How can I make a contribution at “Radiomuseum.org”?

Should you be in a hurry, skip the in-between and go straight to the bottom of the article where you will find – text in this colour – the concise answer.
For a more detailed explanation please read on.

Glad that you are interested in the subject. “Radiomuseum” is unique in many ways. The site was conceived – among other things - as a place where collectors help collectors in the truest sense. As such, it lives and breathes on contributions from its members. When you become a member, you agree to this type of reciprocity. In return for your input you gain access to the by now huge data base (for your personal use only!) and have the opportunity to discourse with renowned experts in the field.

Your contribution may take many forms. As a first step we would be pleased if you would just put up your “passport picture” on your profile page. Contrary to most other sites, we do not want to operate in anonymity but are determined to form an open community of radio collectors and friends. The picture done, you gave already an indication that you intend to be actively involved rather than being just a “fellow-traveller”.

Helping to further expand the ever growing virtual radio museum and catalog – approaching 160,000 different models at last count – is one of the basic ways in which a member can demonstrate his or her sincere desire to be part of preserving the early history of radio technology. This will be done by suggesting “new” models so far not listed and through the uploading pictures and/or providing additional information to existing models. Unless you upload pictures you took yourself, always state the source of them. If there is a chance of copyright infraction, it will be up to you to obtain the necessary permission.

As soon as you upload your own pictures to an existing model, your very own homepage at Radiomuseum is being created - or a tube collector page if you load up pictures to tubes. You may complement it with text and, of course, additional pictures. With that, you are already up in the ranking as so far a majority of the members did not avail itself to the opportunity. To see what this feature can do for you just google the name Konrad Birkner and click on the first link (of 27,800).

The Contact Form is meant to draw attention by guests to incorrect data. If you find a computer error you may want to make sure there is indeed an error by testing through a repeat with CACHE disabled.

Additional information regarding a model can be posted directly from the model page. Any inquiries in this area should not come to me. Instead contact the respective administrator (picture, model or schematics).

And there is so much more to do. From modest beginnings, Radiomuseum (RMorg) has grown by leaps and bounds. Fortunately, we have reached a stage at which many functions can now be delegated to others – even to newcomers to the fascinating story of vintage radios. It is currently contemplated to assign individual tasks – often just a fraction of them – to voluntary helpers. Also, some functions might best be tackled by a team. However, what will remain foremost in our mind is that the “job” must always be fun rather than become a burden. I would very much appreciate receiving your thoughts (and offers to help?) on this.

Schematics Team
If you are in possession of schematics, possibly already scanned for computer use, you could from time to time check the search column "Schematics Sought" to see if you can be of assistance. To be compatible with our systems, we must insist on some rules designed to keep the file in a manageable size without sacrificing quality. You find here a procedure for the processing of schematics.

Sorry: For members only. You can always upload schematics not yet archived or replace not so good schematics with a better copy. We are obviously after a comprehensive data base, meaning quantity. But quality is an important consideration as well. In some cases it might be possible to borrow much sought schematics for the purpose of scanning. Please mail only schematics which we don’t have yet. Names of schematics administrators are listed on this page for members.

Link Team
If you have your own homepage and set a link there, you can link up with us. Preferably with a dynamic banner. It will result in increased traffic at your site. You find our collection of banners with the bottom link "Logos" which gets you to the banner download. Copy the suitable text for a dynamic banner link.

Beyond that, we like to get to know collectors who frequently use the Internet and are familiar with sites that could be of interest to us. If suitable, we would suggest linking. A good selection of quality links could be sorted by country and language. Individual members could be assigned to each section and with growing familiarity benefit others by obtaining good information quickly. This is a subject close to my heart – with your thoughts and offers to help please contact me personally.

Moderator for Forum Subjects or Boards
We strive for a forum that actually helps a collector. Participants are encouraged to avoid idle chatter. What we look for is factually correct information presented in concise terms. Always post from the correct board. And keep in mind that there is only ONE board ("Talk") that remains invisible to guests – all others are indexed by public browsers. That means that whatever you write will be freely accessible to the public – as a sort of business card of the originator.

We still need for each forum subject a moderator with good knowledge of the respective subject and excellent people skills. He or she will, wherever possible, assist in getting on with a matter on hand and at the same time ensure proper placement. Also contain excesses in contents. No answer is better than assumptions - except in the internal board "Talk". You should also know that at Radiomuseum we don’t consider any question as dumb. However, silly answers are not tolerated.

Picture Administrator
Under New Pictures you find the final confirmation for pictures that have been accepted by the picture administrator. One of our aims is to show the best picture first. That’s not always the first picture uploaded. On the model page we limit ourselves to show directly just three pictures. More, if available, are accessed through a click below. It wouldn’t make sense to add a series of pictures, i.e. of a repair or a restoration, directly to the model. For that we use a text article from the model page.

We have come across pictures of radios with obviously non-original control knobs but there are also true variants of the same model. In all cases it helps to have a picture. The eventual goal is to have at least one picture for every model. May we count on your help?

Collector Prices
Especially newcomers can not be expected to know what any given model might reasonably be worth. There are several possibilities to systematically gather that type of information. Auctions, i.e. recent eBay transactions, can be helpful. One’s own purchases come into play and for North American radios the Collector’s Guide by John Slusser is a good source of information. We created the possibility to load actual prices paid to the respective model page. Prices thus recorded can be found through a regular search function – prices in text will not come up. Wanted are members who on a regular basis observe the market and upload their findings. Already in existence is an active team as born out by having New Prices in the menu. There is also a Price Coordinator who makes spot checks and randomly examines relation of price achieved to condition of the respective object. We show more than 84.000 collector prices.

Raising Awareness
Membership at Radiomuseum should be considered a privilege. It’s certainly nothing to be ashamed of and there is absolutely no reason why one shouldn’t tell others about it. However, in representing Radiomuseum to others it is expected that our standards in decorum and civility be observed.

When you are active in another radio site and come across a question, a request for schematics or some other need that can be satisfied at radiomuseum.org, by all means point to the obvious solution. Done properly it will provide immediate help to another radio collector and at the same make interested parties aware of what RMorg does and can do for the common cause. Emphasis on done properly: Number of daily page views, visits and general statistics prove convincingly our position in the field. Growth of RMorg has been nothing short of phenomenal. Still, there remains lots left to be done. We need help – but not at the cost of changing our style or lowering our standards!

If so inclined, you could consider writing about us in a collector’s magazine or, of course, in a daily. I would be pleased to learn about it. You frequently find referrals in our forum – vice versa should be a no-brainer.

I am always dismayed when someone publishes a well researched, factually sound treatise in a technical journal and within only a few months it is practically untraceable. Had it been brought into RMorg, browsers such as Google would make sure that by using a key-word the article could be located here. Just try for instance "Russian Subminiature Tubes" or "History of Tuning Indicators" by entering such terms to Google - and you know what I mean. It does make sense to publish at RMorg if a wide readership with easy accessibility over a long period of time is to be achieved. Check on your own how many times certain forum contributions were called up. You will find figures others can only dream about – and via RMorg that information remains always (here the second part) at your fingertip.

For such contributions we have created the tab “Papers”. Under this heading appear all articles dealing with subjects of lasting importance. Anyone interested and qualified will be awarded instant “writing privileges” (Editor status). You can also make a contribution by obtaining permission from noteworthy authors to have relevant articles published in RMorg, naturally under their own name. Better still, persuade such experts to do this on their own – and offer your help to get it done. Keep in mind that for forum contributions with picture(s) we have special procedures for special effects - if wanted.

Brand Expert
You may at any time upload text with or without picture(s) on a specific manufacturer. We are still looking for people who as brand expert will specialize in a given company. Such a person will collect as much information as possible on the chosen company and upload the findings. It will include to actively soliciting anything relevant from other members.

Furthermore, we are looking for brand monitors. Their assignment will be to keep abreast of any new mentioning of a subject company and to intervene if a correction is deemed necessary. It will include moving (possibly “sanitized”) texts into the appropriate section at RMorg. Recruiting new monitors is appreciated.

Translator
Browse RMorg and you get an idea of the sheer volume of information gathered so far (and of its ongoing, constant growth). As RMorg originated in the German language region of Europe (Switzerland) and is still operated mainly from there, it is only natural that the majority of the information is in that language. That’s no longer good enough.

The intent, right from the beginning, was to operate in five major tongues. (See the flags in the left, upper corner of the homepage). Realizing that noble goal was no pressing matter in the early stages of RMorg as few collectors outside our language borders knew of and/or planned to collaborate in our endeavour. This has drastically changed. RMorg has evolved into a worldwide community of collectors and friends of early radio technology. With that comes an obligation to communicate in more than the original base language.

Needed are people who are willing and able to translate RMorg procedures as well as technical texts initially mainly from German into English, but in the long run also into French, Italian and Spanish. Of course, there is also a need to translate any text of common interest, and in any idiom, into any one of the other languages. Who will translate or proofread one or several pages of such information? Please get in touch with me.

Let me add to this that doing translations for RMorg is more than just another burden and a claim on your valuable time. I have it from those dedicated members who help out now that this type of contribution to the cause can be quite rewarding in terms of gaining a deeper understanding of a subject and yes, make new and good friends. Please think about it.

Other Activities
There are many more ways in which you can help RMorg to build on its success, to make it even more attractive – always keeping the ultimate goal in mind: To establish as comprehensive as possible a virtual radio museum and catalog with all related information. One thing that comes instantly to mind is an orientation programme for new members. You may have ideas (and a willingness to act) in other areas. Your suggestions are welcome and will be acted upon if at all feasible. It is my personal concern that we maintain the spirit of “Take” AND “Give” as long as somehow affordable. For that we need the energetic support from all members and in all areas in which we are active. Lest we forget – reciprocity is a major condition of membership!

And just in case you should have any lingering doubts: Radiomuseum.org is a not-for-profit foundation under Swiss law. There is no commercial interest in any and all contributions made by members, administrators and officers of the foundation.

Coming to my opening statement:

Help Wanted!
We are looking for translators who are fluent in one of our “other flag idioms”. Having these language skills as a mother tongue would definitely be an advantage – but it’s not a must, of course. Interested persons should make themselves available from time to time to translate important texts. In addition, we are on the lookout for a self-starter for the office of “Language Deputy”, who could act as substitute for me. The person for his position would obviously require some training on location. For serious applicants I provide – free of charge – a one-bedroom flat in my house. Use of wellness equipment is included. View from the house is impressive. Pictures of it can be found in the private section of my collection pictures.

I am anxiously awaiting your replies!
Ernst Erb (HB9RXQ), Switzerland

This has been translated for me by Alfred Zeeb, Canada. I'm most thankful for his contributions. Unfortunately my English is quite limited.
 

This article was edited 23.Oct.09 13:27 by Ernst Erb .

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