Category Archives: Radio history

Allied Psy Ops, 1945

Preparing to launch psy ops balloons over German lines.

Preparing to launch psy ops balloons over German lines.

Seventy years ago this month, the June 1945 issue of Popular Science
carried an interesting article on psychological warfare in all of its forms. The main method of directly reaching enemy troops was the leaflet, which could be dropped from airplanes, balloons, or even artillery shells.

In an earlier series of posts, we looked at the Japanese balloons designed to travel from Japan to North America, and the ingenious control mechanism to keep them at altitude. Since Allied propaganda balloons had a much shorter distance to travel, they simply employed a fuse that would burn the ropes at the proper time, or maybe drop some ballast for longer flights.

SurrenderPassThe leaflet shown here was typical. According to the article, the Japanese text read as follows:

SOLDIERS OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY!

You have fought well, but the battle is lost. You are cut off with no hope of escape. Soon your food and ammunition will be gone.

You have only two fates–annihilation because unwise commanders sent you into our trap. Or good treatment behind the Allied lines.

Think it over. Ghosts in Yasukuni cannot help Japan. Death without meaning is only for fools.

Some of your friends know this. They have come over to us and they are safe. They are eating rice, smoking cigarettes, sleeping in peace. They know that life is precious. They are not ashamed to live.

Join them now. You will receive plenty of good food and kind treatment. Your identity will not be disclosed.

This is our only offer. If you do not accept it, we will be forced to destroy you.

–THE COMMANDER

The leaflet went on to give directions for safe surrender. Japanese were told to approach Allied positions singly by day and without arms. They were told to raise their hands and wave the pass.

AlliedSoundTruck

For encouraging hold-out snipers to surrender, the army also employed trucks with large sound systems. But since bullets can travel about as far as sound, this was the most dangerous activity for psychological operations personnel.

The article also talked about the use of radio for psychological operations purposes. It noted that before the war, the U.S. had 11 shortwave stations, but now had 40, including six putting out 200 kilowatts. On the west coast, KGEI had been the only shortwave station, but now there were ten. There were also shortwave transmitters in Honolulu, Saipan, and the Phillipine Islands. Powerful mediumwave stations were in place in North Africa and England broadcasting to Europe. As soon as countries were liberated, a priority was getting broadcast stations on the air.

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Two 1945 Crystal Sets

1945PMXtalSet1Seventy years ago this month, the June 1945 issue of Popular Mechanics carried the plans for the two crystal sets shown here. As the article points out, crystal sets can come in two varieties. The simplest set has little selectivity, and is suitable only for tuning in the one strongest station in a given area. For more variety, a more complex set with more selectivity is required. The magazine showed two sets, one in each category.

The simple set had its coil and all of the other parts mounted on a plastic drinking cup. The more selective set contained two variable condensers, both salvaged from old broadcast radios. Complete crystal detectors could be purchased for about 25 cents, or the builder could make one with a piece of galena. Thus, even with wartime parts shortages, most hobbyists would be able to scavenge together the needed parts.1945PMXtalSet2

For those wishing to replicate one of these designs today, I have ideas for finding parts on my crystal set parts page.

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First Broadcasts: Paris, 1891, Newark, 1911.

Most will be surprised to learn when the first broadcasts took place. In other words, people in their homes could, for the first time, listen to music, news, or entertainment originating from a central studio. The answer, it turns out, is Paris in 1891, when the Theatrophone first started broadcasting.

The Theatrophone didn’t use radio–it broadcast programs to subscribers’ homes by telephone line into a dedicated telephone instrument. Surprisingly, despite the later competition from radio, the Paris Theatrophone held on until 1932. Similar systems were soon in operation in Budapest and London.

In about 1911, a group of New Yorkers were traveling in Budapest and were surprised to find the service available in their hotel. Upon doing some investigation, they decided to offer a similar service. It was decided to install the new system in Newark, New Jersey, and later expand to New York. They formed the New Jersey Telephone Herald Company and began operations either in late 1911 or early 1912.

NJTelHeraldRxThe drawings of the home receiver instrument and main studio shown here are from the June 1925 issue of Radio News.  The article notes how similar the studios of the Telephone Herald were to those of a radio broadcast station of 1925. Broadcasting took place from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM daily, and included, music, news, market reports, and even bedtime stories.

The company leased telephone lines from the New York Telephone Company in order to bring the service to individual city blocks. From that point, the Herald had its own lines to run the programs to individual subscriber homes. There were some mechanical amplifiers used in the distribution process, consisting of telephone receivers and transmitters connected by a rod. The main downfall of the system was the limitations in amplifying the telephone signal, which could never get above headphone volume. As the Radio News article pointed out, the system would have worked quite well had vacuum tube amplifiers been available. But they were a few years off, and radio had a firm hold on broadcasting by the time they were available.

The New Jersey Telephone Herald office and studios.

The New Jersey Telephone Herald office and studios.

Interestingly, the New York Telephone Company was initially unwilling to lease the lines, and the Telephone Herald had to go to the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners to force the telephone company to lease the lines. The Commision agreed with the Telephone Herald.  The Commission held that the Telephone Herald was not a “public utility,” but instead just another telephone customer, and they telephone utility was obligated to make the lines available on the same terms as for any other customer.

The price of the service was $1.50 per month, or “five cents per day,” as the marketing people put it. At its peak, the New Jersey system had about 5000 subscribers. However, as the novelty wore off, many subscribers defected, and the service seems to have ended by the end of 1912.

A similar service, the Oregon Telephone Herald, was operated in Portland, Oregon, in 1912. The 1913 advertisement shown below is for the San Francisco Telephone Herald Company, which apparently never began operations, but planned a similar service.

References

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Berlin Declaration, 1945

Generals Montgomery, Eisenhower, Zhukov, de Lattre at signing of Berlin Declaration. Wikipedia photo.

Generals Montgomery, Eisenhower, Zhukov, de Lattre at signing of Berlin Declaration. Wikipedia photo.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration, with which the Allies formally assumed control of German territory, divided it into four sectors, and dissolved the Third Reich.

Among other things, Article 9 ordered that “all radio and telecommunication installations and other forms of wire or wireless communications, whether ashore or afloat, under German control, will cease transmission except as directed by the Allied Representatives.”

It appears that Berlin radio was already off the air.  While Berlin was still listed in the station list of the June 1945 issue of Radio Craft, it was absent from the July list.

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Tinfoil Hat Early Adopter

WashTimes060415

A hundred years ago today, June 4, 1915, the Washington Times carried this story relating the theory of an unnamed patient at the Colorado state asylum. The patient believed that wireless stations were preying upon him and sapping his strength. He wanted the practice of wireless communication banned worldwide.

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Secret Transmitter at the Hauptmann Trial?

LindberghCourtroomOn February 13, 1935, the jury in the Lindbergh kidnapping case returned its verdict, finding Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty, and recommending the death penalty.

The case was the “crime of the century,” and the reporters present at the trial were eager to scoop their colleauges. The courtroom was locked when the jury returned, but the Associated Press figured out a way to get the news out of the courtroom. Their reporter carried a small transmitter in his briefcase, and upon hearing the verdict, he was to send a prearranged code with the news. A nearby AP telegrapher would be listening, and immediately telegraph the news to AP headquarters.

The code for guilty, but with a recommendation for mercy, meaning life in prison, was four dots. That night, the AP scooped the competition, and radio listeners around the country heard the news that Hauptmann would get life in prison. But unfortunately for the listening public (and for Hauptmann), the verdict was actually guilty of first degree murder, meaning the electric chair. The AP issued a correction a few minutes later.

The little mixup was caused by someone else having the same idea. The New York Daily News also came up with the idea of smuggling a transmitter into the locked courtroom, and the Daily News’ signal of four dots meant merely that the jury had entered the courtroom.

This story was recounted 80 years ago this month in the June 1935 issue of Shortwave Craft magazine. The article is probably written by publisher Hugo Gernsback, and as with most of what he wrote, it contains a good bit of self-promotion. He included the photo of a briefcase shortwave receiver that had been featured in the magazine three years earlier, in the June 1932 issue.

SWCraftJune1932

Undaunted by the fact that what he had published had been a receiver, he notes that “with a slight change in the connections, this receiver is easily converted into a transmitter for code signals, such as those used at the Hauptmann trial.”

I haven’t found any corroboration of this incident. Gernsback’s support of his theory comes from his assertion that the reporters in question didn’t deny it when he asked about it. It seems a bit far-fetched, since it depends on both the AP and the Daily News happening to use the same frequency for their clandestine transmitters. Since the transmission would necessarily be so short, it would be imperative for the listener to be tuned to the exact frequency prior to the signal. It seems that the chances of both papers using the same frequency just by chance are pretty slim.

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Scouts Distribute Radios to Blind, 1925

1925ChicagoScouts

Ninety years ago, Chicago Boy Scouts were busy learning how to hook up and operate the Mohawk radio receiver shown here in this photo from the June 1925 issue of Radio Broadcast.  These scouts had been selected by the Chicago Tribune to distribute the sets to blind persons and instruct the new owners on the sets’ operation.

According to the newspaper’s March 15, 1925, issue, the sets were five-tube models and were distributed to persons whose names were submitted by the Council of Social Agencies.

The set appears to be the Mohawk Model A5, a TRF containing five UX201A tubes.

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1958 Phoenix Fallout Shelter

w7pyhshelter

The cozy ham shack shown here is actually the fallout shelter of  William A. Rhodes, W7PYH.  (in the 1972 and 1993 call book, his call appears to have changed to W7KLA.) His Phoenix shelter, along with another one in California. appeared in the March 1958 issue of Popular Mechanics.

w7pyhAntennaHe had a well-equipped underground station.  The unit on top is a Heathkit DX-100 transmitter, beneath which sits an HRO Junior receiver.  The presence of the nameplate on the receiver suggests that this was a military surplus version of the HRO.  The station would have covered 160 through 10 meters.  The large unit on the floor appears to be the speaker/power supply for the receiver.  (The other unit on the floor to the right of the radio equipment is apparently a dehumidifier.)  The antenna, shown here, was a vertical mounted on the ventilation pipe, through which power to the shelter ran.

Power was apparently supplied by commercial power, or perhaps a generator mounted above ground.  The shelter’s floor plans, shown below, don’t make any reference to a generator.

Interestingly, the floor plans do show an oxygen cylinder.  While this might have been of limited utility, it is understandable given the owner’s background.

Rhodes was an inventor and founder of Arizona HydroGen Manufacturing, which manufactures an electrolysis unit which generates a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen which is used immediately for purposes such as welding.  The process seems relatively straightforward, and as far as I can tell, Rhodes never made any extraordinary claims as to it.  However, it seems to have received some attention from those who do make extraordinary claims as some sort of free energy source.  Since he was in the business of hydrolyzing, it’s not surprising that the shelter contained a canister of oxygen.

Rhodes seems to have been a prolific inventor in a variety of areas.  Most notably, he was the co-inventor of U.S. Patent 2594740, an electronic light amplifier with applications in astronomy and in television.  Remarkably, Rhodes’ co-inventor was none other than Dr. Lee De Forest, the inventor of the triode vacuum tube.

And Rhodes’ name is also well known in UFO circles, since he photographed a UFO in 1948.

Rhodes died in 2007 at the age of 90.  According to this site, the shelter remained intact as a computer room until his death.

Floor plan of the Rhodes shelter. Each room is 9 feet in diameter.

Floor plan of the Rhodes shelter. Each room is 9 feet in diameter.

 

 

References

 

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The Millionth of an Inch Girls: 1943

MillionthOfAnInchGirls

The New York war workers shown here are the “millionth of an inch” girls of Reeves Sound Laboratories. They are etching quartz crystals to set the exact transmitting frequency of the completed crystal.

Prior to World War 2, quartz crystals were not manufactured in large quantities. But wartime needs called for crystals in massive quantities. One of the manufacturers that went to work to fill the need was Reeves Sound Laboratories of New York City. In October 1942, the company procured the equipment and leased a former furniture warehouse at 52 West 47th Street, near Times Square. In the first month of production, the company turned out sixteen crystals. The company had a contract to ship 1600 crystals by the end of December, and actually shipped 2200. By February, it was shipping 8700 per month.

The whole painstaking process of turning raw quartz from Brazil into precisely cut crystals can be seen in the army film in the video below. The purity of the crystal, the angle of the cut, and the exact thickness of the crystal are all critical in determining the crystal’s operating frequency. The “millionth of an inch girls” shown above were the last step in the manufacturing process. They carefully etched the crystal by hand that last millionth of an inch while checking their work with an oscillator showing whether the crystal was on frequency. It was highly skilled, but also highly monotonous, work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b–FKHCFjOM

References

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