Monthly Archives: July 2021

Family Emergency Preparedness Tips from 1951

1951JulBL1The July 1951 issue of Boys’ Life carried some pointers for Scouts to help prepare their families for disasters, such as storm, flood, fire, or even enemy attack.  One of the ideas is shown above:  The family can schedule a “survival picnic” where they will grab their survival rations and head out to the countryside where they turn it into a tasty meal.

Other pointers are shown below.  The family should be prepared for emergency cooking, and emergency beds “if your regular bedroom can’t be used.”  The beds were simplicity themselves:  Pleated blankets were simply affixed to posts with big nails.

The survival picnic doesn’t sound like a bad idea.  Maybe we’ll need to break out the car survival kit and make an expedient meal with it using the emergency stove.

1951JulBL2



Great Flood of 1951

1951Jul30LifeThis year marks the 70th anniversary of the Great Flood of 1951 along the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. With 17 deaths and almost a billion dollars in damage, the flood was the nations then-costliest natural disaster.

The photo above shows downtown North Topeka, Kansas, from the July 30, 1951, issue of Life magazine.

According to the November 1951 issue of QST, much of the Amateur Radio response to the flood focused around the U.S. Naval Reserve. Station K0NRZ at the Naval Reserve Training Center in Topeka maintained a continuous watch on local emergency frequency 29.5 MHz from July 11 to 15. On the 15th, a long-haul net was established on 7042 kHz and handled over 1000 messages through July 20.

One ham reportedly furnished handie-talkies (3885 kHz) which were used for communication between Army/Air Force trucks and Coast Guard boats engaged in sandbagging the levees.

The QST October issue also reported that the station K0NAB at the Naval Air Station in Olathe, KS, handled radio traffic for Western Union, whose lines were out.



1921 Radio Equipped Baby Carriage

1921JulSciInvOne hundred years ago this month, the July 1921 issue of Science and Invention proposed this idea of an early tracking device to prevent kidnappings. The photograph in the lower right hand corner served as the inspiration, as it showed a baby carriage equipped with a receiver to play lullabies sent by nearby amateur stations.

The magazine editors took the idea a step further and proposed a transmitter and tracking device, so that the kidnapper could quickly be brought to justice.



WLS 1941

1941Jul28BCEighty years ago, WLS in Chicago wanted to remind its advertisers of its importance to agriculture by running this ad in the July 28, 1941, issue of Broadcasting. The station knew that many farmers had a radio in the barn and listened to the station while they worked, so it asked them to write in and join the Radio in the Barn Club.

2000 farmers in 14 states responded, demonstrating that American farmers had come to depend on radio for its business value.



1941 Philco Radios

1941July27PghEighty years ago today, the July 27, 1941, issue of the Pittsburgh Press showed the Philco radio offerings for the upcoming model year.



Bikini Atoll Atomic Testing: 1946

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the second nuclear blast at Bikini Atoll, July 25, 1946.

THe test, dubbed Test Baker of Operation Crossroads, detonated a 23 kiloton bomb known as Helen of Bikini 90 feet under the surface of the water. It was suspended under a landing craft, no remains of which were ever found. Ten ships were sunk, and any ships that remained within a thousand yards were seriously damaged from below.



KPAC, Port Arthur College, TX

1941JulyRadioCraftEighty years ago this month, the July 1941 issue of Radio Craft carried this ad for the radio operator’s course offered by Port Arthur College, Port Arthur, TX, known today  as Lamar State College-Port Arthur.  The college was the licensee of KPAC, which the ad notes was the only commercial station licensed by a college.  As such, the modern facility had advertising representative in major cities, and was a full-fledged member of NAB and BMI.  As such, it promised many contacts with industry, and it reported that it received more requests for graduates than it could possibly satisfy.

KPAC was a successful commercial operation, with a top 40 format in the 1950s, moving to a middle of the road format in the 60s.  It was sold to Clear Channel in 1981, and the company attempted to use it to enter the Houston market by upgrading the FM signal.  The station was sold, and it currently operates as KDEI, a Spanish-language Catholic station.



1961 FM Antenna

1961JulPE260 years ago this month, the July 1961 issue of Popular Electronics showed this self-explanatory idea for an FM antenna.  The set’s two-wire power cord is replaced with one with three conductors.  The third conductor is inductively coupled to the power line, and feeds the set’s RF stage through a capacitor.



1946 Bendix Radios

1946Jul22LifeSeventy-five years ago today, the July 22, 1946, issue of Life magazine carried this ad showing the postwar radio lineup from Bendix, manufactured by the radio division of Bendix Aviation Corporation.

One of the sets, the model 646A, was dubbed an “invisible radio,” whose “phantom dial” would disappear when turned off, turning it into a beautiful end table. You can see a nicely restored specimen at this link.

The dial is covered by wood grain, and without the dial illuminated, it does indeed blend in to the rest of the furniture. The speaker grill is at the rear, helping with the illusion. The set originally sold for $84.95.