Michael wrote:
My question... Has LDE ever been noticed or logged prior to the days of
solid state and computer chip rigs ??? I'd love to know the first known
observations of this phenomenon.

A long-time member of the West Allis RAC told me - in the late 1970s -
of a LDE he'd heard some 20 years earlier.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com