Category Archives: Radio history

Radio in the Canadian Rockies, 1925

1925AprilPMA hundred years ago this month, the cover of the April 1925 issue of Popular Mechanics shows author Lewis R. Freeman and his companions at the controls of a four-tube radio set during an expedition to the Canadian Rockies. In 1923, he had taken a radio to the Grand Canyon and successfully pulled in stations, despite assurances by so-called experts that reception would be impossible. Emboldened, he was asked to join the Canadian expedition, and brought along the four-pound radio. Batteries and other accessories added forty pounds.

The first night’s listening pulled in Oklahoma City, followed by Calgary, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles, before it even got dark. Freeman reported that during the course of the expedition, a majority of the high power stations east of the Mississippi were heard, along with stations as far south as Baton Rouge, and practically everything in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and Alberta.



1925 Camping Radio

1925AprRadioAge101 years ago, this duo were camped out in the great outdoors. After a day of adventures, they were able to tune in some music, or perhaps listen to the news of the world, thanks to the foresight of bringing along a radio. And for the 1925 season, the April 1925 issue of Radio Age showed how to build the set.

The author began poetically by quoting a portion of The Call of The Wild by Robert W. Service:

Have you seen God in His splendors,
Heard the text that nature renders?
(You’ll never hear it in the family pew.)
The simple things, the true things,
The silent men who do things –
Then listen to the Wild –
It’s calling you.

And the best way to pull in the call of the wild is with a three-tube TRF set, as described in the article. The set was said to pull in DX, and the next step up would be a much more complex superheterodyne. This set was a moderate priced, good, substantial receiver, in a compact case containing batteries and loudspeaker.

Setting it up was simple. Just find a tree 50 feet away from the desired location, get the end of the antenna up as high as possible, and run it to the set. A tent pole would serve as a suitable mast for that end of the wire.

KaitoRadioFor modern campers, we recommend a small portable such as the one shown here. Like everything, it’s available inexpensively at Amazon. In addition to AM and FM broadcasts, it will pull in the shortwaves, meaning that almost anywhere you find yourself in the world, you’ll find something to listen to. And if you’re in North America, you’ll be able to get NOAA weather broadcasts. It’s powered by AAA batteries, but you can also run it from the built-in hand crank or solar panel. You can even use it to charge your phone or other USB device, and it has a built-in flashlight and siren. And you can even pull in the Call of The Wild.



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Claire Windsor, 1925

1925Apr4RadioworldShown here is actress Claire WIndsor, who is pulling in a favorite program on her miniature receiver.  She often played an upscale society girl, and was a trendsetter of 1920’s fashions.

Her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can be found on the north side of the 7000 block of Hollywood Boulevard.

This photo appeared a hundred years ago today, in the April 4, 1925, issue of Radio World.



 

Visie-Talkie, 1945

1945AprilRadioCraft11945AprilRadioCraft2Eighty years ago today, April 1, 1945, Radio Craft magazine introduced what is properly the ancestor of the modern cell phone. It was the next logical progression after the walkie talkie and the handie-talkie, namely the visie-talkie.

The extreme miniaturization was possible due to the elimination of a needless step in television, namely, scanning. The article correctly pointed out that the human eye, just like a TV camera, contains a lens. But that’s where the similarity ends, since the TV camera has a complicated scanning mechanism. The human eye has a retina, and the article explains how this was duplicated with the use of condensinators.

Undoubtedly, the idea was put on hold due to the war, and not used again for many decades. But eighty years ago, this device demonstrated that convenient handheld video communication was possible.



1955 CONELRAD Markings

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Seventy years ago this month, the March 1955 issue of Popular Mechanics showed off Chrysler’s “defense minded” radios.  The dials were “especially designed to enable motorists to tune in quickly for emergency Civil Defense instructions.”  As far as I can tell, that meant that the dials had the required CONELRAD markings on 640 and 1240.



1945 One Tube Radio

1945MarRadioCraftEighty years ago, the March 1945 issue of Radio Craft showed this circuit for a one-tube radio that actually had four stages. The tube is a 1D8GT, which appears to be at first glance a double tube.  But it’s actually a triple tube.  On the left is a pentode and on the right is a triode.  Down in the lower right side of the tube there is what appears to be a cathode, but it’s actually the plate of the third part of the tube, a diode.

The circuit first amplifies the RF signal with the pentode, and then sends it to the diode to be detected.  Then, the pentode is reflexed and serves as AF amplifier.  Finally, the triode is used as a second stage of AF amplification.  So the single tube actually takes the place of four tubes.

The circuit had been sent in to the magazine by one Sgt. L.R. Blattner, of Tinker Field, Ohio.



1925 Wireless

1925MarWirelessMagI’m not sure exactly what’s going on in this picture, but this British gentleman a century ago obviously took radio construction seriously. The illustration appeared on the cover of the March 1925 issue of The Wireless Magazine.



Admiral Model 35-G6, 1940

1940MarRadioRetailingEighty years ago this month, this broadcast listener is relaxing at the beach with her Admiral 35-G6 portable.  The model shown here is the 35-G6, a six-tube set that could run on either 110 volts AC or DC, or a 1-1/2 volt battery.  It was identical to the 37-G6, in a different cabinet without the cover.  Also shown are models 33-F5 and 34-F5, which were five-tube sets.

This ad appeared in the March 1940 issue of Radio Today.



1945MarRadioNewsThis cartoon appeared 80 years ago this month in the March 1945 issue of Radio News.

1965 Ham Station Budgets

Sixty years ago this month, the March 1965 issue of Electronics Illustrated offered some guidance on equipment for the new ham. The magazine noted that there was a lot of information on learning the code and getting your license, but it was sparse when it came to setting up a new station.

Therefore, they showed possible stations for four different price points: $100, $250, $500, and $1000.

The hundred dollar station consisted of an Ameco AC-1T transmitter kit, along with a Lafayette KT-320 general coverage receiver. The next step up would be a Heathkit DX-60 transmitter and HR-10 receiver. There was enough in the budget for a Lafayette 9902501 VFO.

For $500, the magazine recommended an E.F. Johnson Viking Ranger II, and Lafayette HA-350 receiver.

The well heeled ham could spend $1000 on a Hallicrafters HT-37 transmitter and Drake R-4 receiver.