A hundred years ago, radio was sweeping the nation, and the Sunday Amarillo (Texas) Daily News for October 29, 1922, had to devote an entire pictorial page to the phenomenon. Bread trucks were getting equipped with radio, voices were heard across the Atlantic, and everything seemed to revolve around radio.
This Zenith ad ran a hundred years ago today in the October 26, 1922, issue of the Richmond (Ind.) Palladium and Sun-Telegram. It asks the reader what they’re going to do that night, and speculates that they might play an uninteresting game of cards, sit in an uninteresting conversation, or spend the night in some time-killing chore or lukewarm hobby.
But real, diversified entertainment was at hand, in the form of radio! To find out more, all you had to do was call the Weisbrod’s music store, the town’s Zenith dealer, and set up an appointment to come into the store and see what their sets could pull in.
(Click on the ad to see a full size version.)
Seventy years ago this month, the October 1952 issue of the British Wireless World carried this illustration showing possible methods of linking American and European television. The diagram had actually first appeared two months earlier in the August 1952 issue of Tele-Tech as part of an open letter to the President of the United States (which would have been Harry S Truman) imploring action on TV networking with Europe and South America. According to the magazine, American homes would be able to view the great events of Europe, live, but “the underprivileged of Europe can be shown the wonderful richness of life in America.”
The diagram showed the potential methods, the first of which being an “airplane-relay between a dozen or more express planes continuously flying a regular route across the ocean,” presumably carrying 16-mm film.
The next idea was Stratovision, the use of a string of aircraft aloft, each relaying the signal to the next plane. As we previously showed, this system was tested, and even used to a certain extent, in the United States. But doing it over the Atlantic would require a set of aircraft carriers on which the planes could land, which would likely make the idea much less feasible.
The next idea was a string of VHF relay stations through Labrador, Baffin Island, Greenland, Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, and the Shetland Islands. The longest link would be 290 miles, meaning that the idea might be feasible. If this idea sounds familiar, it’s because it’s similar to one we talked about earlier, one proposed by David Sarnoff in 1951, although his plan envisioned the link going the other way, over the Bering Strait. Other ideas included a submarine coaxial cable, or scatter transmission, essentially the use of brute force to propagate VHF signals over the horizon. It also mentioned “miscellaneous marginal proposals,” such as use of moon reflections, which of course depended on the moon being visible over both continents, which would happen for about five hours per day.
One of the first transatlantic broadcasts was the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the following year. It was first seen on American television courtesy of 16-mm film flown by the RAF to Gander, Newfoundland, to the CBC, which was then picked up by American networks. The first live transatlantic broadcast didn’t take place until 1962, and it relied upon a method not anticipated by the 1952 article, namely, the use of the Telstar 1 satellite. While Telstar was the first transatlantic use of satellite, it should be pointed out that it wasn’t the first television transmission by satellite. Those honors go to Echo 1, which successfully relayed signals via a passive reflector between the east and west coasts of the U.S.
Portion of 2LO’s original transmitter. Wikipedia photo.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation. It was incorporated as a private enterprise, as the British Broadcasting Company, on October 18, 1922, and first hit the airwaves on 350 meters (857 kHz) on November 14, 1922, as station 2LO. 2LO had actually come on the air earlier, for an hour a day starting on May 11, 1922.
You can read more of the BBC’s history at their website. Most of our readers on the American side of the Pond will undoubtedly be most familiar with the signature tunes and interval signals of the World Service in the video below. (And the familiar tune does indeed have a name, namely, Lilliburlero.)
Seventy years ago this month, the October 1952 issue of the British journal Practical Wireless showed how to put together this handsome little one-tube receiver for mediumwave and longwave. With even a short indoor antenna, it would pull in a large number of stations, both from Britain and the continent.
The magazine pointed out that the set was obviously much more sensitive than a crystal set, but as the beginner gained more experience, it would serve as the basis for a loudspeaker set, with the addition of an amplifier.
The tube (or “valve” as it’s known on the other side of the Pond), could be a 1N5, 1N5GT, Mullard DF33, or Marconi/Osram Z14.
Eighty years ago this month, the October 1942 issue of Radio News carried this ad announcing that the U.S. Army Signal Corps was open for direct enlistment. As long as they had not received notice of induction, young men ages 18 and 19 could sign up, as long as they were physically fit. And up through ages 45, men with some experience in the communications industry could enlist as long as they passed the physical exam.
The ad appears to be paid for by Hallicrafters, probably as a way of keeping their name before the public, despite not being able to sell their wares for the duration.
Eighty years ago this month, the October 1942 issue of QST featured on its cover this transceiver for the 2-1/2 meter WERS band.
The set was designed by George Grammer, W1DF, and the operator shown here is John Huntoon, W1LVQ, later W1RW, who was then communications manager of the ARRL. Huntoon went on to become ARRL Secretary and General Manager.
The three-tube transceiver was typical of designs of that era, with a superregenerative receiver that could be put into service as a transmitter at the flip of a switch.
A hundred years ago this month, the October 1922 issue of Popular Mechanics showed this portable radio receiver suitable for Boy Scouts, campers, yachtsmen, or vacationists in general. The set was contained in a box measuring 6 by 6 by 3 inches, and featured a crystal detector tuneable between 100 and 600 meters (500 kHz through 3 MHz). It was said to be able to pull in stations 25-30 miles away, and included ground and antenna wires, as well as a ground stake. It could be set up in 15 minutes.
It was a product of the Bleh Co., Inc., of 53 Park Place, New York.
Amateur radio was off the air for the duration during World War II, but a lot of young men were interested in radio (not unlike the ones shown above in a previous post.) One of them had a really bad luck with timing, and received his ticket on December 6, 1941. He wrote the following letter, which appeared with a response 80 years ago this month in the October 1942 issue of Radio Craft.
Dear Editor:
I feel that I have been cheated by the Japanese. or Germans, or the F.C.C. or someone. To explain this I will have to give you some of my past history.
I became interested in radio in the winter of 1939. I listened to amateurs on the short-wave end of my broadcast receiver. I also read radio books here and there for about a year. I got a telegraph set and learned to send up to about 12 w.p.m. on it. Then I got a key and buzzer. In May of 1941 I built a two -tube battery radio and had much trouble with it. I did not get it
to operate until July, 1941. Also in May I bought a license manual and radio amateur’s handbook, and rented a Teleplex instrument. It was two months before the Teleplex came, because of war needs. I studied in all of my spare time until September 22, 1941. That day I went 165 miles to Dallas and took my examination. I passed the code exam swell and I figure that I made about 85 on the questions.From then until December 6, 1941, the day when my licenses came through the mail, 1 built my station. I bought a Sky Buddy receiver and built a 25 -watt transmitter and a lot of other equipment. The only thing was that my antenna was broken by a high wind and replacement had to wait several days before I could get some more of the right kind of wire. On December 8, ‘I finished it and was ready to go on the air for the first time in my life. I was excited all over. I had been waiting for this hour for two years. Then I heard over the broadcast receiver about the F.C.C. closing all amateur stations. You can imagine how I felt.
Between December and February, 1942, I did not see a R & T. magazine. Without it, I could not read about what was happening in the radio field. Now I have forgotten nearly all I knew; I can’t send or receive over about 10 w.p.m.; I have forgotten most of the ham slang and everything. I am very unhappy. I suppose a lot of other amateurs are, too.
The government claims it uses the amateur bands for aviation and army use. 1 have a good communication receiver and I search all over the amateur bands and I can’t hear anything. Not even a telegraph signal. Why can’t the F.C.C. give us amateurs just a little space to operate. For instance, they could give us back the 160 – meter band and not let us use over 40 watts input and operate only during a certain period of the day.
There are a lot of amateurs in the army and on defense jobs, but there are still some left, like the ones under 17 and over 64, or the blind, deaf, or disabled, who love amateur radio.
I am 14 years old. It will be at least three years before I can go to war. If I could get on the air and Use radio equipment and become experienced enough, I would be able to operate a radio in the army. I have my licenses, but I have never been on the air, and have not studied radio since December of ’41.
Isn’t there some way for us to get on the air, at least to learn?
GILES EASLEY,
Calveat [Sic, Calvert],Texas.(Your letter stresses the nuisance of war but fails to consider the seriousness of war. If an amateur band were opened it would require constant vigilance to see whether advantage were not taken of this liberty by enemy agents, and the F.C.C. is too busy for that. Undoubtedly you can find other amateurs in your vicinity who may be able to meet with you for occasional code practice–even if its only on an audio oscillator. You should have more time now to study the technical phases of radio and to do some experimental work which will be valuable to you later on. Perhaps your local Civilian Defense group will find use for your services, either for constructing or operating emergency transceivers. -Editor)
It appears that the author did eventually get on the air. The 1952 call book lists a Giles M. Easley of Silver Spring, MD, being licensed as W3SSG. According to the Social Security Death Index, he died in Texas in 1985 at the age of 58. His gravestone indicates that he did, indeed serve in the U.S. Navy in World War 2.
