Sixty years ago this month, the June 1964 issue of QST carried this hint (or is it a kink?) sent in to the magazine by Leonard Prescott, WA9CHG. If you needed a phone jack for an experiment you were doing on a breadboard, you could just use two of the venerable Fahnestock clips spaced as needed.
Taking your radio out for a spin around the pond was popular on both sides of, well, the Pond, as evidenced by this British couple illustrated on the cover of Modern Wireless, June 1924.
For an idea of what they might have been listening to, we can consult the program schedules in the same magazine. Perhaps they were tuned to the Eiffel Tower on 2600 meters. If so, at 10:50 AM, they could listen to the fish prices in the Paris markets at 10:50 AM.
Or, if they stay out until 9:00 PM, at 450 meters, they might be able to tune in an evening concert from the station of the Ecole Supérieure des Postes et Teléraphes.
This listener was all set for the summer of 1939 with the world’s smallest portable radio, the Majestic Model 130. The three-tube set weighed in at only 3-1/2 pounds, and measured a mere 7 by 5 by 3-1/2 inches.
Also shown are two other Majestic portables. The ad appeared 85 years ago this month in the June 1939 issue of Radio Retailing.
Fifty years ago this month, the June 1974 issue of the British magazine Radio Constructor carried the plans for the elusive shortwave crystal set. The author, R.A. Penfold, noted that most published designs covered the medium waves, or (outside of the Americas) the long wave bands. But designs for shortwave sets were relatively scarce, “despite the fact that such designs are capable of far superior results.”
He notes that his design was initially built for its novelty value, but it successfully pulled in many stations, including Berlin, Canada, Hilversum (Holland), Moscow, Poland, Prague, Stockholm, Switzerland, and Vatican Radio. “In short wave terms this is not particularly exceptional, but bearing in mind that a crystal set has no gain, and that the energy which vibrates the diaphragm in the earphone is derived from the power at the transmitter, such results become more interesting.”
This is, indeed, interesting. In his case, the energy from Moscow or Canada was what caused the earphone to vibrate in Britain.
The set tuned 49 through 19 meters, making it useful for the major shortwave broadcast bands. Few parts were required. The 390 kilohm resistor in the circuit is necessary with a crystal earphone, as a DC path is required. This could be omitted with the use of a high impedance magnetic headphone. The coil is about 4 feet of 24 gauge wire on a broom handle. An outside antenna of 50-100 feet was recommended.
The main requirements for operation were said to be practice and patience.
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The plans for this attractive and compact receiver were contained in the June 1944 issue of the British magazine Practical Wireless. Even though there was an invasion of Europe going on, the magazine reassured that the parts were available from their advertisers at a low price.
The set gave good reproduction, and the volume was found to be ample for all normal occasions, and it was said to be a good family receiver.
The B+ was supplied by a 120 volt battery, with filament and grid bias batteries also required.
A hundred years ago this month, the June 1944 issue of Popular Science published some pointers on taking your radio with you on vacation. The magazine quoted Hiram Percy Maxim as predicting that within five years, most automobiles would be equipped with a radio. In the meantime, the magazine offered some suggestions.
The most critical element was the antenna, and it noted that a long aerial would always outperform a loop, especially if your vacation took you a long distance from the closest station. Fortunately, there was almost always something available for getting the wire in the air, as long as you used a bit of ingenuity. The photo above shows a radio fan who got his set working on a fishing expedition along the Green River near Seattle.
A hundred years ago, if you wanted to go out in the woods to play a practical joke, you wore a tie, as demonstrated by this picture from the cover of Radio News, June 1924.
This woman, like most radio listeners 85 years ago, knew that a good crystal set would pull in local stations with ample volume and excellent tone, as long as an antenna and ground were available. She took advantage of this knowledge and constructed the low-cost (under a dollar) pocket size crystal set with built-in headphone. The antenna and ground leads had clips on the end, so it was an easy matter to clip it to a telephone, as she did here, or even to a metal drain pipe or water pipe.
As long as the building was not of metal construction, this was said to pull in stations from 2-12 miles away. At home with a long outside antenna, receptions of powerful stations 30 miles away was possible.
The design is from the June 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics.