Monthly Archives: September 2016

1917 Crystal Set

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I don’t have any information about this set, other than that it appears to be a well-made crystal set from 1917.

These photos were sent to me by Donald O. Caselli, the President of the Tuckerton Historical Society.  The set was donated many years ago to the Tuckerton Historical Society Giffordtown Museum in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, where it is currently housed.

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Acknowledgment

I would like to thank  Donald O. Caselli, President of the Tuckerton Historical Society, for sharing these images.

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Charles “Ten Four” Hopper

1941ILStatePoliceRadio

A few weeks ago, I featured the photo shown here of the zone and interzone console of the Illinois State Patrol radio in 1941, from the July-August 1941 issue of National Radio News.  Once again, I heard from reader Bob Ballantine, W8SU, who has a special interest in the history of police radio, being retired from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

He pointed out that one of the officers shown in this picture (unfortunately, the issue of National Radio News from which it is taken doesn’t identify which is which) is famous in his own right.

Officer Charles “Ten Four” Hopper, born in 1906, is credited as the creator of the iconic “ten code” signal system used by decades by police officers.  During a time when radio time was limited, he recognized the need to abbreviate long transmissions, and came up with the number codes for common phrases.  The “ten” prefix was apparently designed to ensure that the message went through when the officer keyed up the mike, since the radio’s dynamotor power supply needed to come up to speed, and the first bit of a transmission might be lost.

The codes were originally proposed in 1935, and adopted in 1937 by the Association of Police Communications Officers (APCO).

Hopper was apparently licensed as a ham. There’s a listing for a Charles L. Hopper as W9THK in Springfield, Illinois, in the 1937 call book.

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How Television Benefits Your Children

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Sixty-five years ago today, Motorola explained in this ad, appearing in the Pittsburgh Press, September 5, 1950, how parents could benefit their children. Of course, there’s only one possible answer, and that was television!

The ad shows the happy children watching Howdy Doody, and the caption proclaims, “home, sweet TV home! Peace! Quiet! No more ‘rainy day riots’ with television keeping small fry out of mischief, and out of mother’s hair.”

The ad even quoted one child psychology expert who noted that “taking away television from children who act up is a punishment that really works. The very thought of missing some pet program turns little lions into lambs. And incidentally, those favorite programs in the late afternoon are the world’s finest magnet for getting tardy youngsters home on time for dinner.”

And there were more benefits to television. Educators, religious and social workers all agreed that TV was a strong force for bringing parents and children together to enjoy clean, wholesome entertainment right in the home.

There was apparently a rumor going around that TV caused eyestrain, and Motorola nipped this in the bud by quoting the Journal of the American Medical Association in stating that television in itself does not produce eyestrain. It noted that if television seemed to tire a child’s eyes, the probable answer was that the child needs an eye examination.

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Dyna-Scan Flying Spot Video Generator, 1956

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This ad for an interesting piece of test equipment appeared 60 years ago in the September, 1956, issue of Radio Electronics magazine.

It shows an early pattern generator for the TV serviceman, the Model 1000 Dyna-Scan video generator from B&K Manufacturing Co., 3726 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago. The device was quite ingenious, and had a number of applications besides service.

The principle of operation was quite simple. The image which was to be converted to video was printed on a transparency. This could contain the test pattern or bar or dot patterns that were included with the unit. The transparency was placed in front of a CRT which served as a “flying spot” generator, in much the same way as a “flying spot” was employed by some early mechanical television systems.

Since the CRT did the scanning, a 931A photomultiplier tube placed on the other side of the transparency would pick up the video signal, synched with the scanning of the CRT. This model apparently used the ultraviolet images emitted by the CRT, so it appears to function even with the tube exposed to other light. Images of one of these in operation can be seen at this link.

The unit could also transmit an audio signal, and had a built-in RF modulator which could be tuned to any VHF channel.

Because the unit was a relatively low-cost method of generating a TV signal, it had other uses besides the serviceman’s shop. It could be used at the head end of a community antenna TV system to send an audio or video signal. Since any message could be put on the transparency, this allowed video announcements to be transmitted. It was also billed for use as a paging system for use in a hospital or similar application. Messages could be written on a transparency, and viewed by a standard television elsewhere in the building.

The device sold for $199.95, but the advertisement also showed a less expensive version. For $69.95, you could buy the Model 950, which included the pickup and RF generator only, but without the CRT. This could be used along with a “properly modified 10-inch TV set which acts as your external flying spot scanner.” This version also came with a set of three transparencies.

Some good pictures showing the device in operation can be found at this link, and some more pictures and a schematic can be found at the Radio Museum.

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Jean Hudson Magri, W2TEF

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A few weeks ago, I included some information about Jean Hudson, who received her amateur license in 1933 at the age of eight years old.  She went on to win a championship in copying code, and was featured in advertisements for “the Candler System,” an amateur radio training course.

I wasn’t able find any more information about her after 1945, but I did hear from reader Bob Ballantine, W8SU, who provided more information, as well as the undated photograph shown above and the 1933 and 1935 QSL’s shown below:

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w3bak 1935 family articleHe also included the following “Strange As It Seems” cartoon from October 11, 1933, showing Jean at the radio, as well as the newspaper clipping (apparently from 1935, as it identified Jean as being 11 years old).  (Click on the image to view the full article).

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He also provided a vital clue, in the form of her married name, Jean Hudson Magri.  Mrs. Magri passed away in 1997, and is buried in Union Cemetery, Georgetown, Sussex County, Delaware.

After the war, Jean was licensed as W2TEF.  She received a degree in physics from Manhattanville College in New York, and served as the trustee of the college station, W2QPB.

Jean’s sister, Dorothy Hudson Elliot, W3IRR, who was also mentioned in the earlier article, was licensed at the age of 17.  She passed away in 2014 at the age of 100.

Thank you to W8SU for providing the additional information and photo.

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1936 Talking Briefcase Receiver

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Eighty years ago, the September 1936 issue of Radio Craft magazine carried the plans for this “talking briefcase” receiver.

The authors of the project article, Hugo Gernsback and J.T. Bernsley, noted that the set’s novelty and usefulness had been well attested to by hundreds of admiring and envious comments made by spectators who saw the set operating on the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan. They noted that while there had been other portables, nobody had really seen a true pedestrian set until this one came along.

The set was a four tube TRF, with a total weight under 11 pounds, including briefcase, chassis, and batteries. A modern magnetic speaker with alnico magnet provided excellent tone quality. A TRF circuit was chosen due to simplicity of construction, as well as the fact that a serviceman’s signal generator wouldn’t be required to align the set, as would be the case with a superhet. A 3-gang variable condenser tuned all of the stages simultaneously.

The set featured two 1A4 tubes as RF amplifiers, a 32 detector, and type 95D serving as AF amp. No antenna or ground was required. Wire was wrapped around the handle of the briefcase, and when carried, the owner’s body was capacitively coupled and served as the antenna. For use when not walking, a 10-15 foot section of wire could be tossed on the floor to serve as antenna.

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1946: Grand Feeling to Log a New Ham Station

1946SeptPM2According to this Texaco ad from seventy years ago, using the right lubricant for your car is almost as good as ham radio.

The ad proclaims that it’s a grand feeling to log a new ham station, and it’s also a grand feeling when your car is cushioned with Marfak chassis lubrication from Texoco, which gives a car that “cushiony” feeling for at least a thousand miles.

With ordinary greese, according to the ad, you’re taking the road shocks after a few hundred miles. But Marfak from Texaco stayed on the job hundreds of miles longer for more velvet smooth riding, as depicted by the car supported by balloons.

The ad appeared in the September 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics.

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