Seventy years ago this month, the December 1954 issue of Popular Electronics showed this mobile radio station of the Inter County Amateur Radio Club in Detroit, W8IGS. Shown in th epicture are a number of executives of the Dodge Division of Chrysler, which had donated the truck to the club.
The vehicle was equipped with stations for 2 and 10 meters, including 2 meter Radio Teletype. The club had also assembled 25 portable walkie-talkies for use in conjunction with the station.
Seventy-five years ago, Santa Claus decided to visit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but apparently decided to leave his reindeer at the North Pole. Instead, he decided to parachute into the area, but hit these power lines. While awaiting rescue, he waved at waiting children. This picture appeared in Life Magazine, December 19, 1949, which reported that he should stick to old-fashioned reindeer.
Seventy years ago, this British gentleman was putting the finishing touches on his valve tester or, as we would say on this side of the Pond, tube tester. The plans were found in the December 1954 issue of Practical Wireless. The circuit would perform the usual tests on tubes, and it also had the option of hooking it up to your oscilloscope to check the exact operating condition.
For a snapshot of grocery prices in 1957, this ad for Thorofare Super Markets appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 17, 1957. The prices look like bargains, but according to this online inflation calculator, a dollar in 1957 equates to $11.23 in 2024 money. So the Swanson TV Dinner for 69 cents was actually equivalent to $7.75 today.
If you were shopping for dinner for the Class of 1957, what would you buy? And since you now have that song stuck in your head anyway:
Seventy years ago this month, the December 1954 issue of the British Radio Constructor noted that with “the festive season is drawing near, the reader may be interested in a simple little gadget which is guaranteed to liven up the party in more ways than one.” We’re sure that many of our readers might be similarly inclined.
This device is self-explanatory. It’s similar to a homemade Ford spark coil. An autotransformer steps up the voltage of a battery, and the coil also serves to operate a crude relay to convert the voltage to DC. The two handles are formed from the foil from a candy bar glued over wood. When it’s switched on, it make an inviting buzzing sound, and you ask your friends to grab the handles.
This might make an interesting science fair project, although we suggest that you determine first whether the science teacher has a sense of humor. If not, another project might be better suited.
Also, even though the resulting current is very low, since some of that current will pass directly through the heart of your subject, we wonder if it might be dangerous in some cases. Therefore, if you’re going to make this project, we wonder if it might be better to make sure that both electrodes go to the same side of the body.
We should note that as a youngster, we independently invented a similar device, making use of an old filament transformer and a buzzer. No harm was caused to anyone.
We’ve previously covered kerosene-powered radios, but the December 1939 issue of National Radio News covers a similar concept. Apparently, there were radios that were powered a home’s natural gas supply. This item is lacking in details, but it appears there were at least two such sets. One was somewhere in Britain, and the other one was displayed at the New York World’s Fair.
Like the kerosene sets, electricity came from a thermocouple. The British version ran the filaments directly off the thermocouple, and the voltage was stepped up to provide the B+.
Eighty-five years ago, this young woman is enjoying some musical entertainment at the beach, thanks to her General Electric model HB-408 portable radio-phono. The set featured a mechanical record player, which could play two ten-inch records on a single crank. The electronics consisted of four tubes (1A7G, 1N5G, 1H5G, and 1Q5G), powered by one 1.5 volt A battery and two 45 volt B batteries. It featured a four-inch speaker. She had no trouble getting it to the beach, as it was a featherweight 19.5 pounds.
The picture appeared in the December 1939 issue of National Radio News.
Seventy years ago, this homemaker was able to prepare her family’s holiday meal while she was entertained by high-fidelity music, thanks to this portable sound system mounted on a household teacart. The photo was provided by Regency, and the equipment consisted of the Regency HF -150 high- fidelity amplifier, the Webcor “Diskchanger,” and the Jensen “Duette” reproducer.
The photo appeared on the cover of Radio News, December 1954, and the magazine noted that eagle-eyed readers might notice the lack of interconnecting cables. This was explained by the possibility that she didn’t want to finish hooking it up until dinner was on the table.
One hundred years ago this month, the December 1924 issue of Radio Age showed Claiborne Foster, and in the inset below Allan Dinehart. They were both appearing in the play Applesauce, which was then playing in Chicago, where it was broadcast live from the stage by KYW.
Actress Claiborne Foster was prolific on Broadway, and Dinehart was most famous as a director. His son by the same name also went on to fame in Hollywood as a television writer and producer. His credits included the Fllintstones and Gilligan’s Island.
Eighty years ago this month, the December 1944 issue of Radio Craft showed this schematic for a one-tube regenerative receiver. The dual tube, a 1D8, was used for local oscillator, mixer, and detector. It had been sent in to the magazine by one Max W. Schmukler of Pueblo, CO, who reported that it outperformed a regenerative set.