This month marks the 60th anniversary of the death of five American missionaries in Ecuador, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian. The five were taking part in Operation Auca, an ultimately successful attempt to evangelize the Huaorani, a tribe of about 700 spread out over about 7000 square miles of jungle.

Despite the initial setback, the effort was successful, after the Huarani realized that the Creator, with Whom they were acquainted through His creation, wanted them to abandon their warlike ways.

Sixty years ago today, the incident was featured in a prominent story in the January 30, 1956, issue of Life Magazine, entitled “Go Ye And Preach the Gospel: Five Do and Die,” from which the photo above is taken.

Much of the news of those events came to the attention of the world through HCJB radio.

Modern day Browning, Montana. Wikipedia photo.

A hundred years ago today, the town of Browning, Montana experienced a 100 degree drop in temperature within 24 hours.  On January 23, the temperature was 44°F, dropping to -56°F the next day as an Arctic cold front slammed through.

The event is recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records as the greatest temperature range in a day.  While this record for temperature drop still stands, the record for greatest change was actually broken in 1972, but not immediately recognized.

NWS Observer Jim Wood at the location of the 1972 record. NOAA photo.

This record was actually broken on January 14-15, 1972, at Loma, Montana.  National Weather Service cooperative observer Jim Wood recorded a temperature of -54°F at 9:00 AM local time on the 14th, which rose to 49°F by 8:00 local time the next morning, a 103 degree difference.  The dramatic change in temperature was the result of a Chinook wind from a system centered over Wisconsin.  Neither the observer nor the local weather office were aware that a record had been broken, and it was unknown to the National Climate Extremes Committee of NOAA, which had been formed in 1997 to make definitive rulings on weather records.  It was not brought to the committee’s attention until 2002.

Wood, a former member of the Montana Legislature, died in 2013 at the age of 89.

References

• Top Ten Montana Weather Events of the 20th Century
• A National Temperature Record at Loma, Montana at NOAA.gov

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A hundred years ago, Popular Mechanics, December 1915, carried a description of this invention to save the lives of the engineer and fireman of a locomotive that finds itself about to be involved in a head-on collision.  Heretofore, the only options had been to either stay with the train or attempt to jump clear, and hope for the best.  Even though the magazine admitted that there might be some practical problems, it was enough to give the men a fighting chance.

With a few seconds warning, the men could pull a lever on their seat.  This would drop them, seat and all, into this thick cylinder, which would close itself and throw it free of the train.  It was strong enough that it would hold even if the locomotive landed on top.  And if it landed in the water, it would float.

Simultaneously, the lever would pull back the throttle, dump the fire, apply the brakes, and put sand on the tracks, so the departing engineer would be doing all he could for his passengers as well.

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This World War 2 poster serves as a stern reminder of why you want to keep your name off the naughty list. Hitler and Tojo hadn’t been very nice, and the Jolly Old Elf was going to see to it that they got more than a lump of coal.

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Seventy-five years ago this month, Popular Science (November 1940) carried the plans for this one-tube loudspeaker set for the broadcast band.  While it’s technically a one-tube set, it actually has two stages, since it employs a dual pentode, the 1E7G.  One half of the tube acts as an RF amplifier, with the other half serving as detector and AF amplifier.

With a good outdoor antenna, the set was said to provide good reception on all local stations. With a station ten miles away, and indoor antenna could be used. It had good selectivity such that powerful stations just 30 kc apart could be easily separated.

Since it was a TRF set, it employed two tuning condensers. The first tuned in the RF amplifier stage, with the second one serving as the main tuning condenser. The set’s volume was adjusted by a rheostat adjusting the filament voltage of the AF amplifier stage.

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Nostalgia is nothing new, and today, we take a nostalgic look 35 years back at the November-December 1980 issue of Elementary Electronics.  That magazine was itself taking a nostalgic look back at the early days of radio with a construction article for this one-tube regenerative receiver, similar to the circuits in use in the 1920’s. The author, James Rozen, notes that “even if you are somewhat of an advanced hobbyist, you can still delight in an antique technology as you listen to the radio by the glow of your venerable vacuum tube.”  Our readers will certainly agree with that sentiment.

Even in 1980, some of the required parts were becoming unobtanium, and the author gives some pointers on tracking them down, many of which are still valid today. He starts by pointing out that while the plans call for a type 30 tube, many other suitable replacements will work just fine, and he lists a number. The only modifications that would need to be made are the tube sockets and filament voltages. He notes that the coil forms “are becoming rare items,” but could be found “if you scrounge enough.” Today, even the most dedicated of scrounger might face difficulty. But the good news is that you can make them yourself quite easily with a burnt out tube (of which millions still exist) and a piece of PVC pipe, along with some patience and glue. AA8V’s site has a good set of instructions for doing so.  And for pointers on finding other parts that might be hard to come by, check out my crystal set parts page and my how to stock your junk box page.

The circuit itself is a very straightforward regenerative receiver covering the broadcast band.  In addition to the tube and plug-in coils, it includes a tuning capacitor, a variable resistor for the regeneration control, two fixed capacitors, one fixed resistor, and one RF choke.  The set is mounted on a 7×8 inch wood base.  The example shown here uses a plastic front panel, but it is pointed out that almost anything will serve the purpose.

In the 1920’s, someone would make a set like the one shown here because it would be an inexpensive way to get a receiver as good as any commercial set.  Half a century later, it was an exercise in nostalgia.  But there’s nothing wrong with nostalgia.

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Seventy years ago this month, the British magazine Practical Wireless (November 1945) carried the plans for this miniature one-tube receiver only slightly larger than a matchbox.

The tube called for by this set is a type XL triode, manufactured by Hivac Ltd. of Harrow-on-the-Hill, starting in 1935. It measures 62 x 16 mm, with a 1.5 volt filament, and the article called for a B+ voltage of 24-30 volts, although it noted that a higher voltage resulted in better performance. (This means, of course, that the batteries would be much larger than the radio itself.)

The exact replacement tube is probably unobtanium, but a suitable substitute could probably be found. You can find some discussion of the tube at this link.

The author notes that the set could tune both long and medium wave (with band switching accomplished by shorting two connections on the front panel). He noted that three or four stations could be picked up during the day, with numerous stations from the Continent coming in at night.

The cabinet shown here was made of 1/16 inch plywood. To save space, the coil was wound on a form that slipped over the tube. The variable capacitors were a dual trimmer capacitor, with the adjusting screw replaced by a metal rod with an insulated end to serve as the knob. To further save space, the set had no on-off switch. Instead, to turn the set off, the filament battery was merely disconnected. An external antenna was necessary, and the author reported good results with a 15 foot wire. A ground connection was not absolutely required, but the author did report better results when using a skewer for a ground connection when using the receiver outside.

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