Carl and Jerry

[k4kyv]

Remember John T. Frye's "Carl and Jerry" series that appeared in Popular Electronics back in the 50s and 60s?  The entire series is back in print and packaged for sale.  Selected episodes are available free to download from the website.

http://www.copperwood.com/carlandjerry.htm#BackInPrint

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Cool!

Throw in Hashafisti Scratchi & Jeeves and it's party time.

[k4kyv]

Another interesting John T.Frye series ran in Radio & Television News, titled "Mac's Service Shop" about the same era. Although most episodes were devoted to troubleshooting the old tube type TVs of the day, there were some good radio articles occasionally, and even a few episodes about ham station equipment.  Mac's employee (forget his name) was a licensed ham. I recall reading one article about testing for a blown modulation transformer using a handful of incandescent pilot lamps. That may have been the first time I had ever heard of a modulation transformer. Wish I could run across that one again.

I once had nearly the entire Popular Electronics run from issue one though the early 60s, but I sold the whole box full for $5 at a hamfest a few years after I became licensed. Wish I still had them.

[WQ9E]

Another interesting John T.Frye series ran in Radio & Television News, titled "Mac's Service Shop" about the same era. Although most episodes were devoted to troubleshooting the old tube type TVs of the day, there were some good radio articles occasionally, and even a few episodes about ham station equipment.  Mac's employee (forget his name) was a licensed ham. I recall reading one article about testing for a blown modulation transformer using a handful of incandescent pilot lamps. That may have been the first time I had ever heard of a modulation transformer. Wish I could run across that one again.

Don,
The name you are looking for is Barney.  I have a lot of the old Radio and Television News and I am familiar with the article using incandescent lamps, as I recall the culprit turned out to be a cracked chassis feed through insulator.  The semester will be over in a couple of weeks and I will try to dig out that copy and scan it for you.

John Frye was a very productive writer.

[k4kyv]

Rodger,

I appreciate that, and will look forward to seeing the scanned article.  Maybe the technique would be something worth passing along in the Hints and Kinks forum.

While not a Mac's episode, I recall in a circa 1956 article in the same magazine, the first time I ever heard of using a modulation reactor to take the DC off the secondary winding of the modulation transformer.  Someone blew the mod transformer in his KW rig, and he used an ART-13 mod transformer with a reactor (10H power supply smoothing choke) as a substitute until he could find a replacement transformer.

Yes, now I remember Mac's employee's name was Barney.

[w3jn]

Let us not forget Matilda, Mac's accountant/front office lady.  She was also known as Miss Perkins.

I learned a LOT about troubleshooting and repair by reading my boxful of those Radio and Television News back in the day.

Radio Craft (or perhaps someone else) also had a column called "Sally the Service Maid" during WWII.  Sally was running her fathers (?) shop while he was off to war, and was always running into a tough dog that a dashing Sgt from the local air corps base would come in and help her.

[k4kyv]

Radio Craft (or perhaps someone else) also had a column called "Sally the Service Maid" during WWII.  Sally was running her fathers (?) shop while he was off to war, and was always running into a tough dog that a dashing Sgt from the local air corps base would come in and help her.

No doubt along with the implied but not explicit, real or imagined extra-curricular activity.   

[w3jn]

Indeed 

[WQ9E]

If I had not done well in my marketing Ph.D. program I could have honestly attributed my failure to Mac's Service Shop (and a lack of willpower on my part).  In my first semester of the program I was carefully reading several hundred pages of largely arcane journal articles each day.   In week 6 I started setting aside an hour each day to work my way through Faulkner's collection of writing as a sanity break away from business and research methodology.  In week 15 I discovered the Texas Tech library owned the complete bound collection of Radio News (later Radio and Television News) and I switched from Faulkner and had to exercise real discipline to only take a one hour break each day. 

John managed to weave a lot of practical troubleshooting information, quite a bit of theory, and a strong philosophical approach to quality (including quality customer service so there is my marketing content) into his series.  Mac's continued into Electronics World (the finally incarnation of what started as Radio News) and then ran for a short time in Ziff Davis sister publication Popular Electronics.  Like Gus in Popular Science "The Model Garage" Mac, Barney, and Mathilda magically avoided ever growing old and were able to adopt (and adapt to) new technology as it came along.

One thing John didn't do well is cure insomnia.  His writing style is interesting and engaging.  For those of you who suffer from insomnia and don't wish to use modern pharmaceutical products I highly recommend the writings of one of the most prolific writers in the marketing discipline, Wroe Alderson.  He was quite brilliant and his work with transaction and transvection provided a foundation for much of the modern thought and literature on supply chain management but Lunesta wouldn't stand a chance in a formal competition for treating sleep disorders

[w3jn]

I think there was enough practical info in those articles to fully justify you spending your time on 'em, Rodger - marketing, customer service, theory, servicing...

[Bill, KD0HG]

Radio Craft (or perhaps someone else) also had a column called "Sally the Service Maid" during WWII.  Sally was running her fathers (?) shop while he was off to war, and was always running into a tough dog that a dashing Sgt from the local air corps base would come in and help her.

No doubt along with the implied but not explicit, real or imagined extra-curricular activity.   

"Sally the Service Maid" during WWII?

How about the 1940s Nazi hunters "Gale Allen and her Girl Squadron"?