Popular Mechanics, Oct. 1951.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Novice class amateur radio license, which was authorized by the FCC effective July 1, 1951. Actually, there were no novices as of that date, since it was a Sunday. But the first exams took place at FCC offices on July 2, and the first licenses started arriving in the mail a few weeks after that.

The novice license, which I earned in 1974, was an entry-level license, initially valid for one year, to give new hams a taste of on-the-air operation. It required a code test at just five words per minute, and a written test consisting of twenty multiple-choice questions. The material for the test came from a 28 question study guide that appeared in the June 1951 issue of QST.  The questions weren’t very different from the ones I studied for in the 1970s, and in retrospect, they were pretty easy.

Novices were initially granted privileges on the 80, 11, and 2 meter ham bands.  They were allowed CW (Morse code) only, but with voice allowed on 2 meters.

Here is what you would have heard on the radio 80 years ago today, June 30, 1941. This listing is from that day’s edition of the Pittsburgh Press.

Seventy-five years ago, these workers are testing mica and paper capacitors from the assembly line of Sangamo Electric Company in Springfield, Illinois.  Each day, samples were taken from the day’s production and subjected to life testing.

The photo appeared on the cover of Radio News, June 1946.

A hundred years ago, these summer tourists were enjoying dance music at some fine hotel, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of a young radio enthusiast. This was but one idea shown in an article in the June, 1921, issue of Radio News.

The article started by noting that some young men might be trying to decide whether they should spend their money on a new piece of radio gear, or instead on a nice summer vacation.  The solution to the dilemma was to parlay the radio hobby into a free vacation.  Stamps were cheap, and it was simply a matter of proposing ideas to resort hotels:  In exchange for free room and board, the entrepreneur could provide useful services to the hotel.

One such idea is illustrated above.  A dance required music, and that music could come over the radio.  In addition to being a source of the dance music, the radio was still a novelty in its own right, and would have a particular allure.

Some hotels might be in remote areas, and the morning papers might not arrive until the afternoon.  A young man equipped with a radio set could get the morning headlines to guests before the papers arrived.  And the presence of the two-way set could be an important selling  feature for a hotel to offer the availability of emergency message sending.

In some cases, the young man could offer radio classes to guests.  Also, a young man with a radio set would have numerous networking opportunities.  The possibilities were endless!

Sixty years ago this month, the June 1961 issue of Electronics Technician magazine showed this interesting combination, a two-way radio for 27 MHz, with a built-in AM radio.

The “Walk’N Talk” model RT-101 is being advertised to radio and electronics technicians, and it might come in handy for tasks such as aiming a TV antenna. It’s probably a 100 mW unit, so no license was required. The built-in AM radio seems like a nice touch. A set of two retailed for $159.95.  According to this inflation calculator, that works out to over $1400 in 2021 dollars, so it’s apparently for the well heeled electronics technician.  I don’t know if it’s still available, but you can see a nicely preserved example at this Facebook Marketplace listing.

The postwar era brought a new product: The clock radio. This ad, from the June 1946 issue of Radio Retailing, showed one of the earliest examples from General Electric, which appears to be a model 50, a four-tube set.

With this new innovation, customers could say goodbye to sleep-shattering alarms, but after five minutes, an alarm would sound, to keep them from cheating.  Dealers were encouraged to stock up, since it was a natural for multiple set sales.  Everyone in the family would want one, and there was a great ad campaign in progress, along with full color point of sale displays.

Sixty years ago this month, the June 1961 issue of Radio Electronics posed the question, “how can I prepare my child for today’s electronic world?” The answer was shown on the cover. A kit such as this would not make a child an electronic genius overnight, but it would let the parent find out of the child had an interest in and aptitude for electronics.

Shown here is the Heathkit Electronic Workshop model SK-50, and the magazine reviewed a number of similar kits. This one allowed the young radio fan to build 19 different electronic projects, simply by wiring the components together according to the instructions. The magazine article doesn’t state the price, but the kit was still in Heath’s 1966 catalog for $19.95.

I sometime hear it lamented that these kits are no longer available, but that’s not true. First of all, from the picture above, it would be possible to recreate the kit shown above simply by looking at the picture. But if you want to buy a similar set for Junior, then one of the Elenco Snap Circuit kits shown below fits the bill: