Category Archives: Radio history

1974 8-Transistor Portable

Screenshot 2024-04-16 11.34.04 AMFifty years ago, the advanced British electronics hobbyist might have put together this portable 8-transistor receiver shown on the cover of the April 1974 issue of Practical Wireless.

The set was very versatile, tuning five bands:  160-350 and 580-1500 kHz for longwave and mediumwave broadcasts, 1.75-4 MHz for marine communications, as well as the 160 and 80 meter ham bands, and 5.9-11 and 13-27 MHz for shortwave broadcasts.

The finished superheterodyne set measured 5 x 7 x 1 inches, and was said to have wide general utility.  The set was constructed on three circuit boards.



Billings Polytechnic Institute, 1924

1924Apr24WolfPointHeraldA hundred years ago, a young man in Montana (it apparently never occurred to them that girls might be interested) who had completed the eighth grade, who would be interested in radio, could enroll in this course at the Billings Polytechnic Institute.

The course could stand alone, or be combined with a high school or college course.  The student would construct their own radio, and the course was to be unlike anything offered in the West.

The Billings Polytechnic Institute merged with another school and is now Rocky Mountain College.  This ad appeared a hundred years ago today in the Wolf Point (MT) Herald, April 24, 1924.



Sign of Spring

1939AprRadioRetailingIt’s a sure sign of spring when the birds start looking for parts from antennas that came down over the winter. This image is from the cover of Radio Retailing 85 years ago this month, April 1939.



A. Tomalino, Glendive, MT, 1944

1944AprNatlRadioNewsShown 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

1954AprRadioNewsWe 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

1924AprRadioNews1A 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.



1939 Lightning Arrestor

1939AprilPM11939AprilPM2Eighty-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.



1944 Three Tube Shortwave Regen

1944AprRadiocraftEighty 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.



Were 1939 Radios Good Enough?

1939MarRadioRetailingEighty-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.



Learning the Code: 1949

Screenshot 2024-03-12 2.23.11 PMSeventy-five years ago this month, the March 1949 issue of Radio News included pointers for those interested in getting started in Amateur Radio. In just a few years, it became easier to get started, with the introduction of the Novice license, which required code at only 5 words per minute. But in 1949, to get on the air, you needed to pass the test at 13 WPM. But the magazine gave pointers on how to do it, and reminded readers that hundreds of thousands of hams had managed to do it.