Eighty years ago, this day’s issue of Radio Guide magazine, July 18, 1936, featured Niela Goodelle.

Born Helen Goodell, a friend remarked that her name “reeked of the kitchen,” and suggested she change it.  She turned her first name around and spelled it the way it sounded, and added an “e” to her last name.  The magazine described her as a welcome addition to any broadcast who had carried herself to the topmost pinnacles of radio fame.

According to the Internet Movie Database, she died in New York in 1988.

Here, she performs “Ten Pretty Girls.”

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Eighty years ago this month, the July 1936 issue of Popular Science contained the plans for this code practice oscillator.  The main feature was that it required neither headphones nor a battery, since it had sufficient volume to drive a speaker, and ran off household power.

As shown in the schematic, it used a single dual tube, a 12A7, with one half serving as rectifier and the other half as oscillator.  The 12 volts for the filament was supplied with a curtain burner line cord.

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When I first saw this ad from the Popular Electronics issue from 50 years ago this month, July 1966, I was amazed that they had achieved such a level of miniaturization, until I looked closer.  This is an ad for the Model MO-23 CB radio from International Crystal, which was so compact that it could hide under the dash, in the console, or in the glove compartment. As you can see, the radio isn’t much larger than the microphone.

Closer examination reveals that only the control head is inside the car. As with most two-way radio equipment of the 40’s through 60’s, the guts of the radio was in the trunk. The ad notes that “technically speaking, the MO-23 combines the best advantages of tubes and silicon transistors,” since the control head and power supply were transistorized, but the actual transmitter and receiver used tubes.

At least one example of this radio made it to market, since I did find this e-bay listing for one.  It shows the trunk unit, with at least nine tubes. Three transistors mounted at the back are probably part of the power supply to convert the car’s voltage to the B+ required by the tubes.

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The listener shown here, on the cover of the July-August 1970 issue of Elementary Electronics, is listening to her Hallicrafters S-120A “Star Quest” receiver, which had just come out. It was a transistorized version of the S-120, and according to a sidebar in the magazine, it incorporated features found only on more complex and expensive receivers. It tuned the broadcast band, as well as 2-30 MHz shortwave, and included a BFO for tuning in CW and SSB.

But she wasn’t tuning the shortwave bands. She is actually listening to the broadcast band, and making use of the TennaBoost, the device sitting on top of the receiver, the plans for which were included in the magazine. The Tenna Boost was an external preamplifier. It was made from a commercial kit from International Crystal, but modified with the external ferrite loop. The amp was said to provide 30 dB gain, with the loopstick providing an additional 10 to 20 dB. The result was that you would hear a station every 10 kHz along the broadcast band. The article stressed the importance of making sure the case was completely shielded, since without the cabinet being securely screwed together, the amp and loopstick would break into oscillation.

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If you’re looking for data on tubes from the mid-1930’s, then the July 1936 issue of Radio News is probably a good place to look, since the issue was devoted to tubes.

However, even if you don’t read it for the articles, you’ll enjoy the cover art, reproduced here.

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The young gentlemen shown here are currently about 85 years old. They are shown in the July 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics demonstrating the operation of two of the seven crystal set circuits in the accompanying article.

The article noted that distant reception was possible under certain favorable and unusual conditions, but a crystal set was normally limited to a range of about ten miles. All of the circuits used a fixed detector. The simplest one was tuned by tapping the coil at various points. More complex circuits used various tricks to coax out as much signal as possible. The article stressed the importance of a long high antenna, and grounding to a cold water pipe.

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The plans for this simple one-tube regenerative shortwave receiver appeared in Popular Science 80 years ago this month, July 1936.

It used a single 6C5 metal triode.  The tube, as well as the other components, are readily available, although the modern components might have a slightly different look.  According to the author, the set’s volume and sensitivity equalled those of more complicated circuits.  From the author’s home in Nebraska, the set pulled in amateur, police, air-mail, and commercial shortwave stations from all around the country with excellent headphone volume.  The author was also able to pull in foreign stations, despite a relatively short antenna and being in the middle of a noisy business district.  The total cost of the parts was about five dollars.

The plans showed coil winding data for plug-in coils for 10 through 160 meters.

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Bill is cheerful about it, but you have to wonder whether he’s questioning his wisdom in building the audio amplifier described 75 years ago this month in the July 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics.

The simple device used a single 117N7GT, a rectifier and beam-power tube, and ran right off AC power. The article described four uses for the little amp. First, it could be used to provide loudspeaker volume from a crystal set or one-tube radio. It could even be used as a B-battery eliminator for a set (although the article cautioned that if used in this way, the radio could not be directly grounded). Third, it could be used as a phonograph amplifier with a crystal pickup.

The fourth proposed use is how Bill wound up using his. With a micropone, “it becomes a serviceable low power public address unit. The speaker unit may be connected to long cabled leads between counter room and kitchen in small cafes and sandwich shops, or (as Bill wound up doing) between the basement and other rooms in the home.”

Bill undoubtedly reasoned that this would be the most convenient use for his amplifier.  But perhaps he’s having second thoughts.  He’s in the basement trying to fix a fan when the summons comes over the horn:  “Hi!  Bill bring up the screwdriver.”

Bill seems like a cheerful sort, and it looks like fixing the fan will have to wait.  But as he brings up the screwdriver, I wonder whether he’s thinking that he should have made himself a phonograph.

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