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Monthly Archives: September 2023
1943 Barb-Wire Telephone
Eighty years ago this month, the September 1943 issue of Radio Craft carried this circuit, dubbed the “barb-wire telephone.” It was sent in to the magazine by one Fred H. Randolph (from another submission to the magazine, apparently of Booneville, AR), who reported using it to communicate with a friend three miles away, courtesy of an iron fence wire. The circuit is nothing more than an audio amplifier using a carbon button mike, and puts out enough power to drive a speaker at the other end of the circuit, where an identical unit is located.
Courtney’s Radio Service, Stratford, CT, 1943
The cover of Radio Retailing, September 1943, was a tribute to the WWW. No, it had nothing to do with the internet–it was honoring Women War Workers, such as Mrs. Wallace Courtney of Courtney’s Radio Service, Stratford, CT.
Before the war, the shop was run by her husband, who had recently taken a job in a war plant installing radios in planes. Despite shortages of both parts and help, Mrs. Courtney, also the mother of a 12 year old boy, kept sets moving along as fast as possible.
The magazine noted that Mrs. Courtney was typical of a lot of American wives and mothers, who without any fuss or furor, had stepped calmly into their men’s places for the duration.
1963 Homemade Microphone
We’ve previously shown (here, here, here, and here) other homemade microphones. This idea for a carbon mike appeared in Electronics Illustrated, September 1963. The mike element itself is made of carbon granules. These are obtained by cutting open an old carbon-zinc battery and removing the carbon rod.
You grind them up finely with a file, or by using a metal rod as a rolling pin. The resulting granules are placed in a plastic bottle cap, and wired to a battery and transformer. Almost any type of transformer can be used, either an audio transformer or power transformer. The larger winding is connected to the mike element. The cap is set on top of a paper tube 2-3 inches in diameter, into which you speak.
Alabama Schools Integrated: 1963
Sixty years ago today, schools were desegregated in Alabama, as reported here in the September 5, 1963, issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A hundred white persons were on hand to protest the two black children, Dwight and Floyd Armstrong, but according to the paper, the disorder was short lived.
Democratic Governor George Wallace didn’t intervene, but he did state that this was only the first battle. About a week later, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed, killing four young girls. Shortly thereafter, the church received over $300,000 (about $3 million in 2023 dollars) in unsolicited donations.
1923 Radio Walking Chair for Baby
A hundred years ago, this youngster is literally getting off on the right foot, thanks to this walking chair on which an eastern mother has installed a radio. Any station could be tuned in, and the child left to enjoy a concert or stories from the air. “Meanwhile, the child is able to push itself about and be entertained, and the cares of the mother are lightened.”
The photo appeared in the September 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics.
1938 One-Tube Shortwave Receiver
This young woman is now about 90 years old, but in the September 1938 issue of Popular Mechanics, she is shown helping her father pull in a shortwave signal with the simple one-tube receiver described in that issue. It uses an RK-43 dual triode tube as regenerative detector and audio amplifier.
The set can be initially constructed for the standard broadcast band. Then, to pull in the shortwaves, a fixed capacitor is switched in series with the main tuning capacitor to lower its capacitance. In addition, shortwave coils are used in place of the coil for the broadcast band.
