From the March-April 1931 issue of Television News, here’s a nice pictorial diagram of a spinning disk mechanical television system.
Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon
1975 QSL Card
I got a nice surprise in the form of an e-mail from Mark, AE6RT, formerly WN0OWP. He had googled his old call sign, and came across my Old QSL page, where I have listed the QSL cards I have from my first days as a ham in the 1970’s.
He included the photos of my card, which I sent to him in 1975 after a 40 meter CW QSO. Of course, I still had his card and sent him a scan of it as well.
Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon
Boy Scout Broadcasts, 1941
Shown here are the Scouts and Scoutmaster of Troop 3, Bloomington, Illinois, presenting a radio broadcast over station WJBC, Bloomington-Normal Illinois. The photo appeared in the February 1941 issue of Scouting magazine, along with pointers for troops and local councils to put on Scout broadcasts. The article stressed that putting on a broadcast was not a small undertaking, and would require a great deal of effort by the Scouts and Scouters involved. It did note, however, that stations could be receptive to the idea: “Local stations in all parts of the country make a practice of devoting a certain amount of their time on the air to educational sustaining programs. It is generally very easy therefore, for Boy Scouts to secure free time on the air.”
The National Council of the BSA made available scripts for use by local units, and the U.S. Office of Education made available additional scripts that might be appropriate for Scout programs.
Because of the scope of such a project, the article recommended that such efforts were probably best accomplished by local councils, rather than individual troops. In any event, the article stressed that approval from the council must be obtained prior to approaching any radio station asking for air time.
Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon
RCA “Foreign Correspondent” Model 14-X Shortwave
75 years ago, this date’s issue of Life Magazine, February 24, 1941, carried this ad for the RCA Victor “Foreign Correspondent,” also known as RCA model number 14-X. As the name implies, this set received shortwave as well as standard broadcast, and as the ad points out, the shortwave band was s-p-r-e-a-d for easy tuning. The set covered 9.5-12 MHz, meaning that it did have reasonably easy tuning of the popular 31 and 25 meter bands. In the evenings, the set probably did a good job of pulling in war news from Europe.
The set had a price tag of only $14.95, and looks like it was a fairly good performer for the price. The set was a basic “All American Five,” with a tube lineup of 12SA7 12SK7 12SQ7 50L6GT 35Z5GT. It had provision for an external antenna. The limited shortwave frequency coverage probably did make it considerably easier to tune those bands.
A nicely preserved version can be found at the Radio Attic Archives.
1956 Boys’ Life Radio Contest
Sixty years ago this month, another Boys’ Life radio contest was underway, as shown by these scouts pictured above in the February 1956 issue of the magazine.
The issue carried an extensive article detailing how scouts could pull in numerous stations, both amateur and broadcast, from around the world.
1936 World Explorers
Shown here in the February 1936 issue of Radio News are the members of the World Explorers Club of Kern Road Junior High School in East Detroit, Michigan. According to the magazine, the club’s purpose was to enjoy and understand transmissions of the people of foreign lands over shortwave radio. The magazine noted that the list of stations they received regularly was too long to publish.
Washington’s Birthday Relay, 1916
A hundred years ago today, American radio amateurs showed that they could successfully relay a message coast to coast, as part of the Washington’s Birthday relay. At 11:00 PM Central Time on February 21, 1916, a soldier from the Rock Island Arsenal delivered a sealed envelope to W.H. Kirwin, 9XE, in Davenport, IA. By pre-arranged routing, the message was flashed across the country in a matter of minutes.
The message from the commander of the arsenal was delivered to the governors of the several states, to the mayors of large cities, and even to the White House. The message read as follows:
QST QST QST DE 9XE
A Democracy requires that a people who govern and educate themselves should be so armed and disciplined that they can protect themselves.
(Signed) Colonel Nicholson, U.S.A.
References
- Rock Island Argus, Feb. 21, 1916.
- Marshalltown, IA, Evening Times Republican, Feb. 22, 1916.
- Omaha Daily Bee, Feb. 23, 1916.
- QST, April 1916, p. 65.
Fay Wray, 1926
Ninety years ago, this date’s issue of Radio Digest, February 20, 1926, featured this picture of eighteen year old Fay Wray, who is probably best remembered for her role in the 1933 film King Kong.
Her fame on the cover of this magazine was a result of her being named one of the thriteen WAMPAS Baby Stars for 1926, in a program broadcast by KNX in Los Angeles. The honor was conferred by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which each year honored thirteen young actresses believed to be on the threshold of stardom. Other familiar names in the class of 1926 included Mary Astor and Joan Crawford.
Canadian-born Wray resided in Hollywood, and had appeared in a number of minor roles. After the recognition brought about by the WAMPAS award, she was contracted by Paramount, where she made more than a dozen movies. Her most famous role in King Kong was for RKO.
She died in New York in 2004 at the age of 96. Two days later, the lights of the Empire State Building were extinguished for fifteen minutes in her memory.
Hallicrafters S-29 Sky Traveler
The advertisement shown here for the Hallicrafters S-29 receiver appeared 75 years ago in the February 1941 issue of Radio News. This early portable communications receiver, dubbed the Sky Traveler, covered the broadcast band through 30 MHz in four bands. It could run either on internal rechargeable batteries or from AC power. It had a lineup of 9 tubes, including the 50Y5GT rectifier. All other tubes were one volt filament types. The set did have a BFO for listening to code, with one tube (a 1G4GT) dedicated to that purpose.
The full manual for the receiver is available online. You can see a restored version in operation at the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOMNPVFMcb8
Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon
Guernsey Occupation Crystal Set, 1944
Imperial War Museum image, © IWM (COM 501).
The crystal set shown here is from the collections of the Imperial War Museum.
The Channel Islands were the only part of Britain that were under German occupation during World War 2, and while islanders were initially allowed to keep their radio sets, they were eventually confiscated. In response, many residents obtained crystal sets such as the one shown here. This one was manufactured in Guernsey in 1944.
Evening Post photo of confiscated radios in Guernsey, via TheIslandWiki.org.
The plans for the set were broadcast by “Colonel Britton” of the BBC. This set, along with about 50 others, was manufactured by the person who donated the set to the museum. The coil was made of wire stolen from a German car, and the crystals were made by mixing sufur and lead, baked in a fire in a German rifle cartidge case.
Occasionally, the wavelength of the BBC broadcast would change, at which time “Colonel Britton” would announce that more windings would need to be added to the coil. Either a radio headphone or a telephone receiver could be used to listen.
Read More at Amazon
Click Here For Today’s Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Cartoon