I’m not sure what the difference is between a “Micro” tube and a “Micro DS” tube, but apparently it was a big difference, and the Micro DS was much better, as shown by the illustration above, which appeared on the cover of the May 1928 issue of the Soviet magazine Радио Всем (Radio Vsem, Radio All) magazine.  The smaller illustration at the left was inside the magazine, and made clear that the DS had the upper hand.

The issue contained two receivers using the Micro DS tube, including the two-tube reflex set shown here.

The issue also carried detailed plans for constructing the variable tuning coil shown below:

Shown here on the cover of the May 1948 issue of Radio News is Diane VanDusen. But the radio isn’t hers. It’s a rental, and the magazine provides some pointers for radio dealers thinking of getting in on the lucrative portable radio rental market.

The article details the experiences of a radio dealer in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York. He reported great results simply from positioning himself in front of his store on Coney Island Avenue with a sign reading “Portable Radios for Rent.” He charged 35 cents an hour, with a $1 minimum, and reported being sold out every sunny day.

The article stressed that an over-emphasis on security would be conterproductive, since the secret of success was a volume business, and being able to quickly get the transaction over with was key. The sets were marked in large letters “Brighton Rental,” but the dealer required only payment of the fee, as well as a glance at some identification. Despite the casual nature of the transaction, he reported zero thefts.

A batteries were reported to last a couple of days, with B batteries needing replacement every hundred hours or so. Therefore, cost of batteries was a small percentage of the fee.

The dealer reported that he also benefited from sales of portables, since the rental system allowed prospective customers to check out a portable, which listed for $39.50.

Miss VanDusen rented her radio from some other dealer, since she was relaxing at the beach in Florida.  She was one of the famous Aqua-maids at Cypress Gardens in Winter Park, Florida, now part of Legoland Florida.

Eighty years ago this month, the May 1938 issue of Radio News carried a biography of Irving Vermilya, W1ZE, who had a rather compelling claim as being the first amateur radio operator. Not only did he have the first license, but he got his first receiver from Marconi himself, before there was even anything on the air to listen to.

In 1901, after hearing that Guglielmo Marconi had received the letter S across the Atlantic by wireless, the eleven-year-old Vermilya, then of Mt. Vernon, NY, was determined to visit Marconi in Newfoundland. According to the 1938 article and later accounts, Vermilya’s parents granted permission after the family minister, Dr. Charles H. Tyndell, offered to accompany him, and Vermilya traveled to Newfoundland and attended a presentation put on by Marconi. Marconi took notice of the young man in the midst of scientists and engineers, and gave him a coherer and tapper, which he took home and assembled into a receiver.

Vermilya’s own account, however, in two 1917 QST articles, is slightly less dramatic.  Vermilya mentions nothing about a trip to Newfoundland or a personal audience with Marconi.  Instead, he reports that the minister eventually contacted Marconi and obtained the parts, which he passed along to young Vermilya.

But one way or another, Vermilya got a receiver from Marconi.  There were yet no transmitters on the air, but Vermilya was assured that the set was working, since he could detect the ringing of doorbells up and down the street.

In 1907, Vermilya took his first job in radio aboard the steamer Caracas to South America. He went on to serve as general manager of press station WCC, and later other marine, broadcast, and police stations. By 1937, his home contained the 175 foot mast shown here, which was reportedly visible for miles.

Vermilya’s claim as the first amateur was strengthened by the fact that he was also the first licensed amateur. When the government began licensing in 1912, he hurried to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he was issued “Certificate of Skill” number 1.

Vermilya died in 1964 at the age of 73.

References

• Irving Vermilya at BostonRadio.org
• Irving Vermilya at OldQSLCards.com
• Irving Vermilya at QCWA.org
• Vermilya, Amateur Number One, QST, Feb. 1917 p. 8, Mar. 1917 p. 10.

In a January 2018 editorial, former ARRL CEO Tom Gallaher, NY2RF, wound up with a bit of egg on his face by asking readers whether the term “handle just set your teeth on edge? It makes mine grind. It’s on my top-ten list with ‘good buddy,’ and it conjures up visions of bears and green stamps,” presumably because it originated on CB.

He tells how he wrote to CBS-TV to tell them that “to a ham radio operator, handle is an odious term because, not only do hams not use “handles,” we also regard the term and the practice as belonging to lesser practitioners than ourselves.”

Unfortunately, Gallaher set a few teeth on edge himself, since the term handle predates CB by decades, and has long been in use by hams as a synonym for name, as evidenced by the clip shown above from Radio News, May 1938.

Occasionally, I hear similarly misguided commentary that the term skip is similar taboo as having allegedly originated on 11 meters. This myth should also be put to rest, as shown from the clip below from the same magazine:

The plans for this handsome three-tube set appeared 90 years ago this month in the May 1928 issue of Popular Mechanics.

This was a time when gentlemen still donned a suit, including bow tie and vest, to work on their radios.

The set used three 301 tubes, one serving as regenerative detector, with the other two providing enough audio for room-filling volume in the loudspeaker, even with DX stations. Other tubes could be substituted, and the cost of parts was about $27.75. Plug in coils allowed for a tuning range of 30 to 1500 meters, covering much of the longwave, medium wave, and shortwave spectrum. The article recommended a 100 foot antenna for the broadcast band, or 50 feet for shortwave.

Eighty years ago, the May 1938 issue of Popular Science showed how to put together this three-tube suitcase portable receiver for the broadcast band.

To avoid the need for “rigging a troublesome antenna or installing a ground,” the set featured a built-in antenna in the form of antenna and tickler coils mounted in the lid of the suitcase around the speaker compartment. The completed set was “little larger than an ordinary hat box, and was just as easily tucked away in a corner of a closet when not in use.” The set was ideal for any reader, whether or not they traveled a great deal, and it’s built-in speaker, antenna, and batteries allowed it to be used on picnics, at the beach, in the car, or in a boat or canoe.

The circuit featured three1E5G pentodes for RF amplifier, detector, and AF amplifier. To save space, a compact tuning condenser was employed, which used an insulating material (presumably mica) between the plates rather than air. However, the article noted that if the compact tuning condenser couldn’t be found, an ordinary air variable could be used, as long as additional space was made.

Seventy years ago this month, the April 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics introduced a new term to the electronics lexicon, namely the “printed circuit.”

The magazine noted that this truly “wireless” technology was made possible by research by the Bureau of Standards during World War II.  The worker shown above, at Spraywire Laboratories, Inc., of Minneapolis, is making a  board.  It explains that a circuit stencil is applied to a material such as plastic or ceramic, after which a sandblasting process was used to form grooves.  Finally, the grooves were filled with molten metal to form the conductors.