The AM Forum

Radio-Craft covers - very cool reading/viewing

Here is the link -->>
http://www.magazineart.org/general/technical/radiocraft/


And here is a preview....
(http://www.magazineart.org/general/technical/radiocraft/RadioCraft1929-07.jpg)

NICE Find Bruce...Well Done.

The slob ain't wearin' a coat, vest, and tie when he's building that radio!  What's up with THAT?

Despite all the pics you see in old radio mags of people building and fixing in a coat and tie, did guys really do that???

No me, John, this is my attire when carrying out radio servicing-->>

(http://www.magazineart.org/general/technical/radiocraft/RadioCraft1935-03.jpg)

Now THAT'S more like it!  Gotta have the pipe a-goin, too.

Love the goofy grin.

TNX for the find, OM.

73 John

One story I heard was that before WW2, radio announcers at the BBC wore tuxedos on the job.

I do recall seeing Harley motorcycle ads published right after WW2 showing some dude taking his girlfriend for a ride on his bike, and he was wearing riding britches with a shirt and tie, along with goggles.

Many old buzzard photos of motorcycle cops on Harleys show them with a tie. I know the Slab Bacon always wears one when he's riding his Harley.

I have several cases of that mag and others stashed away. Very cool reading, but also very fragile. Maybe neat to scan a few and pop on a website - if I only had the time!

Hey his eyes are popping out. He could be across the B battery or the
XYL is making his day.

What (or who) is under the workbench is left to the viewer's imagination!

his finger is on the red lead????????
67 1/2 volts or is that one 45.

My Dad had a technician friend at work who alligned my Heath GR64.
We bebuilt the front end of his old Pontiac. After thak he sent me all kinds of cool stuff to tear apart.  I still have the transformers from an old mil audio amplifier intercom thing. Once he sent home a neon relaxation
oscillator that flashed the neon once a second for many years. That is where I learned T=RC. He also threw in a box of 67 1/2 volt batts.
I blew the thing up when I series up all the batts to see what happens
with 675 volts across the circuit. NE2 didn't last long but I had a spare to
repair it.

\
He might have picked up that pipe tobacco from some of the fellas on 75.

IRB maple flavored stash

And here's the OM later that night. [Glasses gone and the pipe replaced with a more suave cigarette.]

(http://www.amwindow.org/misc/swl1.jpg)

Here's the OM a bit later. Receiver plans abandoned, he's onto something more ambitious....

(http://www.members.aol.com/wb1gfh/strap.jpeg)

Yes indeed, very good!

Now the "Woodolene" stove in the background and you are all set!


.

That rig will strap him ifn he touches the wrong point with that iron.
Notice the 813 glowing !!!
Never solder on a unit that is turned on.

Harvey's lucky hamfest suit works again at Hosstraders:

(http://www.dialcover.com/xpics/x5.jpg)

Heh,heh. That's some nice Photoshop (or some bitmap editor) work. You even stuck the schematic from the Tesla 360 rig over on The AM Window Web Site up on the wall!

If there were more action like Harvey's at hamfests these days, attendance wouldn't be dropping.

Obviously, if more hams wore their lucky coats and ties to hamfests instead of mustard-stained T-shirts they might see a bit more action!

Why do you think they are called "Elmers"

Have you read the article on how to construct the "distance getter"? It's wild and kewlbeanerz. If my memory serves me correct, it uses a single #30 pube and just about everything else is real homebrewski, down to the gridleak. etc. I'd love to build it. If the thing actually works (no reason why it wouldn't), I think I'd get out my "Missouri Meerschaum", put a little aromatic blend in it and go tooning around for oldies. As an added plus, one could wind a curl for 75M and listen for Irb calling CQ the free world - hi!

Harvry's YL has the iron maden on.

I thought she was listening to AC/DC.

Of course, when the young JN discovers the AM scene, there can be trouble....

(http://www.members.aol.com/wb1gfh/hero.jpeg)

THen there are the 75 Meter AM groupies:

(http://www.dialcover.com/xpics/x3.jpg)

"I jes' LOVE listenin' to them discourses on Jesus and Jefferson!!"

And those babes who love to listen with "cans"

(http://www.brucehowes.com/special_images/headfone.jpg)

Maybe it's just the filament voltage on.  I have worked on my rig many times relying the tube filaments for a light source.  Just  make sure the HV is off!

Wow! Good thing I wasn't eating or drinking when I read this. I would have spit all over the keyboard. Too funny!

(http://www.amwindow.org/misc/biglaff.gif)

Joe,
That is the funniest thing I have seen all year!

I need to print and frame that one, none of significant others ever got TimTron either, must be a female thing.

Great Photoshop job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


-Bruce



.

I concur!  A great job.  Tnx for the laugh!

Thanks...and I know what you're thinkin; "too much free time" etc. (which is true) but actually I'm pretty fast with Photoshop. And if it only takes a few minutes to generate this much hilarity - well, what the hell!  :D

Ah man, that would make the perfect QSL Card...Can I copy that... :D

Hey Where's the microphonium?

Ya needs a microphonium ta do Y'a Am.

That is a keeper, Joe.  Good job!
Now get back to work, you!   :lol:

You guys are killing me!   That Tron photo shop is a scream!   I had missed this thread somehow until now.

Yeah, the suits and vests of yesteryear.  My uncle who grew up in the Great Depression once told me that as soon as a young lad was old enuff, his father would take him down to the local men's store and they would get him the best suit they could afford. He said they lived in this one suit until it shined.

And best of all, he said, "a man was considered a BUM unless he wore a suit in public".  [Even the bums wore suits... :lol: ]

Looking at the older 1920's-50's pictures, even when working on construction, guys still wore quasi-suits, but usually with overalls over them... gads...

T

man that pic is a riot

I think the photo of Mr. Henery Yelar does not exhibit the proper forum and decorum of this website. The photo of Mr. Henery Yelar in the tux is more appropriate.... klc







 "Yellow man a custard dripping from a bad dogs eye."

                                                                  Sir Paul McCarthy

By request...microphonium added to Tron pic, reload to see. And copy away if you want it for a qsl or whatever.

Below, another one from my files. Untampered with. I wonder where in "Boston" these guys are? Waltham? Notice the cool BLACK CRACKLE gear.

(http://www.members.aol.com/wb1gfh/hams.jpeg)

Looks like off a fairway on a golf course...

What's he got under that bucket??

Joe,
     The "Timtron" pic is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It should be somebody's QSL card!

Bruce - My xyl doesn't get Timmy either. I guess it must be something only a guy would comprehend.

You'll also notice that EVERYONE wore a hat.  Look at those old photos of city street scenes.  You never see a bareheaded man in an outdoor public space.

Not only did you need a suit but you were still nobody if you had no middle initial.

Better yet, a pair of initials and your last name.

The New and Improved W1UJR QSL Card, with apologies to Elementary Engineering magazine.

(http://www.atlanticmotorcar.com/photogallery/w1ujr.jpg)

 

You can't tell in the picture because those guys are  facing away from the viewer, but I'll bet they are wearing neckties (except for the one dressed in the Navy uniform).

Yeah, but I'll bet the Navy guy is wearing a neckerchief with those 'Cracker Jacks'! (Ask any Swabbie, they know :) )

Great page of vintage station photos w/ highly personalized homebrew transmitters like W3IU's. Lightning-bolt callsign design. Chrome accents. And a dashboard clock. Cool.

More at...  http://uv201.com/framepage1.htm


(http://uv201.com/Photo%20Pages/Photo%20Images/w3iu_1.jpg)

Now that is a Buzzardly Kewl op!!! I[/img]

Rear of tx. Amazing buzzardly construction.

http://uv201.com/Photo%20Pages/Photo%20Images/w3iu_3.jpg

Deja vu all over again, almost

(http://www.amwindow.org/pix/jpg/drb1bd.jpg)
N3DRB Circa 1939, err .. 1995.

I had it all.   8)

Wonder what happened to that Tx. Probably got chopped up to make a hi fi setup.  :(

And an amazingly clear photo. I don't think I could see it that well if I was standing in the room with the TX!

Looks like shot by a pro. Probably taken with a large format camera. 5x8 negative was popular with portrait shooters at the time.

I'm intrigued with the electric picture behind the op. station in the pix shown before.  Hmmm, what does it do when turned on?  Does a little ham run up on the bridge, drink a bunch of '7's, then jump in the stream?

R. Stevenson Wilson

Rich, I think the wire going up to the frame is actually the antenna feed line.  Looking closely I think I see a dipole strung from one of the trees.

Also, look the TX.  There are no feeders attached to the insulators at the top of the rack... And where is the D-104 mic cord connected to the rig?

(http://uv201.com/Photo%20Pages/Photo%20Images/w3iu_1.jpg)

My bet is that the picture is hiding a window or the hole he drilled to feed the antenna through. I have no idea why there's no 600 ohm line on the TX though. Nobody used antenna relays in them days, they always used tuned transmit ants and random wires for the RX.

He probably disconnected it just for show in the pic. Or maybe not....

Anyone else has the impression that the photo has been airbrushed or retouched? The face of the reciever looks fake around the front knobs. I have seen a Breting 12 in person live and in color and I dont remember the trim rings around the knobs.

I do see the D-104 cord on the table behind the mike.

The cord was most likely for an electric light to illuminate the print.
Very common in older homes to have a small light which shined down on the artwork and in this case the operating desk.

I agree, the pix is so clean and well done it's almost staged.
No extra wires, boxes of parts, bottles of Rolling Rock, etc. about.

Did you notice the small clock on the 3rd rack panel from the top?
Looks like a Telechron.

I have corresponded with author of the website the photo was taken from.
Mike is a fine business fellow -not a ham - and really enjoys older radios and gear.
Most of the prints and such he has picked up at estate sales.

I was especially taken with the 8BNY prints, esp. the three young hams in the hamshack. Mike was kind enough to provide a link to a high resolution version of that photos, it’s a classic which I intend to print on photo paper and frame. Will look great on the wall.
Check the image for yourself, and tell me you can’t feel the magic… http://uv201.com/Photo%20Pages/Photo%20Images/threehams.jpg

I'll say it again; I was born 40 years too late...
I now know what Fred Hammond VE3HC intended when he told me that I had missed the "Golden Years" of radio.



...-.-

Rather like your disturbingly neat shack, Bruce!

This is a great thread.  TNX to you, Bruce and Joe GFH, the Photochop master!

73 John

Re: the W3IU transmitter, there is a 1/4" phone jack on the back of the modulator, probably for the D-104. But I see no evidence of T/R anywhere. Hmmm.

Re: the 8BNY prints, they are great. This pic I thought especially cool. Things were tres different in the 1920's.

"YES Ma, I'm putting up radio towers in the backyard...NO Ma, I don't care what the neighbors think"

(http://uv201.com/Photo%20Pages/Photo%20Images/antenna_8bny.jpg)

about all you could do was get into your neighbors BCL sets.

Of course, we have lived through the 'golden age' of the internet. Some may not care, but history is less spectacular when you are living it. It never seems as important, but 70 years from now ( if we make it that far ) people will be peering at photos of us using IBM XT's the same way. I was here when personal computers were born, when the internet was born, etc.

Thats why stuff like the wayback machine is so important. Web sites from 1993 already look as dated as those pictures do, but you can actually see the same exact thing now as it existed then. You can come close to that with radio if you try really hard and have a lot of bucks, I did it once upon a time.

But, then I had to ruin the experience by doing James Brown imitations into my D-104.  :?  It's hard to feel your back in time doing that.  :D

I know Joe, had the same thought about the antenna!

Could you see that today, man the lawsuits would fly, the city would jam you up on codes, the neighbor would poison your dog, etc.

The best part is that he was doing that to broadcast chruch services to "shut-ins", a most admirable cause, but would land you in a heap of trouble now.


Thanks for comments John, would would have thought this thread would hang onto 5 pages?

A credit to the creative minds of the AM miscreants!

Those who hold such treasures should make arrangements for their preservation now.  

I am recalling Roger, N4IBF, a dedicated history buff as well as a ham and a student of antique printing techniques.  He worked at the TN State Museum, and once was sent by the museum to the Smithsonian where he worked hands-on with some of the actual printing presses used by Benjamin Franklin.

Many times we had discussed how so much of this stuff ends up discarded, damaged or destroyed when the owner/keeper goes SK.  We had rescued several estates of vintage transmitters, magazines and parts from the landfill.  Roger was adamant that owners of this stuff should make sure it doesn't end up thrown away, or as one case we checked out, 90% ruined because it was stored by a double-digit-IQ son-in-law in an abandoned warehouse that lacked a functioning roof.

Roger had a large collection of antique telegraph keys, a large parts and tubes collection, transmitters and receivers, and a photo album that originally bolonged to the chief OP at W1MK (later to become W1AW) at ARRL HQ.  The album was full photos of ham stations from the early 1920's, probably the original prints of QST photos of that era.

In addition to his radio stuff, he had a huge collection of lead font type for antique printing presses.

About 10 years ago, Roger came down with a terminal illness.  He soon lost all interest in his friends and radio stuff, and became very uncommunicative and reclusive, refused visitors, etc.  When he finally passed on, his stuff sat untouched for years in his basement.

Eventually his daughter contacted me because she had decided it was time to get rid of the stuff, and she had no idea of what most of it was, let alone the value of anything.  She offered to let me have the tubes and loose parts, and the antique telegraph key of my choice, in exchange for helping her catalogue the rest and suggesting asking prices.  We spent a couple of weekends on the project.

The first thing we looked for was the antique key  collection.  She had carefully wrapped each key in newspaper and packed them all in a large cardboard box, then placed the box into a  basement closet integrated into the cinderblock foundation of the house.  When we opened the closet, everything inside was of about equal dampness as the soil outside.  Although not totally destroyed, nearly everything in the once pristine key collection was badly corroded from years of moisture, nothing probably worth  more than 50% of what it would have fetched on the market if the collection had been kept dry.  His daughter, who did know the value of the key collection,  said it simply had not occurred to her that the closet would become damp.

Much of the printing press type was in perfect condition when Roger acquired it, but was ruined beyond usufulness because the lead had turned to white powder while stored for several years in the damp basement and the type face was pitted.

Evidently, audiophool thieves had ransacked the tube collection.  Most of the transmitting and receiving tubes were still there, but Roger had managed to collect a couple dozen NOS 2A3's as spares for his BC-610, and those were all unexplainably missing.

I described to the daughter the photo album, but no trace of it was ever found.

As much as Roger and I had repeatedly bemoaned the mindless destruction of radio and other irreplaceable historical items in estates, his own collection ended up meeting the same fate.  He would be still spinning in his grave.

Don,

That's a very, very sad story, but one which I hear repeated again and again.

You may recall my elmer, Dick W2UJR.
When he passed away a few years back very little gear made it out of his shack. I have his Collins 32V and bug.

His wife was NOT ham friendly, and sadly was very difficult to deal with.
So most of the stuff, parts and homebrew items, just sat inside his hamshack to waste away. His hamshack was an attachement onto the garage, not a very well built building.

A few years later I heard that she tore down the hamshack as it was infested with ants. To my knowledge very little of the Dick's neat homebrew gear made it out...very sad. http://hamgate.sunyerie.edu/~buffaloam/w2ujr.htm

W2UJR Hamshack, circa 1997

(http://hamgate.sunyerie.edu/~buffaloam/_borders/ujr160f.jpg)

One comment relating back to the original Radio Craft, Radio News, etc., Gernsback publications. In fact, I'm suprised nobody has yet offered this observation. I have quite a few of the Radio News mags from the '30s, and one thing that has struck me and many others who have collected issues of his magazines is that the artwork on the Gernsback publications more often than not feature some of the most ugly women ever portrayed on the cover of a national publication. Of all the copies I own I can think of only one female on the cover that was not depicted in "ugly hag" mode.

By the way, I lust not only after the transmitter in one of the previous vintage station photos, but also for the Breting 12 receiver on the table!

Could be the editor in charge of the radio mags was a prude. Gernsback published lots of magazines, including AMAZING DETECTIVE STORES and FRENCH HUMOR....

(http://www.magazineart.org/general/humor/frenchhumor/FrenchHumor1928-05-26.jpg)

Although there IS something vaguely unsettling about this 1927 RADIO NEWS cover. The potentially dangerous connection from radio to water suggests that some taboo is about to be broken. Then we have two guys wearing makeup dressed in matching outfits alone in the woods with a girl. The title, "A NEW RADIO HOOK UP" completes the disturbing image.

(http://www.magazineart.org/general/technical/radionews/tn_RadioNews1927-09.jpg)


Full Size Image at:
http://www.magazineart.org/general/technical/radionews/RadioNews1927-09.jpg

Worse yet, he appears to be playing with his "pole"!

Notice the short "Capri" pants and argyle socks, clearly these are not wholesome American boys.
No Sir.

Now I understand the caption "A New Radio Hook Up"....

Very disturbing indeed. :-)

Is that a Maple tree I see being tapped in the background???????

Yer killin' me, Bruce! :lol:  :lol:

Hey where did you guys get a picture of Irb and his brother on field day.

They are not wearing neckties... at  least the one doing the fishing isn't.  Can't tell for sure about the guy dancing.

But the girl isn't ugly.

See Don, that further proves my point, its unAmerican not to wear a necktie when in public.
I told you something was not wholesome about these boys.
Betcha' they are listenin' to that newfangled rock and roll devil's music on the radio.

Yes, but they are all wearing makeup. She may not be a "she"! :shock:

I wonder why you had to wear a necktie to put up an antenna?

Dude, cause it was the law.

None needed. It was fairly common practice in old buzzard days to use two antennas: one for TX and one for RX.

necktie were used before safety belts were invented. It was to remind you of the of a good hangin if you stepped out of line.