6pmnet - February 2024 Topics

Please Note: The Net is operating on the Danvers Repeater, at 145.470-, (PL of 136.5). We thank the North Shore Radio Association (NSRA), for the use of its repeater during the time when the W1GLO repeater is being upgraded.

Wednesday, February 28th: Topics with KC1HHK: Railroad Milestones and Tragedies

1827 - 1st commercial railroad in US, Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) chartered.

The first public railway in the United States, the B&O, opened with 23 miles of track, with mostly hardwood rail topped with iron. The steam locomotive, Tom Thumb, was designed and built by Peter Cooper for the B&O, the first American-built steam locomotive. Trials of the locomotive began on the B&O that year.

The first regular carrier of passengers and freight was the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, completed on February 28, 1827. It was not until Christmas Day, 1830, when the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company completed the first mechanical passenger train, that the modern railroad industry was born.

1956 - 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott, Massachusetts

The Swampscott train wreck occurred on February 28, 1956, in Swampscott, Massachusetts when a Danvers–Boston commuter train crashed into the rear of a stopped Portsmouth–Boston local train just north of the station during a snowstorm. The collision, blamed on the engineer operating at unsafe speeds for the conditions, killed 13 people and injured 283.

Accident

On the morning of February 28, 1956, Train 214 departed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire for Boston. The diesel locomotive was scheduled to depart Portsmouth at 6:40 a.m. and make ten stops before arriving in Boston at 8:14 a.m. However, due to a blizzard and power-failure problems, Train 214 had made three unscheduled stops, the final of which occurred just short of the Swampscott station. Due to the snow, the conductor was unable to read the track signals and he stopped the train to use a signal phone a couple hundred yards down the track to call the Lynn signal tower to ask about the signal indication.

Train 2406, a Buddliner, was scheduled to depart Danvers, Massachusetts at 7:13 a.m. and make four or five stops before arriving in Boston at 8:33 a.m.

At 8:10 a.m., Train 2406, which was traveling from Salem, Massachusetts at a speed of roughly 50 miles per hour, crashed into the back of the stationary Train 214. There were 1,000 passengers on the two trains at the time of the accident. 11 passengers and the conductor and fireman of Train 2406 were killed and 71 passengers from both trains were hospitalized. Most of the deceased were traveling in the lead car of Train 2406, which had its roof and one side torn off. The cars were so badly mangled it took over six hours to free all the trapped passengers. Over 800 police, fire, civil defense, and Red Cross workers were at the scene, with police from as far as 20 miles away responding. A first aid station was set up in a nearby lumber yard and garage and the Swampscott fire station was used as a temporary morgue. The deceased were transported via a moving van that had been passing the scene of the accident.

At 9:45 a.m. around 100 of the survivors of the Swampscott train wreck were injured in a second wreck when one of the trains they were traveling in collided with a stalled train also carrying survivors. However, because the train was traveling very slowly at the time of the collision, there were no fatalities and only one serious injury.

Investigation

The accident was investigated by the Boston and Maine Railroad, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. It was the ICC's first investigation into a railroad accident since the 1953 Pennsylvania Railroad train wreck. The ICC and DPU chose to hold joint hearings into the accident.

The Boston and Maine Railroad found the conductor of Train 2406 to blame for the accident. He had passed through two warning signals and passed a flagman from Train 214 prior to the accident. If he was unable to see these signals due to the storm, the operating rules of the railroad required him to stop the train.

The Interstate Commerce Commission's investigation found no mechanical issues with the Buddliner and determined the train shouldn't have been traveling that fast.

1975 - A major London tube train crash at Moorgate station kills 43 people and injures a further 74

The Moorgate tube crash occurred on February 28, 1975 at 8:46 am on the London Underground's Northern City Line; 43 people died and 74 were injured after a train failed to stop at the line's southern terminus, Moorgate station, and crashed into its end wall. It is considered the worst peacetime accident on the London Underground. No fault was found with the train, and the inquiry by the Department of the Environment concluded that the accident was caused by the actions of Leslie Newson, the 56-year-old driver.

The crash forced the first carriage into the roof of the tunnel at the front and back, but the middle remained on the track bed; the 52 foot long coach was crushed to 20 feet. The second carriage was concertinaed at the front as it collided with the first, and the third rode over the rear of the second. The brakes were not applied and the dead man's handle was still depressed when the train crashed. It took 13 hours to remove the injured, many of whom had to be cut free from the wreckage. With no services running into the adjoining platform to produce the piston effect pushing air into the station, ventilation was poor and temperatures in the tunnel rose to over 120 °F. It took a further four days to extract the last body, that of Newson; his cab, normally 3 feet deep, had been crushed to 6 inches.

The post-mortem on Newson showed no medical reason to explain the crash. A cause has never been established, and theories include suicide, that he may have been distracted, or that he was affected by conditions such as transient global amnesia or akinesis with mutism. The subsequent inquest established that Newson had also inexplicably overshot platforms on the same route on two other occasions earlier in the week of the accident. Tests showed that Newson had a blood alcohol level of 80 mg/100 ml—the level at which one can be prosecuted for drunk-driving—though the alcohol may have been produced by the natural decomposition process over four days at a high temperature.

In the aftermath of the crash, London Underground introduced a safety system that automatically stops a train when it is travelling too fast. This became known informally as Moorgate protection. Northern City Line services into Moorgate ended in October 1975 and British Rail services started in August 1976. After a long campaign by relatives of the dead, two memorials were unveiled near the station, one in July 2013 and one in February 2014.

2001 - Six passengers and four railway staff are killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash

The Selby rail crash (also known as the Great Heck Rail Crash) was a high-speed rail crash that occurred at Great Heck near Selby, North Yorkshire, England, on the morning of February 28, 2001. An InterCity 225 passenger train operated by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) travelling from Newcastle to London collided with a Land Rover Defender which had crashed down a motorway embankment onto the railway line. It was consequently derailed into the path of an oncoming freight train, colliding at an estimated closing speed of 142 mph. Ten people were killed, including the drivers of both trains, and 82 were seriously injured. It remains the worst rail disaster of the 21st century in the United Kingdom.

A memorial was created at the point where the carriages came to rest at 53.6815°N 1.0986°W.

Gary Hart, the driver of the Land Rover who escaped the incident unscathed, was later tried at Leeds Crown Court on ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He denied the charges, claiming that his car had suffered a mechanical fault or had collided with an object on the road. Although he had witnessed his Land Rover being struck by the intercity train, he claimed to have been unaware of the further collision involving the freight train until he was informed later by police.

An investigation, including reconstruction of the Land Rover to demonstrate that it was not mechanically defective, concluded that Hart had been driving in a sleep-deprived condition, and had not applied the brakes as his vehicle travelled down the embankment. It later transpired that Hart had stayed up the previous night talking on the telephone to a woman he had met through an internet dating agency.

Hart was found guilty on 13 December 2001, and was sentenced to five years in prison and a five-year driving ban. He was released from prison in July 2004 after serving half of his sentence.

Net Discussion Questions:

· Does anyone remember or know of anyone involved with the Swampscott train wreck?

· Have you ever relied on train transportation to get to work?

· The U.S. and reluctance to travel via rail; Despite its reputation as a world-leading economy, the U.S. continues to rank below many global regions in terms of its passenger rail traffic, despite its large population of well over 300 million people. This low volume of passenger rail traffic can be attributed to factors such as preference for air and road travel and a general reluctance to reduce carbon footprint. Meanwhile, it is also crucial to note that freight rail takes priority over passenger rail on North American railroads, with rail freight traffic dominating passenger rail traffic by 14 to one.

· How much stuff is shipped by American railroads?

o Rail accounted for approximately 28% of the total U.S. freight movement by ton-miles.

o In 2018, 1.7 trillion ton-miles of freight (calculated by multiplying shipment weight in tons by the number of miles that it is transported) was shipped by rail, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Friday, February 23st: Topics with KC1HHK: Boston Manufacturing Co. & Iwo Jima Anniversary

Massachusetts: Key player in the American Industrial Revolution
Boston Manufacturing Company formed on this date

The industrial revolution completely transformed Massachusetts in the 19th century. It changed the economy, society, transportation, health, and medicine and led to many inventions and firsts in Massachusetts history.

The industrial revolution began in England and eventually spread to the rest of the world, but came late to the United States, finally arriving in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Massachusetts Economy:

Before the industrial revolution, Massachusetts’ economy was based primarily on agriculture, fishing and maritime shipping.

After the industrial revolution began in England in the late 18th century, American manufacturers were determined to improve American manufacturing.

American manufacturers feared that if England continued to monopolize manufacturing and trade, America would be dependent on English imports forever and its economy would suffer.

When the Embargo Act of 1807 cut off imports from Britain, this forced Americans to increase the amount of goods they manufactured. By 1810, the U.S. had built about 50 cotton-yarn mills.

When the War of 1812 broke out, British ships blockaded the Massachusetts coast, completely cutting them off from the sea. This forced the state to not only find other ways to make money but also to supply their own needs, particularly cloth.

As a result, this sped up the process of industrialization in Massachusetts and textile manufacturing quickly went from being a cottage industry, where work was performed on a small scale at home, to a large-scale factory system.

Massachusetts Textile Mills:

Textiles mills in Massachusetts played a pivotal role in the industrialization of the United States. Textile mills were the first manufacturers to use modern production methods during the Industrial Revolution and thus textiles became the dominant industry during this time period.

The industrial revolution was brought to America by a British-born merchant, Samuel Slater, who built the first successful cotton spinning mill in America in Rhode Island, and also by an American merchant, Francis Cabot Lowell, who built the first integrated cotton spinning and weaving facility in America in Massachusetts.

Lowell, who was born in Newburyport, Mass, in 1775, was a successful merchant who visited England in 1810, at the age of 36, and was so impressed by the British textile mills that it inspired him to start his own mills.

On February 23, 1813, Lowell and several partners formed the Boston Manufacturing Company and introduced a power loom, based on the British model, that had been tweaked with many technological improvements.

The company built a large brick mill next to the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts that incorporated various technologies to convert raw cotton into cloth. The mill integrated the chain of tasks under one roof, known as the Lowell System. This system was later adopted across the country and became the basis of the American manufacturing system.

Lowell died of an illness in 1817 and left his company to his investors. Dividends were paid out and, in 1822, the investors started a new, and much larger, mill town, which they named Lowell in honor of their leader.

Lowell, Massachusetts is known as “the cradle of the American Industrial Revolution” since it was the first large scale factory town in the country.

The company was so successful that it continued to expand into other New England towns such as Chicopee, Mass, Lawrence, Mass and Manchester, NH.

By the 1850s, the Boston Manufacturing Company, which was by then renamed the Boston Associates, was responsible for 20% of America’s cotton production.

Massachusetts Hospitals:

The industrial revolution brought many advances in medicine and hospitals during this time period. As a result, new hospitals were established, such as the Massachusetts General Hospital, which was built in Boston in 1811. It was one of only three general hospitals in the United States at the time.

These same conditions that led to an increase in hospitals and hospital patients in the 19th century also led to an increase in psychiatric hospitals and psychiatric patients, according to the American Psychological Association

This led to the establishment of a number of state hospitals and mental health institutions in Massachusetts, including the first mental health institution, Mclean Hospital, which was built in Boston in 1811, as well as one of the most notorious state hospitals, the Danvers State Hospital, in 1875.

Massachusetts Transportation:

The industrial revolution also sparked the transportation revolution during which the construction of roads, bridges, railroads and canals helped people move around more freely, increased trade, and forever altered the physical landscape of Massachusetts with massive public works projects, such as the Boston Landfill project.

The first railroad in America, the Granite Railway (which later became the Old Colony and Newport Railway), was built in Quincy Massachusetts in 1826 and many more were built over the course of the 19th century.

With this increased transportation came a demand for more accommodation for travelers. Many of the now historic hotels in Boston where built during this time period as a result.

This increased movement and trade further helped transform the economy of the United States from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing economy.

In the second phase of the industrial revolution, the Boston Subway, which was the first subway in America, was built using the same technology.

Iconic Photographs

Iwo Jima 2/23/1945

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an iconic photograph of six United States Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in the final stages of the Pacific War. The photograph, taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on February 23, 1945, was first published in Sunday newspapers two days later and reprinted in thousands of publications. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography and was later used for the construction of the Marine Corps War Memorial in 1954, which was dedicated to honor all Marines who died in service since 1775. The memorial, sculpted by Felix de Weldon, is located in Arlington Ridge Park, near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon. The photograph has come to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and recognizable images of World War II.

Wednesday, February 21st: Topics with KC1SOO: Earthquakes

Christchurch earthquakes of 2010–11, series of tremors that occurred within and near the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and the Canterbury Plains region from early September 2010 to late December 2011. The severest of those events were the earthquake (magnitude from 7.0 to 7.1) that struck on September 4, 2010, and the large, destructive aftershock (magnitude 6.3) that occurred on February 22, 2011.

The principal event, sometimes referred to as the Darfield earthquake, struck at 4:35 AM on September 4, 2010. The earthquake’s epicentre was located some 25 miles (40 km) west of Christchurch near the town of Darfield, and the focus was located about 6 miles (10 km) beneath the surface. It was caused by right-lateral movement along a previously unknown regional strike-slip fault in the western section of the Canterbury Plains. The fault, later named the Greendale Fault, appeared about 50 to 56 miles (80 to 90 km) southeast of the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and part of the fault became visible at the surface because of the earthquake. Thousands of smaller aftershocks occurred in the months that followed.

Sources from britannica.com

Net Discussion Question:

Have you experienced an Earthquake?

Wednesday, February 14th: Topics with KC1HHK: YouTube and Alexander Graham Bell

You Tube web site

registered today in 2005

Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim registered YouTube, a Web site for sharing videos; it would become hugely popular, with more than one billion unique users visiting the site every month.

The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 14, 2005, with video upload options being integrated on April 23, 2005, after being named "Tune In, Hook Up" ─ the original idea of Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. The concept was an online dating service that ultimately failed but had an exceptional video and uploading platform. After the infamous Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson Halftime show incident, the three creators realized they couldn't find any videos of it on the internet, after noticing that this type of platform did not exist they made the changes to become the first major video sharing platform. The idea of the new company was for non-computer experts to be able to use a simple interface that allowed the user to publish, upload and view streaming videos through standard web browsers and modern internet speeds. Ultimately, creating an easy to use video streaming platform that wouldn't stress out the new internet users of the early 2000s. The first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, was uploaded on April 23, 2005, and shows co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo and currently has over 120 million views and almost 5 million likes. Hurley was behind more of the looks of the website, he used his art skills to create the logo and designed the look of the website. Chen made sure the page actually worked and that there would be no issues with the uploading and playback process. Karim was a programmer and helped in making sure the initial website got put together properly and helped in both design and programming.

Alexander Graham Bell

applied for a patent for the telephone - 1876

Alexander Graham Bell (born March 3, 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland—died August 2, 1922, Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada) Scottish-born American inventor, scientist, and teacher of the deaf whose foremost accomplishments were the invention of the telephone (1876) and the refinement of the phonograph (1886).

Alexander (“Graham” was not added until he was 11) was born to Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza Grace Symonds. His mother was almost deaf, and his father taught elocution to the deaf, influencing Alexander’s later career choice as teacher of the deaf. In April 1871 Alexander moved to Boston, where he taught at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes. He also taught at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts, and at the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut.

One of Bell’s students was Mabel Hubbard, daughter of Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a founder of the Clarke School. Mabel had become deaf at age five as a result of a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever. Bell began working with her in 1873, when she was 15 years old. Despite a 10-year age difference, they fell in love and were married on July 11, 1877. They had four children, Elsie (1878–1964), Marian (1880–1962), and two sons who died in infancy.

While pursuing his teaching profession, Bell also began researching methods to transmit several telegraph messages simultaneously over a single wire—a major focus of telegraph innovation at the time and one that ultimately led to Bell’s invention of the telephone. In 1868 Joseph Stearns had invented the duplex, a system that transmitted two messages simultaneously over a single wire. Western Union Telegraph Company, the dominant firm in the industry, acquired the rights to Stearns’s duplex and hired the noted inventor Thomas Edison to devise as many multiple-transmission methods as possible in order to block competitors from using them. Edison’s work culminated in the quadruplex, a system for sending four simultaneous telegraph messages over a single wire. Inventors then sought methods that could send more than four; some, including Bell and his great rival Elisha Gray, developed designs capable of subdividing a telegraph line into 10 or more channels. These so-called harmonic telegraphs used reeds or tuning forks that responded to specific acoustic frequencies. They worked well in the laboratory but proved unreliable in service.

A group of investors led by Gardiner Hubbard wanted to establish a federally chartered telegraph company to compete with Western Union by contracting with the Post Office to send low-cost telegrams. Hubbard saw great promise in the harmonic telegraph and backed Bell’s experiments. Bell, however, was more interested in transmitting the human voice. Finally, he and Hubbard worked out an agreement that Bell would devote most of his time to the harmonic telegraph but would continue developing his telephone concept.

From harmonic telegraphs transmitting musical tones, it was a short conceptual step for both Bell and Gray to transmit the human voice. Bell filed a patent describing his method of transmitting sounds on February 14, 1876, just hours before Gray filed a caveat (a statement of concept) on a similar method. On March 7, 1876, the Patent Office awarded Bell what is said to be one of the most valuable patents in history.

Net Discussion Questions:

How often do you use YouTube and for what?
Telephone Land Lines: do you still have one?
If yes, why?

Friday, February 9th: Topics with KC1SOO: Your "favorite" or go-to Band / Weirdest QSOs you've ever had

Ham radio bands and their characteristics is crucial for choosing the right frequency for your communication needs. Here's a breakdown of some key points:

Frequency Ranges:

Low Frequency (LF): Below 300 kHz (limited availability for amateurs)
Medium Frequency (MF): 300 kHz - 3 MHz (includes 630m and 160m bands)
High Frequency (HF): 3 MHz - 30 MHz (popular for long-distance communication)
Very High Frequency (VHF): 30 MHz - 300 MHz (suitable for local and regional communication)
Ultra High Frequency (UHF): 300 MHz - 3 GHz (common for repeaters and satellite communication)

Popular Bands:

2 Meter (144-148 MHz): Simple local communication, repeaters, emergencies.
70 Centimeter (420-450 MHz): Similar to 2m, better in urban areas.
40 Meter (7.0-7.3 MHz): Good for medium-distance and DX contacts, contests.
20 Meter (14.0-14.350 MHz): Long-distance communication, contests, digital modes.
Other popular bands: 80m, 15m, 10m, 6m (VHF), 1.25m (VHF)

Factors to Consider:

License level: Different bands require specific license classes for full access.
Operating mode: Voice, Morse code, digital modes have favored bands.
Time of day/year: Propagation conditions affect band effectiveness.
Location: Terrain and distance influence signal strength.
Personal preference: Some prefer technical challenges, others simplicity.

Additional Resources:

ARRL Band Plan:https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Band%20Chart%20-%2011X17%20Color.pdf
IARU Region 1 Band Plan: https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/hf_r1_bandplan.pdf

Net Topic Questions:

What is your favorite or go-to band that you're using the most on your radio?

What is the weirdest QSOs you've ever had

Wednesday, February 7th: Topics with KC1HHK: Band-aids and An Wang

Robert Wood Johnson
American manufacturer of Surgical supplies and dressings – precursor to the Band Aid

Robert Wood Johnson (born Feb. 15, 1845, Carbondale, Pa., U.S.—died Feb. 7, 1910, New Brunswick, N.J.) American manufacturer who helped further the cause of modern surgery by developing antiseptic bandages and dressings.

Johnson began his career as an apprentice in a pharmacy and went on to become a retail pharmacist and then a drug broker in New York City. In 1874, he formed the partnership of Seabury & Johnson to manufacture bandages using a new formula employing India rubber. Eleven years later Johnson left that partnership to form the now well-known company of Johnson & Johnson with his brothers James and Edward. The company became known for its high-quality, inexpensive medical supplies and dressings. Johnson held the title of president from the time of the company’s founding until his death in 1910.

Johnson was an early proponent of the teachings of Joseph Lister (Listerene Mouthwash), who advocated antiseptic surgery and care of the wound to prevent infection. These theories were still novel during the late 1800s. Johnson worked to develop a dressing that would be as germ-free as possible, from its manufacture in his plants to its eventual use in surgeries across the country.

Baseball, apple pie, BAND-AID® Brand adhesive bandages. There’s no doubt about it: They’re an indelible part of our culture.

Most of us grew up using them—whether it was to patch up a scraped knee or tend to a paper cut—and you can probably still picture those iconic tins sitting in your family’s medicine cabinet. “The BAND-AID® Brand adhesive bandage was a very simple innovation, but it filled a great unmet need in consumer care,” says Margaret Gurowitz, Chief Historian at Johnson & Johnson.

And ever since their invention 97 years ago, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. has remained a pioneer in the field, consistently innovating improvements to the product—like the new BAND-AID® Brand Skin-Flex™ adhesive bandages that stay on for 24 hours, and are made with touch screen-friendly material.

Net Discussion:

Band Aids: are you loyal to the “Band Aid Brand” or do you use the store brands?

Wang Work processors – did you ever use one?

An Wang
Computer Pioneer – Word Processing, magnetic core memory inventor

An Wang ( born February 7, 1920 – March 24, 1990) was a Chinese–American computer engineer and inventor, and cofounder of computer company Wang Laboratories, which was known primarily for its dedicated word processing machines. An Wang was an important contributor to the development of magnetic-core memory.

He was born in Shanghai, China. His father taught English at an elementary school outside Shanghai, while his mother Zen Wan (Chien) Wang was a homemaker. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1940. He immigrated to the United States in June 1945 to attend Harvard University for graduate school, earning a PhD in applied physics in 1948. After graduation, he worked at Harvard with Howard Aiken on the design of the Mark IV, Aiken's first fully electronic computer. Wang coinvented the pulse transfer controlling device with Way-Dong Woo, a schoolmate from China who fell ill before their patent was issued. The new device implemented write-after-read which made magnetic core memory possible. Harvard reduced its commitment to computer research in 1951, prompting Wang to start his own engineering business.

Wang founded Wang Laboratories in June 1951 as a sole proprietorship. The first years were lean and Wang raised $50,000 working capital by selling one third of the company to a machine tools manufacturer Warner & Swasey Company.

In 1955, when the core memory patent was issued, Wang sold it to IBM for $500,000 and incorporated Wang Laboratories with Ge-Yao Chu, a schoolmate. The company grew slowly and in 1964 sales reached $1,000,000. Wang began making desktop electronic calculators with digital displays, including a centralized calculator with remote terminals for group use.

By 1970, the company had sales of $27 million and 1,400 employees. They began manufacturing word processors in 1974, copying the already popular Xerox Redactron word processor, a single-user, cassette-based product.

In 1976, they started marketing a multi-user, display-based product, based on the Zilog Z80 processor. Typical installations had a master unit (supplying disk storage) connected to intelligent diskless slaves which the operators used. Connections were via dual coax using differential signaling in an 11-bit asynchronous ASCII format clocked at 4.275 MHz. This product became the market leader in the word processing industry. In addition to calculators and word processors, Wang's company diversified into minicomputers in the early 1970s. The Wang 2200 was one of the first desktop computers with a large CRT display and ran a fast hardwired BASIC interpreter. The Wang VS system was a multiuser minicomputer whose instruction set was very close to the design of IBM's System/370. It was not binary-compatible because register usage conventions and system call interfaces were different. The Wang VS serial terminals could be used in data processing mode and word processing mode. They were user-programmable in data-processing mode and used the same word processing software as the earlier dedicated word processing systems.

In 1984, Wang and his family owned about 55 percent of the company stock, and Forbes magazine, estimating his worth at $1.6 billion, ranked him as the fifth richest American.

Wang Laboratories, which in 1989 once employed over 30,000 people, was headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts and later Lowell, Massachusetts. When Wang looked to retire from actively running his company in 1986, he insisted upon handing over the corporate reins to his son Fred Wang. Hard times ensued for the company and the elder Wang was eventually forced to remove his son in 1989.