February 21, 2011

Robot Production Line Makes 3 Radios a Minute (Apr, 1948)

Robot Production Line Makes 3 Radios a Minute

THE so-called “printed” radio sets are still new on the American scene, but they are rapidly becoming common items in England. A new factory near London is using a robot machine (above) which takes the plastic molding in one end and delivers the printed circuits from the other end at the rate of three a minute. It would take about 2,000 workers to do the same job by hand.
Read the rest of this entry »

February 1, 2011

Tank Maneuvers Controlled by Radio (Dec, 1930)

Filed under: Radio,War — @ 10:00 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1930
Buy on Ebay

Tank Maneuvers Controlled by Radio

Developments in the mechanization of the army is the installation of radios in tanks for the transmission and receipt of orders. Control of tanks in action, since they were first introduced by the British during the World war, has been at once an important and difficult task, hitherto performed by officers who walked beside the tank and signalled with flags—a duty both dangerous and unsatisfactory. Read the rest of this entry »

January 20, 2011

The Microwaves Are Coming! (Nov, 1947)

The Microwaves Are Coming!

Invisible network will handle phone rails, telegrams, television, FM and AIM broadcasts, complete newspapers—even carry your mail.

By Martin Mann
PSM photos by Robert F. Smith

COMMUNICATIONS are being revolutionized faster than you think. The humming wires beside the highways already are rivaled by new systems, capable of transmitting more spoken or written words and more still or moving pictures from coast to coast. The difference between these new systems and those of the past is as great as that between oxcarts and stratoliners. Read the rest of this entry »

January 12, 2011

Static from the Stars (Jan, 1948)

Static from the Stars

Because a radio ham heard strange sky noises, we may get better FM and television—and learn more about our universe.

By Herbert Yahraes

Drawings by Ray Pioch WHEN young Grote Reber was a high school sophomore, he operated 9GFZ in Wheaton, Ill., and tacked so many recognition—QSL—cards to his bedroom walls that the plaster cracked and his parents cracked down. When not communicating with El Paso, Arequipa, Capetown, Prague, and other points, he designed equipment to communicate with them even better. Nobody who knew him then will be surprised to learn that he is still in radio—listening not to the chatter of hams, but to mysterious and bothersome radio waves that come from the heart of the Milky Way. Read the rest of this entry »

December 23, 2010

“Skip Distance” a Radio Mystery (Dec, 1929)

This, of course, is the radio waves bouncing off of the ionosphere. I think they’ve known this for quite a while though. Does anyone know when it was figured out?

“Skip Distance” a Radio Mystery

TO MANY uninitiated to the mystery of radio the phenomenon known as ‘”skip distance” is most puzzling. The layman might reasonably assume that the closer one is to a broadcast station the stronger the signals received. That is largely true with ordinary longwave stations but with a shortwave transmitter the situation changes. For instance a short-wave transmitter in New York operating on less power than is ordinarily used by long-wave stations may be picked up in Australia but not be picked up at all by receivers less than 500 miles from the transmitter.

December 14, 2010

DICK TRACY WRIST RADIO (Dec, 1952)

DICK TRACY WRIST RADIO

… for Kids from 6 to 60

WEAR IT LIKE A WATCH – USE IT AS A RADIO!
SHOCKPROOF – SAFE!

One of the most compact sets you’ve ever seen! Read the rest of this entry »

December 7, 2010

Set Building Simplified by Standardized Hookup Board (Jan, 1930)

Filed under: DIY,Radio — @ 9:21 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1930
Buy on Ebay

Set Building Simplified by Standardized Hookup Board

THIS new hookup board will gladden the heart of many a newcomer into radio because of the ease with which it allows the novice to hook up his receiver. It eliminates all wiring from part to part and practically any type of circuit can be employed. Consequently the following of blueprints and diagrams can be avoided and the various items assembled by merely plugging them in the proper sockets in the board. Read the rest of this entry »

December 1, 2010

Interesting Novelties at London Radio Exhibition (Jan, 1932)

Interesting Novelties at London Radio Exhibition

ROBOT PLAYS PHONOGRAPH
Sir Robot, looking like one of Coeur de Lion’s knights, is merely placing a record on the portable before him.
(Keystone Views)
Read the rest of this entry »

November 30, 2010

Radio Cleared of Slander (Mar, 1930)

No one these days would ever believe anything this silly, would they?

Radio Cleared of Slander

THE rush of radio waves through the ether has not made Paris hotter or colder, dryer or rainier than in the years before the invention of wireless, Joseph Sanson, French engineer and meteorologist, has concluded as a result of a study of weather records for the past two centuries. The same sort of irregularities were present in past years as have been evident in the decade since the wide use of wireless.

November 18, 2010

German Electronics Moves Ahead (May, 1956)

German Electronics Moves Ahead

City of Hanover now boasts its first wireless telephone system. Left, the antenna which handles u.h.f. signals from the 80-watt transmitter. Above, a motorist uses the transmitter-receiver installed in her car. Push buttons on dashboard select channels for voice messages. Read the rest of this entry »

November 9, 2010

Radio Makers Find New Uses for Sets (Jan, 1930)

Filed under: Radio — @ 8:40 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1930
Buy on Ebay

Radio Makers Find New Uses for Sets

No longer is radio confined to furnishing parlor entertainment. Manufacturers have found numerous new uses for radio sets which promise to make them an even more important part of our everyday life.

RADIO, which most of us are accustomed to think of as a means of parlor entertainment, is rapidly being applied in novel ways as manufacturers seek for new methods of using sets. Read the rest of this entry »

October 25, 2010

Two-way Pocket Radio (Apr, 1947)

Two-way Pocket Radio

made during the war by Tele-Radio, Ltd., for British secret service work will soon be on the market. -It has a range of one mile with the power-pack shown, but manufacturers say its power can easily be increased. The firm will offer manufacturing rights to interested parties in the United States and Canada. Below, the set is compared in size with a cigarette case.

21 queries. 0.826 seconds.