Virginia Hall: American Spy

CIA image via Wikipedia.

CIA image via Wikipedia.

Shown here at the key of a clandestine transmitter somewhere in German-occupied France is American spy Virginia Hall.

Born in Baltimore in 1908, she had her sights set on a career in the foreign service, and landed a job as a clerk at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw in 1931. Unfortunately, while hunting in Turkey in 1932, she accidentally shot herself in the left leg, which later had to be amputated. She found herself in Paris at the start of the war and joined a French ambulance corps. After the fall of France, she made her way to London where she volunteered for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE).  Her cover story was as a correspondent for the New York Post, and she spent 15 months in both Vichy and occupied France, helping to coordinate the activities of the French Underground.

Forged identification certificate for “Marcelle Montagne.” Wikipedia image.

In 1942, Hall escaped to Spain and then back to London. In 1944, she joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and was returned to France. Since her artificial leg prevented her from parachuting in, she was landed at the Brittany coast by a British boat. Using a forged identification for Marcelle Montagne, she contacted the Resistance in central France and mapped drop zones for supplies and commandos.

She died in Maryland in 1982 at the age of 76.

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WTCN Minneapolis, 1936

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Shown here is a photo of WTCN radio in Minneapolis as it appeared in 1935.  The image is from the January 1936 issue of Radex magazine.

The station originally came on the air as WRHM, licensed to Rosedale Hospital at 4429 Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. In 1929, it became a CBS affiliate, switching to the NBC Blue Network in 1937.

In 1934, then on 1250 kHz, the station was sold to Twin Cities Newspapers, a partnership of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Tribune, at which time it took the WTCN call letters for “Twin Cities Newspapers”. The transmitter building shown here was near Snelling Avenue and Highway 36 in Roseville, where it remained until 1962. In March 1941, the station moved to 1280 kHz in accordance with NARBA. In 1964, the station took the WWTC call letters.

The WTCN call letters were used two other times in Minnesota broadcast history. The second television station in the area, channel 4, was originally co-owned with WTCN radio, and signed the WTCN-TV call letters. The call was later held by channel 11.  The call letters are now gone from the Minnesota airwaves, instead being used by a low power station in Florida.

 

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No-Sod-Er Radio Kits, 1926

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HopeHamiltonI’m not sure why, but some people have the idea that soldering is more complicated than it really is. Soldering is the process of splicing together two electrical connectors by melting over them a thin layer of metal, usually a mixture of tin and lead. In the photo shown here, movie star Hope Hampton is shown soldering together a radio in 1922.

To solder, you need a soldering iron and some solder.  They’ll set you back only a few dollars. For example, this kit at Amazon comes complete with solder for a very reasonable price, and will prove invaluable for all kinds of little repair jobs around the house. I can’t imagine not owning a soldering iron. But for some reason, there seem to be a lot of solderphobics in the world, and they refuse to consider the possibility of doing a job right by melting a little bit of solder.

Fortunately for these people, there are alternatives. An Amazon search for the word “solderless” gives over two thousand results for “improved” versions of various parts that don’t require soldering.

As shown by the ad at the top of the page, this is not a new phenomenon. Despite Hope Hampton showing the public how easy it was, many would-be radio hobbyists of the 1920’s were afraid of solder. The ad is for “No-Sod-Er Radio Kits” put out by the Radio Specialty Company of New York.  It appeared in the January 1926 issue of Radio Review, and promised the following:

Book explains what you want to know about new revolutionary way of assembling your radio set from our many kits–no solder, no bus bar, no poor connections, no waste of time, no skill required, no dissatisfaction, no tools needed except common screwdriver and pliers.  Even a boy can quickly assemble a completed kit.

This might all be true, and “even a boy” could put together such a kit.  But as Hope Hampton proved, even a girl could do it right, fire up her soldering iron, and build herself a real radio.

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Joan Ruth, WEAF, 1926

Joan Ruth, WEAF

Ninety years ago today, the January 16, 1926, issue of Radio Digest carried this portrait of soprano Joan Ruth, who appeared regularly on WEAF in New York.  In addition to her broadcasts at WEAF, whe was a member of he Metropolitan Opera.  The magazine notes that the Boston native bore “soulful eyes, the oval face, the black wavy hair and the suggestion of a halo in the dainty bit of silken cord with which it is tied.”

WEAF was the first broadcast station in New York.  Originally owned by Western Electric, it signed on in 1922.  In 1926, it was sold to RCA and became the flagship station for the NBC Red Network.  Starting in 1946, it took the call sign WNBC, which it swapped for WRCA in 1954.  In 1960, it switched back to the WNBC call letters.

The station signed off for the last time in 1988.  As part of a reshuffling of the New York dial, the station’s license, but not the station itself, were sold, and the clear channel 660 frequency was taken over by WFAN, which is owned and operated by rival CBS.

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Eugène Aisberg, Radio Writer

Eugène Aisberg, 1946.

Eugène Aisberg, 1946.

After a wartime absence, the January 1946 issue of Radio Craft carried an article by writer Eugène Aisberg.  While that name might not be familiar to American readers, Aisberg was a prolific author in the early days of radio, and wrote some of the best treatises on radio for the popular audience.  He was fluent in French, Esperanto, German, Russian, and English.

Aisberg was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1905, and lived most of his life in France. He was the director of the French magazine Toute la Radio and a prolific author of a number of books. His most popular book, which is still in print, is La Radio? Mais c’est très simple (Radio? But It’s So Simple!)  The book, currently in its 29th edition, an extremely solid background covering all aspects of electronics, and is written in a popular, easy-to-read style. While the book was ultimately translated into several languages, it was apparently never published in English.

The book consists mostly of a dialog between Ignotus and his uncle Curiosus, along with explanations by Professor Radiol, in which the characters explain in an interesting fashion all aspects of electronic theory.

Aisberg’s first radio book was actually published in Esperanto. Jen… mi komprenas la radion (“Now I understand the radio”).

1942 edition of Amélioration et modernisation des recepteurs.

1942 edition of Amélioration et modernisation des recepteurs.

During the war, under the noses of the occupying Germans, Aisberg published a book explaining how to pull in Radio London and other foreign stations. The technical title of the book, Amélioration et modernisation des recepteurs (“Improvement and Modernization of Radio Receivers”) was undoubtedly helpful in getting the book past the German censors.

While his most famous book was never translated into English, his later TV – It’s a Cinch was published in English in 1957. While analog TV is now an obsolete technology, the book is still an extremely interesting read, and the reader walks away knowing how the technology works.

The 1946 article, which marked his return to an American audience after the war, described a radio with automatic selectivity control.  The article also contains the following sidebar, which is a fascinating reminder of conditions prevailing in France immediately after the war:

Aisberg1946b

Because of the conditions prevailing in Paris, instead of a check, Aisberg preferred payment for the article to be in the form of “chocolate, cocoa, toilet soap, shaving cream, corned pork, coffee, needles and thread, canned ham, and high-speed razor blades.”

Aisberg died in Paris in 1980.

See also:  Fall of Paris, 1940

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Signs, Signals, and Codes Merit Badge

1946JanBL

I’m a counselor in the Northern Star Council of the BSA for the relatively new Signs, Signals, and Codes merit badge.  My area of expertise, of course, is Morse Code, but this merit badge requires Scouts to learn a little bit about a lot of different methods of signalling.  In addition to Morse Code, these include the traditional Scouting activity of semaphore, as well as Braille and American Sign Language.  Signalling is an evolving art, and Scouts are even asked to teach their counselors about emoticons, since the Scouts probably know a lot more about them than their counselor.

In additional to semaphore, the merit badge covers a number of other traditional scouting skills, such as trail markings and silent Scout signals.  The January 1946 issue of Boys’ Life includes a good overview of many of the skills needed for this merit badge.  The image shown above is from that issue, and shows Scouts some of the silent signals they can use on the trail or at meetings.

In March, I’ll be counseling the merit badge as part of the Northwest District merit badge day.  This event is sometimes opened up to Scouts from other districts, so keep checking for updates.

 

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1936 Vintage Station

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Amateur radio operators tend to be nostalgic about old gear, and this is apparently not a new phenomenon. Eighty years ago this month, the January 1936 issue of Popular Science
featured the station of Winton R. Jones, W3CAQ, of Baltimore. Jones was an employee of a Baltimore ship salvaging company, and used his position to fully equip his 40 meter CW station. As soon as a ship arrived at the Baltimore salvage yard, Jones made a beeline for the radio room, where he acquired the gear at scrap metal prices.

Most of the equipment told a story. One of his power supplies came from the Morro Castle, a liner which burned off the New Jersey coast in 1934.  The ship was en route from Havana to New York when it burned, resulting in the loss of 137 lives. The key came from the S.S. Jacob Luckenbach, a liner that went aground on the Mexican coast. Even the desk was salvaged from the captain’s quarters of a ship.

His oldest piece of equipment was an early Marconi galvanometer dating to use in the First World War aboard a Red Cross ship.

The station did get out.  The image below is a QSL from W3CAQ for a contact with W5BNQ, Wilmer, Texas, in 1933.

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Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Bob Green, W8JYZ of OldQSLCards.com for providing the QSL card shown here.

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1926 Code Practice Set

1926JanPM

Ninety years ago, the January 1926 issue of Popular Mechanics showed this simple but ingenious device for practicing code. It allowed the aspiring radio operator a way to generate perfect code with a buzzer.

The board (preferably oak or ash) had a series of grooves.  At the beginning and end of each dot and dash a hole was drilled.  Copper wire was threaded up through the holes, forming a conductive path for each letter.  The other contact was slid over the letter at any desired speed, forming perfect code.

The article noted that a similar device had been used in the early days of the telegraph, presumably allowing unskilled operators to send (but not receive) messages.

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1916 Portable Transmitter-Receiver

 

1916JanPM

One hundred years ago this month, the January 1916 issue of Popular Mechanics showed the portable radio transmitter-receiver shown here.

The set was designed to be strapped to the waist, and was believed by the designer, Dr. H. Barringer Cox of Bedford Hills, New York, to be particularly suited for military use. While the full details had not been made public, the magazine revealed that the transmitter was powered by five dry cells going to a vibrator and transformer. The antenna and ground consisted of a wire of about four or five feet in length running to a “canelike metal rod.” For military use, the wire could run down a trouser leg to metal spurs in a soldier’s boots.

The receiver consisted of a drum encircled by a wire coil, with the detector on top. During testing, the set had a range of approximately 18 miles, although the normal expected operating radius was stated as being about 2-3 miles.

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1926 One Tube Regen and Ground Wires for Interplanetary Radio

1926JanSciInv

Ninety years ago this month, the January 1926 issue of Science and Invention carried these diagrams for a simple one-tube regenerative receiver.  The circuit was shown in response to a question from a reader, one James Moore of Chicago, who asked for a circuit which could be built with a fixed coupler, variable condenser, variometer, and tube, all presumably parts he had on hand. The editors came up with this circuit, which uses the variometer to control regeneration. The circuit was said to be quite selective.

The same column also carried the following question and answer from one Felix Grandich of New York, who wanted to know whether you needed a ground wire to communicate with other planets, and if so, why. It turns out you did.

1926JanSciInv2

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