Sixty years ago, this duo were communicating up to 1500 feet from ship to shore thanks to a pair of devices dubbed the Terraquaphone. The plans for constructing the came from the September 1961 issue of Electronics Illustrated.

The device relied on a principle we’ve seen before, namely the use of earth currents. Each Terraquaphone consisted of a three-transistor audio amplifier. Despite the name shown on the cover, it wasn’t a radio. It simply sent the audio signals through the earth, using two probes. If the probes were placed 30 feet apart, the resulting range would be 1500 feet. Of course, that depended a lot on soil and water conductivity. When it was tested in Arizon, the maximum range achieved was 600 feet.

The magazine noted that if used on a boat, one probe should be at the bow, with the other at the stern. Maximum range would be achieved with the boats parallel to one another.

Shown here, from the September 1961 issue of Popular Electronics, is Barbara Slutzkin, WV2PZH, 1225 Ave. R., Brooklyn, New York.

She was a Junior at James Madison High School, where she was a member of the school radio club, and thought more girls should become hams. She is shown here at home, where she had a Viking II transmitter and Hallicrafters SX-25, as well as gear for 2 meters. According to the magazine, her pride and joy was her homebrew electronic key.

She is shown holding a microphone, so she was presumably operating two meters, the only band on which novices had voice privileges at the time.  According to the magazine, her well-equipped station included a beam antenna for that band.

After a good start, and despite an excellent home station, it appears that Ms. Slutzkin didn’t continue with amateur radio. Her novice license would have been good for one year, and she would have needed to upgrade to Technician or General in that time. Upon upgrade, her call would have become WA2PZH. Unfortunately, the 1962 edition of the callbook doesn’t show that call listed, and there’s nobody by her name listed in the second call area.

We understand that people Google their own names, so if Ms. Slutzkin happens to read this, we always enjoy hearing from people we’ve featured.  Did you continue in ham radio?  If not, even though your license lapsed, there’s nothing stopping you from getting a new one!  Feel free to leave a comment below, or e-mail us at w0is@arrl.net.

Shown here is one of the first portable radios, from a hundred years ago. The editors of the September 1921 issue of Popular Mechanics were apparently a little bit unclear on what to call it, so they settled on “phonographic suitcase.” But it’s really a six-tube TRF portable radio receiver, conveniently mounted in a suitcase.

The magazine noted that music by wireless was nothing new, but up to that point, it had been necessary to go to a receiving station to hear it. But now, the receiving station could be carried about to where it was needed. The set weighed in at barely 30 pounds, which included everything including two 1.5 volt A batteries and two 20 volt batteries to supply the B+.

The inside of the cover was a receiving coil with 21 turns of 28 gauge wire. At the bottom was a horn coupled to a telephone receiver, which presumably supplied room-filling volume from stations within about eight miles. Once tuned, the set performed while closed. A button near the handle was turned, and this was connected to the inside switch. The only opening to the outside world was the opening for the horn, shown at left.

Sixty years ago, this young woman undoubtedly had the smallest radio receiver on her block, thanks to her steady hand and attention to detail in putting together a five-transistor superhet from the plans in the magazine, Radio-Electronics from September 1961.

All of the electronics were packed into the headphone case, meaning that the builder had to think in terms of three dimensions. The larger components were carefully glued together, and then the electrical connections were carefully soldered. The tuning dial was directly opposite the earphone, and the set ran on two button-style mercury batteries, which were said to be good for 25 hours of operation. The set would easily pull in the strong local stations, and with just a couple inches of wire hanging out to serve as an antenna, weaker stations could be heard.

There was a time a hundred years ago when physicians knew Morse code, as shown here in the August 1921 issue of Popular Mechanics. The magazine explained that physicians and others who had to stay in close contact with home could install this wireless telegraph receiving set in their car.

The set was said to have a range of five miles and rested on the back seat cushion. The antenna was four loops of wire around the top of the car.

A hundred years ago today, radio amateurs were making their way to the Windy City for the first national convention of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), held at Chicago’s elegant Edgewater Beach Hotel. The occasion was a momentous one, and the following account was carried in the August 29, 1921, issue of the Washington Herald under the heading “Scientific Notes and Comment”:

FIRST NATIONAL RADIO CONVENTION THIS WEEK

From 2000 to 3000 radio operators and engineers from all parts of the country are expected to attend the first national convention and radio show of the American Radio Relay League in Chicago, August 30 to September 3.

The program Includes papers and entertainments of a novel character, and the latest improvements in commercial and experimental wireless apparatus will be shown at the exhibition.

Secretary of Commerce Hoover [whose son, W6ZH, would go on to become the organization’s President in 1962] will send a radio message to the convention, which will be transmitted from the Postoffice radio station In Washington to Cincinnati and then relayed to Chicago, where it will be received in code in a loud-speaking telephone. Each radio enthusiast, in true operator style, will take down in writing the greeting as it is received. Secretary Hoover is the Cabinet officer who administers the government radio in this country through the Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation.

Rear Admiral W. H. G. Bullard, in charge of wireless for the navy, will be present at the convention.

Several Washington radio men expect to attend the convention as representatives of the local radio club.

QST, October 1921.

The main exhibition hall, located at the nearby Broadway Armory is shown in this grainy photo, the caption of which notes that most attendees were at dinner when the picture was taken.

An extensive writeup of the event can be found in the October 1921 issue of QST, and there is additional material at the ARRL website.
QST reported that the delegates in attendance greeted Secretary Hoover’s radiotelegraph message with cheers:

The Department of Commerce is by the authority of Congress, the legal Patron Saint of the Amateur Wireless Operators. Outside of its coldly legal relations the Department wishes to be helpful in encouraging this very important movement. I am asking Mr. Terrell, the head of our Radio Division, to go to Chicago to learn from you where the Department can be of service.

–Herbert Hoover