Monthly Archives: October 2020

Halloween Broadcast

Happy Halloween from OneTubeRadio.com!

For Halloween, I am doing a special broadcast for the neighborhood. If you discovered this page from that broadcast, welcome to OneTubeRadio.com, a blog covering mostly radio history, but also other eclectic topics. If you are outside of our broadcast range, you can listen to the full broadcast by clicking the play button below:

Tonight’s broadcast features War of the Worlds, originally broadcast on CBS radio on October 30, 1938. It also includes Halloween music from French artist Chez Mon Plaisir, who has graciously placed the music in the public domain under a Creative Commons 0 license. It is available for download at FreeMusicArchive.org.

We are transmitting with our InfOspot Talking House transmitter, which I previously reviewed at this link. It is an FCC-certified transmitter for the AM band and operates with 100 milliwatts to a 3-meter antenna. Tonight, we are broadcasting at 1610 kHz on your AM dial. It has fairly solid coverage for about two blocks, and in a few spots, can be heard over a mile away. During COVID-19, I have used this transmitter for drive-in educational programs for my continuing legal education business. It is also suitable for other socially distanced activities, such as church services and meetings of community organizations. It could potentially be an important community resource in emergencies. And tonight, I hope it’s providing some Halloween entertainment to the neighborhood.

Reception reports are welcome. You can contact us at como-radio@usa.net.

Happy Halloween!

Chicago Public Library Image.

Happy Halloween from OneTubeRadio.com!

The Windy City youngsters shown here have been collecting Social Security for a few years now, but in 1960, they were celebrating Halloween at Jackie Robinson Park, Chicago.

And in 1947, the young women shown below were participants in the Anaheim, CA, Halloween Slick Chick Beauty Contest.

Wikipedia image.

1960 Two Tube Longwave Receiver

The plans for this handsome two-tube long wave receiver appeared in the Fall 1960 issue of Radio-TV Experimenter.

The AC-DC set used two dual tubes. The two halves of the 6AN8 served as RF amplifier and regenerative detector. Half the 6AU8 was used as audio amplifier, with the triode section pressed into service as rectifier. The set covered 85-550 kHz, and with modification (addition of a coil) could be pressed into service on the broadcast band.

The article addressed the kinds of signals that could be heard on the long waves. At the time, they included the old A-N aviation beacons we’ve previously described.

Safety in the Dark: 1940 Winchester Ad

Eighty years ago today, this ad appeared in the October 28, 1940, issue of Life magazine, for the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It reminds that for convenience and safety, you should carry and use their product regularly. Using it in the dark would save lives and prevent accidents.

1945 Walnut Microphone

We’ve previously shown ideas for homemade microphones, but unlike this one from75 years ago, none of them were made out of a walnut.

This one, from the October 1945 issue of Radio Craft is, indeed, housed inside a walnut. In addition to the large walnut shell, the required components are “a cord, a little cotton batting, a piece of tinfoil, and a few odds and ends.” The heart of the condenser mike is a diaphragm made of thin copper or tin foil, specifically, “the stiff kind, such as used to be used on cards of buttons.”

The foil is stretched carefully over one half of the shell. Through the other half of the shell a cork is inserted, and a brass screw passes through to a washer which is held in place just next to the foil. The article includes a circuit for a preamplifier. The author notes that the completed microphone “needs plenty of amplification, but the quality is as good as that of any commercial microphone I have ever heard.”

Monkey Kills King of Greece, 1920

Alexander. Wikipedia photo.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Alexander, King of Greece, on October 25, 2020. Alexander assumed the throne in 1917 upon the exile of his father, King Constantine I.

Alexander’s short reign was not a happy one. His father, a supporter of Germany, even though ostensibly neutral, was deposed by the Prime Minister, along with his first son, the crown prince. Alexander was brought in, but basically imprisoned in the royal estate.

Barbary macaque. Wikipedia photo.

On October 2, 2020, he was out for a walk on the grounds of the estate. Somehow, his German Shepherd, Fritz, got into a fight with a monkey belonging to the steward of the palace grapevines (to be specific, a Barbary macaque monkey). The king managed to get the animals separated, but in the process was bit. The wounds were promptly attended to, and they were not believed to be serious. The king asked that the incident be kept quiet, and he returned to the palace.

Unfortunately, an infection set in, and the king developed a fever and sepsis. He died on October 25, 1920.

UN 75th Anniverssary

Photo, Minn. Historical Society, via Minn. Alumni Assn.

For better or worse, the United Nations came into existence on this day 75 years ago, October 24, 1945. The organization came about as the result of the conference in San Francisco that summer, while the war in the Pacific was still raging. Shown above is former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen signing the charter as part of the U.S. delegation. At the time of his death in 2001, Stassen had been, for a number of years, the last living signatory of that document.

1970 Continuity Tester/Code Oscillator

Fifty years ago, the October-November 1970 issue of Science and Electronics showed how to put together, at a total parts cost of about $4, this combination continuity-tester/code practice oscillator.

The circuit was dubbed by the author the “CON-TEST,” since it was first and foremost a continuity tester. But as the photo above shows, it was very suitable for use as a code practice oscillator.

The choice of transistor was not critical, but the author used a 2N170 for the audio oscillator, along with a 2N174 audio amplifier to produce some room-filling volume.

Students Tour Winnipeg Radio Station, 1940

Eighty years ago this month, these students toured the facilities of CKY radio in Winnipeg. The photo appeared in the October 1940 issue of Manitoba Calling,
the station’s program guide. The students were from the Riverbend School, and were being given a tour of the station by Mr. A. McLean, the station’s official guide. According to the magazine, great numbers of attentive students visited the station. Schools interested in arranging a tour were encouraged to call the station’s public relations department.

1940 RCA Ad

This ad showing RCA’s product lineup for 1941 appeared 80 years ago today, in the October 21, 1940, issue of Life magazine.

For those on a budget, the model 45X-1 for $9.95. The ad bills that set as having one police band, but in reality, it covers the broadcast band but with a bit of extended coverage to pull in police calls in many areas.

The most expensive of the table radios shown is the 18T for $49.95. That 8-tube set featured six pushbuttons and two shortwave bands for pulling in the war news from Europe. At the top of the line of the tabletop radio-phonos was the V-102, a 7 tube set which appears to be broadcast only, for $59.95.

For a larger view of the ad, from most browsers, click twice on the image.