Category Archives: Television History

TV Antenna Tutorial from 1948

Screenshot 2023-05-24 10.13.12 AMScreenshot 2023-05-24 10.14.27 AMOver the next few years, the TV antenna on top of houses would become a familiar sight, But 75 years ago, the concept was new, even for experienced radio technicians, who were just starting to realize that the way they would stay in business was by embracing television.

Therefore, the June-July 1948 issue of National Radio News, the publication sent to alumni of National Radio Institute, carried an extensive treatise on the subject of antennas for FM and TV. One concept that would soon become familiar, but was probably new to most readers, was “ghosts” caused by multipath interference. The cause is shown above, and the result is shown below.

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1953 Color Television Demonstration

Screenshot 2023-05-10 11.54.54 AMScreenshot 2023-05-10 11.55.31 AMSeventy years ago today, the May 11, 1953, issue of Life magazine gave Americans this sneak peak at what color television was going to look like. Specifically, it was the compatible color system from RCA (NTSC), which could be viewed on existing black and white sets. The magazine noted that a competing system from CBS had been approved, but was not compatible, and had been shelved by CBS itself. The magazine predicted that approval for RCA’s system would take place sometime in 1954.  The approval actually took place later in 1953, and the first sets were on the market in 1954.

These images were from a demonstration of the system to members of Congress, and show a special production of Kukla, Fran & Ollie.



S&H Green Stamps for Sylvania Tubes, 1963

1963AprElecWorldIf you were responsible for procuring vacuum tubes for a TV repair shop 60 years ago, you would probably find this ad very appealing, and chances are, your next order would be for Sylvania tubes. This two-page spread in Electronics World, April 1963, shows two good reasons for stocking that brand. According to the left side of the page, they’re good tubes and they’ll last a long time.

But the right side of the page is even more compelling. When you start ordering Sylvania tubes, you start collecting S&H Green Stamps, just like the ones you get at the supermarket or the gas station. You collect the stamps, and before long, you can cash them in for valuable premiums, “everything from home furnishings to furs.”



1923 Television

1923AprSciInvA hundred years ago this month, the April 1923 issue of Science and Invention contained a description of the work in television being done in France by Édouard Belin.

His system consisted of a mechanical television camera using what could be called a Nipkow disk.  The receiving end consisted of an oscillograph reflecting an image from a mirror and projecting it on a screen.



1938 Projection Television

1938MarPracMech2Eighty-five years ago this month, the March 1938 issue of Practical Mechanics discussed the state of the art in British television prior to the War. Shown here was a method for projecting a television image to an auditorium audience of hundreds.

As shown below, Tat the receiving end, a continuous loop of film was used. The image was exposed onto the film, which passed through a developer and dryer, after which it was projected. Then, the emulsion was washed off the film and a new layer added so that the film could be again exposed.

The following year, on September 1, 1939, television in Britain was shut down for the duration.

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Radio Facsimile: 1938

1938JanRadioRetailingEighty five years ago, they didn’t know it wasn’t going to catch on, but it looked like the next big thing was going to be facsimile. The January 1938 issue of Radio Retailing carried a feature discussing the state of the art. It acknowledged that television was right around the corner (and it was, with only a world war serving to delay it), but the magazine incorrectly predicted that facsimile equipment might find its way into American homes before television.

1938JanRadioRetailing2The idea seemed reasonable, since a number of stations were already licensed to send fax transmissions, as shown by the list at the right. In the Upper Midwest, both WHO Des Moines and KSTP Kansas City held licenses to broadcast with the new mode, on their standard broadcast frequencies.

The magazine acknowledged that standards had to be fixed before facsimile service became common. And testing needed to be done to see how well it worked in outlying areas. And it still wasn’t know if the receivers would be standalone units, or if a printer would plug into the loudspeaker output of a standard broadcast radio.

Shown above is a pioneer of facsimile transmission, W.G.H. Finch of Finch Telecommunications, Inc.  Other contenders for a market share were R.C.A., Radio Pictures, and Fultograph.  Facsimile service was seen as a way in which radio stations could take on the competition of newspapers.  But when the War ended, television took off a lot faster than many people imagined, and radio facsimile service is relegated to a footnote in the history of radio.



TV in 1948

1948JanRadioRetailingFor a snapshot of the state of television in the United States 75 years ago, this map shows stations on the air, as well as construction permits and pending applications.

This map appeared in the January 1948 issue of Radio Retailing, which also showed the following selection of sets that were on the market.



Crosley Mobile Television Demonstration Unit, 1952

1952DecTVRetailingSeventy years ago, television was spreading around the nation, but not all areas could yet receive a signal. But that didn’t stop Crosley dealers from taking orders and making sure the town was ready for TV the day the first station signed on.

They could accomplish this with the Crosley Mobile Television Demonstration Unit, which would roll into town weeks before the first station came on, complete with a television studio on wheels, two cameras, monitor boards, and 800 feet of coaxial cable. It was as exciting as a circus, and would give the people their first taste of live TV.

The photo appeared in a Crosley ad in the December 1952 issue of Television Retailing.



1962 TV Sound Tuner

1962DecRadioElec2Sixty years ago, the December 1962 issue of Radio-Electronics showed how to make this converter to listen to TV sound in high fidelity. Of course, one way to do it would be to simply tap into the audio detector of the TV set, and feed that to the hi fi. But that, according to the article, left a lot to be desired, since it usually resulted in buzz, distortion, and background noise that would stand out like a sore thumb in a good audio system.

The solution was to build this converter, and feed it into the FM receiver. And most of the circuit was available off the shelf, in the form of the TV tuner. When these needed repiar, the local repairman typically removed them and traded it in for a rebuilt unit, making the rebuilt units readily available. Ads in the same issue of the magazine showed complete tuners for about $9.95. This tuner had a 44 MHz IF, meaning that the sound IF was 41.25 MHz.

To be able to tune this in on an FM receiver, the builder first tweaked the slugs and trimmers inside the tuner to bring it up to 44 MHz. This was fed into an amplifier-doubler, with the grid tuned to 44 MHz and the plate tuned to 88 MHz. The result was that the output showed up on 88 MHz, at the bottom of the FM dial.

With a reasonably good antenna, the little converter was said to provide good sound reception for stations up to 75 miles away.

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Adjusting Your TV Antenna: 1952

1952NovPSWe don’t believe that this gentleman was permanently stationed up on the roof. Instead, he’s doing some experiments to figure out the best spot for the TV antennna. Presumably, someone is watching the TV down below, and shouting reports as to how the picture looks.

The November 1952 issue of Popular Science carried a number of pointers on how to ensure the best TV reception, and this was one of them. It suggested putting the antenna on a broom handle, raising the antenna as high as possible, and then lowering it. Somewhere within that range you would find the sweet spot for best reception. The magazine cautioned that you should check all channels before settling on the final position.