If you’re looking for data on tubes from the mid-1930’s, then the July 1936 issue of Radio News is probably a good place to look, since the issue was devoted to tubes.
However, even if you don’t read it for the articles, you’ll enjoy the cover art, reproduced here.
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The young gentlemen shown here are currently about 85 years old. They are shown in the July 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics demonstrating the operation of two of the seven crystal set circuits in the accompanying article.
The article noted that distant reception was possible under certain favorable and unusual conditions, but a crystal set was normally limited to a range of about ten miles. All of the circuits used a fixed detector. The simplest one was tuned by tapping the coil at various points. More complex circuits used various tricks to coax out as much signal as possible. The article stressed the importance of a long high antenna, and grounding to a cold water pipe.
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The plans for this simple one-tube regenerative shortwave receiver appeared in Popular Science 80 years ago this month, July 1936.
It used a single 6C5 metal triode. The tube, as well as the other components, are readily available, although the modern components might have a slightly different look. According to the author, the set’s volume and sensitivity equalled those of more complicated circuits. From the author’s home in Nebraska, the set pulled in amateur, police, air-mail, and commercial shortwave stations from all around the country with excellent headphone volume. The author was also able to pull in foreign stations, despite a relatively short antenna and being in the middle of a noisy business district. The total cost of the parts was about five dollars.
The plans showed coil winding data for plug-in coils for 10 through 160 meters.
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Taking down my station after operating.
Glacial pothole at Interstate State Park. National Park Service photo.
On the Fourth of July, I did another activation for National Parks On The Air (NPOTA), an event in which amateur radio operators set up portable stations at National Park units and make contact with other amateurs at home. The event has been very popular, and there have been hundreds of thousands of contacts made from the parks. Even though I don’t live near an actual National Park, there are hundreds of National Park units around the country, many of which are close to home. Three of them are located in Wisconsin very close to the Twin Cities area. Those are the St. Croix Wild and Scenic River, the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, and the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. The trail covers 1200 miles as it loops through Wisconsin, the river is the state’s western boundary, and the Scientific Reserve is made up on nine Wisconsin State Parks, one of which is Interstate State Park, located less than an hour from Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. The trail and scientific reserve get their name from the geological features, since the landscape was carved out by the glaciers. The spot from which I operated was called the Pothole Trail, since it contains massive potholes carved into the rock by the action of rushing water as the glaciers receded.
Myself and my assistants at the trailhead before starting the arduous quarter mile hike to the operating location.
In my earlier trip to scout out the area, I confirmed that there was a small area where the three National Park units came together. The park’s western boundary is the river, so any operation within 100 feet of the water qualifies as being from the river. Operation from the scenic trail must be within 50 yards of the trail, and the operating location must be reached using human power. For most of my river and park activations, I’ve operated from my vehicle. But in order to activate all three units simultaneously, I needed to reach the site on foot. In my earlier trip, I did confirm that there were spots within 100 feet of the water and 50 yards of the trail. I forwarded this information to ARRL, which made the spot a “threefer” for NPOTA purposes. This week, together with my wife and daughter, I set out to operate from that small area. (My son is at scout camp this week at Tomahawk Scout Reservation, which coincidentally also lies along the Ice Age Trail near Rice Lake, Wisconsin.)
At the marker showing the western terminus of the trail. My station is contained in the blue bag over my left shoulder. The golf ball retriever served as walking stick and antenna support.
My station consisted of my Yaesu FT-817, powered by a 12 volt sealed lead acid fish finder battery, The antenna consisted of a 20 meter inverted vee supported by my trusty golf ball retriever in the center and tied to some convenient trees with string. I carried a folding chair, and my operating table consisted of a boulder conveniently left behind by the last glacier.
As I was setting up, I ran into another ham, KD0IYR, who happened to be climbing in the area. To help ensure I made my required ten contacts, I handed him my $30 Baofeng UV-5R and worked him twice, on 2 meters and 70 cm. I then worked my wife, KC0OIA, on both of those bands. With four contacts out of the way, I only needed an additional six to make the activation official.
After setting up my antenna, I started calling CQ, and had my wife spot me on DXSummit.fi. Within seconds of her posting the spot, I had callers. I made ten contacts in the next fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, after fifteen minutes, the spot disappeared off the DX cluster page, and I didn’t get any more replies. I made my ten contacts, even without counting the four orchestrated ones, but it’s still somewhat disappointing how many chasers depend on the cluster, when there are easy units to be worked simply by tuning around and listening. My best DX was S58AL in Slovenia.
After things quieted down, I tuned around and worked K2M, one of the stations in the Thirteen Colonies operating event. Band conditions were not the best, but I did tune the phone band. I heard one other park on the air, but was unable to raise him before he had to QRT. I called CQ for a few minutes on SSB, but with no takers.
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One hundred years ago today, July 5, 1916, the U.S. Gulf coast was hit by a hurricane. Mobile and Pennsacola were cut off from the outside world, and New Orleans suffered major effects. The storm was initially reported on July 3 near Swan Island. Weather along the coast was ordinary on the 4th of July, but the barometer kept dropping. Winds at Mobile eventually peaked on the 5th at 106 MPH, and the barometer fell to 28.92 inches.
Warnings were surprisingly effective. In addition, the fact that the storm made its presence known on a holiday meant that the number of ships in peril were minimal.
The weather bureau at New Orleans reported that the “warning was given an extraordinary distribution. It was send by telephone to the docks with instructions to send it to Grand Isle by motorboat. The boat traveled 18 miles, warning points along the way. The warning was also sent to all telephone exchanges with instructions to disseminate the warning widely. It was also sent to all telegraph stations with similar instructions.
Those warnings were heeded, and most craft remained in port. At New Orleans, a number of vessels stopped in the Mississippi until advised that it was safe to proceed. In addition, all trains crossing Lake Pontchartrain were suspended. Similar warnings were distributed at Pensacola and other points.
Cotton bale debris in Mobile.
References
July 4 a century ago and again 75 years ago both had the distinction of being the last Independence Days prior to war. In this cartoon from the Bismarck Daily Tribune, July 4, 1916, Uncle Sam is clearly pondering war on his 140th birthday.
Just a quarter century later, the July 4, 1941, issue of the Chicago Tribune carried the pro-neutrality cartoon below.
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Bill is cheerful about it, but you have to wonder whether he’s questioning his wisdom in building the audio amplifier described 75 years ago this month in the July 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics.
The simple device used a single 117N7GT, a rectifier and beam-power tube, and ran right off AC power. The article described four uses for the little amp. First, it could be used to provide loudspeaker volume from a crystal set or one-tube radio. It could even be used as a B-battery eliminator for a set (although the article cautioned that if used in this way, the radio could not be directly grounded). Third, it could be used as a phonograph amplifier with a crystal pickup.
The fourth proposed use is how Bill wound up using his. With a micropone, “it becomes a serviceable low power public address unit. The speaker unit may be connected to long cabled leads between counter room and kitchen in small cafes and sandwich shops, or (as Bill wound up doing) between the basement and other rooms in the home.”
Bill undoubtedly reasoned that this would be the most convenient use for his amplifier. But perhaps he’s having second thoughts. He’s in the basement trying to fix a fan when the summons comes over the horn: “Hi! Bill bring up the screwdriver.”
Bill seems like a cheerful sort, and it looks like fixing the fan will have to wait. But as he brings up the screwdriver, I wonder whether he’s thinking that he should have made himself a phonograph.
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Here are what the U.S. frequency allocation chart looked like ninety years ago, as shown in the July 1926 issue of Radio Broadcast magazine.
These allocations had been adopted at the Fourth National Radio Conference, and differed only slighly from those adopted at the earlier conference.
As you can see, some of these allocations are familiar. Marine uses were between 235 and 500 kHz, with the calling and distress frequency set at 500 kHz. The broadcast band was set at 550-1500 kHz, with no allocations yet set for shortwave broadcasting.
Hams had an exclusive allocation on 160 meters, which extended from 1500-2000 kHz (the lower frequency edge of which was 200 meters, reflecting that hams had been relegated to “200 meters and down” after the war).
Hams also had non-exclusive allocations on 80 meters (3500-4000 kHz, the same as today), 40 meters (a generous 7000-8000 kHz), and 20 meters (an even more generous 14000-16000 kHz).
The ten meter band had not yet been allocated to hams, with the entire range of 18.1-56 MHz designated merely as “experimental.” Hams had not yet been assigned an allocation at 2-1/2 meters, but the 5 meter band was set at 56-64 MHz.
The highest allocation was that to amateurs at 400-401 MHz.
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Today marks the 75th anniversary of commercial television broadcasting in the United States.
On May 2, 1941, the FCC issued the first ten commercial television licenses. (Many of these stations had been operating under experimental licenses prior to this date.) Under the license terms, the stations were required to broadcast fifteen hours per week.
The first television commerical is shown in this video. It aired on WNBT New York before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadephia Phillies.
References
Radio Today, July 1941, p. 28.
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