This site contains historical information on equipment designed and built in the Gaithersburg plant of Watkins-Johnson, the Bethesda plant of Communication Electronics, Inc and the Rockville plant, which produced both CEI and WJ equipment.

This site is not affiliated in any way with past or present owners of the Gaithersburg facility
(Watkins-Johnson, BAE, Signia-IDT, DRS Technologies or Finnemeccania)

There is Linked In connection for former WJ employees and alumni.

Progress Report

6-29-11 - I'm working on a new web site to compliment this Watkins-Johnson web site. Information from other manufacturers has been awkwardly grafted onto this site in a structure that is not sustainable.

The new site will encompass the expanding scope of my research on communication receiver development during the Cold War. In addition, the new structure will clarify relationships between Watkins-Johnson (WJ) and the companies it absorbed and spawned.

Originally, WJ was a microwave tube manufacturer. From the late 50s through the 60s, they expanded into a fascinating West Coast firm with an array of cutting edge products. In 1967, WJ purchased the Maryland based Communication Electronics, Inc (CEI) to gain entry into the East Coast DOD agency based surveillance industry.

The majority of the WJ radios coveted by collectors are actually CEI products, produced in a facility that retained more independence than most companies purchased by WJ. Few of the radios (primarily EW and ELINT) produced by the original WJ ever reached civilian hands.

In addition, there were many companies started and/or staffed by intertwined streams of engineers, many of whom started their careers with CEI and or WJ. Each of these has their own story. The new web site will allow for more effective and coherent presentation these bits of history.

Finally, this web site will be changing to encompass more of the real WJ, the West Coast firm that made microwave tubes, YIG and GaAsFET devices, mixers, amplifiers, commercial furnaces, space communications equipment, EW and ELINT systems.

I'm hoping to go live with the new site by the end of summer.

10-22-10 -Another piece of Watkins-Johnson history. The WJ-8617/WJ-8618 receiver series played a key role in the Cold War. Thousands of these receivers were used in uncounted missions, most of which are still classified.

The story covers the contentious and difficult birth of this radio and a sample of its installations on the sea and in fixed and land mobile applications.

Includes rare, never before published photographs of the prototype WJ-8616 and the inside of an early AN/TRQ-37 mobile direction finding shelter.

This is the third publication on the history and origins of Watkins-Johnson. It covers a crucial period when Ralph Grimm left WJ to start Regco in direct competition for the government contract on this radio.

(Old News)

For documentation or help, please try the folks
on the manuals or service work links above.

I do not sell or broker equipment, manuals or service work.
I am not a clearinghouse for information or documentation.
Most of this equipment is rare and documentation and/or software is even more rare.
Please do not be offended if I do not respond to your e-mail.
I receive many requests, often with apologies and pleas of desperation.

This site is also gathering size and becoming unwieldy to edit.
If you see anything wrong or find any broken links, please let me know.
Contact me at watkins-johnson at terryo dot org