FALL 1992 VOL. 16, NO 4 JOURNAL OF THE CRL I FORNI R HI STOR I CRL RR D I 0 S0 C I ETY
~OR THE RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION OF EARLY RADIO
Fi\LL _Ll\NI) \~ l INTER
SEASON'S CiREETI NCiS FRC)l'v·1 c=HRS California Historical ABOUTCHRS. Radio Society The California Historical Radio Society is a non-yrofit corporation chartered .in the Vice President State o California. CHRS was formed in 1974 to promote the restoration and Jim McDowell Bart Lee preservation of early radio and 2265 Panoramic Drive 327 Filbert Steps broadcasting. Our goal is to 1?rovide the Concord, CA 94520-1316 San Francisco, CA 94133 opportunity to exchange ideas and (510) 676-2605 (415) 778-4072 information on the history of radio, Technical Advisor partirularly in the West, with emphasis in Secretary collecting, literature, programs, and the Russ Turner La!1)' Clark restoration and display of early ~pment . 414 Liberty Street 438 York Drive San Franasco, CA 94114 Benicia, CA 94510 The Journal of tne Society is puolished (415) 824-8367 (707) 745-9132 quarterly, alternately in printed and audio tape format, and is furnished free of charge Treasurer, Appraiser Radio News (Tape) Editor to members. Yearly membership dues are WillJensby Bill Helander $15.00 (US funds, please). Submissions for 645 Giannini Drive 4311 Miranda Ave. the Journal are always welcome. Santa Oara, CA 95051 Palo Alto, CA 94306 Typewritten copy is preferred. Articles (408) 2%-6071 (415) 948--0972 submitted on 3.5 inch IBM or Macintosh Publicity and Membership Secretary diskettes in ASCII or Microsoft Word are Public Relations appreciated. Send all material to editor Bart Mike Adams Chris Buttery Lee and include your name, address and 112 Crescent Court 71 Tenth Street phone number. You write about radio, and Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Oakland, CA 94607 we'll print it. The Journal is copyright © (408) 439-9544 (510) 839-6735 1992 by the California Historical Radio Society, all ·rights reserved. No part of this Mailing Chainnan Board Chairman publication may be reproduced in any Dale Sanford Paul J. Bourbin form, ·or by any means, without prior 107 St. Thomas Way 25 Greenview Court written ·permission from CHRS~ -except Tiburon, CA 94920 San Francisco, CA 94131 that you.may make "fair use" of quotations (415) 435-6131 (415) 648-8489 of text fully attributed by you to source ·Board .of Directors (this Journal) and author. Mike Adams John Eckland 112 Crescent Court 969A Addison Ave. Map to AMPEX Corp. Swap Meet Scotts Valley, CA 95066 Palo Alto, CA 94301 ·' Go to Lot ·c • Thre.e stop signs south (408) 439-9544 (415) 323-0101 ® of Woodside Road on Bay Road. North Valley & Publicily ... John Wentzel · . Norm Braithwaite <.:;:,, (:: . 1609 Irvini Street . . . .P.O. Box 2443 >,,. . i~~~~ - ~!~:-92 Reddin CA %099,:· ··· .·. -.. 'l San Francisco, CA.94122 (415) 731-1920 (916) 2~-4209 .·. '...... ".-4 0 0 CIO ";4 N en Journal Co-Editors: Bart Lee and Paul Bourbin I ON THE COVER: 1925, th e Good Life, before ::::> - . Whipple the Crash •.. wh at's the Radio? Road
MEETINGS and SWAP MEETS: CHRS meetin~s Woodside Seaport are held 2-3 times per year. Locations are announced m Road Blvd. CHRS publications and by mail. Swap meets are ·· in February, May, August, and November at Ampex Corporation in RedwOod City, PLEASE DO NOT ENTER BEFORE 8:30 AM. Regional meets at various Northern AMPEX~ !;> California locations are conducted from time to time. 0 ~ -- - Contact the Publicity Officers if you want to sponsor a i:c: ~ Marsh swap meet in your area. Local swap meets bring out new ~ 2 Road old radios! liQ
To ~ u pertino, To Sanjose San Jose ·(PLEASE WAIT 'TIL 8:30 AM TO ENTER) PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE sell and you can gain space! Space is something -JIM MCDOWELL we all need. Several members, and I, too, like old 78 RPM records. If you have any you want Well, it has been a year since I was elected to sell, bring them to a swap meet. president. I want to thank all those members and officers who have worked so hard to make this I have been doing some traveling the past year's club a success again, including especially summer with at least two radios to keep me Chris Buttery, Bill Helander and Paul Bourbin, content. I have come to realize that the Bay as well as the several others who every year put Area is lacking in oldies stations. In Seattle, in so much time and effort for all of us, espe• there is a great oldies station on AM that plays a cially on the Journals. The new meeting place at wide variety of music from several decades, and Ampex has worked out well: it is easy to find has no talk shows. There are three good ones in and very comfortable for swap meets. Salt Lake City and more than I can remember in On the other hand, the economy has taken its Los Angeles. San Luis Obispo even has two toll on our radio collecting. For example, cathe• good ones. So why is this area a void! KFRC, drals: some people want a small fortune for a Magic 61, plays too many remakes of old songs common Philco Jr., while others sell a rare as well as 60s, 70s, and 80s pop music. It also Crosley Cathedral for $60, in working condition airs talk shows at night. KPIX signs off at dusk with a good cabinet. For those who can afford it, and here we are left with as many kinds of rock now is the time to buy! My advice to sellers is: as Carter has pills. No big band, no 50s, no bring all those radios you have never had time to music of your life. In my opinion, a good oldies check out or fix, that have just been collecting FM stereo station would do very well in the Bay dust, to the next swap meets. Now this stuff will Area. -Jim##
THOUGHTS OF CHAIRMAN PAUL: FAIRFIELD MEET AND PICNIC REPORT
On Saturday, September 26, CHRS held its a large selection of transistor sets. Members first annual swap-meet and picnic at the Bay came from as far away as Redding, CA., Area Electric Railroad Association's Western Minden, NV. and Palm Desert, CA to attend the Railroad Museum in Fairfield. The Museum is meet Some folks, who live in the vicinity of the located at Rio Vista Junction half way between Museum, brought material that had never been Fairfield and Rio Vista on state Route 12 in beheld by collectors' eyes before. After the Solano County. The meet started at 8:30 a.m. usual transacting, BAERA member, Fred Krock, sharp with the sellers driving into the park to set gave CHRS members a tour of the museum up their wares on the grass and picnic tables grounds and then a group ride on the streetcar of under the shade trees. The weather gods smiled our choice. The group chose the Blackpool Boat upon us. Although the Greater Bay Area was in Tram. This car looks like a large canoe with a the midst of a hot spell, the weather stayed mild tower in the middle atop two railroad trucks. until the end of the meet. Some members This car came from Blackpool, England and is thought that this was the classiest place CHRS one of over sixty pieces of railroad rolling stock has ever had a meet. Amongst the broad spec• preserved at the museum. After the ride around trum of goodies that appeared was a beautiful the museum trackage, many members took Orzaka that sold for a rather large sum almost advantage of the picnic facilities, had a pleasant immediately. There was also a nice Federal and lunch and continued to enjoy the museum. Both
1. BAERA and CHRS members were pleased with the event and have decided to make this an POPULAR SCIENCE recently recapped major developments in technology in its annual event. The Western Railroad Museum 1OOth year anniversary issue. Some, of has been, and will continue to be, built by mostly relevance to us, are excerpted thoughout volunteer workers. It goes to show what a group this Journal as graphics. Issues of Popular can do when it has a central focus. It also goes Science in the twenties, thirties and forties to show what volunteers can accomplish for the always had some radio related article{s), preservation of history for future generations. If often construction pieces. Many were you think it is difficult to restore a radio, try collected in the book RADIO FOR THE rebuilding a streetcar! One of the cars that has MILLIONS, which appears at swap meets been restored spent forty years as a chicken coop from time to time. The magazine covers in before being brought to the museum. [PJB] ## the old days were works of colorful art.
HAS THE BUBBLE BURST? The AWA Convention and Some Ruminations upon it.
by Bart Lee (Vice President), 327 Filbert Steps, San Francisco, CA 94133, (415) 788 4072
This year's Antique Wireless Association Convention and swap-meet left some of us in disquiet at Rochester last month. At the auction, the choicest wireless gear I've ever seen went unsold. It was a matched set consisting of a loose coupler, an induction coil, a boxed (presumably glass plates) condenser and an attached, boxed spark gap. It had a perfect dull mahogany gleam to all of the wood, and it had been stored in a silo for many years, which is a controlled environment. It did not sell, even at a reduced minimum bid of $700. An A-K 10 breadboard, also looking pretty good, did not sell at the minimum bid of $650. The swap meet was poorly attended, even taking the occasion• ally rainy weather into account. Prices seemed higher but buyers fewer. To be sure, some stuff did sell at auction at high prices. But the auction also had its strange mo• ments. The highest bid price came on a World War One "Mark ill" short wave tuner by Johnson and Phillips, but it had a repro wood box and repro instructions. It went for $1,900. A Spartan Blue Mirror with a chip went for $1,400. A Radiola ill (Westinghouse RS) went for $450 to an overseas buyer. A Radio-Home one tube receiver went for $1,200. So, in some sense, the top of the market was still there. It is the rest that may give us pause. Several years ago, the late D.H. Moore warned that our hobby was becoming a business. He saw old radios touted as an investment, as so-called fine art had been. He thought this trend to be perni• cious foolishness, and did not hesitate to say so. He reminded us, with some depression era adver• tisements, that radio prices, like other prices, can go down drastically. One of the advertisements he chose to illustrate his notions is reproduced nearby. The point D.H. wanted most to make is that our shared enthusiasm for old radios and the vintage technology of communications is fraternal. Our hobby is therefore rightly shared without the further incentives of the profit motive and the market• place. Certainly every hobby has its proper suppliers, which are businesses (such as Antique Elec• tronic Supply in Tucson). D.H.' s concern was rather that we would rue the day when every hobbyist was frrst and foremost a businessman working in this subspecialty of antique dealership. So too he thought that anyone so misfortunate as to fall into such a trap would also live to regret it, as prices plummeted as they inevitably would. As I write this, Wall Street just went down 105 points, but the pundits were not sure whether it was because of the rumor the incumbent President would win the election, or the other rumor that the main challenger would win the election. By the time you read this, one of them very well may have won this election, and it's any body's guess what Wall Street will do, or will have done in the meantime.
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This year AWA focused on General Electric. The banquet speaker was George Metcalf, who as a high officer of G.E. in the early 1950s, personally got the word from Tom Watson of IBM that G.E. had better get out of the then nascent computer business or face the wrath of IBM. G.E. dropped its computer development, including the first working, desk model business computer. Many people have wondered why G.E. did not initially dominate the computer busines. Now, courtesy of Mr. Metcalf, we know. He told me 1) he had waited fony years to tell that story, and, 2) yes, it was a felony! The A WA programs also focused on G.E., and its technical leader for many years, Mr. Walter R.G. Baker. G.E. even named its radio station after him: WRGB. General Electric's role in early radio and electronics was fully explored, especially by G.E. historian John Anderson. The current volume (No. 7) of the AWA Review has an internal history of G.E. 's early radio work up to 1930 (by an unknown author) that is well worth reading. The contest had a wide range of entries, many relating to G.E. One of the best was a display about one of the earliest regular shows on the G.E. television station, the Weather Girl - including a tape of an interview with her. The contest featured an outstanding collection of receivers and transmit• ters as well. Once again, Peter Yancer put on a mechanical scanning closed circuit television dis• play. It was fascinating to watch the black-and-white cartoon statuette rotate for real, and at the same time appear to rotate with considerable fidelity in the viewing lens of Peter's 24 line, green-lit, scanning TV receiver. At the A WA Contest, CHRS officer Will Jensby again took a prize . Will's entry of a G.E. wave meter took second place in its category. Last year Will took a prize in the Detector category with his Model D Tuner (and spade detector). The AWA auction had only half the material offered last year. The swap meet, also smaller, had a low morale about it. At the auction, DeForest gear did again go at a premium: $1,100 for a two tube amplifier, $1,200 for a one tube Radio Home receiver, $140 for a no-box DeForest Everyman crystal set panel in rough shape. Crosley gear held up well: a set of a #5 tuner and #4 amplifier went for $360, and a Crosley 52 went for $210. An Emerson Catalin went for $790 but a Bendix Catalin went for $120. (There were more Catalins in the swap meet than ever before). An otherwise undis• tinguished Cutting and Washington early 1920s radio (big, black and ugly?) went for a surprising $950, so maybe somebody knows something many others do not, or maybe not. A nice Radiola portable (with a loop in the door) went for $450. The first model of the Zenith Transoceanic went for $60. Crystal sets went for between $110 and $310. I also learned from an experienced ex-government radioman that the G.E. portable radio known as the Super-Radio II is the best AM (and FM) portable on the market, especially good for AM DXing. Next year's AWA theme is Westinghouse, so polish up your light bulbs and AC power generators., as well as your RAs and DAs. ## ELECTION AND AWARD RESULTS: benefited from Ed's contributions, including this one! -- HERROLD AWARD TO ED SHARPE Jim McDowell is re-elected President, Bart Lee Vice President, Russ Turner Secretary, Will Jensby Treasurer, both Norm Braithwaite and Mike Adams Publicity Ed Sharpe of Phoenix, Arizona has won the Doc Herrold Officers, and the remaining (non-officer) seats on the Award for his contributions to our avocation, particularly Board of Directors went to Mike Adams, John Wentzel, his journal and museum. Many an issue of this Journal has John Eck.lahd, and Paul Bourbin, Chairman. ##
4. FEATURED SET: CROSLEY D-25 MN
By Gary Haskell, 18762 Eisenhower Circle, Salinas, CA 93906
This embracing couple seems more interested in each other than in the really neat little radio on the bedstand. Perhaps it is receiving a broadcast of the news of the startling invasion from outer space depicted nearby. Even so, they should be fondling the radio, not each other! Wouldn't you? What kind of radio is it anyway? The year is 1954, the year of the film, Killers from Space, and the year the radio came out. 1 l )5j Cl'oJlf')· clock·radiu, modC'I IJ·2S\I S A 11r1iun.. c dt's1;:11 u Ith gold bC':t'll 0 11 b11"8t111dr plastf( , drfi· Reference to the Guide to Old Radios by David nlrrly tbt- 195ns IO
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- .._i-.. ~ - V"' ~ .... .D I I RADIO DAYS (§ :J__ I t9 J L -- Thaw to simple, inex· - pensive receiving eets, near· osc ANT LOO'/' ly a ha1f million Americans began tuning in to radio broadcasts. Fans stepped up to more complex equip• ment, including "tuning" devices and vacuum-tube detectors.•NovmmER 1921 7. )l)DEL HJ 514 Schematio.Ge.in.Voltage GENER.AT, RLECTRIC CO. Sooket,Aligmnent.Trimmera lltlA'NT
"'A" rated receivers have "X" connected to "Y" an SpecU.I Sert1ice lnjonn11lion ALIGNMENT in.101 SOL.HT J$Z50'T The following information will be found very useful in J.P. Connect an output meter across the voice coil. Turn the servicing receivers if a vacuum tube voltmeter or similar voli'.ime control to maximum. Set test oscillator to 455 KC voltage measuring instrument is available. and keep the oscillator output as low as a readable meter (1) Stage Gains Gain reading will permit. Antenna to 12SA7GT grid .. . 3 to 3.5 at 1000 KCl Apply signal to the converter grid of the 12SA7GT throu(h 12SA7GT grid to 12SK7GT a 0.05 mfd. capacitor and align progressively the trimmers m grid ...... 50 at 455 KC i the 2nd and 1st I.F. transformer cans. Do not remove the grid 12SK7GT grid to 12SQ7GT lead from the 12SA7GT. detector plate ...... 50 at 455 KC i R.F. To insert the R.F: signal use either a stan_dard I.R.E. Gains shown in the first two stages do not contain dnmmy between the signal generator and the receiver ant~ the conversion gain which amounts to 1.1 at 1000 post or a loop connected across the gen~ ato r output which KC. can be magnetically coupled to the receiver Beam:a-Scope. 2) 15 l 400 1 · . 1 When using an I.R.E. dummy antenna for R.F. alignment, ( o.. v_o t, eye e s1gna across the vo1 um e contro1 th d lead from the signal generator to the receiver will give ~ watt speaker output. (Volume control e grdoun t h ld be •tt d turned to maximum.) groun pos s ou 0 m1 e : . . . . . With the gang condenser wide open, align oscillator tnm- (3) Average DC voltage developed across oscillator gnd mer (C-2b) to 1650 KC. Change generator signal to 1500 KC, leak. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 15 volts tune receiver to the signal and peak antenna trimmer (C-2a) l Variations of +103, -203 permissible. for maximum ouu~tp~u~t::.:·:=;-:::=:::::--- r====;--:::=:::::-, The glass tubes used in the I.F. amplifier and 2nd detector stages are interchangeable with metal t ubes. @,..3l5ZHT r-i .r.T © ...... ~us. ®llM1VI' Stock List 0 0 411 ~ osc. No. Description Price lllCT. 455 ll.C. . 0 a CON. •RB..OOS BOARD-Terminal board (2 lu11)...... • . I0.10 '-----' V"'7I •RB· l 79 BRACKET-Cabinet back cbaais mountin11 bracket.. . . .10 tl2S.n..1.1 ·~ BUSHING-Tunin11 shaft buahina...... 10 Trimmer Location •RB-1015 BOARD-Tennfoal board (1 lua)...... 10 RB-1102 BRACKET-Condenser mounting bracket...... 10 @ •RC-023 CAPACITOR-.005 mfd. 600 v. paper (C-13)...... 25 •RC-039 CAPACfTOR-.01mfd.600 V. paper (C-15. 20) .:...... 25 tM .'::i. 0 •RC-O&O CAPACITQR-.03 mfd. 600 V. paper (C-12) ...... 25 •RC-072 CAPACITOR-.05 mfd. 200 V. paper CC-10) ...... 25 •RC-092 CAPACITOR-.05 mid. 600 V. paper {C-18)...... 30 •RC-130 CAPACITOR--0.2 mfd. 400 V. paper (C-19) ...... 30 •RC-232 CAPACITOR-47 mmf. mica (C-4) ...... 2.5 •RC-274 CAPACITOR-330 mmf. mica (C-14) ...... 30Precllll1Um :RR~~ ~ 7 9 .~ .,...,.,., CORD-PowerCAPACITOR-4 cord0 ...... mmf. mica 9. A great strength of this book is the capsule Anyone who likes old radios that can hear treatment of every known vacuum tube commu• more than the AM broadcast band, will want this nications receiver of every known U.S. manufac• book. It is a reference that one can read for turer. If you are ever going to come across one pleasure. This is especially true those nights of these radios, you can find it here first This when WWV has proclaimed a magnetic storm includes the military versions of the workhorses and the bands are dead ... on the other hand, and the special military radios, so many of which that's when to listen for those elusive Peruvians, came on to the surplus market after WW II. The especially on one of the radios Mr. Moore great strength of this second edition is that catalogs so well! almost every radio described is depicted with a Fans of the communications receiver may also decent photo as well. What makes Mr. Moore's want to know that Sams put out two volumes of work truly outstanding is that he has researched its data on the leading receivers of the 1950s. and presented all of the men and companies who These are big, red covered books, CR-1 and CR- were the makers of these sets, not just National, 2. The monthly journal Electric Radio often Hallicrafters, Hammerlund, Collins and Drake. features communications receivers and the back Every tube radio I've ever used for shon-wave issues are a gold mine, especially for the military monitoring is here (except my regenerative, one sets. The 1992 PROCEEDINGS of Fine Tuning tube, first set). Every radio I ever wanted when features a National history and a Hallicrafters it was new is here. Every receiver I've ever seen SX-28 history as well as Jerry Berg's superb at a swap meet is here. Reading this book (both history of shon-wave listening. ## editions) renews my interest in my old favorites, but also makes me want to restore and operate so NATIONAL many of the lesser known sets he catalogs in detail and with distinction. Beyond the technical, Mr. Moore also goes into the histories of the companies that made these sets - they were born of great ideas and high hopes, and many flourished for many years, but all of the old names are gone now. This book also tells the stories of many of the men who put these receivers out to the amateur, commercial and military markets. But now, their companies are dead (except for Collins as a military contractor under Rockwell, and Drake in the satellite TYRO business). The "product-space" is now filled by the I Japanese PLL chips-in-appliance-boxes. To be I sure, modern radios, e.g., those from NRD and ~ .. ICOM, are impressive performers. They are, however, hard to love, and they do not glow in the dark. (As every real DXer knows, in-the• dark is the only way to DX!) On the other hand, Drake just came back to shon-wave with the R8, powerful, full featured and sounding good, a worthy successor to these distinguished progeni• tors. MODEL: HRO-C REMARKS: HRO in table r ack with SPC coil storage unit, powP.r 10. supply and speaker. FEATURED SET: ZENITH ROYAL 7000R TRANS-OCEANIC®, By Jim McDowell The 7000 series was the last of the Trans-Oceanics made in America, introduced in 1968. Zenith went all out on features and performance on this transistor (advertised as "tubeless") model. Zenith put 12 bands on the 7000R, introduced in 1981 and made in Taiwan: Longwave 170-450 KC Broadcast 540-1600 KC Shortwave 1.8-4.0 MC Shortwave 4.0-7.4 MC Shortwave 7.4-10.4 MC Shortwave 11.25-15.5 MC Shortwave 15.5-22.0 MC Shortwave 22.0-30.0 MC Citizens Band 26.9-27.5 MC FM 88-108 MC with AFC, and 0-Center Tuning Meter. ~Aircraft 108-138 MC with Squelch Control. Public Service 144-172 MC, with Squelch Control. A signal strength meter is in circuit on all bands as well as an RF gain control (most useful for single sideband reception). Other controls include tone, volume, band width wide-narrow switch, a BFO on-off switch, ANL noise limiter on-off, a dial light switch and a switch that indicates battery condition using the tuning meter. A map of the world is located in the lid with an adjustable world time zone indicator. The tuning dial has a fine tuning control in the center of it which makes SSB tuning a snap. The set will operate on 8 D cells or a 12 volt car cord. There is also a 110-220 switch and an NC line cord. The nice thing about this set is that the handle is not the Waverod® antenna and you can close the cover or carry the radio without putting the antenna down. The large Ferrite rod antenna does an excellent job of pulling in the hardest to get AM stations and also works on long wave. There are also five terminals for outside antennas and ground. Further information may be found in the book: Zenith Transoceanic, the Radio, "Powered to Tune the World," by Bob Moore (Box 27232, Denver, CO, 80227 @$7) There is one drawback with this radio! It weighs 15 pounds without batteries. This radio, although a newer set, is one of my favorites in my collection. - Jim. ## Powered to tune the mtening posts of the world ••• and more I "' '' " ' ~ - t • nm. 0 111 &els 1°"' 1eb.11 )"O\lt htnC &o ff)Ul t..me enywhetc in tho wotkf More professional features for the greatest integratiqn of power, sensitivity - --~ · and tuning versatility ever in the world's most famous radio. T ..... lllolotlllt.,.,.,.._ ¥lauolly lo ...... llonol .,,_Ill.Abo ...... • .i.lioft...... lot AOf. So.• as 11au.,., L•H• w.s... , .,,. loo f'UA-fi.t•IM1 c-.i-.. ~.11 .. fM •tcelllioft ti T-ClfclllU (II Oft FM, 10 "" AM, $W, LW) lndudi11g 3 .... ol If .....llcalioft Oft .. llolMlaMCIT-Rf$1ogewllll ~ TUftil>g Oft AM/$W(LW 9 12. KXCH, or, C.H.R.S. AT-SEA on the SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN By Ban Lee, xWPE2DLT -"7 -- 327 Filbert Steps, San Francisco, CA 94133 KXCH is the seagoing maritime radio station of the S. S. Jeremiah O'Brien, the National radiotelegraph signals, A2 or B emission, on all Liberty Ship Memorial usually tied up at Fort frequencies within the band 350 to 515 K.C. Mason in San Francisco, welcoming visitors. [kHz} by means of a crystal rectifier." While KXCH has not operated in many years, Aficionados of World War Two Naval Radio the vessel goes out several times a year. The will also want to visit the submarine, the U.S.S. most recent voyage circumnavigated the Bay Pompanito, tied up at Pier 45. The radio room observing the Fleet Week Parade of Ships and sports a matched pair of receivers, the RBA and the Blue Angels aerobatics October 10. During RBC, for LF and HF respectively. These were that trip, Paul Bourbin and other members of the mainstays of fleet communications early in CHRS aboard the Jeremiah met the ship's radio the war, and known as the Battleship Radios. operators and surveyed the equipment, old and The opps on the Jeremiah also run a shipboard new. ham station, W6PW, on at least 2 and 20 meters, Elliott Secondari and Alex Newbold, K6TW under the aegis of the San Francisco Amateur and W6MMG respectively, man the radios. The Radio Club. This group was founded in 1916, old gear is RCA Radiomarine, pan of the stan• according to its QSL card. Its address is P.O. dard Model 4U Radio Unit. The Jeremiah has Box 741, San Francisco, CA 94101. Although the ET 8024 main transmitter (350 to 500 kHz) there is a very nice 50s vintage Radiomarine HF and the AR-8510 LF receiver, 15 to 650 kHz. receiver in the working corner of the radio room, The Jeremiah's radio panel set also contains the the transceiver is a Yeasu Ff-101. standard emergency transmitter ET-8025 and the The Jeremiah is scheduled to go to Normandy crystal set then mandated by maritime rules. beach in 1994 for the fiftieth anniversary of the An auxiliary panel provides the operators with D-Day landing of Allied forces in France. It HF capability; a very nice old militarized Scott may well fire up the old Radiomarine transmit• short wave receiver CZC-46209 and an HF ters for that voyage from San Francisco to the transmitter, RCA ET-8024, two to 24 mHz. English Channel. If anyone is thinking of This panel also has a crystal set, Type D, for running away to sea, call Marci Hooper at Pier emergency back-up. VHF has long supplanted One, Fort Mason, (415) 441 3101 for further this equipment, and the Jeremiah now operates information on the D-Day trip. at 156 mHz like everybody else (not on the high Incidentally, the distinguished American for seas). whom the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien is named The crystal sets were required by international highjacked two British merchantmen at the law in ships of this vintage. (The Jeremiah was beginning of the American Revolution. He used launched July 19, 1943). The 1947 instruction them capture a British Man o'War, no mean feat. book for the Radiomarine 4U Unit says its Type His victory was the new country's first (and D Crystal Radio Receiver: " .. .is... designed to quite heroic) naval engagement. Captain meet the requirements of the Safety of Life at O'Brien went on to several happy years of Sea Convention and the Rules of the Federal privateering and plunder under the Stars and Communications Commission .. .requir[ing] ... a Stripes if not the Jolly Roger. (A pompanito, on radio receiver which is capable of receiving the other hand, is a fish). ## 13. ET- 802<4-A "'AIN TRANSMITTER 350-500 K.C. FRAME B 12 VOLT EMERG LICHT 0 ~ SS Jeremiah O'Brien ~ o'N l ~L LlBER1'J-· '\ \ ._) ' ' ~[] :.4k;,·t(u ~ ,y 1'1EMORIAL MODEL 4U RADIO UNIT OUTLINE ~ • RAOIOMARINE CORP. OF AMERICA ; AR-8!110 RECR I 15-6 50 KC $. PROSAK =~ ENG:NEERING DEPT. . TS-:335 ~ Nf. w YORK I Sub.a Date 1-14-43 1 L 6VOLT BATTERY :rt 0 CONTROL PANELS ":"Y PE 0 -- ''!7>iAL REC'R I I 14.i------3of---- FOR SURPLUS HOUNDS: THE BC-611, SCR-536 HANDY-TALKIE By Ban Lee, xWPE2DLT 327 Filbert Steps, San Francisco, CA 94133 Special thanks to Henry Engstrom The first of the hand held transceivers ap• peared in World War Two as the BC-611 During the Second World War, CHRS member Handy-Talkie. It looks like a squared off and all George Durfey had occasion to use this set on too large telephone handset, with a 39" antenna the front lines in Europe, when he wasn't firing sticking out. It weighs in at just over 5 pounds. his B.A.R. His comments to date on the set have Nearby are several contemporary illustrations. A been limited to: "It worked allright." Towards near-mint example came up at the AW A auction the end of the War, the Signal Corps developed a last month in Rochester (it sold for $110), and loop antenna accessory so that the set could be photographs of it also appear. These and similar used as a direction finder. This would only have sets sometimes show up at swap meets for as permitted American troops to locate an Ameri• little as $10 in rough shape. can beacon transmitter on the pre-set frequency, because the set did not tune. The last models of Motorola (then Galvin Mfg. Co.) designed and the Handy-Talkie, the BC-611F, had 50 avail• built the Handy-Talkie. They called it "the able crystal channels, and a plug-in mike and 'fightingest' radio set in the army!'' because it headset. The Handy-Talkie was operational as was used primarily in the front lines. The set early as 1942; by the end of the War, the Signal uses low filament voltage, miniature glass tubes Corps had implemented its policy of FM line of the sort developed for civilian portable radios communications, with the so-called "Walkie• just before the war, e.g., the 1R5 and the 1S5 and Talkie" manpack radios such as the SCR-195 (52 1T4, announced in 1939, and the 3S4 of 1941. to 66 mHz, at 27 pounds). FM had about twice The circuit is a superheterodyne receiver, with the useable range and improved clarity. the local oscillator and RF stage converted to a master oscillator-power amplifier for rransmit• The BC-611 was followed, during the Korean ting. It operated crystal controlled AM between conflict in 1952, by the banana-shaped AN/PRC- 3.5 mHz and 6 mHz. The chassis is solidly 6 Handy-Talkie, an FM set operating on 47 to 55 consrructed with spring clips for the tubes. mHz. This was, if anything, more awkward to Pulling the whip antenna out the top snaps an use and heavier. It did have as an accessory a internal toggle switch to turn the set on. Range lightweight plug in handset. By Nam-time, the was of course limited to squad and platoon and hand-held AN/PRC-68, the size of a pack of maybe company uses, up to one mile. Nonethe• Camel-wides, and with a microphone and less, it sure was an improvement over the BC- speaker, provided line-unit communications, 7 45 Horsey-Talkie on a stick (examined in th is along with later developed helmet radios. The column last year), or a heavy back-pack radio. BC-611 was the first of these workhorse radios, and a modern expert calls it " ... one of the out• The BC-611 implemented innovations beyond standing designs of all time." (Walt Hutchens, miniature tubes: "cups" of small parts placed "The BC-611 Handy Talkie," Electric Radio in together, powdered iron cores in the IF trans• Uniform, Electric Radio (No. 24, April, 1991 formers, and miniaturized capacitors and resis• at p. 4); see also Robert F. Scott, "Inside the tors. The set is also watertight as well as rugged. Handy-Talkie," in Radio Craft (July, 1946 atp. 684)). ## 15. lnsid• ond ouuia • views of Motorol• H• ndi•-T o l ~ie • nd betteriu. 16. 354 IRS IT4 354 A.f. AMP, COH't,OSC. OUTPUT AMI! a a.t.n. ,-A-. z1 LF. nu - +\• \~X f; . 1-Handie-Talkie switched to the "receive" position. Letters refer to switches shown in sch'ematic form in the dr•win9 below. Note that 9 only one side ol the two 3S4 filaments are huteci when the set is used as a roceivor. Tunin9 is controllec:i by the oscillator cryst•I. IT4 1ss· .ooe 354 . 3900 + tPCURREHT JACK + 81015~ ~11111:;1 X-~ALSV. 1.f.4SSKC TO FIL.ANO SW. "+ - .,. Fi9. 2-Schematic of the war's most f•mous piece of communic•tions equipment. M•cie by Galvin Motorola for the Signal Corps, it was used "in the air, on land and on the su." Each set employs two crystals grounci to frequencies 455 kc ap•ri. The I RS acts as a Pierce oscillator in both tr•nsmitting and receiving circuits. The 14-seeTion changeover switch is lettered to •9rH with the other two figures. E•rly Handie-Telkias had cryst•I urphones, but l•ter ones used the inductor type illustrated in these diagrams. ~ /CloHIJTY l!CTMIN AHTtNHA AOO AHO CASE -;1. 354 . IRS 155 354 ~; R.t. POWtR AMP. OS C. MIKE AMP. MOOULATOll r--t.f.COIL UlkE ()3~ ~ /8 : ~V tltF. lllOOfll..l IT4 lSS 1 f t. .. t... •.·.•~: 8 BATt ..,\" \o ~&\Tl X lfll 1 f) L:::.J;::...----t:::±==~=='=,.='=h===·===:::!.J .f'itltlli~IIH~~~ A .tu p/loto• o..O c1io9n1,,.. I ~ • .., i I I f I .,I I ..._ f 18. The Radio Proximity Fuze - A survey By Edward A. Sharpe Archivist, S:MEC "' Introduction velopment of such a fuz.e was possible by using either electronic or photoelectric devices. In this fast paced, high tech era of warfare where bombs are smart, and a pilot can hit something the size of a football at There were no holds barred as to the techniques to be near supersonic speeds, we take you back to an earlier, more investigated! A month later, the Bureau of Ordnance gave the simpler time. But, thls was a time when many lives were lost, fuzes top priority over all projects that it had requested the and a war was to happen that did not end as swiftly as Desert National Defense Research Committee to look into. Storm, the war against Iraq to reclaim Kuwait in the early part of 1991. What a surprise it was for the NDRC, when they learned that two of our largest electronics manufacturers were providing The dilemma the British with thousands ofva cuum tubes and photoelectric cells. This led the committee to believe that the components During all of the wan that proceeded, and during the were being used for some type of proximity fuze. beginning of World War II, we needed a method for detonat• ing a shell near the target. If we were to detonate the shell After the arrival, in September 1940, of the British Technical either too early, or later after the shell had passed through the Mission, headed by Sir Henry Tizanl, the NDRC received a target, the effect would be minimal. report from the British that, although they were consuming supplies, they had not made a workable fuze. The Tizard In the earlier days of warfare, many of these shells bad been mission claim to fame was in bringing a magnetron to the manually timed, which gave the gunner one more thing to United States. This early magnetron was to be used as a contend with, in addition to calculating the correct course, pattern that set us into production of better radar equipment! speed, range, bearing, and position angle. Of course, any (See McMahon's Radar section, Vintage Electrics Vol. 11'3). error in calculations resulted in the target escaping damage. During August 1940, Section T of the National Defense Early in the days of World War II, fire-<00ntrol radar was Research Committee was established under Dr. M. A. Tuve developed, which helped with many of the calculations that of the Carnegie Institution. Research was to be conducted at must be considered for a successful launch of a shell towards the laboratory ofthe Department ofTerrestrial Magnetism of the target. The accepted method ofshelling prior to the marvel the Carnegie Institution, Washington. of radar, was to saturate the area, wasting a large number of shells and most of the time resulting in the escape ofthe target. People for this effort were recruited from all over the United Fire control radar was to solve the problems ofpositioning the States. The work on the proximity fuze was very secret, and guns, but now, on to our problem of when to detonate the when interviewing Dave Smith, son of K. D. Smith, Dave shell. tells us that although his father was involved with Proximity Fuze development, "/1 was never discussed al home. " Even The burst range for a 5 inch shell is 70 yards, and we must have after the war was over Dave said that anything connected with our target within this region when the explosion occurs. It the war effort on the fuze, as well as his fathers efforts on took the inventiveness of the Navy, and civilian American Radar were never talked about in detail. What we do have, scientists to invent the technical marvel of the Proximity however, is the picture included in th.is article of K. D. Fuze. It took the electronics industry in the United States to Smith's NDRC Identification card while involved with the manufacture a reliable and compact system. VT Fuze project. K.D. was to be presented with an award after tbeendofWorld War II, and this may be seen in Volume Early attempts to solve the dilemma. 112 of Vintage Electrics, where K.D. Smith's life at Bell Laboratories and the his war efforts are documented. For a decade prior to World War II , the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance had thought of building an infrared fuzewhich could be triggered by theheat developed by an aircraft engine. Due to the complicated engineering problems this project was never implemented. SMITH , K. D. • ,, t•&lffd 111 ul., st ~ h.ri I of t...-oilO'I A, N.b A.C: 11 ~ t i ltd mJ ~ In the summer of 1940, aircraft technology had Ol:"-•1.. 1111 OI -fUUll!i l ' -...CMll \!VdloutC.rcw.· }2'1 e•. )1(11 Br•..- ."""., ~;.ih~'!lll. o;) ; improved by many countries, and the interna• ~ .r - ;.... tional situation started by Hitler's invasions made the United States take a look at developing a fuze which would detonate a projectile when in prox• imity of an aircraft. In July of that year, a group consisting of members of the National Defense Research Committee and the Navy Department Council for Research, decided that the de- 19. The Radio Proximity Fuze, Cont. In November 1940, the Bureau of Standards joined section T A miniature radio transceiver, complete with amplifier and on the project and for a few months both of these activities capacitor; a battery; an explosive train; and the necessary conducted independent research, each working on a variety of safety devices. The theory was that the fuze transmitter, devices applicable to a wide range of projectiles. alone, would not produce sufficient signal intensity, to trigger a thyratron tube switch. However, as the projectile Since the Navy's basic and urgent requirement was for a fuze approached a target the radio waves reflected by the target for anti-aircraft projectiles, fired from rifled guns, the work would gradually increase and come more and more into phase of the two activities was separated in July 1941. Thereafter, with the fuze-generated signal. Once the signal level was high Section T devoted its entire energies to this problem, while the enough, the fuze would know that the shell could do a Bureau of Standards concentrated on influence fuzes for non• maximum amount of damage, and the thyratron tube switch rotating projectiles. would be triggered releasing the energy in a charged capacitor and thus igniting the shell. In November 1941 , the Bureau of Ordnance contracted with the Crosley Co. to conduct independent research in fuze It was a brilliant concept! To convert it to a workable device construction under the technical supervision of the National required the development of radio components rugged enough to withstand an acceleration force Defense Research Committee. This industrial concern was 20,000 times stronger than normal earth's gravity and a centrifugal force set up by expected to provide realistic engineering design rather than approximately 500 rotations per second. Once these specifi• development. Meanwhile, the National Defense Research cations were met, it was necessary to shoe-born all of this Committee contracted with many other companies and uni• electronics along with batteries and detonator into a space versities. approximately the size of a pint milk bottle. The growth of the project was so great that it required With American lives being Jost daily, the electronics manu• increased administrative support. March 1942, it was In facturers became very inventive! Had the requirement for placed directly under the Office of Scientific Research and miniature components of the required ruggedness been sub• Development, which contracted with Johns Hopkins Uni• mitted to any electronic equipment manufacturer during versity to provide for its administration. The secret classifi• peacetime, be would have most probably shaken his bead and cation ofth~ project necessitated the provision of secure space declared them far beyond the engineering capabilities of his for this. The University established the Applied Physics staff. But, the issue was saving the lives of our soldiers, and Laboratory at Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washing• this pushed the developers beyond the labors that would have ton D. C. been undertaken normally. During the early months acoustic, thermal, electrostatic, and Miniaturization bad already been seen in electronic bearing magnetic types were studied, but were found to be unsatis• aids, but the ruggedness needed was not an essential require• factory. Considerable emphasis was placed on the utilization ment of that field. of photoelectric cells and one was practically completed in early 1941, but the cells failed to withstand the centrifugal During the development period, the tubes were handmade by force developed by the rotating projectile, as well as working engineers of the Western Electric, Raytheon, Hytron, Er• in only daylight! Although optical and magnetic methods wood, and Parker-Majestic Companies. Although varying in were not well suited for shells, they found use in 4 1/2 inch quality periodic tests conducted through the latter half of rockets and mines. 1941 offered promise. Constant test and re-design were of paramount importance anytime weakness was discovered in A call to development any part of the fuze. In early 1941, all contractors supported by Navy funds were The big test. directed to concentrate on the development of an electronic fuze. On January 29, 1942, a group of fuzes with m.iniaturiz.ed components and dry cell batteries, built on a pilot production One method that was experimented with used radio waves line, were installed in standard 5-incb anti-aircraft projectiles transmitted from the ground. These radio waves would be and fired from a 5-incb 38-caliber anti-aircraft gun. At the reflected by the target and received by the fuze. Once the radio end of a 5-mile trajectory 52 percent had successfully waves were at a sufficient level, the fuze would activate activated themselves by proximity to water. Although this causing the shell to explode. appeared to bea low percentage, the protection given by these shells was far greater than that achieved by saturation shelling. The Bureau directed the Crosley Corp. to com• Another method that was more logical and became the mence pilot production of the fuzes without delay. The name accepted means, was to develop a fuze which was capable of that was assigned was the ' VT Fuz.e', with the VT standing obtaining its own intelligence and of using it to ignite the for variable time. shell. When assembled this fuze consisted of four major parts: 20. The Radio Proximity Fuze, Cont. One of the key items that bad to be developed during this commenced. Those produced were shipped to the Ammuni• project was a reliable battery. It was found that a small dry cell tion Depot, Mare Island, Calif. , for assembly into anti• battery, although providing power, would fail to withstand aircraft projectiles. Samples of these were flown back daily the shock ofgunfire. Another large problem was short battery to the U.S. Naval Proving Ground, Dahlgren, Va., for life under shipboard storage conditions in the South Pacific. verification of quality. A parallel research effort to develop improved dry cells and Combat, the ultimate test! a wet battery, wherein the electrolyte would be kept separated from the electrode until after the projectile was fired, was In the middle of November 1942, 5,000 rounds ofproximity• concentrated at the Cleveland, Ohio plant of the National fuzed projectiles in storage at Mare Island were rushed to Carbon Co. The outcome of this research was the develop• Noumea for distribution to ships of a task force in the ment of a cylindrical battery resembling a fountain pen. The southwest Pacific. The first ship to introduce them to the way this battery worked was ingenious! The electrolyte was enemy was the U.S.S. Helena. On January 5, 1943, four contained in a glass ampule at the center of a cylindrical cell Japanese bombers attacked the task force and the Helena of thin plates. Upon the firing of the projectile the shock downed one with the second salvo of proximity-fuzed am.mu• breaks the ampule, the electrolyte is released and the centrifu• nition. gal force generated by the rotation of the projectile forces the liquid between the plates and activates the battery. 'lb.is T he secret must be kept! battery was ready for experimental testing in February 1942. Realizing that the details of the fuze must be kept from the Development ofthe fuze continued concurrently with the pilot enemy, the Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a ban against its production at the Crosley Corporation plant. In April 1942, use in any area where duds or live shells might be recovered firing tests in which the new battery was utilized were by the enemy. During World War II, the Japanese were conducted successfully. A small plane suspended from a famous for being able to copy captured radar equipment, and barrage balloon was used as the target. Success! But safety and the Americans did not wish this fuze copied and used against self-destruction devices needed to be added to the fuze before the allied forces. 'lb.is restricted the fuze's usage to naval it was formally ready to go to war. warfare and also prevented it from being used in naval shore bombardment of enemy-held territories. In another test, similar to the one conducted on January 29, it was found that reliability of the fuze technology resulted in T he production lines crank up 70 percent of the shells detonated. The next logical step was to conduct a shipboard firing test. Following the Crosley Corp. contract, production was in• creased to great numbers. Beginning in September 1942, T he VT Fuze gets sea legs newly established facilities commenced production of the ruggedized miniature tube in large quantities. In October On August 12, 1942, the first pre-combat service tests were 1942, an average of 500 tubes were being manufactured made by the newly commissioned U.S.S. Cleveland. The daily. After the fuzebad been proven in combat the expansion commander, Capt. S. E. Burroughs, USN, had the ship on a of manufacturing facilities was rapidly increased. By the end shake down cruise in the Chesapeake Bay. Radio controlled of 1943 almost 2 million bad been delivered. By the end of planes (drones) were used as targets. The Gunnery Officer, 1944, 87 contractors, operating 110 plants, were manufac• Lt. Commander. Russell Smith, USN, was an experienced turing parts of the fuze which at that time were being fire-control officer. His gun crews consisted ofapproximately deliveredattherateof40,000perday. Procurementcontracts IO-percent experienced personnel and the remainder were increased annually from $60 million in 1942, to $200 million newly enlisted. Smith, with his nucleus of experienced in 1943, to $300 million in 1944 and were topped by $450 personnel, worked hard before and during the shakedown million in 1945. Of course, as volume increases cost de• period to train his fire control and gun crews and achieved creases, and the cost per fuze that bad started at $732 in 1942 magnificent results. The tests were scheduled for a period of dropped to $18 in 1945. 'lb.is permitted the purchase of over 2 days and were to be conducted under simulated battle 22 million fuzes for approximately $ 1,010 million. conditions. All three available drones were destroyed early on the first day while going though all possible evasive maneu• Many companies involved vers, by the bursts of only four proximity fuzed projectiles. 'lb.is was an amazing event to all who witnessed it! Here was Fuze assembly was concentrated in the plants of the Crosley a device which would force enemy aviators to be more Corp., the Radio Corporation of America, Eastman Kodak respectful! Company, and the McQuay-Norris Company. Mass produc• tion of the ruggedized miniature tubes had to be limited to Specifications are created Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., since they proved to be the only firm capable of combining quality and quantity. Cost of Following the Cleveland tests fluid specifications, which tubes declined with increased production from $5. 05 in 1942 permitted incorporation of later developments, were drawn to $0.40 in 1945. up for mass production of the fuze and manufacture was 21. The Radio Proximity Fuze, Cont. K. D . Smith, whose collection resides at the Southwest Museum of Electricity and Communications, obtained many In late December 1944, von Rundstedt launched a counterat• of these miniature Sylvania tubes following the completion of tack which developed into the Battle of the Bulge. The use of World War II. He collected them as a memento of his the fuzes entered a new field, that of artillery fire against involvement with the Proximity Fuze project with the NDRC. ground forces. The results of th.is usage was devastating to You may view some of the actual tubes that were the heart of German troops and put fear into their hearts. No longer were the electronics that made th.is project a success. their foxholes heavens against shrapnel burst, for with the use of the "funny faze," as it was termed by General Patton, the A striking combat success! shrapnel bursts occurred before the projectiles hit the earth, and high-velocity fragments rained down on the German During 1943 approximately 9, 100 roundsofproximity-fuzed attackers! and 27 ,200 rounds of time-fuzed 5-inch anti-aircraft projec• tiles were fired. Fifty-one percent of the hits on enemy planes Electronic countermeasures· were credited to VT-fuzed projectiles. The proximity Fuze equipped shells success in repelling air attacks against fleet A move to develop countermeasures against proximity fuzes units reached its peak when a task group in the Pacific reported stemmed from the Germans, who during the "Battle of the the destruction of91 of 130 attacking Japanese planes. This Bulge," captured an Army munitions dump that contained a high level of effectiveness was to save many servicemen's large number of the new radar proximity-fused shells. Con• lives from the onslaught of Kamikaze attackers. Had not these cerned that the Germans might attempt to copy the proximity Samurai minded pilots been removed from the air, they would fuze, the Research Division of the Aircraft Radio Laboratory have rammed their planes onto the decks of our navy vessels at Wright Field, along with the help of the RLL, was called causing the death of many servicemen. The VT Fuzed shells in begin the development ofjamming equipment. Lieutenant were also used with great success in the Mediterranean and Jack Bowers, an engineer with the Aircraft Radio Laboratory Atlantic theaters. at Wright Field, recounted the following to Alfred Price: Security restrictions removed "The proximityfuse hadbeen a closely guarded secret on our side. Even though we had been working on counter• During 1944 the intense warfare in the European theater of measures for a long time, we at Wright Field had never operations necessitated the lifting of the ban against the use of heard of the device. Now we were asked to investigate, the fuze where it might be recovered by an enemy. On 12 June on a crash basis, the possibility ofa jammer to counter 1944 the first V-1 "buzz bomb" fell on London marking the the fuse. We asked why such a jammer had not been start ofHitler 's massive effort to level the city by rocket. The developed earlier, and were told that the developing all-out valiant effort of the Royal Air Force was not able to agency had conducted tests and concluded that thefuse devise a good defense against th.is new weapon. could not be jammed! We worked on the problem, and within two weeks, ajammer had been built which would The Combined Chiefs of Staff reluctantly agreed upon the detonate the proximity fuses prematurely. " necessity of using the proximity fuze in the defense of London. Large numbers of anti-aircraft guns were moved to Since the body of the shell served as the antenna for the radar the channel coast where they could fire at the bombs over proximity fuse, it limited the frequency spread of the trans• water. Success in destroying the V-1 rocket bombs by gunfire ceiver from 180 to 220 MHz. The APT-4, a high powered increased proportionally with the increase in the use of VT• jammer, already covered that part of the spectrum. A motor• fuzed projectiles. In the last month of the terrifying 80 days, driven tuner was added to sweep the jamming transmitter's 79 percent of the bombs engaged were destroyed as compared signal up and down the band theoretically covered by the fuze. with the 24 percent destroyed during the first week of the Several modified APT-4' s were installed in a B-17, and a top attacks. On the last day of large-scale attacks only 4 Of 104 priority full scale test was arranged at Eglin to see whether the bombs succeeded in reaching their target. Some of the 100 countermeasures would be effective. destroyed are credited to the Royal Air Force and to the barrage balloons, but the majority of the V-1 's were victims Price, in another interview with Lieutenant Ingwald Haugen, of proximity-fuzed projectiles. There was little profit to the one of people involved with the test, Haugen tells him: enemy with such a small percentage ofsuccess so Hitler turned the weapon on the port of Antwerp, which at that time was "For thefiring test, the Anny sent a battery of 90 mm vital to the Allied supply lines. In the autumn of 1944 the anti-aircraft guns. These were emplaced near Eglin. We devastating damage wrought while the Allies were redeploy• had requested that during the test the guns wouldfire vr ing anti-aircraft guns threatened to close the port. As the (proximity fused) shells with spotting charges, so that number of guns firing the proximity fuze increased, the when thefuses operated, the shells would burst with only damage decreased and the Allies were able to move their guns a puffof smoke . We were told this was not possible. The closer and to assume the offensive against the aerial targets. vr fuse was about 1 112 inches longer than the normal The defense of Antwerp resulted in the Combined Chiefs of mechanicalfuse and it would not fit in a shell carrying Staff removing all bans against the use of the fuze which was a spotting charge. So, we were going to have to use live most fortunate for the allied soldiers fighting there. high explosive vr fused shells for the test. As a safety 22. The Radio Proximity Fuze, Cont. measure, the guns were to be offset by a small angle, CREDITS initially 30 mils (about/. 7 degrees), later decreased to 12 mils (about .6 Degrees)." History of Communications-Electronics in the United States ~By Captain L. S. Howeth, USN (Retired) 1963. "It was the sort oftest that would never be allowed today under the prevailingjlight safety guidelines. At the time, The History of US Electronic Warefare By Alfred Price, however, there was a war on, and the small risk to our Publisher: Association of Old Crows. one aircraft had to be weighed against thefar larger risk to our whole bomber force if the Germans used such a 'The K. D. Smith Collection ' at the Southwest Museum of weapon against us. We who were to fly the test were Electricity and Communications, Phx. AZ. confident we would be all right - we hoped that the jamming would work as planned, and if it didn't, the In addition, many conceptional views were provided by offsetfed into the guns would burst the shells at least 240 footage and narration of.film from the World War II era. feet away from us at a range of about 20,0CXJ feet. n Views also have been provided to me over the past 39 years by those who I came in contact with, that either worked on the "The test lasted about 3 months, during which about Proximity Fuze, or were users of the device. - Edward A. J, 600 VT shells were fired, individually, in our direc• Sharpe Archivist, SMEC. tion. Sining in the fuselage of the B-17, the two RCM operators couldpick up the radar transmissionsfrom the shells coming up. The VI'fuse radiated CW (continuous wave) signals, butthe projectiles would often yaw a little About Edward A. Sharpe in flight. This, in combination with the spin ofthe shell, Edward A. Sharpe is founder and would modulate the signal. We in the back could not see archivist of the Southwest Mu• out, but the pilots and the navigator would get a kick out seum ofElectricity and Commu• of watching the shells burst well below, or if there was nications, which is the fruit ofhis life-long interest in technology a late burst because thejamming had taken some time to and its history. He is presently sweep through the shell'sfre11uency, it might explode owner, president, and chiefengi• close to our altitude. The general conclusion ofthe test neer of Computer Exchange, an independent dealer in and ser• was that, modified to radiate CW swept across the VT vices of Hewlett-Packard com• fuse band, the APT-4 jamming could significantly re• puter hardware. He is a senior duce the effectiveness of the proximity fused AA shell. n member of IEEE. Mr. Sharpe was the 1992 recipient of the prestigious California Historical Radio Society 'Herrold Award' for significant contribution to the preservation of electronics and The war enm ... broadcasting history. The proximity fuz.e was a valiant contributions of American scientists, engineers, and manufacturers to the winning of the Second World War. Although security prevented the develop• The Southwest Museum of Electricity ers and manufactures from receiving the praise they so well deserved during the early years, they were to have full and Communications is looking for more payment in the knowledge of their own great contributions. artifacts, manuals and written or taped General Benjamin Lear, USA, described the VTFuze as recollections relating to World War II "... the most important new development in the ammuni• Electronics. The Museum see~ to pre• tion field since the introduction of high-explosive pro• jectiles. n serve all aspects of electrical, electronics, broadcasting and data processing his• General George Patton, USA, also paid tribute to the Fuzedevelopers stating, "/think when all armies get this tory. Please contact us if you can be of shell we will have to devise some new method of assistance! warfare. n Patton's prophecy might well have come true except that Edward A. Sharpe, Archivist within the year, the success story of the VT Fuze was dimmed Southwest Museum of Electricity by the development of atomic weaponry. The Atomic Bomb and Communications was a far greater and more damaging concentrated explosive 2224 W. Desert Cove #205 power than the world bad ever seen. Even this development necessitated the continued use of the proximity fuz.e in the Phoenix AZ 85029 (602) 861-1388 control of when the 'A-Bomb' was to detonate. 23. Optical and Magnetic Proximity Fmes-a Survey By Edward A. Sharpe, Archivist SMEC 1c1 (NDRC) in Washington, assigned the Laboratories the task of In the previous article, we studied bow the radio, or often developing for the Army Ordnance Department a working called Radar, proximity fuze operated and learned the history design of an optical fuze to fit on the 4 1/2-incb rocket. These of its development. In this article we are going to examine the fuzes were intended to be used against aircraft, as well as to optical and the magnetic proximity fuzes designed by Bell be mounted on rockets fued from aircraft. Collaborating with Laboratories employees during World War II. the engineers of the National Bureau of Standards, the Apparatus and Transmission Development Departments at Optical Proximity Fuzes the Bell Laboratories jointly undertook the design and develop• ment of such a fuze. Unlike early attempts of optical methods we discussed in the earlier article that were tried on 5" shells, this fuze was able The two main objectives to be met in the design were that the to withstand greater 'G' forces than some of the earlier fuze bad to fit the nose of the rocket, and bad to be capable of experimental models. Also, since this fuze was to be used on withstanding the forceofacceleration, which was 1,000 times rockets, there was not the centrifugal force caused by the the force of gravity. Another consideration was that the rotation of the projectile to contend with. This rotating was design of the fuze bad to lend itself to easy mass production caused when a shell was fired from a rifled barrel. at a low cost. As the name indicates, the optical proximity fuze was a device There bad been little precedent to guide the designers in the on a projectile which operated on the light signal produced by production of a photocell, a lens, electronic tubes and other the target as the projectile approached it. circuit components which could withstand the large forces of acceleration previously mentioned. What was available, how• There were three basic parts of the Optical Proximity Fuze, ever, was the vast expertise of the Bell Telephone Company's they were: a toroidal lens, a photocell, and an amplifier. The designers experience with materials that bad been used in the lens was part of the conical nose ofthe rocket. Itwas arranged production of telephone equipment. This knowledge base to collect light from all directions during its line of flight, and consisted of: the processing of plastics, die casting, impreg• to focus it upon the photocell tube. The photo-sensitive cell nating compounds and electrical wiring. then would transform the light into electrical energy which was then sent to an amplifier. F. A. Zupa, who during the war, was in charge of the apparatus group engaged in the design and development of No amplifier output was present until there was a sudden proximity fuzes, rocket-firing mechanisms and magn~tic change in the amount of light entering the lens. This change mines at Bell Laboratories, provides us with a more technical was produced when the rocket approached the target and the description of bow the fuze worked. light present to the photocell increased. The amplifier output developed a voltage that would then trigger a thyratron tube "The toroidal lens is an integral part of the nose piece, which, in tum, caused detonation of an explosive charge in the entire part being made of optically clear methyl the rocket. To operate the fuze, the change in the amount of merhacrylale, commercially known as Lucile or Plexiglas. light entering the lens needed to be just a small percentage The curvature of the toroidal lens was designed to of the total light regardless of the ambient light level from transmit only the light which came through a na"ow dawn to dusk. angle, throughout its circumferential surface, and to have the focal axis at any point around the lens lie on a This fuze was also provided with a method that would prevent conical surface. It was manufactured by injection mold• the amplifier from operating and a firing pulse being gener• ing to the final dimensions, and no polishing ofthe lens ated until after the rocket bad been fired and is well on its way surface is required after the molding. The portions ofthe towards the target. Another consideration for safety was to surfaces that had to be opaque to light were coated with equip the fuze with safety features designed to prevent a black.finish by spraying. Close cooperation between premature operation should the rocket, prior to firing, was the l.Aboratories and the Manufacturing Department dropped accidentally. Another novel feature was the self• was required to determine the co"ect molding lime and destruction arrangement, whereas, if the projectile should temperature to produce this part to the required accu• miss the target, it would explode before reaching the ground. rate dimensions. The choice ofopaq ue finish presented This safety feature was found to be very desirable, especially some difficulties because a number of the common if the rocket landed back in your own terntory. lacquers were found to be destructive to the Lucite, the destructive action being known as crazing. A similar As noted in The Proximity Fuze. a Survey, many experiments difficulty was encountered in the choice ofa waterproof• were made on optical fuzes, both in England and in our ing compound, which had to be applied at the junction country, before the Bell Laboratories Optical Proximity Fuze of the lens piece and housing to protect the photocell was developed. 1942 Alexander Ellett, Chief of In Dr. from moisture. n Section E of the National Defense Research Committee 24: Optical and Magnetic Proximity Fuzes, Cont. "To obtain the desired sensitivity to light when the fuses, and throughout the war be worked jointly with the projectile is in the mcst effective position with respect to engineers at Bell Telephone Laboratories In addition, he had the target, the glass tube portion of the photocell was the help of three other retired Bell Laboratories' employees made opaque to light except for a slit suitably located as associates during his development work at the Naval with respect to the lens. Many designs were conceived Ordnance Laboratory on mine fuse work. These former Bell for providing such a slit opening, but the search wasfor Laboratories employees were J. F. Toomey, E. Montchyk, a simple and durable construction. As finally adopted, and J. N. Reynolds. the glass tube isfirst completely covered with the opaque finish and then the sli1 is produced by cutting away part Naval mines, during World War II, were important offen• of the finish. This technique was new, and it required sive weapons. One method used to lay mines was by rather skillful development work before it was reduced dropping them from airplanes into enemy waters. This to a simple manufacturing process. The photocell and magnetic mine, equipped with its associated proximity fuse the lens were held in proper relation to each other by mechanism, manufactured by Western Electric Company, securing both parts to a melded phenol plastic part, was the most modem magnetic mine of the United States which accurately positioned the photocell cathode in the Navy. The mines were manufactured throughout the war by focal plane of the toroidal lens. With this arrangement Western Electric, which was the part of the Bell system that the photocell cathode was made to "see" the target at the conducted any mass manufacturing. Bell Laboratories dreamed angle required to place the target in the densest part of and designed, Western Electric built the dream in quatity! thefragmentation pattern when the projectile exploded. " This mine worked very simply. When a steel vessel passed Shockproof mounting for the amplifier consisted of the over it, the steady magnetic field of the earth surrounding components being individually mounted in holes in an oil the mine was altered, first shifting slowly away from the impregnated wooden block. In addition, many of the compo• normal steady condition as the ship approached, and then nent parts were potted in a ductile wax to hold them in place. drifting back to normal as the ship receded. The fuz.e The advantage of mounting components in a permanently mechanism recognizes the passing ship whenever it detects fixed manner was important to decrease any chance of a magnetic disturbance with a slow flux change, and causes capacitance coupling or regeneration in the amplifier circuit. an explosion when the ship is over the mine. The mine was The variable characteristic values of the miniature amplifier provided with a novel anti-sweep feature, protection for tubes were compensated for by preselecting the tubes and counter-mining, and was equipped with a mechanical memory matching them with suitable grid-bias resistors and by-pass so that it might be set to blow up a certain numbered ship in condensers before these parts of the fuz.e reached the assembly a convoy, rather than to just destroy the first ship. line. The principle indeed was simple, but the development and Large quantities of the optical proximity fuz.es were manufac• manufacture of the magnetic proximity fuz.e was not as easy. tured by the Western Electric Company, and the product The vital elements of the mine fuse were the search coil that satisfactorily met the rigid specification requirements. A detects the feeble magnetic influence of an approaching ship, sample number of each group of 1,000 fuz.es was tested by and the magnetic amplifier which increases the strength of Signal Corps engineers before each lot was approved for the feeble detected signal about a million times. Both the acceptance. The fuz.e was not adjustable and although it bad search coil and the magnetic amplifier required permalloy of to function only once, it bad to fire the first time. The excellent quality and precise manufacture to operate satisfac• effectiveness of this fuz.e was indeed a testimony of the quality torily. standards that the Bell System was noted for! Sensitive as the most delicate jeweled instrument, the elec• Magnetic Proximity Fu.zes. tronic mine fuse was constructed very ruggedly. Mines equipped with these fuz.es were dropped into the sea from Another form of proximity fuz.e that was developed at Bell airplanes several thousand feet in the air. Amazingly enough, Laboratories personnel during World War II, was a fuz.e that these mines containing the magnetic proximity fuse was used detected changes in the earth's magnetic field produced by the successfully in mines laid by planes from altitudes up to presence of ships. The work on fuz.es for magnetic mines was 30,000 feet in a free fall without parachutes. These free• an important part of this work in which the extensive knowl• falling mines could be aimed more accurately because the edge and long background of experience with magnetic drift without parachutes was much less. alloys, particularly permalloy, were of the utmost impor• tance. An amazing example was the test mechanism without explo• sive charge that was dropped from over 10,000 feet. It struck During the war, G. W. Elmen, the inventor ofpermalloy , was the shore instead of the water, and although the mine case called out of his Bell Laboratories' retirement by the Navy to broke and the contents were strewn over a vast area, the fuse work at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory on magnetic mine mechanism was intact and was found to operate after this fuses. Back on the job, Mr. Elmen became actively connected rough treatment. with the Navy's development program on magnetic mine 25. Optical and Magnetic Proximity Fuzes, Cont. After a mine was dropped into the water, it was made alive by With respect to earlier mine fuses on which the Laboratories the usual arming devices and began to search for the presence did extensive development work with the Naval Ordnance of ships. As a ship approached, the change in the earth's field Laboratory and the Leeds & Northrup Company, the follow• generated a voltage in the search coil, and the resulting signal ing was said by the Japanese experts: current upsets a delicate balance in the magnetic amplifier circuit, firing the mine. "It is clear that these detonators are an application of designs by telephone communication engineers, and the Magnetic proximity fuzed mines were used in operations that fact that they were perfected with telephone materials cut Japanese life lines and ruined the shipping-dependent speaks well for those specialists in the application of economy at the close of the war. This strategic mining their knowledge. There were no mine technicians in blockade, called "Operation Starvation," was undertaken late Japan comparable to those in America, and the display in March of 1945. The ports of Kure, Hiroshima, Tokayama, ofsu ch ability by America was the occasion for surprise Sasebo Naval Base, and Shimonoseki were mined by B-17 among the mine specialists in the Japanese Navy. " superfortress to prevent Japanese naval units from participat• ing in the defense of Okinawa. The blockade was extended later in the campaign to major shipping lanes between indus• Sources: trial cities which depended largely on water transportation for F.A. Zupa, Bell Laboratories Record February 1947. their goods. Shipping was cut to 10 per cent ofnormal within H . 0. SIEGMUND Bell Telephone Laboratories Record two months. Heavily used and direct shipping routes to the Magazine July 1947 .. continent of Asia were then severed by mining the ports of northwestern Honshu. Information quoted here used with permission. The last phase of the operations was an intensification of the Some material: Copyright 1946&1947 AT&T existent blockade around major shipping centers in Japan, plus additional mine laying in Fusan and other Korean ports. During this final phase, the Japanese shipping that was sunk by mines has been estimated to exceed 300,000 tons. About Edward A. Sharpe Edward A. Sharpe is founder and The development of magnetic mine fuses at Bell Laboratories archivist of the Southwest Mu• seum of Electricity and Commu• was carried out under contract with the Navy Bureau of nications, which is the fruit ofhis Ordnance. The work was done in close cooperation with the life-long interest in technology Naval Ordnance Laboratory. making an appraisal of mine and its history. He is presently In owner, president, and chief engi• operations by our naval fighting forces, Admiral Nimitz has neer of Computer Exchange, an said: independent dealer in and ser• vices of Hewlett-Packard com• puter hardware. He is a senior "The technical planning and operational execution of member of IEEE. Mr. Sharpe was the 1992 recii;>ient of the aircraft mining on a scale never before attained has prestigious California Historical accomplished phenomenal results and is a credil to all Radio Society 'Herrold Award' concerned. n for significant contribution to the preservation of electronics and broadcasting history. It was not onJy the Americans that were to praise the magnetic proximity fuze! Japanese naval authorities had the following to say about the magnetic proximity fuzes of the U.S. Navy, as reported in a publication of the Naval Ordnance Labora• SPOTTING THE tory: ENEMY '~ "The detonators show superior construction and speak ·T-S- Ar7ny-• '-J perl:rnenler9 well ofthe ability ofthe specialists and the manufactur• are IT"Yinlif a.U a .ecret ers. Furthermore, the application of new fundamental new r»eapan /Or uae principles to mines shows the skill andfarsightedness of agabut po#lftble i~ the technical experts which wasfa r beyond that ofthos e . ~ 'na.yt1tery in Japan at the time. That is to say, the mine fuse ... • l"UY• device repldedly capable of'local'lng an circuit using a small type ofglow tube (cold cathode tube ene~ ve..:Sz . ~ far·a. 60 natz- al eea.,,. The developed by the Bell Telephone Laboratories and · "7ft~ry ray" wc:u rCuUu-. wh!ch wc:u alao be• manufactured by the Western Electric Company) is b., deve/,opecl in Gernaany . ~BBR 1.93/S indeed a clever idea. " 26. Real TELEVISION Sets in Black and White! BOOK REVIEW OF War. So too it presents English sets from before CLASSIC TVs Pre-War thru 1950s and after the War, rarely seen here. By Scott Wood, L-W Book Sales, The appended price guide for the illustrated ISBN 0-89538-001-3 sets is helpful in showing relative value. The rarer and prewar sets list as high as $4,000, or Reviewed by Ban Lee, Special to the CHRS $3,500 or $3,000. The first 1954 color sets list at Journal, (Review Copyright Ban Lee, 1992) $1,000+. Most sets, however, range from $75 to $350. This is the range such sets have retailed At their best, they are like burnished lab for recently. One would expect less at a swap equipment from another era, these old television meet (and next to nothing at a garage sale). sets. With their 7 inch screens, some three These old sets will also show up at estate sales, inches like the Pilot, some ten inches like the and unless we save them, they will be gone 1948 Philcos, its almost as if they want to show forever. you something important. What? Milton Berle? This is quite a nicely done book for those of us Howdy Doody? Baseball? Richard Nixon? Still, who cannot resist an occasional old TV among these color photos, 50 pages, mostly three sets to the radios. For those of us who permit the odd the page, shine with a vintage technology, one radio among the TVs, it is a must. The editor that followed on radio like night follows day. It contemplates a second volume, and solicits did not replace radio, anymore than depictions photos and other materials: L-W Books and replace imagination. But the world has not been Publishing, P.O. Box 69, Gas City, IN 46933. the same since these television sets came into ## America's homes. I This book has them all. The first thirty pages ' are old print ads for TVs. Judging from the contents of the screens in the ads, in the late forties, sports sold televisions. Later, entertain• ment programming appears on the screens in the ads. In the election year of 1952, politics fills the screens. So what else is new? The sets grow in picture size from the Pilot three inch TV-37, (designed to sell for under $100 in 1949) to the 24 inch sets of 10 years later. The screens go from often round to nearly square. Color begins CLO.SE to appear about 1954, after RCA beat CBS with . - ATV INEvERY HOME a mode compatible with black and white. TO ·' . All of the pictured sets are eminently collect• COLOR; "With 10,000 TV sets in ible, as objects of fascination and history. The the United States today, al· most 50 manufacturers ex• favorite collectibles, such as the Philco Predicta, Inside prot.o- . pect to market several hun• the Pilot and the Hallicrafters sets, are well ·:"type color TV dred thousand in the next represented in the color photos. So are many sets, a revolving twelve months and millions other wonderful little sets from the early days, "disc changed th~ in the next five years. Prices start at $100 and and some pretty nice big ones too. This book is screen's picture between ·.red, green. and ~ l u.e so · ~ range upward fu $1,000." the only source I know for photos of the scan• quickly that the human •NOVEMl!ER 1945 ning disk sets available before the Second World _;ye "fused" the images into one c;ol orized v~ sioJ?..--JULY ~94 1 .~ 27. £· 14 Sund.y, Septmibet I J, 1992 * * ;SanJfrancisco ;:lxamincr COMPUTERS 6 TECHNOLOGY Triumph of color black and white. Color 1V was "Nobody really likea the bwii· nea anymore," aaid Executive Vice once a marvel; now President Marino Andriani. "I don't think you1l aee a day where the black-and-white you couldn't aell a black-and-white aet. But will people continue to set is an make them? That's another quea· tion." endangered species The Electronic Industries Asso• ciation eatimat.ea that nearly all of By Jonathan Yenlcin America'• 94 million houaebolda ASSOCIATU>-SS have at least one color TV aet, and OU PROBABLY have that about halC still have 10me kind never heard of BNce Du· of black·and·..,hite aet around. Mont, but he was a celebri• While the trade group projects ty in his Chicago neighbor• more than 20 million color TVa will hood back in 1952 when be be ahipped in the United Stat.ea was 8 yeara old. Hia family thia year, the estimate for black· owned a televiaion aet. and-white aets ia only about I mil· The picture was a bit lion. fuzzy, and all in black and white. But it wu "the hottest TM renlutlon thing" around. and DuMont recallA The end or black-and-white that people came from all over for a broadcasting wu on the horizon u look·eee. early as~ yean ago. Umit.ed color DuMont ia bead of the Mueeum telecuts began in 1953, and the of Broadcast Com.municatiooa in televiaion networks~ to color Chicago now, and literally part o( in the mJd-19608. tele..Uion history. But the vehicle "At the beginning, it wu wry for thoee early days of televiaion - atrange,n aaid Juliua Bernat.ban, the black-and-white aet - baa al• who recenUy retired u an ABC • most d.iaappeand. executive after 37 yeara. "Acto111 Except for miniature models, didn't realize how much additional black·and-whlte 'YVa have Ceded makeup they would need. And we from view, their aalea abrinkiog as couldn't quite set yellow. They bad Cut as the aize of their acreena. The to paint a different color to come up with yellow." sets rarely are eeen even in dis• ASIOOATB> "'las Color broucht new opportuni· count stores anymore, and priaona WIMn M-ofB roadcolt Comnwni.:otion di.recuir Bru« Dumont WCI a ltid people come from aU around IO are among the few remaining cus· ties for programmers and advert.ia· wakh hil family .. blacll and whi« TV. tomen. e111, wbo could ...e graphica more Many of the nation's biggest re· Cl'eatively. turee and. 1929, a immi· wbere to put this thing,• Bird Mid. we realized it was a lousy ecript, tail chains, auch u Seara, Roebuck · The NBC peacock wu a symbol in RuNian grant named Vladimir Zworykin ''But pretty aoon, the arrangement and that'• what we concentrated & Co. and K mart Corp.. don\ aell o( this new world. and ~111 were arnaz.ed by the hues they aaw in demonstrated a televillon ayat.em or domeetic IJ)eoe turned toward on." any traditional black-and-white Even i( black-and-white aeta go sets. The last time Seara sold them ahowa such u · "Bonanza" or the complete with a camera and pie· the .et, whether it wu on or off." tube. by the wayside, black-and-white wu in 1990, and then it waa juat for apeci.acular Rose Bowl Parade. ture Color-lllllld eatpt programming lltill remaine popular the Cbriatmaa aea.aon when the In sporting events, viewe1111Ud· After MVeral yean of experi• For 10me wbo niee to atardom and. in 10me cues, ia viewed u chain offered a 12·inch model for denly could identify teama by the mental t.e1-ata in Great Britain and America, RCA Corp. during TV'a e&rly days, the notion avant-p.rde rather than outdated. $79 to drum up customer traffic. colo111 of their jeneys. imtalled "You think or baseball in the TVa in 150 bomea in tba New York that Americana were watching "Black-and-white baa a certain Only the small survlYe '408 and '508, and you thinlr. in area and began regular broadcuta black-and-white televiaion rather appeal in creating beautiful imag· Storea that do sell black-and· black-and-whlte." aaid &n Simon, through its aubaidiary, NBC, in than color made littJe di.!rerence. ery," aaid Stephanie Apt, director wltlte TVs utUally won't aell any· curator of television for the Muae• 1936. Milton Berle, televiaion'a first of broadcul production for the J. thing bigger than the email models, um of Television & Radio in New The number of .eta in the COUD· It.at, aaya aimply: "F\.inny is fun. Walt.er 1llomP90n Inc. advmiaing with screen ai.us typically ranging York. try climbed from about 10,000 near ny." agency. from a few inches to 7 inchea, and 'Tben people diacovered bome the end of World War II to about 6 "Color lan't going to enhance "Particularly in a world where the aame holds tNe for electronic movies in color. You aee the playe111 million by 1950. · the performance or thucript," aaid everything ia in color." ahe aaid. appliance cha.iN. in color. You aee the gtaa in color. In thOM early years, .eta were Berle, who entertained viewers on "black-and-wbit.e really atanda ''That's really a dead market," It'• a whole different aenaation of more like a piece offurniture - big UJ'he Teuco Star Theater~ from out." Pat Ruggieri, a marketing manager what the atadium looked like. lt'a wooden cabinets with tiny acreem, 1948 to the mid-19SO.. Soma aficionados of TV reNna for Sony Corp., aaid of larger black• almott like two different levels of resembling t0mewbat the radioe of Everett Greenbaum, a writer for aay they actually prefer to watch and-white set.a. erperience." the day. "Tbe Andy Griffith Show" and black-and-white prog..ama. For Emerson Radio Corp. or North "It tried to fit into people'a liva "MASH." agreed. He recalla the them, there's a aimple aolution, Bergen, N.J., still markets a 12· Radio 1Quared by looking ramiliar,n aaid Lany tint time be aaw one of his prod· even in a world dominated by color inch black-and-white aet made in The roots or black-and-white Bird, curator of a TV exhlhit a ucta in color, a "M r. Peepenn aeta, aaid David LachenbNch, edi· factories in the Far Eut, but a televiaion go bac.k to the 19th oen. couple yean ago at the Smit.baooi· mow, 1tarring Wally Cos. torial di.rector or Television Dige9t.. company executive, notinc the ra· tury with the diacovery of radio an Institution'• National Muaeum "l remember the lint five min· "Anybody who wants a black· zor·thin profits, thinks the future waves. Scientiats eventually tin· o( American Hiatory. ut.ea. We were aatoniahed." Green· and-white picture can juat tum the of the medium is anything but kered with ayatema to transmit pie· "There waa an uneuineaa of. baum aaid. "But after sis minut.ea, . color down," he said. 28. American Classics When he isn't on the road with the Grateful Dead, sound wizard Dan Healy turns from state-of-the-art technology and restores old radios BY NANCY REIST an Healy had to move most or his antique radios out or the house to D give bis wife and son a little room. Still, doiens remain. His father's and grandfather's radios dominate the living room. A radio shaped like a giant Pepsi bottle leans against a wall oen to a bed· lamp radio. Others crowd comers a.od ta· hletops throughout hlJ Marin County home. especially in his workshop. "Before there wer;buodreds," Healy explained. "I never notice things like that, as long as there's a trail through tbe middle and I can make it to my bed wbeo I can't sund to be awake anymore. But fully real· izlng that not everyone feels that way about it. I've had to make concessions." Restoring radios Is Healy's hobby. His full·llme job for tbe past 25 years has been mixing live sound for the Grateful Dead, the veteran San Francisco rock band that bas been in the forefront of sound Innova• tion throughout their career. On the road for 70 to 80 shows a year, he bas his hands on state-Of·tbe-art audio technology. To relax at home, he steps back to the days when vacuum tubes were innovations and restores old radios. "One side of me works with this cutting edge of sound and tbe other side of me is like this old doting doctor tbat sort or pets and prods his lltlle old radios around." Above, Dan Healy in his workshop. Nearly 300 or these radios currently are Right, a 1946 Coca-Cola radio, • on display at the San Francisco Airport currently on d isplay in Healy's show at United Airlines domestic terminal, where San Francisco International Airport. collectors regularly show their treasures. A friend or Healy's who works at tbe air· port encouraged him to display bis radios. 1960s. "lo those days, partially because of the fact that we didn't make a lot of mon• He's not sure exactly how many radios ey, but also because it was fashionable, he's accumulated, but be's documented we'd go to places like Goodwill stores and more than 1.000 and bas at least 500 more. buy strange old clothes and wear them. Tbey span the period from the 1920s The generation of radios from before and through the 19505 when radios were cru· after the Second World War were begin· cial links between their owners and tbe ning to beeome- -discarded appliances. world, miraculously carrying events thou· When transistorizing equipment came out, sands of miles into people's living rooms. a lot or the old guys went out of business. He has radios that families huddled around The new guys started up and they refused during the Great Depression - a time to work on tube gear, so you couldn't get when many people would give up iceboxes these radios repaired and people would or furniture before they'd surrender their give them to the Goodwill. I'd be cruising radios; radios that brought the news of Goodwills and there'd be some wonderful World War II - complete with the sounds little radios and they'd be 25 cents." of bombs and Big Ben - to the families and friends of soldiers; rad.los that brought Alter a while, be noticed tbat the radios tbe steamy music of the cities into rural he used to buy for a quarter bad gone up to homes across tbe nation; radios that car• SS. Today the old discards are worth bun· ried Orson Welles' infamous announce• dreds, even thousands of dollars. "It bas ment that Martians bad Invaded Grovers turned into quite a little business." Healy exhibition be chose to display a wide range listened 10 and what they did w1tb tbem. I Mill, New Jersey. explained. a li ttle sadly. "But I've never of radios from several periods to demon· have radios that !e1i-greacsiones. I have sold a radio. I've purchased them and I've sfrate tlie diversity and artistry or radio radios tbat housewives listened 10 when ealy started his collection with a taken care of them and I've restored them design. "I'm really into it for tbe preserva· their husbands were in tbe war, during the 19305 console radio be saved from a and I've given them away a couple of tion or a really artistic form. The physical Second World War. Things like 1ha1. They £ H junkyard. He soon added others he limes, but I haven't ever sold one and I appearance of radios was a fantastic art in talk to you in a way." ... found in Bay Area thrift sbops during tbe_ won't ever sell one. because there's some• the '20s and '30s-some of the most elabo• Tbe Adler Royal, a 1920s breadboard ~ thing, at least in my own mind, that sort of rate appliances that have ever been made ..,.dio with an RCA horn amplifier, on dis· i! separates me from the people that buy and some or the most elaborate design play at the airport, goes Dacx to 11iei1me s Nancy Reist is on assistant professor in tht d,. ·them and sell them." work. I have radios that look like the Em· when radios were becoming user friendly. ~ portmenl of Broodcosl Communication Am ot Healy disdains the collectors' practice pire State Building, Art Deco radios, art The earliest radios were exclusively oper· Son Fronci~o Stole University ond o fre,./once of determining that some radios, sucb as nouveau. Some of them are Just stagger· ated by enthusiasts who went to a great ;:"' writer. John Wemer is o frtt-lonce photogro· Catalin Bakelites - plastic radios from the Ing. deal of trouble to put tbem together and pher based in Son Anselmo who specialius in Art Deco era with dark swirls - are far ·1'be radios talk to me," he said. ·1'bey bad to struggle pa11ently even to tune • IM environment and world music. more valuable than others. For the airport tell me who owned them and wbat was them. - 29. Healy has radios that families huddled around during the Great Depression - a time when ..... many people would give up iceboxes orfurniture .. before they'd surrender their radios 1l as his 1937 beer keg radio from the World's Dead. "At the end of the tour it's like. 'OK. ~ Fair. Uncle.' Then I come home and I sit at my 5 Healy went 10 Chicago, where most or desk there and I can restore a few radios ~ the U.S. receivers were made. to talk to and everything washes out or me and cools S! people wbo worked in radio manuractur· out. Not too long ago a friend or mine i Ing plant.sin the I~ . 1940s and 1950s. He brou,ght me a radio that was bis father and ~ heard about life on the assembly lines. in mother's. It was their weddini: present in S the art departments, in the wood shops and 1941 and bis fat.her was terminally ill and ~ in the advertising departments. He admir· be bad this old radio. It was his dream to 'i es the spirit of craftsmanship or that era have the thing fixed, and or course be ~ and the old·time dedication to durability. couldn't find anybody to work on it. So I took this radi.o and I completely, fully re• :; The big challenge in radio restoration stored it. I did a new dial glass, and when I Healy shows a 1920s Adler Royal with RCA horn to a young radio enthusiast is to return the radio to its original was finished it was just like the day it was condition. Healy considers it heresy bought and I gave it back to this old guy. U> put modem electronics Into an old ra• Those are the joys and tbe pleasures or a "My iireat·grandfather used to have to of Franklin 0. Roosevelt hangs above the dio, so he collects antique parts as well. little bobby like this. I mean. to see this keep bis radio out in the barn. My great· Motorola - a reminder or the president He's driven to Oregon to buy a batch or guy's face said the whole thing.'' grandmother wouldn't Jet him bring it in who first used radio to rally popular sup- original radio shellac. He has several draw· Healy has received hundreds of nostal· the house. It had wet cell batteries - lead port with his fireside chats. ers filled with vacuum t ubes, and large gic phone calls from people who were acid batteries - and that was always spill· The airport exhibition also reaturessev. - bags or capacitors and resistors are piled moved by seeing his radios in the airport ing around everywhere. Also that's where eral or Heal>"s novelty radios - receivers on shelves in his workshop. He's learned exhibit, 2nd he beard many reminiscences the men went, you could smoke your ci· that look like something else. A 19-18 "Porto darkroom skills so he can photograph bro. while he was there installing it. gars and play wl!Ji the radio and all that Ba.radio," which hold~ glasses and d<'Cant· ken dial glasses and blow up the negatives "I see people my parenL~ ' age i:oing stufr. Then by my grand ad's era, they were ers, shares a display case with a 1945 rnicro- up to make straight lines when he retouch· through the exhibit lamenting the fact sort of packaged to go into the living phone radio and a 1954 Guild spice chest es them. He's also learned to create silk that l11at represents an age when there room." radio. Healy explained that novelty radios screens made from these negatives to rep. was bope and there was brotherly love really took orr after World War II, building llcate multicolored dial glasses. and there was a society and a way and a A 1!140 cabinet·style Motorola with a on the momentum or the war effort elec· Healy finds bis workshop a "secret is• lifestyle and an ethic. That's what I see. I built in phonograph is displayed at the !~C?_nlC$ production. But h~~de.Q that land," a place be goes to relax after wee.ks see it making people sad when they re• airport in a living room setting. A portrait there bad been earlier novelty radios, such or months on tbe road with tbe Grateful member a time that was a good time." • ··-----· 2 CZ -1 ) San .3Tan1im t UDIO, UDIO IGrateful Dead Wizard Unveils Collection rom a 1935 Midwest console centerpiece to a 1964 I· Standard pocket-size portable transistor model, tlie I Frise and fall of radio is mirrored in "Old Time Radio," I a new exhibit at San Francisco International Airport. Some 400 examples are ! Ufl.tlly built pieces of furni· aions began to seep out or 1 on view, drawn from the i ture, ranging from a floor radio design. The exhibit collection ofmore than 1 model Philco Aalique-ndio coleclOI lrlao k!angtr IUnes Iris 1938 Zf111th lloor model Willl Ile ad To join they saw a radio they thought 1hould radio clubs: /\ ··- _ ·_ ...... A Anh ------~./ltllU - be preserved "we repaired it and set or~ Information lbolJt it aside," says Kelky, 6ttinaly now the F the three 1¥QHI radio cU>s, I curator of the Antique Wireless As»• C'-· Early 11dlo manutaclurtrs made major write: ciatioo's museum. Wnless O.f) advances every tew years. IS '1ese sets In • Antique Association. 59 The kinds of radios they set aside· MJln Sl. Bloomfield, N.Y. W69. .5 Bria• flelao9tr'• -·11usn1e. ( ll Aeriela Ran~ Sr.• mz. Early radios kle '1it OM 110 Oil then are much desired now. Particu• • Jim & Barbara ArCirl'e bafttries. Ioe1penslve urty stts l1chd larly in demand by collectors are ca~ Radio CUI ol America. 3445 .td.,. speakers: Bsleners used nndpnones. (2) deals; Atwater Kent "breadboards" Or •• SIOw, Ollio 44224. Americln Beauty. !126. ~led. Mos! from the early ·20s. made ..ithout cabi• • Jot Kot$t!r. Mld-AU¥\Ut AnbQue urty 11dios rtqulred sevml dials lo tune net and with innards fastened atop a Radio W>. 249 Spri>g G;o SouUI. them; Cius has three. This nt C11ntalns a Lani. Md. 20724. malor advlnce: a llllift·in spukei. (3) PhiC11 tireadboankhaped p;ece a wood;~ 70. 1931. Calhtdtal By 1930i 11dios ustd did-toned Scott radios; and colorful, en ftousthotd eltttkity. llad bclll·irl spurn. Cat.alin-plastic selS a the late ·30s and slngtt 1Uoif14 knob. These lmpro'ftmenls '40s. ·-.:; spurted ma ny Amttlcans lo buy new 11d1ot Prices of these and other antique r. leaors pwthase them. Their new own• en lrtqutnUy and lole tl!elr old ones up lo Ille ers restore a lot of them, both for the dios depend on oondition. manufacturtt anic.• Tbos. many '20s and '30s sels were pleasure a -mg them gleam and the anilablt tor C11lltclors. and model. and locatia'I (the East Coast is more expensive). Most range from joy a hearing them crackle. And when they aackle they bring $50 to several.hwldred; ~. like par• FMRAD10 back another era. Once in a whlle Be• ticularly des:nbie CaWins. run into the langer rigs up a '30s set so that he thou.sands. can listen to a recorcing cl an old radio As wilh anything else, hlgh prices re• "A static-free system of show throogh its speaker. With 1930$ Oect scarcity. But most collectors think 6detity the raspy voice of Jack Benny radio transmission that some oldtime radios will alwa;s be ~ fills the room. delldplnning a punch line able. One reason. Koester sa;s: "YQlll~ turns accepted principles and convulsing an audience. er collectors are also interested in the "It's Cun," Belanger says. "At night topsy-turvy has just been radias a their youth. and are beginning you can dnw the drapes and tum the to collect the mudi-later transistor rr announ~d tights down low and by the glow o! by Maj: Edwin dio~ and TVs." your radio listen to Jack Benny. It's a Mai1!' ,..dl(IS nren't W AUGUST 7 - AMPEX, 8:30 AM RESEARCH PROJECT: - WEST COAST WIRELESS, SEPTEMBER 18 - FAIRFIELD, COMMERCIAL, AMATEUR, MILITARY AND NAVAL: Paul Bourbin, 415 648 8489 OCTOBER TBA - REDDING, If you have any leads on wireless operations on Norm Braithwaite, 916 246 4209 the west coast of any sort, to 1920 or so, espe• cially photos or diagrams, please send the NOVEMBER 6 - AMPEX, 8:30 AM information on to Bart Lee, 327 Filbert Steps, San Francisco, 94133. You will be rewarded with an autographed copy of America's Wireless NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN Spies, reprinted from the AWA REVIEW. TO RENEW THEIR MEMBERSHIP TO THE CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL RADIO SOCIETY. WRITE FOR THIS JOURNAL If you would like more about any aspect of our A Renewal Form is Enclosed. Send it in! hobby to appear in this Journal, put pen to paper Continue to receive this Journal, be welcome at and either write us to tell us, or write a piece swap meets, get tapes! Only $15. Such a Deal! yourself. However much or little you write, we Send your renewal (or new application) to: can use it for a column, sidebar, or article. Just Chris Buttery, No. 71 Tenth Street, Apt Three, about anything any member thinks is important Oakland, CA 94607 enough to write down will be of interest to other members, because we share this hobby. Your CHAS' OFFICIAL ADDRESS IS, editors will make sure what you write will look for correspondence other than renewals: as good in print as you want it to. We need your CHRS, c/o Jim McDowell, 2265 Panoramic help, though, in topics and text. You write, we Drive, Concord, CA 94520. ## print Think of it as a benefit of membership!