The Jersey Broadcaster

NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW JERSEY ANTIQUE RADIO CLUB

June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06

MEETING/ MEETING NOTICE ACTIVITY NOTES The next NJARC meeting will take place on Friday, June 12th, at 7:30 PM. The meeting will be conducted "on-line" via the video conferencing app Zoom. Information may be found at the club's website (http:www.njarc.org) with a link being provided by the NJARC Communicator prior to the meeting. This Reported by month, Prof. Joseph Jesson will present a topic titled "RCA AR-88 - RCA's Marv Beeferman Greatest Communications Receiver." In addition, the possibility exists for a Zoom radio auction. Place close attention to the NJARC Communicator and club website for further updates prior to the meeting. The ON-LINE Broadcaster The Jersey Broadcaster is now on-line. Over 190 of your fellow NJARC mem- full membership meetings!) Al has post- king himself discovered…With kingly bers have already subscribed, saving ed the required credentials on the Com- discretion, he wrote to his ambassador [in the club a significant amount of money municator a number of times and hope- the British embassy]. " 'We are getting and your editor extra work. Interest- fully you have printed them out. They short of a certain type of paper which is ed? Send your e-mail address to will remain constant for all meetings. made in America and is unprocurable [email protected]. Be sure to However, Al can't guarantee he will send here. A packet or two of 500 sheets at include your full name. a reminder email for each meeting. If intervals would be most acceptable You you are a recent new member and wish to will understand this and its name begins Our monthly meetings continue to be participate, I'm sure Al will send you the with B!!!' " The paper in question was quite successful using the Zoom app with necessary information. ([email protected]) identified by historian Andrew Roberts as some 65 members in attendance in May. It has been a pleasure to view all the Bromo soft lavatory paper." The scheduled "show-and-tell" brought recommended reading and viewing that some very interesting items to the screen our membership has offered via the Com- Nothing new under the sun! which I usually document in the Broad- municator. A good example is a posting caster but a video probably does a much by James Doran from Erik Larson's book Upcoming Events (Tentative) better job. You can check out the April or Thunderstruck concerning Marconi's May meetings by clicking on the link on early work and thoughts on wireless June 27-28 - ARRL Field Day on InfoAge the homepage of the club's website communication. Thunderstruck is a great grounds (http:www.njarc.org). read in itself where historical fiction writ- July 10 - Monthly Zoom meeting; talk by Membership Secretary Marsha Simkin er Erik Larson tells the interwoven sto- Alan Wolke (topic TBA) reports 230 members as of June 4th with ries of two men - Hawley Crippen, a very July 25 - Summer Tailgate/Hamfest on 178 current in dues payment. President unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Mar- InfoAge Grounds Richard Lee has sent out postcard remind- coni, the obsessive creator of a seemingly August 8 - Summer Repair Clinic, In- ers to those members who are still due for supernatural means of communication - foAge Bldg. 9032A, 9AM - 4PM renewal. Considering the circumstances, whose lives intersect during one of the August 14 - Monthly Zoom meeting, Prof. your Board will continue to be liberal greatest criminal chases of all time. Tom Perera talk on "Phil Weingarten, with regard to 2020 dues, but there will For those WWII history buffs, I high- Master Duplicator" come a time in the near future when a ly recommend Larson's latest, The Splen- September 11 - Monthly meeting at In- cutoff date will be announced. did and the Vile. While Hitler waged a foAge Bldg. 9032A, Larry Rubins audio Member Nevell Greenough reminds all relentless bombing campaign, it was up demonstration OM's and YL's that it's time to start plan- to Churchill to hold the country together September 18-19 - Kutztown Radio Show ning for Field Day (June 27-28). Please and persuade President Roosevelt that October 9 - Monthly meeting at Prince- send your name, e-mail and call directly at Britain was a worthy ally. There's lots of ton's Bowen Hall, talk by Mike Molnar [email protected] so plans may be references to beam guidance (topic TBA) discussed without QRM'ming up the en- which I'm sure many of you radar people November 13 - Monthly meeting at In- tire NJARC Communicator. Please also will enjoy. foAge Bldg. 9032A, (topic TBA) indicate whether you can attend, when, I found a great little piece of history in November 20 - Fall Repair Clinic at In- and your operating interests. Interested the book that I'm sure Larson could never foAge Bldg. 9032A, 9AM - 4PM others are welcome as well. have anticipated when he wrote it that is December (date TBA) - Holiday Party at Technical Coordinator Al Klase is very apropos to today's times and I hope West Lake Golf and CC scheduling a recurring Zoom meeting for it will give you a little snicker: January 8 - Monthly meeting at InfoAge the NJARC membership every Tuesday Bldg. 9032A, Members Only Auction, and Thursday until the beginning of Sep- "At least one brand of toilet paper was dues collection tember. (Note: These are not the monthly also in perilously short supply, as the June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 2

2020 ANNUAL THE JERSEY BROADCASTER is the newsletter of the New Jersey Antique FIELD DAY Radio Club (NJARC) which is dedicated to ANNOUNCED preserving the history and enhancing the knowledge of radio and related dis- ciplines. Dues are $25 per year and By meetings are held the second Friday of each month at InfoAge or Princeton Uni- Al Klase & versity. The Editor or NJARC is not liable Nevill Greenough for any other use of the contents of this publication other than information.

PRESIDENT: Field day is an annual, on-the-air radio Richard Lee (732)-927-1459 event sponsored by The American Radio [email protected] Relay League, publisher of QST Maga- zine. It is an on-the-air contest where the VICE PRESIDENT: Sal Brisindi (732)-308-1748 objective is to contact as many participat- [email protected] ing stations as possible from temporary radio installations. There are extra points SECRETARY/NEWSLETTER for running on non-commercial power. EDITOR: Marv Beeferman (609)-693-9430 The underlying motivation is to foster a [email protected] community of hams who can establish communications in case of disaster. TREASURER: The June Field Day was established in Harry Klancer (732)-238-1083 [email protected] 1933 and since then 40,000 hams throughout North America have demon- SERGEANT-AT-ARMS (WEST): strated ham radio's science, skill and ser- Darren Hoffman (732)-928-0594 vice to our communities and our nation. [email protected] The event combines public service, emer- SERGEANT-AT-ARMS (EAST): gency preparedness, community outreach Rotating and technical skills all in a single event. Last year, the NJARC decided to fur- TRUSTEES: Ray Chase (908)-757-9741 ther inaugurate our new station W2RTM [email protected] by participating in our first Field Day. Soon the lawn outside InfoAge building Phil Vourtsis (732)-208-4284 9032A was filled with antennas, a gener- [email protected] ator, tables, cables, microphones, tele- "The contest ended in exhaustion and Bill Zukowski (732)-833-1224 graph keys, cans of insect spray and an [email protected] expansive collection of amateur trans- lost voices." ceivers and equipment. Several hours TECHNICAL COORDINATOR: Al Klase (908)-892-5465 later, it all came together to a rousing SALVAGE OF [email protected] chorus by our operators of “CQ, CQ, CQ Field Day - this is W2RTM, Whisky- TITANIC'S RADIO TUBE PROGRAM CHAIRMAN: Al Klase [email protected] Two-Radio-Tango-Mike”, accompanied EQUIPMENT by the hum of the generator. APPROVED SCHEMATIC PROGRAM: The cacophony continued almost non- Aaron Hunter (609)-267-3065 stop for 24 hours until 2 PM Sunday un- [email protected] Edited by der a 10' x 10' canopy when the contest CAPACITOR PROGRAM: ended in exhaustion and lost voices. We Marv Beeferman Matt Reynolds (567)-204-3850 made about 325 contacts with other ama- [email protected] teurs around the country at similar, emer- The following article is based on report-

RESISTOR PROGRAM: gency-operations style setups. About 45 ing by various sources like CNN, Yahoo (To be announced.) of those contacts were made via Morse and "Popular Mechanics." code with good-old-telegraph-key. Our WEB COORDINATOR: main transceiver was a Yaesu FT-950 A judge in Virginia has ruled that a Dave Sica (732)-382-0618 [email protected] graciously acquired from the late Joe Cro designated salvage company can open up estate. Joe certainly would enjoy that. the hull of the RMS Titanic to retrieve the MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: This year's Field Day 2020 is 27-28 ship's Marconi radiotelegraph. It's not Marsha Simkin (609)-660-8160 June. Our club station, W2RTM will be exactly a done deal because the RMS Ti- 33 Lakeland Drive Barnegat, N.J. 08005 again setting up at InfoAge. With a mod- tanic company must still submit a funding [email protected] est, but successful, first effort last year, plan for approval before work can begin. we are hoping to improve our perfor- As expected, this decision has resulted mance this year. Feel welcome to pitch in some agreement but mostly dissent. Is in if you can. Watch for further develop- it right to open up what amounts to a mass ments and announcements on the club's grave to loot what's inside? Does the Communicator. technological significance of the equip- June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 3 ment make a difference? As NJARC tion) Old Timer's Bulletin in November ship's antenna. Much of this equipment member Dr. Alex Magoun noted: "...what 2001 and February 2002. This makes a was located in the Silent Room previously could the equipment possibly tell about good starting point for those who are described. The receiving set, located on 'some of the secrets about a missed warn- more interested. However, an excellent or adjacent to the aft-facing operators' ing message and distress calls sent from article in the AWA Review (Volume 15, desk in the Marconi Room, was connected the ship?' " AWA member and retired 2002) by Parks Stephenson goes down to into a single circuit that converted RF attorney Bart Lee (K6VK) stated: "This the component level. The article is based oscillations into audible signals. An ruling permitting salvage is likely to be on an exploration of the Marconi radio- emergency transmitting set, also located reversed on appeal. The RMS Titanic IS telegraph suite during James Cameron's in the Marconi Room and capable of pro- a marine grave of exceptional importance. attempt to film the wreck for his docu- ducing a plain spark in the event of a cas- Both the US government and the British mentary Ghosts of the Abyss. It is also ualty to the main , was also government want it to be left alone." Our based on a comparison to the Olympic's provided. own Tube Lore author Ludwell Sibley Marconi Room, the Olympic being the A good example of what might be dis- was more emphatic: "This is gross. We Titanic's sister ship. There is not enough covered from Cameron's film in conjunc- have grave robbers at work. The site is space here to summarize a full descrip- tion with examining artifacts recovered deteriorating. Yeah, leave it alone!" An- tion of all components covered by Ste- from the ship is the condition of the dis- other AWA member commented: "I don't phenseon, but I highly suggest that you charger box. In order to muffle the sound see what's wrong with salvaging the radio. try to obtain a copy for some in-depth of the spark discharge, a heavy teak box I can't imagine there is much left know reading. was positioned and hinged so that it could other than a pile of dissolved metals and As Stephenson points out, based on be lowered over the transmitter's disc dis- encrusted pieces." Finally, Joe Koester of Cameron's discoveries, it appears that charger. This discharger box was found MAARC wrote: "Agree. I would not although the Marconi Room was com- locked open in the remains of the Titanic's want someone digging up a grave of one pletely destroyed by hydrodynamic forc- Silent Room. Stephenson speculates that of my ancestors for any reason. They es acting inside the superstructure as the this would seem to reinforce the scenario know what the radio looks like and surely ship settled on the ocean floor, the more wherein one of the Marconi operators, there are others. If not, recreate one to substantial walls of the adjacent room most likely junior operator Harold Bride, show what the Titanic had on board. that housed the transmitting apparatus took station in the Silent Room towards Leave the wreck alone from now and for- provided a measure of protection. This the end to adjust the spark in response to evermore." room was called the "Silent Room," be- the failing ship's power. The reason for In her ruling, the judge wrote that re- cause its walls were heavily insulated lifting the box would have been to hear trieving the radio "will contribute to the with asbestos to prevent the loud noise of the spark clearly as the discharger motor legacy left by the indelible loss of the the electric motors and spark generating was adjusted to provide more output from Titanic, those who survived, and those equipment of the transmitter from dis- less power. who gave their lives in the sinking." Dur- tracting the operator while he attempted The interior of the Marconi Room, ing a video session, Bretton Hunchak, to receive faint signals through his head- briefly glimpsed during a 1993 expedi- president of RMS Titanic, said the expedi- phones. The Silent Room is presently tion, appeared to be nothing more than a tion would focus on the Marconi radio for open to view since most of the interior featureless wasteland. As far as anyone a number of reasons: walls have been eaten away. This has knew, any surviving equipment was either resulted in what Stephenson describes as buried underneath piles of debris or torn  It's not just a radio but "the voice of the a "gold mine of information." Revealed loose and scattered. However, this as- Titanic." is an almost complete 5-kW Marconi sumption was dispelled by Cameron's  The radio is emblematic of the 700 pas- transmitting set still connected together 2001 expedition. The transmitting set was sengers who survived the Titanic's sinking by the original circuit wiring. still intact with each of its components who faced a similar adversity we are ex- located in or near its original location. periencing today. and plugs could even been seen  The only reason there were survivors in their final settings. The preserved con- and the only reason we can research the tents of the Silent Room provided a sharp wreck today is because of the radio. contrast to the almost total lack of arti- facts in the adjacent Marconi Room.  Putting the radio on exhibit will help In his final summary, Stephenson the world to "re-engage with the Titanic." points out that retrieval of the Titanic's radio artifacts may make some sense The company said that the radio transmit- when viewed in "the context of the history ter could unlock some of the secrets about of the disaster." Although addressed by a missed warning message and distress Stephenson in 2002, it is yet to be discov- calls sent from the ship. It would try to Replica of the Titanic Marconi Room. ered what toll some twenty years has tak- avoid cutting into the ship by accessing (Photo Credit: Cliff1066/Flickr/ en and whether the project will still be the telegraph room via a skylight that was Creative Commons) worth it: already open. The Marconi wireless apparatus con- "Had there been no wireless telegraph What Treasures Might be Found? sisted of both transmitting and receiving apparatus to send distress calls across the sets. The transmitter consisted of five æther, Titanic's lifeboats might have drift- A system-level description of the Mar- distinct circuits that converted the ship's ed for days before being spotted. Because coni apparatus aboard the Titanic was direct current into regulated, high-power, of Carpathia's rapid response to Titanic's presented in a two-part article published RF oscillations transmitted by way of the CQD, the majority of survivors who in the AWA's (Antique Wireless Associa- June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 4 found their way into (or onto) a lifeboat center , if close, did vary a lit- VLF portion of the spectrum, the size of were saved. Cameron discovered in the tle. Early adopters referred to this as Herrold’s air-core inductors above the wreck the very instrument that Titanic “fuzz” or “hair” on the signal. Today, we arc chambers would seem to indicate used to alert the world to her plight. It is would likely refer to it as phase noise. that he operated considerably higher up fitting that the transmitting portion of the into the RF spectrum. The station was apparatus that was directly responsible for licensed in 1915 as 6FX. After WWI, it saving the lives of over 700 souls has it- moved to technology and self survived the sinking and subsequent was relicensed as KQW, later becoming decay of the ship. Hopefully, the equip- San Francisco’s KCBS (Courtesy of ment can someday be recovered and re- History San José) stored to operating condition. Failing that, though, at least we can now tell the complete story of this vital apparatus." GAS ON THE FIRE

WHEN BRUTE FORCE Early on, the upper frequency of the arc transmitter’s oscillations was limited by the curve describing the negative re- RULED THE AIR An operator gets ready to place a Fed- sistance; however, it was discovered, like- eral 1,000 kW transmitter on the air. ly by accident, that introduction of a hy- Part II drocarbon-containing vapor or substance (Although not stated in his patent claims, (it was actually the hydrogen component) Herrold may have burned his arc under greatly enhanced the performance of the By water in an attempt to filter out some of arc and could move its frequency upward. James E. O'Neal the fuzz and possibly to supply the need- As the arc transmitter technology pro- ed hydrogen through electrolysis.) gressed, a number of hydrogen-containing NJARC member James O'Neal (K4XAR) Audio modulation was achieved by substances were tried, including alcohol, has been involved in broadcasting for simply connecting a carbon microphone kerosene, methane, acetylene, hydrogen nearly 60 years including a 37-year-long (telephone “transmitter”) in the antenna gas and even steam. Interestingly, the career in television engineering. This or ground leg of the transmitter output. converter’s operating frequency range included more than 30 years with the tele- (Fessenden modulated his high- could be shifted by substitution of these vision side of the Voice of America. In frequency alternator in the same fashion.) liquids, gases or vapors. (Of course, the 2005, he launched a second career in The varying resistance of the microphone operation of an intense source of heat in journalism including editing "TV Tech- element with sound produces a corre- close proximity to flammable compounds nology" and writing for "Radio World," sponding change in antenna current. Of was not without risk, as will be pointed and other periodicals, concentrating course, with higher power converters, out later.) largely on radio's colorful history and the some means for dissipating the I-squared Ethyl alcohol seemed to be the favored individuals who helped make it possible. -R losses in the carbon element had to be hydrocarbon, at least for the lower- Mr. O'Neal is the editor of "IEEE Broad- provided, with solutions ranging from a powered arcs, and one can’t help but cast Technology" and serves on the water-cooled mic, the use of multiple wonder if this might not have been an boards of two radio and television- microphones connected together, and added incentive when looking for em- oriented museums. The following article, even a “lazy Susan” arrangement for ployees to pull an overnight shift at the with Part I printed in the May rapidly switching a fresh mic into the transmitter site. The alcohol used was 'Broadcaster,' was first published in the circuit while the one previously in use likely pure 200 proof ethanol, or close to April 26th issue of "Radio World" and is cooled down. it, as “denatured” alcohol didn’t come carried below with the kind permission of into widespread use until after the Vol- the author and "Radio World"...Ed stead Act ushered in prohibition in 1920.

TRANSMITTING SPEECH TRUTH IN AND MUSIC ADVERTISING

Early on, experimenters found that the It should be output of the converters noted that while could be modulated with speech. Elwell the arc converter used this feature to advantage, establish- was a simple way ing a two-way radiotelephone service of transforming DC into radio between Sacramento and Stockton, Calif., Charles “Doc” Herrold (center, in the in competition with Ma Bell. It was waves, its operat- doorway) powered his early-1900s San ing efficiency was claimed that the wireless audio quality José, Calif. AM radio station with arc was better than that of the wired service. not that great, bor- technology of his own design. This dering at best a- Others, most notably photo appears to show two of the con- and Charles “Doc” Herrold, began broad- verters built into the table at the left. A casting speech and music via arc or phonograph turntable is visible as is a The patent drawing for Herrold's arc “arcphone” transmitters. However, as microphone. Although Federal’s trans- transmitter. The arc burned under wa- pointed out, the machine’s output, if close mitters were designed to operate in the ter and the electrodes are broken into to a sine wave, was not exactly; and the several sections. June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 5 round 50%, so with the larger units, a fully circumventing a slightly different would have kept growing if the technolo- carefully engineered cooling system was type of “flamethrower” event: gy had not been pushed out of the way by essential. Also, Federal, likely bolstered the perfection of the vacuum tube as an by their ad agency, seemed to overlook “At least one fatality and several serious RF oscillator and power amplifier in the this efficiency factor in their product cata- injuries have come to the attention of the 1920s. Actually, as late as 1922 - at least log. For instance, their “one megawatt” writer owing to the operator having according to a U.S. Bureau of Standards converter actually delivered only about ‘struck’ the arc when the carbon publication that year, the arc was still the 500,000 watts of RF. The rest of the DC [electrode] had not been properly fas- “go-to” source for high-power long- power had to be dispersed as heat, and tened in its receptacle. In these instances, distance communications, with an estimat- just as in “modern” vacuum tube transmit- [with] the hydrocarbon gas having ed “80 percent of all the energy actually ters, the water-cooling system had to be reached a sufficiently great pressure, the radiated into space for radio purposes dur- electrically isolated from the converter’s loosened carbon was blown out of its ing a given time” emanating from arc copper anode. In the very high-power holder followed by a stream of flame, transmitters. (This excluded amateur sta- installations, this required two cooling proving disastrous to the operator, who tions, which still largely utilized damped loops with a heat exchanger and an out- invariably stands on that side of the arc wave spark apparatus.) door “spray pond” in the secondary loop. when starting it.”

OSHA, PLEASE LOOK THE OTHER WAY

Obviously, the high-voltage, high- current potentials (typically from 500 to 2,000 volts and upwards of 500 amps, depending on converter output power) employed in larger arc transmitters were dangerous to the point of lethality. How- ever, arc transmitters posed another very serious hazard to life and limb. This was their propensity to explode violently if operating instructions weren’t followed to At least one big arc transmitter was re- the letter, due to the aforementioned re- born as a nuclear particle accelerator. quirement for the continuous introduction This Federal 1,000 kW unit was trans- of hydrocarbon-containing compounds formed into what was then the world’s into the arc chamber. Precautions against largest cyclotron. It’s shown with cyclo- the electrocution threat included these tron inventor Ernest Lawrence, right. At words to the wise: “Great care must be left is Stanley Livingston, a graduate taken by operators working about an arc student who had worked with Lawrence in operation, and any part of the oscillato- in perfecting the cyclotron. (Courtesy of ry circuit, starting from the copper, must History San José ) be avoided. An operator at one high- power station on the Atlantic Coast once started to refill the alcohol feed cup from LIFE AFTER OBSOLESCENCE a large metal can while the arc was in operation — he never did it again.” As the microphone used to modulate an Once more modern and efficient ways Equally lethal accidents, but not al- arc transmitter in the simplest way car- of producing a continuous wave emerged, ways causing immediate death, included ried large RF currents and became not all of the dangerous, and sometimes opening the arc chamber while the con- quite hot in normal operation, a means problematic, arc converters were recon- verter was in operation, or even after it for removing heat was necessary. Sev- ciled to the metal recycler. At least one, was shut down if a prescribed amount of eral schemes were devised, including and probably more, were tapped for nucle- “cooling down” time was not observed. water cooling. Charles Herrold and ar research. In the late 1920s, a race of Violation of this rule could result in the E.A.B. Portal were issued a U.S. patent sorts was underway on several shores to transmitter literally becoming a “flame for the water-cooled mic used at his “split” the tiny atom in an effort to learn thrower.” “Another stunt to be avoided is “arcphone” radio station. more about its internal workings. One of the opening of the arc chamber door im- those heavily involved was the University mediately after the arc has been extin- (Another precaution was offered for those of California’s Ernest O. Lawrence, future guished, for the sudden contact of the working around the giant “converters” Nobel Laureate. He devised a tabletop internal heated hydrogen with the external that would be of little worry in today’s model of a machine that could accelerate atmosphere will cause an outburst of world of quartz-movement clocks and subatomic particles faster and faster until flame which may result in severe burns to watches. This was the avoidance of they had sufficient energy to pass through anyone within range. With large arcs, a bringing one’s prized timepiece near an the electrostatic barrier of the atomic nu- period of ten minutes should elapse before operating converter, as the intense mag- cleus and send its constituents flying in all the door is opened.” netic field could permanently damage the directions. The “always read the instructions com- steel mainspring-driven movement.) Once Lawrence, aided by a grad stu- pletely before plugging it in” type of dis- There were a number of early arc con- dent, succeeded in making the tabletop claimer also included the following, hope- verter martyrs, and doubtless the list nuclear particle accelerator - or "cyclo- June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 6 tron” as Lawrence dubbed the device - ed General Electric's top Innovation work, the challenge was on to build a prize, the Edison Award, in 2007, and THE TRUE POWER bigger and better model. (The cyclotron’s received over 15 patents, and is currently OF RADIO operation is based around a large magnet- IEEE Princeton Life Chair. Joe is the ic field, just as in the arc converter.) proud owner of the AR-88 show below. Edited by It so happened that once the vacuum Marv Beeferman tube had sunset activities at Federal Tele- graph, there were some unsold arc con- verters literally rusting away at the com- pany’s Palo Alto, Calif., facility. Law- The following information comes by way rence learned of this from Leonard Fuller, of a reddit post and Hackaday...Ed chairman of the university’s EE depart- ment, and it was not difficult to secure one of the last of this breed of transmitter and relocate it to the Berkeley radiation As a preview to Joe's talk, he has pro- research lab for just the cost of the move. vided us with the following abstract as to There, it was stripped of the arc chamber, the topics that may be covered: and the magnetic core became the heart of the first big cyclotron, known as the “27- During WWII, the interception of incher,” the diameter of the magnetic German encrypted wireless communica- poles formed from the big electromagnet- tion by Britain's many Y-stations, where ic. This machine produced energies of operators, listening to banks of RCA AR- 5,000,000 electron volts, and was later 88 receivers, provided the captured en- upgraded to give an 8 MeV push to deu- crypted messages in order for Bletchley terons, and it could also eject alpha parti- Park to then process these messages into cles at energies of up to 16 MeV. plaintext. Messages to be decrypted were handed to Alan Turing's (of the This appears to be a good stopping point. movie's Imitation Game fame) Hut 8 Please stayed tuned for the final install- team at Bletchley Park. Often, overshad- ment of this article in the July owed by the truly great Alan Turing, the 'Broadcaster' where James O'Neal will unsung heroes I found were the intercept, discuss the physics of arc converter oper- or Y-station, operators such as Gordon ation and a 1963 oral history in which a Welchman (Hut 6), and General David former Federal Telegraph employee was Sarnoff. Joe will explain how their interviewed. In celebration of "Radio at groundbreaking methods have been The following short video clip shows a 100," Mr. O'Neal is posting a series of adopted by today's NSA! crew working on a 15,000-watt AM radio articles for 'Radio World.' I highly sug- Joe will also describe the design re- tower. They appear to be preparing to do gest his latest from May 15th titled 'They quirements issued from RCA's General tower maintenance, which means de- Set the Stage for the Birth of Radio.' David Sarnoff to his engineering team - energizing the antenna. As the engineer Since we occasionally have problems tough and expensive to meet production explains, antennas for AM radio stations with links and I want to make sure you targets. RCA production was started in in the medium-wave band are generally can easily access it, just Google the arti- Camden, NJ but the international WWII the entire tower structure, as opposed to cle's title and it will immediately come partner demand (Soviet, British, and Ca- the towers for FM and TV stations, which up…Ed nadian) was handled by RCA's Export generally just loft the antenna as high as Sales under Charles Roberts in Camden, possible above the landscape. THE RCA AR-88 New Jersey. Joe will discuss the design The fun starts when the crew discon- requirements through "winning through nects a jumper and an arc forms across the performance" and contrast the AR- clamp and the antenna feed. The resulting Edited by 88 receiver with the competitive receiver, ball of plasma acts like a speaker, letting Marv Beeferman of its day, e.g. National's HRO. Restora- us clearly hear the programming on the tion details will also be discussed. station. It's like one of the plasma speak- Next month, the club will have the Finally, Joe will discuss the results of ers many of us have heard about before, pleasure of hearing a talk by Prof. Joseph a project conducted by his TCNJ Elec- albeit exceptionally more dangerous. Jesson on RCA's AR-88 which he de- tronics Lab students - to compare a scribes as "RCA's greatest communica- SPICE RF bandpass AR-88 filter simula- youtube.com/watch?v=GHSuInSkHtA tions receiver." Joe's bio is as follows: tion with a vacuum tube SPICE library mode to a corrected (biased) FET ampli- It's an impressive display of the power Thanks to his Civil Defense "Elmers" in fier model. coursing through broadcast towers, and a the early 60's and his Delaware Valley As a third-generation New Jersey na- vivid reminder to not mess with them. Radio Association (DVRA) founding club tive researching WWII communications, Such warnings often go unheeded, sadly, radio shop boss, Les Allen, Joe (W2JEJ) Joe says he was proud of the leadership with the young (and sometimes old) and had moved his early love for Radios shown by General David Sarnoff and foolish paying the price. After all, there's (HRO, Hammerland, and Hallicrafters) estimated 2- year reduction of the dura- a reason they put fences up around radio into a great career in engineering and tion of WWII by the great work at towers. technology management. Joe was award- Bletchley Park. June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 7

types of electronic equipment. In 1963, ships of various tube types was included A TUBE Popular Electronics published a three- in the series. FAMILY TREE part series by Louis E. Garner Jr. titled Recently, member Al Klase sent me "The Tube Family Tree." It's a wonder- another tube family tree brought up by By ful series with good illustrations and a Jerry Proc on Boatanchors. It starts with nice tutorial in understanding the basic the Edison Effect of 1883 and continues Marv Beeferman principles of the majority of tube types. until 1934. It was first published in Elec- The series can be easily found at the "RF tronics in 1933. The copy that Al sent me The vacuum tube may have been one Café" by Googling the title of the series. was a little blurred but I located a better of the 20th century's greatest inventions. A pictorial representation of the relation- copy with only one minor difference. Magnetron, photomultiplier, traveling wave, compactron, klystron, backward wave, pencil, lighthouse, cathode ray, indicator, nuvistor, acorn, peanut, T-R, electrostatic, cat's-eye, orithon, and loctal, are just a few of the many types of vacu- um tubes that have been used in various

MY FIRST RADIO

Edited by Marv Beeferman

"My first radio" could be interpreted in two ways. It could be the first radio that someone purchased with his own funds or it could mean the first radio that someone was first aware of and familiar with. A string of Communicator postings got me searching for a group of photos that I re- member of my brother and I (about five years old) standing alongside a console in our living room (the brand escapes me) that were taken by a professional photog- rapher. You could hire these guys to come to your home and take some quality pictures. The photos still haven't shown up and I'd offer $1,000 to recover this little bit of family history and this very strong memory of "my first radio." I felt a little sad that the posted exam- ples from our members would be lost to the æther, so I decided to capture them here. After thinking about it, I thought it would be great to capture as many exam- ples as possible, so I'm inviting members to dig deep into their subconscious and WCRB out of its studio in Waltham, a hill northeast of Boston, but most of you send me a paragraph or two describing Mass. Alex said that the station offered know better than me how much less noise your memories. A photo would be a nice good classical music (none of which he pollution there was then in the electronic addition, but if the original radio is no specifically remembers) and a very fun- environment." longer in existence, an example from the ny "WCRB Saturday Night" comedy Bob Bennett submitted the following internet would work just fine. show which you could write to for a free photo that was taken around 1965-1966. ticket. Alex remembers the only Dxing He's guessing it shows someone's birthday [email protected] he did was with this radio using its inter- party. It shows Bob along with his sister nal antenna. "St. Louis sticks in my and unhappy cousin at his grandmother's. The parents of Alex Magoun had one mind as the most distant and therefore At the right of his sister's shoulder is his of those Grundig multiband receivers that most exotic; at least one Spanish- late uncle's H-500 Transoceanic. Bob said were popular in the late 50s or early 60s, speaking station (one of those Cuban it was purchased while his uncle was serv- probably because of some tariff cut to stations or perhaps a Mexican border ing in the Navy. "It opened my ears to the support the West German economy. His buster?) and at least one French Canadi- world of shortwave listening as well as family listened to basically nothing but an one from Montreal or Quebec. That AM hams. Now you might wonder why I might have been pretty good range from may be slightly biased towards Zenith June 2020 Volume 26 Issue 06 Page 8 Transoceanics. Oh yes, the tie...I proba- bly just got home from Catholic school."

Steve Cafiero could remember build- ing a Heathkit AR-29 stereo receiver in 1970 with his dad. He was 10 years old Jon Butz Fiscina said that his "first radio" and it was the first of many of their elec- was a 1948 Philco from his grandfather. tronic kits. Steve said that Heathkits start- He didn't understand why the pilot light ed his interest in electronics and he re- was always so dim. Many years later, he stored his AR-29 a few years ago. The When he was about three years old, Al discovered that the light was replaced by restoration may be found on a YouTube Klase got a look inside his grandfather's an odd 24-volt bulb that would have been search of Heathkit AR-29. radio - a TRF McMillan from about 1930. used in aircraft. "24,000 flying hours William Coffman's "first radio" was a "It's been downhill ever since. My grand- later, I wonder how much it affected my simple RCA 8X541 that belonged to his parents, who were folks of modest means, choice of career." great grandmother who bought it new. It had received an inheritance and splurged was in working condition when he first on indoor plumbing and a nice radio. I got it but it somehow ended up in a box recovered it from the attic years later that was put into an out building and for- without a speaker. I still have the set." gotten for years. William is beginning to bring it back to life.

Jonathan Allen said his first experi- ence with a short wave radio was a 1937- Rob Flory said he had to dig deep into 38 Philco console at his grandparent's the dusty crevices of his mind to find his house. The cabinet was a beautiful piece first radio. As the son and grandson of of furniture. He recalls an amber cellu- electrical engineers, Rob was "born with a loid tuning dial with perhaps five bands. Greg Wilson's "first radio" was his soldering iron in my hand" but it was a The pointer was an arrowhead optically dad's 1957(?) Blaupunkt "Barcelona." It little while before he was allowed to plug projected from behind the dial onto the sits in his living room presently and it in. He remembers an electronics kit that selected band; this allowed reading the "works just fine." had a bunch of components on a board correct scale and prevented parallax er- with little springs connected to the leads. rors. Jonathan was able to tune in SW Little tinned wires were used to wire them stations from around the world. up. He believes his first radios might Besides a number of small transistor have been crystal and simple crystal with radios, the radio Robert Tevis will never audio amplifier sets made with that kit. forget is the Remco Caravelle. It had the Rob said that his dad drew him a sche- capability to transmit over the AM radios matic diagram and gave him a pile of in the house. "How cool!" Robert said parts and let him figure out how to wire his favorite use, though, was when he up an audio amplifier with built-in speak- discovered that he was able to use it to er on a perforated board. But the radio somehow detune the other radios. He that really got Rob going was an Archer doesn't recall how he did it or even un- (Radio Shack) "Space Patrol" AM/CB derstands the principle behind what he base station. He hooked it up so that it did. He just remembers surprising his Next month, we'll continue with played through both its own speaker and father who was listening to a football your "first radio" stories that include the homemade audio amp so that it was game when, at a climatic moment, he Harry Klancer's 1935 Airline, Aaron "stereo." Rob said he listened to a lot of detuned his radio and the touchdown was Hunter's Cub Scout radio from 1955 WABC which played cool music. He also missed. "Still, best toy I ever had." and James Doran's Japanese transistor did some DXing and learned Morse code But Robert said his love of radio real- radio and a European console that initi- with my neighbor. "Before long, I got my ly goes back to his Uncle Ed who owned ated his love of radio. Hopefully, I will novice license and the rest is history." a Hallicrafters S-38. "Loved to hear the receive some additional submittals by BBC over that whenever I would visit." then to add to the group.