trip was a success and we realized the great need to get computers to some of the citizens of the Soviet Countries. This and the next 15 visits were a real fascination for me, my wife Gaynell and our colleagues. Always intriguing, a bit risky and filled with stories of KGB, an acquaintance being killed, and others being sent to jail.  We were working with permission at the highest level of the Politburo and our government for these efforts to succeed. 

Our adventure Donating  Computers to Soviet Citizens
                                                             The story


Why am I writing and sharing this information ?

1.  I would like to show that it is  possible for average folks like me to have some really great experiences. Be careful what you ask for you may get more then you wanted.
2. You can work at the highest levels if you have a good message - these adventures were helped along by  President George W. Bush, USA State Department, Soviet President Gorbachev, many members of congress, various ambassadors and many other folks. I have saved all these correspondences - What a ride looking back over these - 100's of letters and papers. Once I made a couple of Soviet visits, officials at VT were on board with this and even gave me some special  funds to carry on this work.
3. I encourage you to get out of the box and try some new adventures - I do not suggest however taking unwise risks to you own safety. Show your skeptics you are not a pipe dreamer but a real doer. They will of course be envious when you do succeed.
4. They say you can't live in the past - That is true but it sure is nice to look back on fun and successful events from your past and wonder  --- How did I do that ? it was just great!
5. Actually I did have opposition at my university (VT)  by some folks who did not like my time away and the fact I was not just grinding away in my office.  I did not have resistance from officials at VT that had power to stop this work - it was good I had tenure - The Virginia Tech President at the time Dr. Jim McCommas was a great fan of this work and helped with funding and in many other ways. Dr. McCommas sent Virginia Tech Documentary film producer "Jerry Scheeler" on one of our trips. Here is his film "Click" . Most of  the opposition came from faculty members who were envious, jealous and just too lazy to get out of the box.
6. I did this long term project because it was interesting, useful for me, the University and our whole country.  I was rewarded for this work near the end of my 31 years of teaching at VT with a University Presidential Award (1995) University Public Service Excellence Awards. This was the first time this outreach award had been presented by VT.
7.  A great bonus- My wife and I  received amateur radio licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and  Poland .  It was great fun and my wife Gaynell was the first American woman to receive an amateur radio license in some of these countries. Of course operating from there was fun - my Ukrainian call is UR5WUS and Russian call is UA4LWW.

A story about our first donation of computers to the USSR appeared in  the American Radio Relay League journal QST September 1991. 

For the rest of the story ......