Seventy years ago this month, the December 1948 issue of Popular Science offered these antenna suggestions. For tough reception areas such as office buildings and hotels, the tried-and-true loop antenna in the window could pull in the stations on the standard broadcast band. Four suction cups made for a neat installation,
And for that newfangled FM set, a dipole discretely tacked behind the sofa would probably pull in the local static-free station.
Sixty years ago this month, the December 1958 issue of Popular Electronics promised Christmas Fun with electronic robots. But unfortunately for the hapless newsstand buyer who bought the copy based upon the cover, the magazine didn’t include a construction article for the robots shown.
Instead, the magazine contained an article pointing out that robots were here to stay. The magazine was noncommittal on the issue of whether the robots would eventually run amok.
The young man shown here is working on his Morse Code skills thanks to a combination oscillator/blinker from the December 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics.
The set could make use of either a type 37 or 76 tube. Since both of these were older varieties, they were commonly found in discarded sets or the junk box.
The circuit ran on 6 volts, which could be supplied by either a car battery or four dry cells.
Eighty years ago this month, the December 1938 issue of Popular Science carried the plans for this miniature one-tube receiver built into a notebook.
Due to limited space, no tube socket was used. Instead, the connections were soldered directly to the pins of the miniature tube, with the tube sewn into place in the cover of the notebook.
Seventy-five years ago this month, the December 1943 issue of Radio Craft included a description of this light-phone reportedly in use by the Germans.
The set could operate in three modes: white light, red light, or infrared. Obviously, simple morse signalling was possible, but the beam could be modulated with audio.
The article noted that the applications of the device were rather limited, but wondered whether the Allies would be adopting a similar system at some point.
Eighty years ago this month, the December 1938 issue of Popular Science carried the plans for this portable radio designed for the fan who wanted to listen to the radio play-by-play while watching the big game.
According to the magazine, “when the final whistle blows, you’ll know a lot more about the plays you saw than will your neighbors in the football stands.”
Just because there was a war going on didn’t mean that you couldn’t listen to the radio while riding your bicycle, as shown in Popular Mechanics. December 1943.
The set was billed as a “big town” bike receiver, and the article pointed out that it would pull in the local stations “as you ride around in any city where powerful stations are located.” The set itself was just a crystal set, using a fixed detector. The set was mounted in a tin can, which in turn was afixed to the bike. The tuning condenser and headphone connections were conveniently accessible while riding, and a whip antenna was used to pull in the strong local signals.