W2HBK, 1935

W2HBKShown here is the 1935 station of Howard Critchell, W2HBK, which was located at 170 E. 79th St., New York City.  The picture is from the May 1935 issue of QST and describes the “nice-looking layout” with a transmitter containing a 47 crystal oscillator and 46 amplifier. The antenna was a 66-foot flat-top, center fed with a twisted-pair feeder. The receiver was a National SW-3.

What makes this fairly typical looking station unusual was that Critchell lived in a part of Manhattan served by DC power rather than AC, which required him to be creative when it came to power supplies. For the 500-volt plate voltage, he used a motor-generator set. For the tubes filaments, he used the 110-volt DC line through a dropping resistor. The receiver he simply ran off batteries.

You can find the original QST article at this link.  (You need to be logged in to your ARRL account to view the file).

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Moses “Moe” Annenberg

RadioGuideMastheadOne source that we frequently take advantage of is Radio Guide Magazine, which was published from 1931 to 1943. In addition to program listings, it contained features regarding radio, including what was happening on the shortwave bands. The published, as can be seen from this clip from the masthead of a 1937 issue, was one Moses “Moe” Annenberg, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer as well as dozens of other publications.

He is shown here leaving the courtroom of federal Judge James Herbert Wilkersonn after pleading guilty to tax evasion. He had been indicted for evading over $3 million in taxes from 1932-36, and pleaded guilty to the count covering 1936, in which he ws charged with evading $1.2 million in taxes. It was the largest tax evasion case to date. Annenberg was sentenced to three years, and he died in prison in 1942.

He was the father of Walter Annenberg, who took over the reins of Radio Guide, and later founded TV Guide.

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More 1940 FM Radio

GEHM136

Seventy-five years ago, one apparently dressed up to listen to the radio, especially if you were listening to static-free FM. As related in an earlier post, FM was just starting to gain a modest foothold prior to the war. FM then operated on 42-50 MHz. The Milwaukee station, for example, was on 42.6 MHz. After the war, the FCC moved FM broadcasting to its current home of 88-108 MHz.

To enjoy static-free FM reception, listeners had to get a new radio. At the very least, they would have to get an FM tuner which could plug in to the phono input of their current receiver. The choices were somewhat limited, but many of the major manufacturers came out with at least one FM receiver.

General Electric’s top-of-the-line offering is shown here. It is the HM-136, and is shown in an update on FM in the May 1940 issue of Radio Today.

In addition to the FM band, the 13-tube model covered the standard broadcast band and two shortwave bands, 2.4-7.5 MHz and 7.5-22 MHz. Interestingly, the set didn’t tune the entire prewar band. It tuned only 39-44 MHz, meaning that it wouldn’t be of use in areas with stations higher in the band. Fortunately, however, the existing stations were below 44 MHz, even though the larger band was allocated.

A schematic and service information for the set can be found at Antique Electronics Supply. I haven’t found links to modern photos of surviving examples.

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1940 Postcard Radio

PostcardRadio1Seventy-five years ago, the May 1940 issue of Popular Science carried the plans for this novelty crystal set that was suitable for mailing as a letter. You could slip it into an envelope “and mail to one of your radio-minded friends as an amusing birthday or holiday greeting.”

The radio was sandwiched inside two postcards, with the detector and taps for the tuning coil exposed. Connections for antenna, ground, and headphones were made to paper fasteners which also held the “chassis” together.

To keep it flat, the coil was wound “spider web” style, with four taps for tuning. Blobs of solder were left exposed, and a “crocodile clip” was used to make the connections.

The whole radio could be mailed for six cents.  The schematic is shown below:

PostcardRadio2

All of the parts for this set should be easily obtainable. If you need help finding any (the most difficult to find would be the high-impedance earphone), I have sources on my crystal set parts page.

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Visit Us at the Duluth-Superior Hamfest

We will be at the Arrowhead Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Superior, Wisconsin, this Saturday, May 2. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello! I’ll have copies of my books available: My study guides for the Technician and General class amateur licenses, the MROP and GROL commercial licenses, and my novel Caretaker, all at special Hamfest prices.

Interestingly, the Hamfest is located less than a mile from the transmitter site of W9XJL, Duluth-Superior’s 1930’s shortwave broadcast station.

WCCO Radio in 1925

WCCOstudio1925For those interested in the early history of WCCO radio in Minneapolis, the May 1925 issue of Radio Age carried a feature on the station as it was 90 years ago. The station had just put into service its new 5000 watt transmitter, what the magazine called “one of the super broadcasting units.” It also noted that the Minneapolis studios at the Nicollet Hotel were “said to be the equal both in equipment and elegance of anything in the country.”

In addition to the Minneapolis studio, the station had just begun construction of a studio in St. Paul, which would probably be “the most unique location of any studios in the world, for they will be in Saint Paul’s handsome new Union Depot used by nine railroads.”

The transmitter was at the station’s current transmitter location, 18 miles northwest of Minneapolis in Anoka. Special telephone lines connected the studios and transmitter.

The station had come on the air in October 1924, using the equipment of the former WLAG.

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Light Up Every Room In The House! 1935 Free Electricity

FreeElectricity80 years ago, Milwaukee residents didn’t have to worry about conserving electricity. The Electric Company was giving it away for free, as announced in this ad in the Milwaukee Journal, April 30, 1935. It was free, that is, as long as you used more than you did the previous month:

You see signs of it wherever you go–free electricity is flooding every neighborhood. In thousands of homes, lights are burning day and night–electrical appliances are being turned on–families are enjoying the pleasure and convenience of unlimited electric service. Hundreds of stores are lighting up for better business. Never before has the entire community taken up an offer with such enthusiasm!

During your Free Electricity period, use absolutely as much electricity as you please. Light up every room in the house. Keep a night light burning. Turn on the electric heater to take off the chill. Operate your radio. Use your electric range, vacuum cleaner, toaster, percolator, and other electrical appliances to your heart’s content. Remember–there’s no limit!

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Hallicrafters TV in Cuba, 1952

HallicraftersCuba

The magazine Radiomania y Television gives an interesting look at pre-revolution Cuba.  This Hallicrafters TV ad appeared in the January 1952 issue.  In addition to the equipment ads, it gives an interesting look at the programming, which appears to have been mostly produced in Cuba.  In addition to about two dozen standard broadcast stations, the island had one FM station (CM2IL on 102.7 MHz) and two TV stations, CMUR-TV, channel 4, and CMQ-TV, channel 6.

Interestingly, the Hallicrafters dealer seems to have an indirect connection with the revolution.  As seen in the ad, the exclusive Hallicrafters dealer was Cia. Cubana de Refrigeracion Electrica, S.A.  About this same time, the bookkeeper at the company was one Reinaldo Boris Luis Santa Coloma.  At some point, he lost his job for trying to organize a union, and later got a job at Sears.  At some point in 1952, he was at the law office of a young attorney named Fidel Castro, where he met his mistress and the mother of his child.

The next year, he was one of 135 revolutionaries who, along with Castro, attacked the Moncada Barracks, which is widely regarded as the start of the Cuban Revolution.

References

 



The Army Hour, NBC Radio, 1945

1945NBCfamily

The family shown in this photo appeared in an ad for the NBC network in the April 1945 issue of Tune In magazine.  They are gathered around the family console, which is adorned by a photo of their young serviceman. The ad notes that NBC acts as a two-way pipeline between the men of the armed forces and their families back home. Not only do the servicemen tune in to their favorite NBC broadcasts via the regular network and shortwave, but NBC also broadcasts for the people at home the “Army Hour,” a weekly production of the War Department and NBC.

The picture was undoubtedly taken at 3:30 Eastern War Time on a Sunday afternoon, when the Army Hour was broadcast.

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U.S. Telegram Regarding Armenian Genocide, 1915

BryanTelegram

In 1915, the United States was neutral, and the Russian government urged it to use its good offices to prevent the genocide by the Ottomans of the Armenians.

Ambassador Morgenthau. Wikipedia photo.

Ambassador Morgenthau. Wikipedia photo.

A hundred years ago today, U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan
sent this telegram to Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador in Constantinople. It reads:

Russian Ambassador has brought to our attention an appeal made by the Catholicos of the Armenian Church that this Government use its good offices with the Turkish Government to prevent the massacre of non-combatant Armenians in Turkish territory.

You will please bring the matter to the attention of the government, urging upon it the use of effective means for the protection of Armenians from violence at the hands of those of other religions.

The Russian Ambassador calls attention to the fact that there are many Mussulmans in Russian territory and that these enjoy immunity from religious persecution.

–BRYAN

References