The gentleman shown here didn’t bother battling Black Friday crowds to get the perfect gift for his wife.  He went down to the workshop and made something not available in any store–a radio concealed in a skillet.  As the article in the November 1949 issue of Popular Science points out, the kitchen was the wife’s workshop, and the radio brightened up hanging among the other pots and pans as a decorative addition.  As the article notes, it would allow her to listen to music, news, and soap operas, “and sometimes remind her that it’s later than she thinks.”

Before constructing the set, the builder had to give some thought to where it would be hung. The circuit shown in the magazine included a loop antenna, but the magazine cautioned that if it were hung on a metal cabinet, the shielding would mean that the loop wouldn’t work very well. In that case, an antenna coil and external antenna could be used.

The set was an “All American Five” five-tube superhet, and the magazine cautioned that one had to be careful making it so that it wouldn’t prove a shock hazard around the water pipes in the kitchen. Since one side of the line cord could be “hot,” there could be no direct connection from the set’s ground to the pan. Any necessary connections needed to be through a capacitor or high-value resistor.

The example shown here was for a ten inch skillet. The first step was to plot out the position of components in the skillet that was used. Virtually any skillet of any material, old or new, could be used.

In fact, the editors add the following P.S. at the end of the article: “P.S. How about giving your wife a new pan and using her old one for this project?”

I bet his wife was overjoyed.

Eighty years ago this month, RCA’s newsletter for hams, RCA Ham Tips, November 1939, carried this two-tube transmitter for 40 and 20 meters. The circuit was submitted to the magazine by Cuban Adolfo Dominguez, Jr., CM2AD, who earned himself a new 809 tube and $5. It used a 6L6-G (an RCA 6L6-G, to be specific) oscillator which drove an 809 final. CM2AD reported that he had built three such rigs for friends, and they all worked well. In fact, he had used the rig himself for Worked All Continents and Worked All States, with 62 countries worked.

The set used 40 meter crystals for both bands. Having first been licensed in the 1970s, to me, Cuban CW signals are synonymous with chirp. That was apparently the case in 1939, as the editors diplomatically raised the subject: “Although CM2AD did not mention trouble from ‘chirps’ when the 6L6-G is keyed, it is possible that a steadier note can be obtained” by making a slight modification to the circuit.

CM2AD had the same circuit published in QST in the May, 1939, issue.

Since the early 1950’s, most U.S. amateur radio operators shared the same privileges. With the exception of novice and technician licensees, all hams (general, advanced, and extra class) could operate on the same frequencies.

The Soviet Sputnik served as a wake-up call for U.S. science, and one result was that there was a call for better training of hams. It was reasoned that they should learn how to pass the tougher tests, and that they needed an incentive to do so.

Thus, “incentive licensing” was born. Even though it’s been over a half century and most of the supposed bad guys (as well as most of the “victims”) are dead, there’s still resentment in some quarters. This is because many hams lost privileges with incentive licensing, and they had to pass more tests to get those privileges back.

The first phase of incentive licensing took place in November 1968. The new rules had been announced some time in advance, and many hams had used the time to upgrade to advanced or extra. For those who hadn’t, some privileges were taken away in 1968. And 50 years ago today, November 23, 1969, the second phase took effect. As of that date, the privileges were as shown in the chart above, which was taken from the November, 1969, issue of Popular Electronics.

Similar privileges were in effect when I got my license a few years later, although there had been some changes. First of all, the exclusive extra CW segment when I got licensed was the bottom 25 kHz of 80, 40, 20, and 15, as opposed to the 50 kHz shown here. Also, the novice privileges had changed slightly. When I got my license, novices no longer had 2 meter privileges. (A few years before, novices had been allowed ‘phone on 2 meters, but by 1969, it was CW only.) The 15 meter novice band got a little smaller, as the top 50 kHz were shaved off.  By 1974, novices were also allowed on 28,1 to 28.2 MHz CW.  Finally, the 40 meter novice band was shifted down to 7.1 – 7.15 MHz by the time I was licensed.