W1SEG

Amateur Radio Station

I’ve always thought the fact that Boggs was a ham radio operator was important. It had a great impact on the way the Ethernet was designed, because the Ethernet fundamentally doesn’t work reliably. It’s like citizens’ band radio, or any of the other kinds of radio communication, which are fundamentally not reliable in the way that we think of the telephone. Because you know it basically doesn’t work, you do all the defensive programming—the ‘say again, you were garbled’ protocols that were worked out for radio communication. And that makes the resulting network function extremely reliably.… I’ve often wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t had that background.
—Bert Sutherland, referring to David Boggs and the invention of Ethernet

quote Kelly Johnson team

The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people.
—Kelly Johnson

W1SEG Amateur Radio Station

quote Kelly Johnson team

The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people.
—Kelly Johnson

I’ve always thought the fact that Boggs was a ham radio operator was important. It had a great impact on the way the Ethernet was designed, because the Ethernet fundamentally doesn’t work reliably. It’s like citizens’ band radio, or any of the other kinds of radio communication, which are fundamentally not reliable in the way that we think of the telephone. Because you know it basically doesn’t work, you do all the defensive programming—the ‘say again, you were garbled’ protocols that were worked out for radio communication. And that makes the resulting network function extremely reliably.… I’ve often wondered what would have happened if he hadn’t had that background.
—Bert Sutherland, referring to David Boggs and the invention of Ethernet