National Electronics Museum — Attraction in Maryland

I flew into Baltimore and couldn't meet my cousin actually my niece until after she got off work. so I looked around and found the National electronics museum. I don't know what I expected, but I just have to investigate these small museums. now this one from the outside definitely has a military look with all the big radars and antenna out front. As it was created by people who were military contractors I expected maybe I'll find all the junk that is no longer top secret. Well it seems that people who retire in this industry have devoted a huge amount of time to saving the history that they created in the electronics industry and the military industrial complex. So different types of radars are listed, displayed, explained, and done so in a very understandable way. It is quite enlightening. then they talk about types of radios and how they were used to solve various puzzles to defend England, America, our troops, and other bits of history. To examine the satellites used for communications and their history was likewise eye opening in that all of the explainations in this museum are definitely from a different a point of view and one might read in a sanitized history book. For instance when the Germans were bombing London they were using various frequency bands that used together gave them targeting system that they could use day or night. One ingenious fellow took to the problem. He investigated in the frequency bands that were not being used by our systems and found their targeting frequencies. Then created jamming to bring another signals to confuse their system. Oh yes, now that I bring it up there were displays about jamming, counterintelligence, and more things that protected our troops and equipment. Fascinating! This is a wonderful museum to investigate if you have some time it's less than a couple miles from BWI and 5 bucks what a deal I enjoyed it a lot and will add it to my list of man you want to check this...

So you really need to be that science, engineering, technology, math loving nerd to want to come to this little gem by BWI airport. Parents, if you have a child that's into STEM and pointed towards an interest and possible career in the STEM areas, especially electrical engineering, you must bring them here. Unless there's a group of school kids here, this is one of those museums that is not overrun with a gazillion people, like a Smithsonian museum. But NOT for elementary school kids, unless you have a prodigy on your hands, so middle school and high school and up.

One of the WWII displays is the SCR-2700 radar system, and the antenna is displayed outside. This was the first military radar system deployed operationally, and this particular unit was produced in 1943, this same type radar system detected the Japanese aircraft approaching Oahu on that fateful day, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy.

Downsides are many of the displays need updating, they're too low to the floor, and the lighting is poor. I'm an amateur radio operator (N4VAE) and while the amateur radio station displayed was nice (and functional?), the video is really dated, circa 2006, and that won't do at all.

All in all a nice little gem of a museum, but no where near Smithsonian quality. Not altogether unexpected from a relatively small not-for-profit...

What a neat best-kept secret of Baltimore. My wife and I were bumped off a flight at BWI, but I had the Electronics Museum on my list of places to visit but we were never exactly going to be in the area until the morning of our flight home. So we directed a cab to take us there and experience all the hands-on glory of this museum. I definitely had more fun than she did, but that's okay, she knew I was excited to visit and all trip long we did things the other wanted to do and enjoyed the experience though and through, because that's what you do for the ones you love.

The museum accommodated us by allowing us to store our luggage in a back room and also had some neat vintage electronics for sale. Were we not getting on a return flight the next day and me not wanting to be held up any more by TSA, the airline, or otherwise, I declined to purchase anything, no matter how badly I wanted it!

Tickets were inexpensive so we left a donation for the museum as well.

This is a short walk to the bus that loops between the airport and the mall, so take advantage of this like we did. The bus stop isn't immediately obvious as it is only marked by a sign, but was...