Using Radio for a Free Vacation

1921JunRadioNewsA hundred years ago, these summer tourists were enjoying dance music at some fine hotel, thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit of a young radio enthusiast. This was but one idea shown in an article in the June, 1921, issue of Radio News.

The article started by noting that some young men might be trying to decide whether they should spend their money on a new piece of radio gear, or instead on a nice summer vacation.  The solution to the dilemma was to parlay the radio hobby into a free vacation.  Stamps were cheap, and it was simply a matter of proposing ideas to resort hotels:  In exchange for free room and board, the entrepreneur could provide useful services to the hotel.

One such idea is illustrated above.  A dance required music, and that music could come over the radio.  In addition to being a source of the dance music, the radio was still a novelty in its own right, and would have a particular allure.

Some hotels might be in remote areas, and the morning papers might not arrive until the afternoon.  A young man equipped with a radio set could get the morning headlines to guests before the papers arrived.  And the presence of the two-way set could be an important selling  feature for a hotel to offer the availability of emergency message sending.

In some cases, the young man could offer radio classes to guests.  Also, a young man with a radio set would have numerous networking opportunities.  The possibilities were endless!

 



1961 Dorsal Electronics Model RT-101 Two-Way Radio

1961JuneElectronicsTechnicianSixty years ago this month, the June 1961 issue of Electronics Technician magazine showed this interesting combination, a two-way radio for 27 MHz, with a built-in AM radio.

The “Walk’N Talk” model RT-101 is being advertised to radio and electronics technicians, and it might come in handy for tasks such as aiming a TV antenna. It’s probably a 100 mW unit, so no license was required. The built-in AM radio seems like a nice touch. A set of two retailed for $159.95.  According to this inflation calculator, that works out to over $1400 in 2021 dollars, so it’s apparently for the well heeled electronics technician.  I don’t know if it’s still available, but you can see a nicely preserved example at this Facebook Marketplace listing.



Selling School Sound: 1946

1946JunRadioRetailing3Seventy-five years ago this month, the June 1946 issue of Radio Retailing reminded dealers of the profits to be made selling public address systems to schools. It detailed the experience of a dealer in North Carolina. The school district had just experienced growth, and there was a need for new facilities. And in a progressive district, new buildings meant the latest in technology.

And the local radio dealer was ideally poised to serve as expert in all matters involving sound. This dealer was consulted at two school board meetings, and walked away with the contract for the installation.

“Get out your paper and pencil today and start figuring your profits for tomorrow’s PA sales to your local institutions. They’re waiting for you!”

1946JunRadioRetailing4



1911 Homemade Alarm Clock

1911JunePopElec110 years ago, a young John Long of Leechburg, PA, sent in this self-explanatory idea for building an alarm clock to the “Young Edisons” department of Popular Electricity magazine.

The magazine carried the feature of letters from readers of its Junior Department. Letters were to accurately and briefly describe experiences in the making and operation of electrical devices and the performance of electrical experiments. The magazine asked readers, “see how good an ‘engineering report’ you can make of your investigations.”

Young Mr. Long constructed this alarm switch with a battery, door bell, and pocket watch.

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Terado Co. Trav-Electric Model 6-1160 Inverter, 1946

1946JunRadioRetailing2I found this ad from 75 years ago to be intriguing. It’s an inverter for running 120 volt appliances from a car’s electrical system, presumably six volts. The ad appeared in the June 1946 issue of Radio Retailing.

I haven’t found much information about this unit, model 6-1160,  But it’s almost certainly vibrator driven.  The electromechanical vibrator changes the DC to a square wave, which is stepped up by a transformer.  It’s billed as providing up to 40 watts.

It’s priced at $15.95.  According to this inflation calculator, that works out to about $330 in 2021 dollars.  By comparison, a modern one such as the one shown here outperforms it and sells for just a few dollars.

The manufacturer, the Terado Company, appears to be defunct, but their street address jumped out at me.  I drive past it, 1068 Raymond Avenue, St. Paul, MN, almost every day.  There is currently an apartment building at that address, which I believe was built in the 1980s.

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Ration Challenge: Implications for Emergency Preparedness

The rice and lentil soup that I enjoyed most of this week.

The rice and lentil soup that I enjoyed most of this week.

Today, I complete the Ration Challenge. For the past seven days, my diet consisted of the same rations provided to Syrian Refugees in Jordan. This is a fundraiser for Church World Service. You can make your donation at this link:

I did get a bit of variety, such as a can of sardines, a couple of eggs, and a potato.  But for the most part, my “staff of life” was  rice, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and  lentils.  For the week, I had about three pounds of rice, 3 ounces of dried chickpeas, and 6 ounces of lentils.  Each day, at least one of my meals consisted of a soup with these ingredients, flavored with chicken bouillon.  I also had three cups of flour (which I turned into the flatbread shown above), but most of my carbohydrate needs came from the rice.

My soup was satisfactory, but many other participants were able to come up with much more creative recipes for the ingredients.  You can see many of them in their Facebook group.

One of the focuses of this website is emergency preparedness, and it didn’t escape my notice that these ingredients would form an inexpensive base for emergency food storage.  They do require cooking, but they are inexpensive and have a practically indefinite storage life.  These ingredients fed me relatively well for seven days.  For one year, I would need the following quantities:

At today’s normal supermarket prices, these ingredients would cost about $125.  And chances are, by shopping around and buying larger packages, the cost would be even lower.  (Even though I didn’t add it to my soup recipes, one of my major sources of calories this week was the 12 ounces of cooking oil.  That works out to about five gallons per year, which would add approximately $30 at typical supermarket prices.)    One would not eat well if these were the only things you had to eat, but this relatively small expense would guarantee that one person would have minimal nutrition for a full year.  It seems like a cheap insurance policy.

For those of us in places like North America and Europe, it seems inconceivable that we might become “refugees” and have to worry about finding enough food to eat.  But I suspect that most of the Syrian refugees in camps in Jordan didn’t think so either.  Most of them were probably living middle-class lifestyles at some point.  They weren’t always refugees, just as you and I are not refugees today.

If we take a little bit of time to plan ahead for emergencies, we can help ourselves at the time of some future disaster.  But more importantly, we can be in a position to help our friends and neighbors.

And if you are able, please make a donation to help today’s refugees through Church World Service at this link:



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1946 GE Clock Radio

1946JunRadioRetailingThe postwar era brought a new product: The clock radio. This ad, from the June 1946 issue of Radio Retailing, showed one of the earliest examples from General Electric, which appears to be a model 50, a four-tube set.

With this new innovation, customers could say goodbye to sleep-shattering alarms, but after five minutes, an alarm would sound, to keep them from cheating.  Dealers were encouraged to stock up, since it was a natural for multiple set sales.  Everyone in the family would want one, and there was a great ad campaign in progress, along with full color point of sale displays.



Ration Challenge: Wednesday-Thursday

PotatoesI’m continuing with the Ration Challenge. For this week, my diet consists of the same rations provided to Syrian Refugees in Jordan. This is a fundraiser for Church World Service. You can make your donation at this link:

Since I have a limited choice of ingredients, it’s understandable that there’s a lot of repetition.  For lunch, I again had soup.  with  rice and chicken bouillon.    On Wednesday, it also contained chickpeas (garbanzo beans), and on Thursday it contained  lentils.

Based upon my fundraising success, I earned a few bonus items.  These included a potato and two eggs.  My dinner both days consisted of fried potatoes and egg, shown above.

RiceCakesI had a total of about 9 cups of rice, and I’ve only used about a cup per day.  I used some of it today to make the rice cakes shown here.  (The recipe can be found on my Sunday post.)

If you are able, please make a donation to Church World Service at this link:



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Human Reflex Science Fair Project

1941JunePSIf Junior is looking for an interesting demonstration for the first post-COVID science fair, he or she can’t go wrong with this illustration of how human reflexes work.  If you touch a hot stove, your body needs to react before the brain kicks in.  Therefore, you are hardwired to jerk your hand away.

This demonstration illustrates the principle.  A flame is brought close to a simulated human hand, but as soon as it comes into contact with the simulated nerve, the solenoid energizes and jerks the hand away.

The idea appeared 80 years ago this month in the June 1941 issue of Popular Science.  For the young scientist wishing to duplicate the project, all of the parts are readily available on Amazon:  This switch will kick in at 40 degrees Celsius, an uncomfortably warm, but not dangerous temperature.  This 3-volt solenoid will reliably move the hand.  And there’s no need for the old-school dry cell batteries shown above.  Alkaline D cells will work very well, especially if you have a battery holder for them.   And while Junior can make the hand out of cardboard, he or she will be virtually guaranteed the blue ribbon with a realistic looking plastic hand.

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Ration Challenge: Monday-Tuesday

RationChallengeMon1I’m continuing with the Ration Challenge. For this week, my diet consists of the same rations provided to Syrian Refugees in Jordan. This is a fundraiser for Church World Service. You can make your donation at this link:

My lunch Monday was similar to what I had Sunday, except my soup, shown above, contained  chickpeas (garbanzo beans)  rather than  lentils.  It also contained  rice and chicken bouillon.  I served it with the rice cakes I made Sunday. (which I made yesterday), which contains about 1/4 cup of flour.

RationChallengeMon2Supper consisted of rice and about a third of the can of sardines.  I served it with the flatbreads shown here.  They contained a total of a half cup of flour, a little oil, and water.  I had some rice left over, and I had some both Monday night and Tuesday morning with a little milk.

Lunch Tuesday consisted of the same lentil soup as Sunday, along with a couple of rice cakes.  For dinner Tuesday, I made more flatbread, and made some patties from the remaining sardines (1/3 can), rice, a little flour, and a little oil.  I fried them up, and they were palatable:

RationChallengeTues

 

 

If you are able, please make a donation to Church World Service at this link:



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