Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, died on this day 25 years ago, April 22, 1994.
The following video was posted by the Richard Nixon Foundation on the occasion of the anniversary.
1959 Two Transistor Regen
Sixty years ago this month, the April 1959 issue of Popular Electronics contained this project, a two-transistor regenerative receiver for the broadcast band. The circuit used a 2N247 (or 2N274) transistor as regenerative detector, with a 2N109 (or 2N217) serving as audio amplifier to drive headphones. A built-in ferrite loopstick served as antenna for portable use, although there were terminals for external antenna and ground to pull in more distant stations.
Easter Sunday, 1939
On Easter Sunday, 1939, a sunrise Easter service was held at the Hollywood Bowl and carried live over the Mutual Broadcasting System. The photo here (presumably of the 1938 service) appeared in the April 15, 1939, issue of Radio Guide. The magazine noted that Mutual would carry not only the service from the Hollywood Bowl, but also from Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, Cal., and from the steps of the state capitol in Olympia, Wash.
Was it a morning like this?
Emergency Lantern
This simple emergency lamp was shown in the the April 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics. It consists of nothing more than a glass, a cork, and a piece of string. Cooking oil is used as the fuel.
Slightly more elaborate designs can be found in Nuclear War Survival Skills, which reports that such a lamp consumes only an ounce of fuel in eight hours, yet provides enough light for reading. Some strategically placed aluminum foil will assist with the light output.
Good Friday 2019
Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa all the way to Calvary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMdNqG3TV6c
1941 Lew Bonn Catalog: Batteries & Tubes
We previously posted pages 1-12 of a catalog from Minneapolis radio distributor Lew Bonn Co. from about 1941. Here are pages 13-19, and we’ll post more pages in the future. Click on any page to see the full image. And in most browsers, click a second time for the enlarged version.
Today’s section covers mostly tubes and batteries. Eventually, we’ll post the full 168 page catalog.
1939 Four Tube Regen
The young man shown here is diligently hitting the books, but he’s also entertaining himself, thanks to the combination radio-bookends described 80 years ago this month in the April 1939 issue of Popular Science. The radio is built into one bookend, and the speaker into the other. The two ends can fold down for easy transport, as shown below.
The circuit itself contains four tubes. A 6SJ7 pentode serves as regenerative detector, with a 6SF5 and 25A6 as audio amplifier. A 25Z6 full-wave rectifier rounds out the tube compliment. According to the text, the antenna is built in, although the schematic shows connections for external antenna and ground for pulling in the distant stations.
Notre Dame de Paris Sound System & Air Raid Sirens
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2019 fire. Wikipedia photo: LeLaisserPasserA38 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Construction of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, which is burning today, began in 1160 and was largely completed in 1260. It was wired for sound in about 1925, as shown in the illustrations above. At left, a microphone is visible above the pulpit. At right, a speaker is mounted on a pillar near the chancel. One of the cathedral’s distinctive rose windows is visible in the background. The pictures appeared in the July 1925 issue of Radio News, which reported that the then-700-year-old cathedral had finally been modernized. According to the magazine, the speakers were installed “so that the congregation may hear the services.”
Another picture, shown below, is also of Notre Dame, but is not immediately recognizable as such. From the 1918 issue of Electrical Experimenter, the picture shows air raid sirens installed atop one of the towers. For an look at a 1914 air raid on Paris, see our earlier post.
Arnie Coro, CO2KK, 1959
Castro in Washington, 1959. Wikipedia photo.
Sixty years ago today, on April 15, 1959, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro began his eleven day tour of the United States. But as you can see from the page of that month’s Popular Electronics shown above, another familiar Cuban name was making his mark in the U.S.
The article is a one-page feature on TV DX’ing, and offers little detail. The image at the top is a screen shot of WPST-TV in Miami, captured in Havana, Cuba. And the author of the article is none other than Arnaldo “Arnie” Coro, Jr., CO2KK, one of the founders of Radio Havana Cuba, and a popular host of the station’s DX program.
Sentinel Model 170-BL, 1939
Eighty years ago this month, the April 1939 issue of Radio Retailing carried this ad for Sentinel portable sets, featuring the country’s lowest priced battery set, the model 170-BL. The three-tube superhet sold for $14.95, including battery, and featured a tube lineup of 1N5G, 1N5G, and 1A5G. Filaments ran off a 1.5 volt A battery, with a 90 volt B battery.