How Radio Works: a short radio film from 1937

[k4kyv]

Some interesting pictures of 1930's broadcast technology in film from Chevrolet Motor Division, General Motors Sales Corporation.  Good photo quality; pause the video to examine in detail the old buzzard radio transmitting and studio equipment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VHtZr_xsT8

[w4bfs]

I particularly liked the part about thundering out onto the airwaves...mo beans...beefus

[W3RSW]

Thanks Don; I really enjoyed it.
First time I ever saw an underslung AM broadcast automotive aerial.  Guess it was pretty effective on LW.

-And what a plethora of Westinghouse meters.  ...on just about everthing.

The picnic scene with the centerpiece car radio is priceless.  Ah, if'n we could go back, .... but then I remember reading about all the axis powers and impeding war worries of the day.  Things are never as simple as we'd like to remember.

Back to the movie; would that today's generation get such a well documented, easy to understand lesson in  current technology.
(or be able to understand it 

[k4kyv]

Thanks Don; I really enjoyed it.
First time I ever saw an underslung AM broadcast automotive aerial.  Guess it was pretty effective on LW.

There are descriptions of this type of antenna in numerous pre-WW2 books and magazines.

The picnic scene with the centerpiece car radio is priceless.  Ah, if'n we could go back, .... but then I remember reading about all the axis powers and impeding war worries of the day.  Things are never as simple as we'd like to remember.

And naturally, if you look closely you will notice that the father dressed up to wear the obligatory neck tie to the picnic. 

Not only were the clouds of war gathering, but the country and the world were still in the grips of the Great Depression... something it took a world war to get us out of.  Not too many families in the entire country would have been able to afford that sleek new car equipped with the radio.

Often when I browse through the photos in radio books and magazines of the 30's showing that wonderful old-buzzard equipment, and the hams and professionals working with it, I wonder whether or not the young men (you very rarely see old or even middle-aged men depicted), survived the War or if they became war casualties.

[W9GT]

Wow, that was really a wonderful look back in time.  I particularly noticed and recognized that big Blaw-Knox tower (like WLW) but I'm not sure what station was pictured. 
Well, I'm not quite old enough to remember those times, but it seems that it was truly "the Golden Era" of radio.  It seems like it was a great time for amateur radio as well, however, most hams didn't have two quarters to rub together and equipping a station was truly a challenge.  Most everyone built their own rigs with the precious little funds that they could muster up.  Seems like quite a contrast to these "modern" times with all the expensive plastic radios.  I still like tubes and black wrinkle!  Real Radio rules.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[k4kyv]

WSM has a Blaw-Knox tower like that, the building is similar, but it is not the same one. 

[W3SLK]

Don said:

WSM has a Blaw-Knox tower like that, the building is similar, but it is not the same one.

Don't let Don fool you. That is actually HIS vertical 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Lots of stations had them back in the day. Apparently WBT in Charlotte is still using three in their north-south directional array, along with some other stations. The diamond towers are cool looking!

http://www.hawkins.pair.com/blaw-knox.html

[Ed/KB1HYS]

WFEA Manchester NH has a Blaw-Knox right off the Highway. A work of art in steel.
They put it up after a hurricane in the 30's knocked down their WOODEN tower... 
 

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yea! I remember seeing that tower on the way to HossTraders in Hopkinton a few years ago.  More info on it here.

http://www.manfrommars.com/wfeatowers.html

[W3RSW]

My father in law managed Victor Insulators in Victor , NY for some years. (HV transmission insulators)  So my interest was piqued in the 'two section series lapp insulator' in the base of these towers. 

Couldn't find any description but I didn't drill down too far.  Guess Lapp probably doesn't make them anymore anyway.

http://www.power-technology.com/contractors/tandd/lapp-insulators/

[k4kyv]

Smaller towers use one Lapp insulator, which is cone shaped with the small end pointing down.  Some of the big towers used with the 50 kw blowtorches use two insulators, one inverted under the other one, to get higher breakdown voltage and better rf isolation.

The insulators are hollow inside, and surprisingly thin-walled.  One hazard is that if the weep hole at the bottom stops up, the insulator fills full of rainwater, and freezes and cracks in winter.  Insects often build a nest or cocoon inside the weep hole and plug it.  Regular inspection of the weep hole is part of the  routine maintenance of a base insulated tower.

I'm not sure they still make the brown ceramic Lapp insulator.  I have seen newer ones made out of some kind of grey composition material.  Not too long ago I saw advertisements from a company in Ontario that makes oil-filled AM base insulators.

The one I use on my tower was made by "TCA Radio Tower Company of Atlanta".  For some reason they printed the logo upside down.  It is nearly solid ceramic with a 1 1/2" diameter hole down through the middle.  I got it from a broadcast station in Alabama, thanks to Hoisy W4CJL, after their tower had failed and they wanted a brand new base insulator to go with their brand new tower.

[WA1GFZ]

cool video but they didn't say anything about "STRAP" which must have been invented later in the '60s by some JN in N.E. Then the famous Yeaaaaloooo test signal to test transmitter components for strap.

[flintstone mop]

it was a fascinating movie. The room sized transmitter must have been a big 10kw unit.
And did everybody wear shirt and tie back then??
My Dad had a 1940 something Dodge Wayfar(?) and  I remember the box under the dash on the driver side, which was the radio.
The electonics at that time constantly needed adjusting and tweeking.

Fred