Category Archives: Radio history

Hotel Chesterfield, NY, 1953.

HotelChesterfieldIf you were visiting New York 70 years ago, you wouldn’t want to be stuck in a room without a radio. So the Hotel Chesterfield, 130 W. 49th St.,  all rooms with a radio, sounds like a good choice.  A single room was $3 a night, with a double going for $4.  Adjusted for inflation, that works out to $33.80 and $45.07.  I bet you can’t find a room in Manhattan for that price today.

The ad appeared in the Washington Evening Star seventy years ago today, March 24, 1953.  You can read more about the hotel at this link.



Solar eclipse litigation.

1943 UHF Receiver

1943MarRadioCraftThe “UHF” receiver shown here appeared in the March 1943 issue of Radio Craft magazine. It was sent in to the magazine by Stanley Dowgiala, who reported that the set was designed primarily to pull in police calls in the New York area. He reported that he received calls from Newark Jersey City, New York, Bayonne, and Union City. He also received many FM stations. He notes that the coil consisted of 8 turns for the 42-49 MHz FM stations, and 12 turns for the police calls, meaning that they were probably around 30 MHz.

He also pulled in TV signals, especially WNBT, but didn’t have accurate coil data. The unusual tuner included a variometer coil salvaged from an ancient Zenith. He reported that it worked better than a small variable capacitor.

1943MarRadioCraft2



1948 Ham Station

Screenshot 2023-02-28 1.13.40 PMThis nicely equipped ham station appeared on the cover of Radio News 75 years ago this month. It’s compact because part of it, the 400 watt BC-610E transmitter is hidden away in another room and is being operated remotely.  It’s being driven by the Hallicrafters HT-18 exciter shown on the top shelf, which by itself put out only about 4 watts.

The receiver, which this unnamed ham is tuning, is the Hallicrafters SX-43.  Rounding out the station is a panadaptor and wire recorder.



1943 Home Headphone System

1943MarPM2The woman at left might look like she’s been hypnotized, but she’s actually just listening to a particularly interesting radio program, thanks to the whole-house headphone system described in the March 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics. Twisted lamp cord is carefully run through the walls, to open-circuit headphone jacks in whatever room they are desired. In the living room, the wiring is connected to the radio, and the magazine provides details on how to tap in.



First Amateur Radio Lunar Echoes: 1953

1953MarQSTShown here, on the cover of the March 1953 issue of QST, are W4AO and W3GKP, carefully aligning the W3GKP antennas in preparation for bouncing their 144 MHz signals off the moon.

The feat had been accomplished by the U.S. military a few years earlier, but it was much more challenging with amateur power levels of 1000 watts. The first echoes came in 1950, but the two hams kept the early results under wraps and continued until a definitive echo was shown, which happened in early 1953, on 144 MHz.

The details of the operation were carried in that issue of QST. That first EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) or “Moonbounce” signal required a great deal of technical expertise, but both technical innovation and collective experience have made the feat much more achievable, with many stations logging more than 100 countries. For an idea of the relatively minimal amount of equipment now needed, see W5RZ’s 2016 article about portable EME from a park, in which he made contacts with Europe by bouncing signals off the moon from an antenna strapped to a charcoal grill.



Uncle Fester: The Early Years

Screenshot 2023-03-07 11.53.17 AMShown here, a hundred years ago today, in the Washington Evening Star, March 9, 1923, is film star Jackie Coogan, talking from WGY radio in Schenectady, NY.  The device shown is the pallophotophone, used for recording sound on film.

Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester (The Addams Family, 1966).jpg

Uncle Fester. Wikipedia image.

If the actor’s name rings a bell, it’s because he went on to play Uncle Fester in the Addams Family.  Perhaps his trademark image with the lightbulb in his mouth was inspired by the pallophotophone.



1943 “Little Giant” Broadcast Receiver

1943MarPM3The March issue of Popular Mechanics typically carried the plans for a receiver dubbed the “Little Giant,” and despite the war, the March 1943 issue was no exception.  The couple shown above are putting the finishing touches on the set.

Wartime parts shortages were taken into consideration, and the set could be constructed with many parts found in the junk box. For example, the coils were wound on the cardboard forms retrieved from an old flashlight battery.

The circuit was a simple 3-tube TRF set, using a 12K7GT as RF amplifier, 12J7GT detector, and a 70L7GT AF amplifier driving a PM speaker. With a good antenna, the set would pull in stations a thousand miles away, but still had good selectivity for use even in a city with many stations.

1943MarPM4



1923 Variable Capacitor

Screenshot 2023-02-24 2.50.19 PMA hundred years ago this month, the March 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics carried this self-explanatory idea for a homemade variable capacitor. A glass test tube serves as the dialectric, and the “rotor” is a brass tube sized to just fit over the tube. The stator is foil lining the inside of the tube.

With the dimensions shown here, the capacitance was said to be about 500 pF, which would prove useful for many radio circuits.



Today’s Quiz

1963MarPE

Today’s quiz is from 60 years ago, the March 1963 issue of Popular Electronics. Can you match up the names with the drawings?

Answers will appear tomorrow.