Happy Thanksgiving from OneTubeRadio.com!
A hundred years ago, Thanksgiving 1922 was to be a radio Thanksgiving, as shown in this ad in the Washington Times, Nov. 26, 1922. There were 35,000 radio receivers in Washington, and to celebrate the holiday, the Continental Electric Supply Co., 808 9th St., was sponsoring a concert on station WIL at 3:00 PM.
A hundred years ago, radio was definitely becoming a phenomenon, as evidenced by making the cover of Popular Science, November 1922.
The magazine contained ten commandments for the radio fan, authored by Jack Binns, described by the magazine as America’s most popular writer on radio. Many of the commandments are common sense, such as “learn how to use your tuner properly,” although most are outdated, such as “do not use a loop aerial with a crystal detector.”
The second commandment admonishes the reader not to make the ground connection with a gas pipe, but it’s not for the reason you might think. It turns out that gas pipes are insulated at certain points, so it just wouldn’t work very well.
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Seventy years ago this month, the November 1952 issue of Radio News introduced this transmitter for the novice. While the article contained the full details for constructing the set, it was really a kit, the Messner Model 2-CW. According to that company’s 1954 catalog, the kit retailed for $40, plus $5.50 for a plug-in coil for the desired band. Normally, the novice would start out on 80 meters, with the included coil, but as they upgraded, they could buy coils for 40, 20, 15, or 10 meters.
The transmitter used a single 6L6 tube, plus a rectifier, and was self-contained with a built-in power supply. Cathode keying was promised to keep chirp to a minimum.
Amazon might be starting drone delivery any day now, but as we can see here, it’s not a new idea. A hundred years ago this month, the cover of the November 1922 issue of Popular Wireless showed Major Raymond Phillips’ “famous” method for wireless controlled aerial mail. The issue included part of a series written by Major Phillips with some of the technical details of his system.
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Seventy-five years ago this month, the cover of Radio Craft magazine for November 1947 showed this Connecticut State Police officer studying traffic speeds courtesy of a radar, the Electro-Matic Speed Meter from Eastern Industries Ltd. of Norwalk, CT.
The complete unit consisted of three parts, the transmitter-receiver with built-in antenna, the indicator-amplifier, and a power supply. The radar used the doppler effect, since the reflection from an incoming object shortened the wavelength, and this could be measured and correlated with speed.
A number of the units were being tested, and the magazine noted that those tests would probably result in the adoption of radar speed control throughout the state.
According to the magazine, Connecticut speeders protesting that they were only doing forty would soon find themselves arguing with radar.
The complete apparatus weighed in at only 45 pounds, and could operate on either 120 volts AC or 6 volts DC. The radar signal on 2455 MHz was about 0.1 watt. The magazine noted that the radar required an FCC station license, but since it was so easy to operate, no operator’s license was required.
Fifty years ago this month, I got some sad news in the mail.
A couple of years earlier, as previously recounted here, I had been perusing the Publishers Clearing House mailing (which contained numerous personal notes written to me by my personal friend, company head honcho Robert H. Treller) and was intrigued by a magazine named Electronics Illustrated. I subscribed, and I think the magazine was one of the main things that spurred my interest in radio and all things electronic.
In fact, I even got my name in the magazine, as one of the finalists in the magazine’s 
“Win the World” contest, for submitting QSL card from shortwave and broadcast stations I had heard, as shown here in the March 1972 issue. I actually hadn’t submitted that many cards, and I was a little bit surprised that I had done as well as I had. And I was just a little bit proud to be a ten year old with my name in a national magazine. I figured the next year, I’d be able to easily win a valuable prize by employing a slightly better strategy.
But unfortunately, there would be no next year. Fifty years ago, the magazine delivered the sad news shown above, in the magazine’s November 1972 issue, which was to be the last. The magazine put the best spin on it as possible, and announced it as a “merger” with Mechanix Illustrated. But I knew better. I predicted that the “Electronics Illustrated” name would soon disappear completely, and it did. They had to placate us loyal subscribers by sending something, and they did it by continuing the subscription with Mechanix Illustrated. That was a good magazine, but it wasn’t the same.
The editor seemed to even concede this, in the full announcement buried deep in the last issue, in which he conceded that he would “miss the club-like atmosphere and special insider’s language.” He hit the nail on the head. I felt like I was a member of the club and had learned a new insider’s language, but now the club was to be disbanded. Bad news on the doorstep, indeed.
Christmas of 1922 was going to be a big one for radio, as evidenced by this ad in the Washington Herald a hundred years ago today, November 15, 1922. As shown here, Santa’s workshop was busy turning out radio sets, many of which would show up under the tree.
We previously profiled this dealer, White & Boyer, 812 13th St. NW, Washington. In addition to running the retail dealership, they were the licensee of station WJH, thus ensuring their customers had something to tune in.
They didn’t have Zoom classes 60 years ago, but when a polio outbreak struck Nunda, NY, in 1962, the high school tapped the ingenuity of local hams and CB’ers to come up with a method of distance learning.
Several students came down with the disease and were confined to their homes. Initially, they had to discontinue their studies, but the school bought a number of CB radios. Hy-Gain antennas were placed on the school roof, with coaxial cables running to classrooms. The school purchased Johnson transceivers, and volunteer students carried the radios from class to class and plugged the radio into the coax outlet in each room. The teacher was then able to transmit lectures to students at home.
Individual homes had smaller mobile-style whip antennas installed hooked up to transceivers there. When homebound students were called upon, it was a simple matter of pressing the push-to-talk button.
The pictures here appeared in the November 1962 issue of Electronics Illustrated, which pointed out that so far, seven students had received their schooling at home via CB. The teacher shown above was discussing the lesson with a student after class. The magazine confirmed that call letters were always given as required.
On this date 80 years ago, the November 7, 1942, issue of Radio Guide carried this ad for Motorola car radios. Production of civilian radios had ceased on April 22, 1942, but Motorola dealers still had prewar sets in stock.
We previously featured ideas for bringing the car radio inside. With gas being strictly rationed, the radio would do more good inside. But Motorola took another view: Since you had to drive slowly to conserve gas and rubber, the radio would make the slow drive more enjoyable.
But those prewar stocks wouldn’t last forever, so you were reminded to get yours before they were gone, because there would be no more for the duration.
We’ve previously shown (here and here) this air raid alarm that could be attached to a radio, the Model AR-101 Air Raid Alarm from National Union Radio Corp., 57 State Street, Newark, NJ. The simple device would activate a siren-like sound if the station to which it was tuned left the air, which would presumably be because an air raid was in progress.
Here, in this illustration from the November 1942 issue of Popular Mechanics, we see it in action. While Junior looks on, Mom gathers the flashlight and shovel that Dad will use in his duties as air raid warden.