Author Archives: clem.law@usa.net

Get Your Eclipse Glasses and Hotel Rooms Now!

Path of Totality. NASA image.

On August 21, 2017, a total eclipse of the sun will be visible as it passes across the United States from Coast to Coast. This is the first time an eclipse has been visible from coast to coast since 1918. I have seen partial eclipses, and they are a somewhat interesting phenomenon. However, I have never witnessed a total eclipse of the sun, and my family plans to travel to Nebraska to view it.

The total eclipse will be visible only on a band about 70 miles wide stretching from Oregon to South Carolina. If you are not within this band, you might not even notice the eclipse if you’re not watching for it. But within this band, the sky will become dark, stars will be visible, and only the sun’s corona will be visible.

During the approximately two minutes of totality, it is safe to view the sun with the naked eye. But even if only a tiny portion of the sun is visible, then it is necessary to use eye protection. Therefore, if you are planning to view the eclipse, two things are necessary.

1. Get Your Eclipse Glasses!

First of all, you will want to get a set of eclipse glasses, such as the ones shown here. With these glasses, which cost about $2, you will be able to safely view the eclipse if you are not in the path of totality, or if you want to look at the sun before and after totality.

During a 2015 partial eclipse in England, there was a shortage of the eclipse glasses. In the days leading up to the eclipse, thousands searched in vain to find a pair, but there were none available, or they were available only at grossly inflated prices. These glasses are still readily available online at reasonable prices. I recently purchased 10 pairs of the glasses shown here, and they were shipped to me in about a week. The total price for 10 pairs, including shipping, was about $17. I’ll post a review in a few days, but they appear to be well made for what they are, and they have the appropriate ISO safety certification.

Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone else who has ordered in advance. I suspect that, just like in England, there will be a huge demand at the last minute. Stores won’t have them, and it will be too late to order online, or online suppliers will also run out. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you order now while they are still available. The set of ten that I ordered can be ordered from the following Amazon link:

Numerous other options are available on Amazon at this link.

In the Twin Cities area, I am only aware of these stores selling eclipse glasses. They are:

2. Make Your Hotel Reservations!

The other item you will want to consider is traveling to view the eclipse. The partial eclipse that will be visible in most of the United States is certainly interesting, but for most, the total eclipse, visible only in a 70 mile wide band, is a once in a lifetime experience. Most Americans are within a day’s drive, and it’s certainly worth the drive. Surprisingly, some hotel rooms are still available, even though many cities along the path have been booked solid for months. My family will be staying in Hastings, Nebraska, although that city is now completely sold out.

If all else fails, I would recommend simply driving to the path of totality, and sleeping in your car if necessary. However, rooms are still available in many cities on and close to the path of totality. The following table will give you some idea of what is available. As you can see, the last hotel room in Casper, Wyoming, is a modest motel going for $800 a night. But even though rooms are filling up fast, the following table gives you some idea of what is available.

This table shows availability at Hotels.com, as of June 16. As you can see, many cities still have bargain hotels available. This will certainly change as the eclipse gets closer, so. I encourage you to do as I did and make your reservation now.

I have included a link to the least expensive hotel in the city. In some cases, this hotel might be a few miles from the path of totality, so you will still have to drive to the location of the eclipse. But by booking a nearby hotel, you will make the process much easier, since you won’t have to worry about driving all night or sleeping in your car. This chart shows availability for the night of August 20, the night before the eclipse. The time of the eclipse will vary by location, but will be around midday on Monday, August 21.

As of today, inexpensive rooms are still available in Lincoln, NE, Kansas City, MO, Columbia, MO, Jefferson City, MO, St. Louis, MO, Paducah, KY, Nashville, TN, Greenville, NC, Columbia, SC, and Charleston, SC. But I guarantee that will no longer be true in a couple of weeks!

Before I made my own hotel reservation last year, I did check on campground availability. At that time, the campgrounds I checked were already sold out. However, you may wish to check on campgrounds, including state parks on or near the path of totality. (See the list of Nebraska State Parks at the end of this post.)

The links below are to the least expensive hotel in the area, as of June 16. There might be other hotels that are more suitable or closer to the path of totality. But this will give you an idea of what is available.

For constantly update hotel information, please visit the following posts:

City	Lowest price	City Percent Booked	Link to Least Expensive Hotel
Salem, OR	Not Available	100.00%
Jackson, WY	Not Available	100.00%
Casper, WY	$801	96%	1st Interstate Motel
Glendo, WY	Not Available	100.00%
Alliance, NE	Not Available	100.00%
Grand Island, NE	Not Available	100.00%
Lincoln, NE	$43.00	76.00%	Americas Best Value Inn Lincoln Airport
Kansas City, MO	$42.00		Super 8 Lenexa Overland Pk Area
Columbia, MO	$43.00	78.00%	Frontier Motel
Jefferson City, MO	$50.00	Almost 100%	California Motel
St. Louis, MO	$39.00		Motel 6 Hazelwood
Cape Giraredeau, MO	Not Available	100.00%
Carbondale, IL	Not Available	100.00%
Paducah, KY	$180.00	98.00%	Wingfield Inn
Nashville, TN	$50.00	72.00%	Super 8 Nashville Downtown
Greenville, NC	$44.00		Days Inn Washington NC
Columbia, SC	$42.00	74.00%	Budget Inn Express-columbia
Charleston, SC	$60.00	93.00%	Econo Lodge North

Nebraska State Parks

It does not appear that there are any reservable campsites at Nebraska State Parks in the path of totality. But the following Nebraska State parks have sites available for reservation as of June 16. Most of these are north of the path of totality, some as much as a hundred miles or more. But for those visiting Nebraska from the north, one of these parks might be a good option, since you can camp there, and then drive to view the eclipse Monday morning.

Branched Oak SRA
Calamus SRA
Chadron SP
Eugene T. Mahoney SP
Fort Robinson SP
Fremont SRA
Lake Wanahoo State Recreation Area
Lewis and Clark SRA
Louisville SRA
Niobrara State Park
Platte River SP
Ponca SP
Rock Creek Station SHP
Two Rivers SRA
Willow Creek SRA

Using Your Flashlight in a Blackout, 1942

75 years ago, Americans were preparing for the possibilities of blackouts in case of enemy air raid. In this day’s issue of Life magazine, June 15, 1942, Eveready carried this ad explaining the importance of keeping a flashlight, and how to use it during a blackout.

The ad first admonished that every home should have one or more flashlights, but that before buying new ones, old ones should be inspected to see if they could be repaired. In many cases, only a new bulb or lens, or a fresh set of batteries was required. The flashlight should be kept in a convenient accessible spot, and always put back.

During a blackout, it was important to never point the light toward an unshielded window, skylight, or open door. Outside, the flashlight should be shielded. This could be accomplished by covering the lens with two layers of newspaper.

If unshielded, the flashlight should be used outside only when absolutely necessary, taking care to never point it even slightly upward, and never toward reflective objects.

And, of course, the flashlight should have Eveready batteries, with an extra set of spares.

1942 Rochester, MN, Flood

This photo of a flooded KROC, Rochester, MN, appeared in Broadcasting magazine 75 years ago today, June 15, 1942.

The picture was apparently taken on June 4, 1942, during a localized flash flood along the Cascade creek which caused one death. Between June 3-5, the Rochester airport had recorded 3.26″ of rain, with 2.33″ of that falling within a single day. The creek basin had apparently received even higher rainfall.

The magazine noted that the station staff had to ignore the biggest news story of the year as it literally flooded right into the station’s doors. Due to wartime restrictions on weather reports, the announcer on duty had to ignore the waters rising around him, despite his strong desire to tell listeners about it as the water slowly climbed to waist depth.

“Just as the tubes began to sizzle,” they cut power and waited calmly for three hours until being rescued. While they waited, they were said to amuse themselves by warding off the rabbits, field mice, gophers, frogs, and pheasants that had sought sanctuary on the tiny island.

Damage was estimated at $1500, and the station was back on the air in less than 12 hours.

Radio Facsimile: 1947

4.1″ facsimile receiver for connection to FM radio

Today, we take a look at a technology that never caught on, namely, broadcast facsimile.

Seventy years ago this month, the June 1947 issue of FM and Television carried an article optimistically entitled, “Facsimile is Ready for Home Use,” detailing both the technology and the economic aspects. At that time, a standard had not yet been adopted, and the author, the magazine’s publisher Milton Sleeper, noted that this was the first step necessary to get the technology off the ground. Home receivers were ready to hit the market for $100, but sales were unlikely unless consumers knew that the set could be used to receive future facsimile broadcasts from any FM station.

The author advocated for a standard of a 4.1 inch width, 105 lines per inch, 3.43 inches per minute. He noted that this would require a subcarrier with an audio signal ranging from about 2-5 kHz, which he pointed out would be well within the flat-response range of all FM receivers. Others were apparently pressing for an 8.2 inch width, which he noted would require greater bandwidth.

The “chicken and egg” problem, of course, was content. As he noted, newspapers weren’t particularly keen on providing content to a free competing service. Even if they could be convinced, there was little interest in starting the service before receivers were on the market. And receivers wouldn’t be on the market without content.

Few, if any, technical barriers stood in the way. Sleeper describes how he set up a demonstration at a trade show on short notice. He was given the idea the day before the show, and managed to get the equipment installed at a station that same evening. The station had an experimental license, and apparently broadcast the facsimile over its normal audio channel. The receiver could be plugged in to any FM receiver, and was also set up in short order.

Sending unit, ready to plug in to FM station’s audio line and play.

Cooking With Sugar Rationing

Sugar rationing took effect in the United States in May 1942, and the next month, CBS radio personality Kate Smith stepped up to the plate in the June issue of Radio Mirror with recipes with which the housewife could conserve the commodity, but still prepare deserts.

Smith knew that her readers would accept rationing for what it was–“an emergency method of making quite sure that everyone gets all the sugar he needs and that no one gets more than he really needs.” She also knew that her readers wanted to make sure that they didn’t use their portion wastefully.

Therefore, she presented these recipes showing how delicious deserts could be prepared with other sweetening agents such as corn syrup, prepared pudding mixtures (which used dextrose), molasses, and honey.

Her sugarless layer cake used corn syrup, and the molasses cake used molasses along with a bit of brown sugar. She suggested that an easy and delicious filling for either cake could be made with a package of chocolate pudding mix and milk, following the package directions, but with a bit less milk. Instead of frosting, the cake could be covered with nut meats, currants, or raisins, or a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar could be used.

She also included a chocolate souffle recipe using a packaged pudding mix, and baked stuffed oranges using corn syrup or honey.

For glazing a ham, she included a recipe with a corn syrup glaze.

Mirrorphone, 1942

Shown here on the cover of National Radio News, June-July 1942, is the Mirrorphone from Western Electric. The magazine noted that the magnetic tape recording device was being used by radio announcers, actors, and in speech classes as an aid to speech improvement.

It recorded the subject’s voice onto a steel tape, which was presumably in n endless loop. A switch provided for immediate playback, allowing the speaker to detect and correct errors of pronunciation, emphasis, or tone.

The recorder automatically erased previous recordings.

The magazine noted that the device was in use by a number of radio stations, dramatic groups, and speech classes to train thousands of new telephone operators and secretaries in government agencies and war industries.

More information about the Mirrorphone, along with photos, can be found at this link.

1957 Five Transistor Loudspeaker Superhet

Sixty years ago, the transistor radio was starting to become more and more a reality, as shown by this project in the June 1957 issue of Radio Electronics. A year earlier, the magazine had carried plans for a four-transistor superheterodyne pocket receiver. and had announced that “this is it,” in that the transistor could finally be used in a usable radio that could be built by the average hobbyist. The project shown here was an update of that project, and featured one thing missing from the earlier set, namely a speaker.

This set boasted loudspeaker volume on many local stations, with the sound audible as far as 10-15 feet away in a quiet room. For distant stations or for private listening, an earphone jack was provided.

The set featured five PNP transistors, with four 2N1112A’s as converter, first and second IF, and detector, and a 2N138 providing enough audio to drive the speaker. The set was powered by a 4 volt battery. A specific battery was mentioned, but the article noted that three N cells providing 4.5 volts would work well.

Lidice Massacre, 1942

Chicago Tribune, June 11, 1942.

Wikipedia image.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Lidice Massacre, June 10, 1942, at Lidice, in the current Czech Republic. In retaliation for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich
Hitler and Himmler ordered the destruction of the village of Lidice. On this day, the 173 male residents over 15 years of age were executed by shooting. The 184 women and 88 children were deported to concentration camps, where they were gassed.

Unlike most atrocities, the Nazis bragged about this one. The German radio station, received by the Associated Press in New York, reported “all male grownups of the town were shot, while the women were placed in a concentration camp, and the children were entrusted to appropriate educational institutions.” A total of 340 died in the reprisal.

1942 Air Raid Alarm

The June 1942 issue of Service magazine carried this ad for an air raid alarm to be added to any radio. It noted that the first sign of an air raid would often be local radio stations leaving the air, lest they serve as a beacon for incoming bombers. If you were listening to the radio during the day, you would know immediately. But at night, with the radio off, you would be caught unaware.

With this home alert, you would leave the radio on standby, and if the station you were tuned to left the air, this would be the sign of a possible air raid. The ad noted that during air raid alarms in Los Angeles, radios equipped with this device sounded the alarm from six to ten minutes before the sirens sounded.

The unit sold for $5, and could be installed by a local service shop.

Recording a Record for Servicemen, 1942.

75 years ago today, the June 8, 1942, issue of the Chicago Tribune carried this ad from the Marshall Field department store.

So that customers could express their gratitude to the men in the service, the store had a “canteen” on the second floor containing 576 different gift ideas that were, after “consultation with the War Department and the boys themselves,” were guaranteed to please the serviceman. The ad invited customers to “spend very little, or quite a lot, but send the boys something regularly.”

The store’s prices included free shipping by railway express to any military or naval post, station, camp, or ship.

One suggestion to include in the box to the boys was a phonograph record. For just a quarter, you could record five minutes on two sides of a 6 inch phonograph disk so that the boys could hear a voice from home.

OneTubeRadio.com

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