This map appeared a hundred years ago, in the February, 1916, issue of QST. It accompanied an article by Hiram Percy Maxim, 1AW, calling for the establishment of regular “trunk lines” across the United States. He envisioned “a citizen of Portland, Maine, being able to send a message to a citizen in Portland Oregon, by wireless, and without cost” on a reliable basis. As the Washington’s Birthday test illustrated, it was possible for hams to send traffic to every point in the nation extremely rapidly. But what was lacking was the ability to do so on a routine basis.

Maxim envisioned having operators along these trunk lines standing by at a scheduled time on a daily basis to make this kind of traffic routine. At the time, wireless communication by amateurs was limited to a few hundred miles. Therefore, to get messages from one end of the country to the other, these trunk lines would ensure that stations within range would be available at a predictable time.

For example, “Trunk Line A” along the country’s northern tier would include stations in or near the following cities: Portland, ME; Boston, MA; Albany, NY; Buffalo, NY; Cleveland, OH; Toledo, OH; Detroit, MI; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Fargo, ND; Helena, MT; Spokane, WA, and Seattle, WA. Each hop was within the capabilities of a well-equipped station of the time, and a message could cross the country in only 12 steps.

This concept was ultimately adopted, and ultimately became a part of the ARRL National Traffic System.

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Sixty years ago this month, the May 1956 issue of Popular Electronics carried the plans for this four-transistor portable radio “with a punch.”  It promised loudspeaker volume at home or at the beach, all without an external antenna.

As revealed by the schematic below, the radio was basically a crystal set, with the four transistors serving as an audio amplifier.  Sixty years ago, the germanium transistors (CK721 and CK722) available for hobbyists weren’t quite ready for prime time when it came to RF.  The crystal set was designed to work without an external antenna by using a ferrite-core coil as the antenna, with the tuning capacitor in parallel with the entire coil.  But to match the impedance of the diode detector and maintain a high Q factor, the coil was tapped at one end for connection to the diode.  The article promised that loudspeaker volume on local stations could be achieved with this setup.

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It turns out that the resistor color code dates back about 75 years, to 1941. Here, in the May 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics, it appears for the first time. According to the magazine, the color coding method was developed by the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA) and was in common use. The magazine lists two methods for using the color code, the first of which, using four colored bands, is still in common use. Another method for irregularly shaped resistors, was to use the body color for the first digit, a band on one end for the second digit, a narrower band or dot for the multiplier, and a thinner band on the other end for the tolerance.

The familiar color code of Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, and White is given in the chart. Over the years, this has given rise to a number of mneumonic devices for remembering the order in the form of a memorable sentence using the same first letters. Many of these are what Wikipedia puts in the “offensive” category, with many of them involving something untoward happening to some poor girl named Violet.

I first learned the resistor color code from the Boy Scout Radio Merit Badge pamphlet, meaning that I still have occasion to recite the less salty phrase, “Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West,” while counting off the digits on my fingers.

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Shown here in the April 1936 issue of Radio News is Miss Chiyono “Suzy” Cugita, then J1DN, and later, after her marriage and 1937 move to Tokyo, Chiyono Suzuki, J2IX. Five years before Pearl Harbor, she was doing her best to promote international good will on the ham bands. She was active on both phone and CW, and served as the foreign QSL manager for JARL.

The magazine notes that she was Japan’s only YL operator, and had contacted more than a hundred U.S. hams, as well as Australia, South America, and Siberia.

Her QSL and more photos can be found at HamGallery.com.

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In 1946, the war was over, and it was time to start designing the dream house.  A dream house wouldn’t be complete without a built-in radio.  And if you’re going to build a radio into your house, it may as well be a shortwave radio!

Shown here in the April 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics is just that.  It is the Ansley Paneltone receiver.  With one of these babies, you would have a 17 tube radio behind the wall. In addition to the standard broadcast band,it would cover both FM and shortwave, with pushbutton tuning. There was also provision for a phonograph connection. The 12 inch speaker would put out 15 watts of room filling audio.

I haven’t been able to find any evidence that this set ever made it into production. I have found references to the smaller 7 tube set shown in the same article, which covered just the standard broadcast band. It too featured pushbutton tuning, and its six inch speaker put out five watts.  You can find more information about that set, which also carried the Ansley Paneltone name, at RadioMuseum.org.

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This ad appeared 75 years ago today in Radio Guide magazine, April 26, 1941.  I suspect a lot of boys drooled over the prospect of having a radio on their bike.  For details on how to “win” one “free,” they were to write to the Boy Sales Manager of the magazine.  Undoubtedly, they would be told how many subscriptions they would need to sell to win the radio.  I suspect they would have to sell quite a few.  The magazine had a single issue price of ten cents, and an annual subscription was $4.  The radio itself appears to be the Motorola model B-150, with a retail price of $19.95.

The radio was probably a fairly good performer, being a three-tube superhet. Its tube lineup consisted of a 1A7GT, 3A8GT, and 1Q5GT, and had a 4 inch speaker. More information is available at RadioMuseum.org.

The set was powered by a combination A-B battery from Ray-O-Vac, which mounted on the frame of the bicycle. It also featured a whip antenna.  One novel feature of the set is that it had permeability tuning, meaning that the tuning knob adjusted the slug of an inductor, rather than moving a variable capacitor.

You can see a surviving example of the set at OldBike.eu.  Update:  Greg Farmer sent a link to a nice example of the radio at this link.  The radio, along with a bike of the same vintage, was on display at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park, MN.

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Fifty years ago, the FCC was considering a new radio service which never came to fruition. This was the Highway Emergency Locating Plan Radio Service (HELP), which was petitioned for by the Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. Described in the June 1965 issue of Popular Electronics, the plan called for two channels within the existing CB band, 27.235 and 27.245. For those familiar with 23 channel CB radios of the day, these were the mysterious channels 22A and 22B, which were included on the dial, but disabled.

HELP would be a new radio service, but would allow existing Class D CB operators to operate on thos channels for motorist assistance. The idea was the vehicles would be equipped with radios for these channels, for use in summoning help in an emergency. Land stations would be allowed 30 watts, with mobiles using 5 watts.

A March 1966 FCC order looked favorably on the proposal, and FCC staff was tasked with researching it further. However, it never came to fruition.

Manufacturers were apparently eager to get on board with the HELP service. As mentioned above, most 23 channel CB radios included channels 22A and 22B. In the 1965 ad shown above, Heath advertises this 25 channel CB transceiver, including the 2 HELP channels. An asterisk next to the description of those channels points out that the FCC petition is still pending.

And shown here in the April 1966 issue of Radio TV Experimenter is a 200 milliwatt handheld, the Mark 1 HELP Transciver from the Avcomm Division of what the magazine calls “a company with the unlikely name of Ajax Floor Products Corp.”  The crystal controlled radio would operate on any frequency between 25-50 MHz.  The company promised coverage of up to a mile in tall buildings or heavy traffic areas, up to five miles line of sight, and 7 miles in open country or over water.  The receiver was a superhet, and the magazine opined that it looked “like a good bet to toss in the glove compartment if you want the reassurance of having a rig along with you on a trip without having to make a permanent installation.”

An interesting discussion of the HELP proposal can be found at RadioReference.com.

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Seventy-five years ago, this month’s issue of Popular Mechanics,
April 1941, carried the plans for this simple one-tube receiver, which covered the broadcast band, as well as the 160 and 80 meter bands.

Using a 1S4 Tube, the set required a B battery of only 6 volts, meaning that it could be run with four flashlight batteries in series. Another two flashlight batteries in parallel powered the filaments, and the total cost of batteries was only 30 cents.

Also presented was an audio amplifier on a separate chassis, also using a 1S4, which would drive a three inch speaker. Or, as the user in this drawing is shown, the set could be run by itself with headphones. Volume and regeneration were controlled by an adjustable tickler coil, keep the parts count of the set low.

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Seventy-five years ago this month, the April 1941 issue of QST carried the plans for this simple one-tube CW transmitter for 80 and 40 meters.

The set was billed as a compact portable transmitter for field or emergency use, but could also function as the control stage of the home station until being put into place for field duty. According to the article, the total cost, including tube and cabinet, was less than $12.

The set required 6 volts for the filament, and 250 volts DC for the B+. This could be derived from batteries, and the article pointed out that this would be good for several hundred hours of intermittent operation. But it was really designed to run from the vibrator power supply of the car radio. The article advised builders to consult with the manufacturer of the car radio to get the wiring diagram, since those could vary considerably. But the car radio’s power supply would be expected to have a typical output of 200-250 volts at 50 mA. A single pole double throw switch could be added to the car radio to switch the power from the transmitter to the receiver.

The top of the set had three insulators. Two had connections that would be used with a doublet, and the third was to be used with a single wire antenna. The article noted that the transmitter could tune virtually any antenna.

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