298:("Joan") and a much larger aircraft-based SSTR-6 transceiver ("Eleanor"). Gross' actual contribution to the project is unclear (he was not an OSS member), but the main developers on the project were Dewitt R. Goddard and Lt. Cmdr. Stephen H. Simpson (Goddard's wife's name was Eleanor, and reportedly Joan was an acquaintance of Simpson). The system operated at frequencies above 250 MHz, which was at a much higher frequency than the enemy had thought conceivable. This allowed operatives using "Joan" to communicate with high altitude bombers carrying "Eleanor" for times of 10 to 15 minutes without the use of code words, eliminating the need for decryption. It was developed beginning in late 1942, was highly successful and very difficult to detect behind enemy lines at the time. It was marked
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322:(1946). Gross formed Gross Electronics Co. to produce two-way communications system to utilize these frequencies, and his company was the first to receive FCC approval in 1948. He sold more than 100 thousand units of his system, mostly to farmers and the U.S. Coast Guard.
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system. His intention for this system was to be used by medical doctors, but was met with skepticism by doctors who were afraid the system would upset patients. This same technology is used in one-way radio signaling devices such as garage door openers.
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by a steamboat. While sneaking around the boat he ended up in the radio transmissions room. The ship's operator let him listen in on transmissions. Later, Gross turned the basement of his house into a radio station, built from scavenged junkyard parts.
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Cartoonist
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Another breakthrough came in 1949 when he adapted his two-way radios to one-way for cordless remote telephonic signaling. He had effectively invented the first
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Gross continued inventing, and began working as a specialist in microwave and other communications systems for companies such as
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Digital images from the Al Gross Papers, Ms2001-011, and exhibits from
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His interest and knowledge in radio technology had grown considerably by the time he in 1936 entered the
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was uninterested, and other companies were afraid of Bell's monopoly on transmission lines.
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Gross has received much recognition for his work, including, but not limited to:
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many communications devices, specifically in relation to an early version of the
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In 1950 he tried in vain to interest telephone companies in mobile telephony.
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His lifelong enthusiasm for radio was sparked at age nine, when traveling on
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by the U.S. military until it was declassified and made public in 1976.
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Lemelson-MIT Lifetime
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program at
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Al Gross recorded interviews and extensive biography
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764:Interview with Al Gross from 1999
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530:"Inventor of the Week: Archive"
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750:— Article on Al Gross from MIT
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44:Photographed by Leo Sorel
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868:Engineers from Cleveland
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242:(W8PAL) his whole life.
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848:Amateur radio people
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893:Dick Tracy
817:Categories
632:August 11,
618:"Al Gross"
563:"Al Gross"
482:References
300:Top Secret
110:Discipline
95:Occupation
56:1918-02-22
437:from the
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217:Cleveland
187:Biography
760:website.
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626:Archived
622:RetroCom
595:Archived
571:Archived
465:See also
209:Romanian
179:and the
165:patented
98:Engineer
70:, Canada
32:Al Gross
23:Al Gross
278:During
260:100 MHz
205:Ontario
201:Toronto
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714:2011
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445:IEEE
395:and
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221:Ohio
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397:UHF
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312:FCC
288:CIA
284:OSS
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