American Steelworker, 1943

1943Aug9Life1943Aug9Life2Shown here on the cover of Life Magazine 80 years ago today, August 9, 1943, is steelworker Ann Zarik. She had been employed by the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Works at Gary, Indiana, for five months as a flame burner. Her job was to cut out pieces of armor plate for ballistics tests. Her father worked there as a millwright, and her sweetheart was in North Africa in the Air Corps.

Women had quickly filled the ranks of lighter industry. For example, in 1941, only 1% of the aviation workforce were women, but that had jumped to 65% by 1943. But the magazine noted that, unlike in Britain and the Soviet Union, women were slower to fill jobs in heavy industry.

The women were paid the same rate as men, the minimum being 78 cents per hour. With overtime resulting from a 48 hour work week, that worked out to $40.56 per week.

The magazine noted that “the women steel workers at Gary are not freaks or novelties. They have been accepted by management, by the union, by the rough, iron-muscled men they work with day after day. In time of peace they may return once more to home and family, but they have proved that in time of crisis no job is too tough for American women.”



1948 Three-Tube “Pocket Size” Portable

1948AugPM1948AugPM3Seventy-five years ago, this young man with large pockets was pulling in a program with this three-tube “pocket size” receiver. He built it according to plans in the August 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics, and the set was ideal for taking to a ball game or on hikes.

The regenerative set had a built-in loop antenna, and ran on a 45 volt B battery, with flashlight batteries in parallel to light the filaments.

 

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1923 Vacation Radio

1923AugPMA hundred years ago, this couple are relaxing by listening to a radio broadcast, after a day exploring the wilderness on their camping vacation. The plans for the set appeared in the August 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics, which described the set as the simplest to both build and operate.

The set was said to be good even under unfavorable conditions. It called for a relatively short antenna, no more than 50-70 feet. With a 45 foot antenna 30 feet high, the set pulled in from New York WDAP Chicago, WLW Cincinnati, and many others.

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VOA Marathon, FL, 1963

1963AugPE1In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. Government realized that it needed a way to directly reach the Cuban people with a message of democracy. That was the job of the Voice of America (VOA), but the broadcaster’s shortwave transmitters were ill suited to blanket coverage of the island only 90 miles away from the United States.

The standard AM band was the way to go, and the station shown here was hastily put together, and the facilities in these three trailers were used to relay the VOA Spanish program with a 50,000 watt signal on 1180 kHz, beamed south to blanket Cuba. The frequency was shared with WHAM in Rochester, NY, but because of the directional antenna, very little of the signal could be heard in North America.

The August 1963 issue of Popular Electronics carried an article by William I. Orr, who got a tour of the station and wrote a description.

The VOA had another transmitter in Florida covering Cuba, which broadcast on 1040 kHz, a frequency shared with WHO in Des Moines. That frequency is no longer in use, but the 1180 kHz frequency is still used. In 1983, Radio Marti was spun off, which content targeted specifically to Cuba. In 1990, a television signal was added, broadcasting from a tethered balloon dubbed “Fat Albert” by locals.

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“Doc” Burkhart, Hanceville Drug Co, AL, 1943

1943AugRadioRetailingShown here is “Doc” Burkhart of Hanceville, Alabama, in the August 1943 issue of Radio Retailing. Next to his workbench, you might see some packages that look out of place, because Doc is actually a pharmacist, the proprietor of Hanceville Drug Company. He had turned his hobby in radio into a business. The store had a radio sales department for some time, and he had become the town’s only radio repairman.

In this picture, he was converting battery sets. Since batteries were hard to come by during the war, this allowed them to go back into service, doing their part to keep the nation informed and entertained.



Combination TV-Ottoman, 1953

1953JulPM3If you had a small apartment 70 years ago and were in the market for a television, you might find this idea useful, from the July 1953 issue of Popular Mechanics. The magazine billed it as perhaps one of the most unusual TV cabinets. It was an ottoman on rollers and could take care of your sitting needs. But when opened up, it turned into a 20-inch television.

It was available from the Walter Weber Co. of 1106 S. Hope St., Los Angeles, CA.



1933 Crystal Set for the Kids

1933JulPMNinety years ago, the humble crystal set was already regarded by many as obsolete. But it still had its uses, and one of those was for use by kids, who could tune in their own programs while the family listened on the big set in the parlor.

The July 1933 issue of Popular Mechanics shows everything you need to know about making one. If you had a broken down radio, the tuning capacitor and coil could be salvaged, meaning that you already had most of the necessary parts. The simple design here was said to work well if you had a station within 25 miles. For a larger version of the article, click on the image above.



Sinclair Slimline Radio, 1963

Sixty years ago this month, the July 1963 issue of the British publication Radio Constructor carried this ad for the Sinclair “Slimline” micro-radio receiver kit. It was reportedly “acclaimed as the most amazing receiver ever,” and the set, measuring 2-3/4 x 1-5/8x 5/8 inches, would pull in both British and European stations with staggeringly good quality.

The parts were sold by Sinclair Radionics Ltd. of Cambridge. If the name, and the general style of the advertisement, look familiar, it’s because the proprietor was the same Sir Clive Sinclair who went on to market the Sinclair ZX80 computer, a version of which was sold on this side of the Atlantic as the Timex Sinclair.



1963 CB Walkie Talkie for Junior

1963JulPEThis young man, Joseph Guy, from somewhere in the midwestern United States, has been collecting Social Security for a few years now, but sixty years ago, his mother gave him this CB handheld radio to stay in touch on his way to school.

This photo was taken on a 22-below-zero day, and immediately after the picture was taken, young Joey was camouflaged with a heavy scarf, hat, and mittens. While his mom stayed at the 5-watt base station at home, he walked to school, and mom reminded him to look both ways before crossing busy intersections. When he reached school, he called to report his safe arrival.

The only downside was his occasionally failing to turn it off when he reached school. But rechargeable batteries partially solved that problem. Other mothers, whose children were following him, would often call to see if their children reached school safely.

The photo and story appeared in the July 1963 issue of Popular Electronics.



NBC “Beer Mug” Remote Transmitter, 1938

1938JulRadioNewsShown here, on the cover of Radio News for July 1938, is Annette King, a radio personality with NBC Chicago. She appeared on programs including Club Matinee.

Of note here, she is speaking into the network’s “Beer Mug,” a portable transmitter designed for use in remotes. The crystal controlled transmitter operated on 30-41 MHz, and its 200 mW output was said to have a range of up to a mile. Batteries would last for up to ten hours, and the transmitter met all of the strict FCC requirements.

It contained an automatic modulation control which was frequently referred to as a “built-in studio engineer.” The original version weighed 13 pounds, but the one shown here was only 7 pounds. It was standard equipment at all NBC offices.