Eighty-five years ago, this no-nonsense outdoorswoman is enjoying a hike, but when she stops to rest, she can listen to a favorite program on this combination cane/seat/radio described in the March 1940 issue of Popular Science.

One HY115 tube served as a regenerative detector, with a second serving as AF amplifier.  A final HY125 audio stage powered the headphones.  The cane itself could serve as an antenna, or a convenient fence wire could be used.

As with everything, cane-seats can still be found on Amazon.  The exact instructions for mounting a radio will differ, but we’re confident that our readers can figure it out.

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If you were one of the growing number of Americans who owned a radio 100 years ago, the cost of batteries would soon become a concern, and you would be thinking of ways to run the radio from your lighting current.

In many large cities, the power company supplied 110 volts direct current, and if that was your situation, the March 1925 issue of Popular Science showed you how to power the radio.  Even though the power was DC, the generators down at the power plant generated a lot of ripple, and if you just ran the radio straight from the line, the result would be a loud high pitched whine.  So the filtering arrangement above could be used.

For the filaments, since you already had a battery, you could just use that, but then recharge it with 110 volts DC, as shown here.  To drop the voltage, you would start with a 60 watt lightbulb in series.  But to finish the job, you would want to lower the current, which meant putting the toaster in series.

If you weren’t sure about the polarity, you could run the simple test below:

One hundred years ago, an entrepreneurial radio dealer in Horsham, England, noticed that interest in wireless was lagging in nearby villages. He took it upon himself, therefore, to equip a motor van with a complete receiving set an hit the road. He paid periodical visits to enable the inhabitants to enjoy a wireless concert, and to bring to their attention the fact that his firm could sell them a set of their own.

In this picture, in the February 1925 issue of Wireless magazine, and it is noted that great pleasure is written upon the faces of the children listening here.

A hundred years ago this month, the cover of the February 1925 issue of Science and Invention gives Hugo Gernsback‘s vision of what telemedicine would look like. Of course, the word “telemedicine” hadn’t been coined yet, but the concept is there: “The doctor of the future, by means of this instrument, will be able to feel his patient, as it were, at a distance. The doctor manipulates his controls, which are then manipulated at the patient s room in exactly the same manner. The doctor sees what is going on in the patient’s room by meads of a television screen.”

The device did have a name, the “teledactyl.” That’s not a type of dinosaur, but instead means that it could feel at a distance.

Eighty-five years ago, this radio listener is showing off her RCA receiver. More specifically, she is showing the loop antenna mounted on the back, manufactured by Consolidated Wire and Associated Corporations. She is on the cover of the February 1940 issue of National Radio News, which devotes several pages to the use of such antennas.

If you see some buyer’s remorse in her eyes, it’s possibly because the small antenna doesn’t work as well as the old aerial that was previously connected to the set.  If the serviceman was approached by a customer wanting the added portability of such an antenna, it was recommended that they explain the shortcomings. As opposed to a longer antenna, fewer stations could be pulled in. But if the receiver was fairly sensitive, the strong local stations could be heard. If the receiver covered the shortwaves, the customer would need to be told that reception would be severely limited.

Seventy years ago this month, the February 1955 issue of Popular Mechanics showed how to build this transceiver for the two-meter ham band. The heart of the four-tube set was a 6C4 tube which served as superregenerative detector on receive, and as a Colpitts oscillator on transmit. Since the tuning circuit was in common with both circuits, there was no problem with tracking, but care had to be taken to keep the entire transmitted signal within the band.

When it comes to one tube radios, the holy grail is one that produces loudspeaker volume. And 75 years ago, this humble set from the February 1950 issue of Radio Electronics rose to the challenge. The set used a 3B7 ultraudion with some superregeneration. Regeneration was automatic, and no ticker winding was required on the coil, which was a permeability tuner.

The choice of a volume control was interesting, namely, a wire-wound potentiometer right in line with the antenna. The author noted that the inductance formed part of the circuit, and a carbon resistor shouldn’b be used. The author used a surplus 103.5 volt battery for the B-plus, but noted that two 45 volt batteries in series would be adequate. An outdoor antenna was needed. In areas with strong stations, 25-50 feet would work. But in rural areas, 100 feet as high as possible would be needed.

As an added bonus, the set could be used as a code practice oscillator. The plate of the audio section of the tube was connected through the key to a capacitor to ground.

But it’s not just a program, thanks to the golden tone of her General Electric radio. This ad appeared in Life magazine 85 years ago today, February 19, 1940.

Shown here 75 years ago is radio servicing professional George Ott, Jr., of Meadville, PA. Ten years prior, at the age of 24, Ott had lost the use of both of his legs. After being confined to bed and then surgery, he was able to get around with a wheelchair.  In 1943, he enrolled in the National Radio Institute correspondence school, and made steady progress from that time.

He reported that despite his disability, he was doing fine in radio and television. His firm had taken on a contract with Montgomery Ward for service and installation, and he also worked with two other local furniture dealers. While they stocked some televisions, service was the heart of their business, rather than sales.

The picture appeared on the cover of National Radio News, February 1950.