Monthly Archives: November 2022

1922 British Frame Antenna & Variable Capacitor

A hundred years ago, this young British woman was pulling in some signals from her garden at 1276 Leeds Road, Bradford. She is undoubtedly the daughter of one Mr. C.R. Land, who constructed the set and sent the picture to Practical Wireless, where it appeared in the November 1922 issue.

The issue also showed an interesting method of constructing a variable capacitor, as shown below. The magazine noted that they could be expensive and difficult to make, but this version was relatively easy to construct at home. It consisted of two sheets of zinc carefully rolled into tubes and soldered together. The dielectric consisted of waxed paper.

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Science Fair Ideas: 1937 Electric Motor

If Junior wants to impress the judges at the science fair with attention to detail, skill with hand tools, and a generally spectacular project, then this 1985 project is sure to fit the bill. It’s a small electric motor, capable of providing some motive power to other projects.

The diagram shows old-fashioned dry cells, but modern alkaline D cells will work just as well, especially if you get battery holders to keep them in place.

The November 1937 issue of Popular Science shows the complete blueprints for the motor, but without too many verbose instructions. So as long as Junior can read a set a blueprints, the blue ribbon is pretty much assured.

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Book Review: War Diaries by Volodymyr Gurtovy

My friend Volodymyr “Wlad” Gurtovy, US7IGN, has published a book about his experiences living in Kyiv, Ukraine, in the middle of a war. Wlad, like me, is an attorney, and lived a middle-class existence similar to mine, until Russia invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014. He and his family then relocated to Kyiv, but with Russia’s 2022 invasion, he was once again in the middle of the war. His wife and teen son and daughter evacuated to Poland, where they were able to find an apartment, thanks in part to the generosity of friends in America and elsewhere.

He remained behind, partly because he was prohibited by law from leaving, but mostly because he felt the need to stay behind and defend his native land.

The most compelling part of his book is his account of the mundane details of life in the middle of a war. Wlad lives in a fifth-floor apartment building in the middle of a city of 2.8 million (prewar population). Some days, the supermarkets are open, and some days they are not. The mail continues to go through, but some days, it’s too dangerous to go to the post office to pick it up. Power, water, and heat are sometimes turned on, but they’re often unavailable. When he needed dental work, he was surprised to find the dental office near his home open, staffed by dental students. There are even a few accounts of his visits to court on behalf of some pro bono client. To me, the descriptions of how he navigates this dystopia are fascinating, especially since his life prior to the war wasn’t too different from mine. Many who follow this blog have an interest in emergency preparedness, and I’m sure they will also find this book compelling.

Of course, since Wlad is a ham, radio is a main character in the story. He gets much of his information from the broadcast radio, and one of his main roles has become that of radio repairman so that others can remain in touch when their radio has problems. He also recounts listening in directly to Russian pilots and both Russian and Ukrainian troops.

As the title suggests, it’s written in chronological format, and you’ll have a hard time putting it down, wondering what’s going to happen the next day.

The book is available at Amazon, as a paperback, hard cover, or Kindle.

If you feel moved to provide additional assistance to Wlad’s family, please see our crowdfunding campaign to help with their needs at GoFundMe or GiveSendGo.

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1962 Westinghouse Saranade Part 15 Doll

Sixty years ago, the editors of Popular Mechanics did some testing of the latest toy offerings to see how they would hold up to rough use. The results appeared in the November 1962 issue.

One of the most intriguing toys they tested was the $40 Saranade doll from Westinghouse, shown above. But Saranade was much more than a doll. She was what one site called a “creepy Part 15 doll.” She came complete with her own record player (which played all speeds, 78 through 16 RPM). But it wasn’t just any record player. The player had a “DOLL – PHONO” switch. In the phono position, it played just like any other record player. But in the doll position, the speaker cut out, and the sound came out of a speaker strategically placed in the doll’s stomach.

The player had a one-tube amplifier inside, and when the switch was flipped, it became a transmitter on 180 kHz, in the Part 15 Lowfer band. In fact, it’s the only commercial product that I can think of that took advantage of this band. The doll contained a receiver, apparently transistorized, tuned to this signal. The doll contained neither tuning nor volume control. Fine tuning was accomplished with a control on the record player.

As with other toys reviewed, both the doll and record player survived drop tests, and were pronounced by the editors to be suitable for rough service at the hands of kids. Other items reviewed were the megaphone and perfume kit shown below, as well as the General Electric model EF 150 5 transistor shortwave receiver kit, which retailed for $29.95.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from OneTubeRadio.com!

A hundred years ago, Thanksgiving 1922 was to be a radio Thanksgiving, as shown in this ad in the Washington Times, Nov. 26, 1922. There were 35,000 radio receivers in Washington, and to celebrate the holiday, the Continental Electric Supply Co., 808 9th St., was sponsoring a concert on station WIL at 3:00 PM.

Ten Commandments for Radio Fans: 1922

A hundred years ago, radio was definitely becoming a phenomenon, as evidenced by making the cover of Popular Science, November 1922.

The magazine contained ten commandments for the radio fan, authored by Jack Binns, described by the magazine as America’s most popular writer on radio. Many of the commandments are common sense, such as “learn how to use your tuner properly,” although most are outdated, such as “do not use a loop aerial with a crystal detector.”

The second commandment admonishes the reader not to make the ground connection with a gas pipe, but it’s not for the reason you might think. It turns out that gas pipes are insulated at certain points, so it just wouldn’t work very well.

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Hitler’s First Mention in the New York Times: Nov. 21, 1922

A hundred years ago today, November 21, 1922, Hitler first made the pages of the New York Times, page 18 to be specific. The newspaper’s Munich correspondent concluded that the “Nationalistic anit-Semitic movement (the word “Nazi” didn’t appear in the article) has now reached a point where it is consiered potentially dangerous, though not for the immediate future.”

The paper noted that the anti-Semitic propaganda had reached a point where “a number of prominent Jewish citizens have sought asylums in the Bavarian highlands, easily reached by fast motor cars, whence they could hurry their women and children when forewarned for an anti-Semitic St. Bartholomew’s night,” (which happened eleven years later).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht

But the paper reassured readers that this couldn’t happen: “Several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused.”

Interestingly, the article presupposes that reader’s have some knowledge of Hitler, as the article doesn’t bother to use his full name.

If you have a New York Times account, you can view the full article at the link above. Otherwise, you can find a copy at this link.

Meissner 2-CW Transmitter, 1952

Seventy years ago this month, the November 1952 issue of Radio News introduced this transmitter for the novice. While the article contained the full details for constructing the set, it was really a kit, the Messner Model 2-CW. According to that company’s 1954 catalog, the kit retailed for $40, plus $5.50 for a plug-in coil for the desired band. Normally, the novice would start out on 80 meters, with the included coil, but as they upgraded, they could buy coils for 40, 20, 15, or 10 meters.

The transmitter used a single 6L6 tube, plus a rectifier, and was self-contained with a built-in power supply. Cathode keying was promised to keep chirp to a minimum.

1922 Drone Delivery

Amazon might be starting drone delivery any day now, but as we can see here, it’s not a new idea. A hundred years ago this month, the cover of the November 1922 issue of Popular Wireless showed Major Raymond Phillips’ “famous” method for wireless controlled aerial mail. The issue included part of a series written by Major Phillips with some of the technical details of his system.

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1947 Police Radar

Seventy-five years ago this month, the cover of Radio Craft magazine for November 1947 showed this Connecticut State Police officer studying traffic speeds courtesy of a radar, the Electro-Matic Speed Meter from Eastern Industries Ltd. of Norwalk, CT.

The complete unit consisted of three parts, the transmitter-receiver with built-in antenna, the indicator-amplifier, and a power supply. The radar used the doppler effect, since the reflection from an incoming object shortened the wavelength, and this could be measured and correlated with speed.

A number of the units were being tested, and the magazine noted that those tests would probably result in the adoption of radar speed control throughout the state.

According to the magazine, Connecticut speeders protesting that they were only doing forty would soon find themselves arguing with radar.

The complete apparatus weighed in at only 45 pounds, and could operate on either 120 volts AC or 6 volts DC. The radar signal on 2455 MHz was about 0.1 watt. The magazine noted that the radar required an FCC station license, but since it was so easy to operate, no operator’s license was required.