A hundred years ago this month, the April 1923 issue of Science and Invention contained a description of the work in television being done in France by Édouard Belin.
His system consisted of a mechanical television camera using what could be called a Nipkow disk. The receiving end consisted of an oscillograph reflecting an image from a mirror and projecting it on a screen.
Happy April Fools Day from OneTubeRadio.com!
If you plan on playing any practical jokes, make sure they don’t backfire like this one from a hundred years ago. Ma made a sawdust pie to fool Pa. But it backfired when he reported that it was the best pie she had ever made.
The cartoon appeared in the Perth-Amboy (NJ) Evening News, April 2, 2023.
Eighty years ago this month, the March 1943 issue of Popular Mechanics showed this preparedness tip. During an air raid, the first thing you would of course grab would be the radio. This cloth cover fits over the set and contains other items needed during a blackout. As an added bonus, it covered the front and back of the set to keep any light from leaking out.
Seventy five years ago this month, the March 1948 issue of Popular Science carried some pointers on safe driving, highlighted by this cover illustration captioned “This Can Happen to You.” They didn’t actually drive off the roof of a downtown parking ramp. Instead, the magazine noted that a head-on crash at the “safe” speed of 30 MPH was the equivalent of falling from a nine story building.
The plans for this handsome instrument were found in the March 1923 issue of Popular Mechanics. The version shown here contained four tubes, the detector, and three stages of audio amplification to drive the speaker. Also shown were scaled-down models with one or two stages of audio, for use with headphones.
The set tuned 150-400 meters (750 kHz – 2 MHz) and was said to be a well performing receiver for a reasonable cost.
The cover of the March 1953 issue of Radio News showed the new mobile communications unit for Philadelphia’s Civil Defense. According to the magazine, the unit featured complete and flexible facilities for all type of two-way communications, as well as a public adress system. It featured its own 15,000 watt power plant, along with both heating and air conditioning. In addition to police and fire frequencies, the 2, 10, and 75 meter amateur bands could be covered, permitting communications with other cities throughout the United States. And thanks to the Bell System, it included mobile telephone equipment as well as capability of up to 16 phone lines.
If you were visiting New York 70 years ago, you wouldn’t want to be stuck in a room without a radio. So the Hotel Chesterfield, 130 W. 49th St., all rooms with a radio, sounds like a good choice. A single room was $3 a night, with a double going for $4. Adjusted for inflation, that works out to $33.80 and $45.07. I bet you can’t find a room in Manhattan for that price today.
The ad appeared in the Washington Evening Star seventy years ago today, March 24, 1953. You can read more about the hotel at this link.
The “UHF” receiver shown here appeared in the March 1943 issue of Radio Craft magazine. It was sent in to the magazine by Stanley Dowgiala, who reported that the set was designed primarily to pull in police calls in the New York area. He reported that he received calls from Newark Jersey City, New York, Bayonne, and Union City. He also received many FM stations. He notes that the coil consisted of 8 turns for the 42-49 MHz FM stations, and 12 turns for the police calls, meaning that they were probably around 30 MHz.
He also pulled in TV signals, especially WNBT, but didn’t have accurate coil data. The unusual tuner included a variometer coil salvaged from an ancient Zenith. He reported that it worked better than a small variable capacitor.
For a look at grocery prices in 1963, this ad appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sixty years ago today, March 21, 1963. (You can click on the image for a larger version.) In those sixty years, the dollar has lost purchasing power, and a dime in 1963 was the equivalent of about a dollar today. Specifically, according to this inflation calculator, the 1963 dollar would be worth $9.78 in 2023.
So the coffee looks like a bargain at 49 cents a pound, but that’s the equivalent of almost $5 today. Bread is two loaves for 39 cents, but that’s almost $2 a loaf in today’s money. Most of the venerable Swanson TV Dinners were about 59 cents each, although if you were on a budget, the macaroni and cheese TV dinner would set you back only 39 cents.
They no longer come in the familiar aluminum tray (which, of course, was useful for many other purposes once the meal was done), but the modern equivalent of what was my favorite is still available. And adjusted for inflation, the price is about the same:
If you were shopping for groceries 60 years ago, what would you be having for dinner?
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Eighty-five years ago this month, the March 1938 issue of Practical Mechanics discussed the state of the art in British television prior to the War. Shown here was a method for projecting a television image to an auditorium audience of hundreds.
As shown below, Tat the receiving end, a continuous loop of film was used. The image was exposed onto the film, which passed through a developer and dryer, after which it was projected. Then, the emulsion was washed off the film and a new layer added so that the film could be again exposed.
The following year, on September 1, 1939, television in Britain was shut down for the duration.
