Author Archives: clem.law@usa.net

1926 Grocery Prices

For a snapshot of how much groceries cost in 1926, this ad for Piggly Wiggly appeared in the Washington Times on April 22, 1926.

The prices look low, but there’s been a lot of inflation since then. According to this online inflation calculator, one dollar in 1926 was the equivalent of $17.65 in 2024. So ten pounds of potatoes for 69 cents sounds like a bargain, but that works out to over $12 in today’s money. And the chuck roast for a quarter a pound sounds cheap, but it works out to $4.41 per pound.

What would you make for dinner if you were shopping in 1926?

A. Tomalino, Glendive, MT, 1944

Shown here, eighty years ago, is the well-appointed service bench of radio serviceman A. Tomalino of Glendive Montana. He was featured on the cover of the April 1944 issue of National Radio News, which noted that he unquestionably had one of the finest radio businesses in the west.

A 1956 issue of the same magazine shows the shop’s address as 303-1/2 N. Merrill, Glendive. According to his wife’s 2007 obituary, Tomalino died in 1993, almost a half century after this photo was taken.

1954 UHF Antenna and Converter

We can’t think of anything that could possibly go wrong in this picture, which appeared on the cover of Radio News 70 years ago this month, April 1954.

It shows one Walter Schott assembling a Walsco Model 4450 UHF Corner Reflector in sunny California. On top of the set is the UHF converter made by the same company.

Radio at School, 1924

A hundred years ago, these students at Junior High School 61, Bronx, NY, were on the cutting edge of technology as they tuned into a program. The five-tube set was bought, installed, and operated by the students. The photo appeared in the April 1924 issue of Radio News.

Science Fair Idea: Refraction Set to Music

Students with artistic sensitivities might feel intimidated by the science fair, but they needn’t be. By recreating all or part of this 1944 demonstration, such a student can wow the audience with a ballet performance, demonstrate the principles of refraction of light, and take home the blue ribbon, undoubtedly to the consternation of the science nerds who thought they had no competition.

The original 1944 version was put on by Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. for its employees, to demonstrate the scientific principles used in the bomb sight components the company was making. They put together a ballet-like performance set to music, while the dancers pulled white ribbons through the lenses, demonstrating the path of light.

Of course, this display takes a great deal of preparation. For students who are desperately searching for a project the night before the science fair, try our earlier project demonstrating the same principles, one that can be whipped together the night before.

A complete description, along with more pictures, can be found in the April 17, 1944 issue of Life magazine.

1939 Lightning Arrestor

Eighty-five years ago, both daughter and Fido were helping Dad install a lightning arrestor for the family radio antenna. Dad noticed that the spark plug from a Model T Ford could screw directly into a 3/4 inch water pipe fitting. So he added a tee to an outdoor tap, screwed the spark plug into the other end, and attached the antenna.

The magazine noted that the same thing could be done with a section of pipe driven into the ground.

This item appeared in the April 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics.

April 8, 2024 Eclipse Report

Photos and videos don’t do the eclipse justice, but the ones here give an idea of what we experienced when we viewed the eclipse on April 8.

This is my second total eclipse, and my wife’s third. We both agreed that this one was better than the 2017 version, mostly because of greater solar activity, resulting in a larger corona. Also, the length of totality and the width of the path were greater, which I think resulted in the sky getting darker. My wife thought it was on par with the 1991 eclipse she had seen in Mexico.

We wound up viewing it from Lake Catherine State Park, Arkansas. The entire area seemed well prepared for the eclipse. The park itself had what seemed to be additional staff, I’m guessing both paid staff and volunteers, on hand. We didn’t patronize them, but another part of the park had food trucks on scene. We tried giving the staff some extra eclipse glasses to hand out, but they already had some and were giving them to anyone who needed them.

The original plan was to view it in Dallas, but we awoke to clouds, which were forecast to last through the eclipse. Little Rock, Arkansas, on the other hand, had a forecast of sunny skies. So at about 6:00 AM, we hit the road toward Arkansas. Fortunately, Interstate 30 was within the path of totality for its entire run from Dallas to Little Rock. So as soon as we hit consistently clear skies, we got off the interstate and headed north, which led us closer to the center path. We passed a few good viewing locations, but kept following the state park signs, knowing that we could turn back if the park didn’t prove adequate.

We were greeted at the park entrance by a ranger. We told him the obvious, that we were there to view the eclipse, and he directed us to a parking area near the campground. There were trees around, but we had a good view of the sun, so we set in for totality. There was no admission charge to the park. T here were quite a few people in the other part of the park near the food trucks, and a dozen or so cars in our parking area.

Again, words or pictures don’t do it justice. In my opinion, the total eclipse itself is on par with the Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone National Park in its beauty. But adding to the awe is its short-lived nature. We watched for about four minutes, until it was over. Two stars (actually, the planets Venus and Jupiter, I believe) were visible, and the darkness level was consistent with after sunset. There was a 360 degree sunset visible on the horizon. Everyone else saw them, except for me, but I’m told that the shadow bands were very evident until almost a minute after totality.

If you learned that another Grand Canyon was going to spontaneously form, be there for four minutes, and then disappear without a trace, you would want to go see it. This is why we went to see the eclipse. The next one will be in Iceland and Spain on August 12, 2026, and I plan to be there as well. And the August 12, 2045 eclipse will pass through Arkansas again, so maybe I’ll try to watch it from the same spot. If you see an old guy in Lake Catherine State Park in 2045, stop by and say hello, because that will be me.

I did hear reports of extremely heavy traffic in Missouri, and in New England. In those areas, large population centers had only a few routes to totality, and they were jammed. We notice very little, if any, extra congestion on the route we took. Of course, we were within the path of totality the whole time.

The states of Texas and Arkansas were well prepared for the invasion of eclipse tourists, and everything went without a hitch.

Our viewing location near the campground highlighted one ongoing problem with state park reservation systems. We were right next to the tent camping area, and only one of the about six sites was occupied. On the other hand, it looked like all but one of the sites had been reserved, based upon reservation slips on the posts. Over half the sites in the RV section of the campground were occupied, but I wasn’t able to see how many were reserved. I’m guessing a lot of people made contingency reservations which they didn’t use. This highlights a problem in many state park systems: People make reservations that they don’t use. This ties up the site, making it unavailable. This is an ongoing problem, not just for special events. The knee-jerk reaction is to penalize people who cancel, but this is counter-productive. A better solution, it seems to me, would be to make it easy for people to cancel, and have a way to put the site back into circulation immediately.

Chances are, the people who made those Arkansas camping reservations were watching the eclipse in Indiana, Maine, or some other state miles away. There’s probably no way for them to make the site available, or they didn’t have enough incentive to do so. States with state park reservation systems should figure out a way to make these sites available.

It turns out that the skies in Dallas cleared nearly miraculously right before the eclipse, and Dallas got an excellent view. Particular praise should be given to the Dallas Independent School District (and undoubtedly other districts in the area) that made sure all of there students were outside to experience it, and for supplying eclipse glasses to all students. MyEclipseGlasses.com had some left over, and we donated a thousand to one parochial school to make sure their students could safely view the partial phase. But eclipse glasses were not needed to view the most spectacular part, totality, and it appears that all children in the path had an opportunity to see it.

Another school district that deserves special praise is my alma mater, the Minneapolis Public Schools. Not only did they supply eclipse glasses for all K-5 students, but they organized a field trip to Indiana for some lucky students to experience totality, as well as visit museums in Milwaukee and Chicago. You can see pictures at Facebook #MPSEclipseTrip.

The photo and video above were taken by my daughter, with her cell phone camera. The lens flare actually shows the shape of the eclipse better than the main image. The video gives a pretty good idea of how dark it got in the area. Again, nothing does justice to being there in person, but these give an idea of what we experienced.

1944 Three Tube Shortwave Regen

Eighty years ago this month, the April 1944 issue of Radio Craft carried this circuit for a shortwave receiver said to have “brought in those far-off, hard-to-get stations.” It had been submitted to the magazine by one Jerome N. Seibert of St. Paul, MN. He noted that he used the 27 tube as a rectifier, because that was what he happened to have on hand. The use of a power supply rather than batteries is probably because batteries were hard to come by during the war.

The editors of the magazine suggested swapping the 27 rectifier with the 45 tube used as an audio amplifier. They noted that the 27 would provide more audio, and the 45 would be able to supply more power. Some modifications of the circuit were required.

It appears that the author was this Jerome N. Seibert, who would have been 19 years old when he submitted the circuit to the magazine. His gravestone indicates that he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, meaning that he was drafted or enlisted shortly after graduating from high school and sending his circuit to the magazine. He died in 1994.

Eclipse 2024

Our loyal readers have noticed that we’ve been incommunicado for a few weeks. We’ve been busy stuffing envelopes with eclipse glasses at our sister site, MyEclipseGlasses.com. It’s too late now for online orders, so we’re at OneTubeRadio.com Eclipse Headquarters in Dallas where we will view the eclipse.

We’re cautiously optimistic, but the weather forecast is currently “partly cloudy in the morning followed by scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon.” Totality here starts at about 1:40, so we’re counting on the thunderstorms coming later. And “partly” cloudy means that there are holes where you can see the sun.

Fortunately, we have mobility. To the southwest of Dallas, Interstate 35 more or less follows the path of totality all the way to San Antonio. And to the northeast, Interstate 30 stays in the path all the way to Little Rock, Arkansas. At this point, the northeast looks a bit more promising, so it’s possible we’ll view from Arkansas. But we’ll play it by ear. I’m confident we won’t be clouded out, like we were for the 2021 annular eclipse.

This is my last chance to implore you that if you live anywhere even close to the band shown above on the map, extending from Mazatlan, Mexico, to New Brunswick, Canada, that you should drop everything and go see it. Even if you live in a place where there is 99% coverage of the sun, the experience is completely different just a few miles away in 100% totality. That 1% of the sun that is still showing is about 100,000 times brighter than the sun’s corona. The experience is utterly and completely different. If possible, go see it, especially if you have kids, and even if they will have an unexcused absence. This is one case where you know better than the school. If you have kids, please read what I wrote in 2017.

If you are in Dallas, stop by our eclipse glasses stand at 2510 Firewheel Pkwy, Garland, TX 75040. Just look for the giant eclipse glasses. If you live in the Midwest, it looks like you can still get eclipse glasses at Hy-Vee or Menards, which ordered quite a few this time. Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s also had them, and they still might. In Texas, they’re a little harder to find, but you can find them. In New England, they seem to be unobtainium. But if you can’t find a pair, check out our 2017 post about alternatives.

If I get a chance, I’ll be on the air for the Solar Eclipse QSO Party, helping generate some date for citizen scientists to study the ionosphere. If the weather is good, I’ll do that before totality. If we’re chasing a hole in the clouds, then I probably won’t set up until after totality.

Enjoy the eclipse!

Were 1939 Radios Good Enough?

Eighty-five years ago this month, the March 1939 issue of Radio Retailing asked the question of whether radios of that era were good enough. The accompanying article has an interesting discussion of the state of the art of sets of that era. But the short answer to the question was yes, yes they were.