If you were looking for an upscale phonograph a hundred years ago, you couldn’t go wrong by looking at the offerings on the eighth floor of Gimbel Brothers Department Store, as shown in this ad from the October 7, 1921, issue of the New York Evening World. The store was open until 9, or if you couldn’t make it, you could mail in the coupon.
Upright models started at $49.75, and the handsome console from Emerson sold for $119.
Eighty years ago this month, the October 1941 issue of Popular Mechanics carried this self-explanatory idea to quickly make an emergency tent with materials that might be at hand. Any poles of similar length could be used, but in this case, it’s two oars and another stick of the same size. To quickly turn them into a tripod, a bucket is placed over the ends as shown. The frame is then covered with a piece of canvas or other available material.
If the idea looks familiar, it’s probably because we previously showed how to make a similar tripod for cooking using an empty can.
Here’s what was on the radio 75 years ago today, from the Saturday, October 5, 1946, issue of the Washington Evening Star. (For a larger view, click the image above.)
Highlights included the Philadelphia Orchestra on WTOP (now WFED) under the direction of Eugene Ormandy. On the 7:00 “Americana Quiz” program on WMAL (now WSBN), high school students answered questions on American history. At 9:00 on WRC, the “Saturday Roundup” program starred Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, George “Gabby” Hayes, and the Sons of the Pioneers.
A few smaller stations didn’t warrant listings in the main grid, but had their separate listings, such as WPIK (now WTNT) . The station had just signed on the previous December at 730 kHz. The daytimer signed off at 5:30 PM. Two FM stations also had listings. W3LX operated on 98.9 MHz from 11:30 to 9:00 PM. WINX-FM was on the air from 9 AM to 11:15 PM, and simulcast the programs of the AM station. It was operating on two frequencies–43.2 MHz on the old prewar band, and at 92.9 MHz on the new FM band.
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The cover of the October 1961 issue of Popular Electronics had a teaser saying, “you wouldn’t want to be an electronics hobbyist in the U.S.S.R.” The accompanying article, however, didn’t really deliver on that premise. I wouldn’t have wanted to be anything in the old Soviet Union, but as the article shows, a hobby in electronics would actually be a bright spot in an otherwise bleak existence.
The Soviets recognized that a hobby in electronics prepared young people for a career in science, and they did a lot to encourage it, by providing awards for copying Morse code and direction finding and even on-the-air contests. Club stations were plentiful, so a young person wishing to get on the air had many opportunities. The Young Pioneers youth organization employed instructors in Morse code and radio theory.
Along with rifle, parachute jumping, and motorcycle clubs, radio clubs were affiliated with the Red Army through ДОСААФ (DOSAAF), the Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Navy.
Radio and electronics magazines, many of which we feature here, were popular in the Soviet Union. To view a treasure trove of these and other magazines, be sure to visit Журналы СССР.
The magazine even provided the Moscow phone number of the Central Radio Club, K-5-92-71, and noted that if a reader ever found themselves in Moscow, they should give them a call.
The beginner wishing to get a start in radio needed to first complete the basic DOSAAF electronics course, at which point he or she would take the SWL test to get the SWL license necessary to listen on the ham bands. This included a 10 WPM code test, as well as a written test on subjects such as operating procedures, Q codes, international prefixes, and even first aid.
After some experience, and as long as the prospective ham was at least 14 years old, he would then be allowed to take the test to become a ham. This required a 12 WPM code test and a fairly rigorous written test. Higher class licenses were available with code speeds of 18 WPM and a rather difficult test. There was also a no-code license which allowed 5 watts on 144 and 420 MHz, available to those 12 and older.
For another look at amateur radio in the Soviet Union in 1934 and 1965, see our earlier post.
Seventy-five years ago today, the October 3, 1946, issue of the Pittsburgh Press carried this ad for the Emerson model 523, which tuned the broadcast band and would run off batteries or household current, with automatic switchover.
The set retailed for $47.20, which, according to this inflation calculator, works out to $662 in 2021 dollars, so the set was something that would be purchased by the well heeled.
The ad noted that other models started for $21.60, and also featured the model 512 radio and model 506 radio-phono.
Seventy-five years ago this month, the October 1946 issue of Popular Science showed how to put together this one-tube 80 meter CW transmitter. In the picture above, the transmitter is at the left. Not shown is an antenna matching unit. The two chasses are shown at left. Both the transmitter and matching unit have identical sets of coils and capacitors, and are connected by twisted lamp cord.
According to the article, the set can be put together for a few dollars, and fewer hours. It requires a power supply capable of supplying 250-300 volts. The set was said to be capable of real performance, despite its size. But the article noted that the 80 meter band was crowded with high power stations, so there would be a better chance of getting through during the relatively quiet hours.
For a snapshot of grocery prices during the Great Depression, these ads appeared in the May 10, 1935, issue of the Bismarck (ND) Tribune. The prices look like a bargain, but money was tight for many, and according to this inflation calculator, each 1935 dollar is the equivalent of $19.97 in 2021 dollars. And when you multiply these prices by 20, they no longer look like such a bargain.
Click on the image to view a full-size copy of the ad.
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A hundred years ago today, the September 30, 1921, issue of The Brattleboro (Vermont) Daily Reformer carried this editorial. It was under the heading of Brattleboro High School News, and the Editor-In-Chief is identified as Lynn Thayer, a sixteen-year-old student at the school.
According to the 1920 call book, the club was already licensed under the call 1UT.
Radio Practice in the High School.
Radio, one of the newer branches of engineering, has developed with tremendous success in the past few years. Important inventions occur with such rapidity that it is impossible to write a comprehensive text on the subject. A new radio station is being built on Long Island which will send and receive simultaneously from five European countries. Telephone communications have been carried on over greater distances without wires than have been carried on with wires. And yet the science is still in its infancy. No one dares to predict its .status twenty years hence.
The high school radio club, in the small town, is usually the only means of creating local interest in this diverting subject. Two or three boys in the town usually have special aptitude for this subject, but they cannot interest many of the others. A radio club is the means of not only instructing but also interesting the majority. Code practice and instruction in the use of apparatus are more readily given to an assembly. Oretical [sic] principles may be explained by the science teacher or one of the older members. Articles of interest concerning the latest inventions can be discussed and all the social advantages of such a club can be enjoyed.
You ask: What are the benefits boys derive from radio? Here is the answer:
Radio tends to cultivate patience and ingeniousness and concentration. It interests the boy in clean, fascinating work which may lead to a good job later. Should he erect a set at home there would be no question of where he would spend his evenings. It is an indoor sport which will teach him to use his hands and head. At the same time it will interest the rest of the family and keep them posted on things in the scientific world.Radio is without doubt a modern subject. It is a study of modern things. It is the keynote to more difficult sciences and interesting subjects than most people realize. Since to be modern is to be up in all the latest subjects of interest no one is modern who does not know something about it. Radio is distinctly one of the latest. It is only at the beginning of its career, which will astonish the world because of its magnitude.
The H.M.S. Rajputana was built in 1925 as a civilian passenger and cargo liner. She was requisitioned into the Royal Navy in 1939, and had installed eight six-inch guns, giving the firepower of a light cruiser, but without the armored protection.
She was torpedoed and sunk off Iceland on April 13, 1941, after escorting a convoy. 42 men were lost, including her last civilian commander. 283 crew members were saved, however, including Stoker First Class Frank C. Davidson of Truvo, Nova Scotia, who recounted his tale in this Eveready ad in the September 1941 issue of Popular Science.
After the first torpedo struck, Davidson and two other crew members scrambled below to save a few belongings. Suddenly, the second torpedo ripped into the ship, trapping the men under tables, chairs, and lockers. Davidson recounted that “escape seemed impossible…. until I remembered my flashlight.”
Thanks to the flashlight, loaded with Eveready batteries, they managed to fight their way, dazed and confused, to the deck, just as the captain gave the order to abandon ship.
Eveready batteries and flashlights are, of course, still available many places, including Amazon. Full disclosure: If you make a purchase after clicking one of the following affiliate links, this website earns a small commission.
Seventy-five years ago this month, the September 1946 issue of Radio Service Dealer
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Service-Dealer/40s/RSD-1946-09.pdf
addressed the issue of how to deal with intermittent problems in radios. The magazine called them time wasters, because there was really no way to service the set until the problem manifested itself. And Murphy’s law being what it is, that generally meant that the set would work just fine when the serviceman was ready to work on it.
One solution to the problem was the circuit shown here. The set would be put on the bench hooked to a signal generator. The leads to the set’s speaker would be disconnected and hooked to the input. By carefully adjusting the control in the circuit, and the set’s volume control, the set would play while the serviceman worked on other sets. But when the signal strength started to drop, the bell would sound, and attention could immediately turn to the problem set.
The magazine even suggested that this circuit could be used as a final check for all sets serviced in the shop, to make sure there was no hidden fault before the set was returned to its owner.