This Month, 90 yeas Ago

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Ninety years ago this month, this radio pioneer set out to achieve a record- sadly, he was a little ahead of his time
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Capt. Hawthorne C. Gray, 1889-1927 | OneTubeRadio.com
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.....................CF

I have an Atwater Kent model 32, just like he did. Mine's clean and complete, but I've never powered it up. Sometimes, it's enough to just have something. =)

Growing up I felt I was surround'd by radios like your's, ZZ
-- my grandfather was quite a collector. They look so ancient to me now, but as a kid I was fascinated with anything with tubes-- today they have a neat Steam Punk aura.
I have one with blue glass tubes, that I like to turn on, leaving the top open to see the filaments glow-- with a random length wire, it receives KOA in Denver (850 khz) very nicely.
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This is an account of Capt. Grays record assent to 43,000 feet..... shortly before his ill fate'd attempt to reach 50000.
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https://books.google.com/books?id=ltgDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA177#v=onepage&q&f=false
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It wasn't really all that long ago that people didn't understand high altitudes-- and his account shows a woeful lack of understanding of the physiology of heights. If even says, Mt. Everest had not yet been scaled... and the concept of the limits where the "death zone" is enter'd apparently was also little understood. Glaring, to me, is no pressurized suit- even though the effects of breathing at high altitudes, as he described, were vaguely known.
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But what a trip that must have been !... and to be the first to successfully use a radio at that altitude must have been something !.
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..................CF

zz0468 said:

I have an Atwater Kent model 32, just like he did. Mine's clean and complete, but I've never powered it up. Sometimes, it's enough to just have something. =)

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I'm not sure I could withstand the temptation. I'd NEED to try it out.

My grandfather used to bring home all these treasures, and he couldn't resist the temptations either. He had his ways of bring them back to life after years of sleeping in attics, basements- you name it.
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If they didn't have power supplies (remember things call'd "B-Eliminators?"...and of course the origin "A Batterries?.... ) he'd use variable voltage power supplies and slow crept the voltages up, looking for smoke and sparks.
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One part that was a universal pain were the paper capacitors- or anything resembling an electrolytic. These often failed like fireworks, but as each was tracked down and replaced (he never cared to keep thing original, replacing them with modern components)- these radios slowly came to life.
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If they had power supplies, he'd use a Variac, and slowly increase the AC, until everything looked stable.
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The radio I described above was one of his-- and surprisingly it is all original- no modern parts... and except for a little scratchy-ness in a rheostat, probably works as well as its first day. ...... ( I run it at the lowest voltages I can, and still have it work.)
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I have a neighbor who likes old 40-50's stuff, who acquired a very early 1950's television she wanted to 'plug in.' Naturally, she ask'd me for help.
We used the 'Variac Smoke Test" method to bring it back to life, and, today with an analog RF modulator connected to her satellite receiver, she now has 50-'ish B/W TV ---heaven knows why she want'd THAT ! -- but her nieces and mine are absolutely fascinated with watching television in the 'old fashion'd way.
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(smiles), like rotary phones..........
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.................................CF

As my initial foray into things electronic began with tube radios and tvs, it's always cool to see something that still works. While tube based tvs (not the CRT but the rest of it) were routinely encountered in my high school and early colleg electronics classes, I can't recall when I saw one last. Maybe it was high school. Seeing one of operation today would be a hoot!

I do recall the older paper capacitors and their inclination for failure. As a youth, I had an old guitar amp of my Dad's and the caps routinely failed administering a nasty shock to the player. You can build up a tolerance to a lot of things but I never took a liking to that.

My 1936 Stewart-Warner R146 still works well after a bit of TLC - and the SW bands are quite sensitive too on a short bit of wire - and that BIG sound!....

That sir is a fine looking radio!

Indeed it is!
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I like the tuning 'eye' especially. Somewhere I have in my collection of old tubes a couple of those- they were so high tech in their day....
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........................CF

Coyote-Frostbyte said:

Growing up I felt I was surround'd by radios like your's, ZZ

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I have a rather large collection, dating from pre-1920 into the 50's.

Coyote-Frostbyte said:

-- today they have a neat Steam Punk aura.

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Yes, it's an interesting affect that appeals to me... racks of Agilent and HP microwave and millimeter wave test gear sharing space with 1950's vintage GR admittance meters and '20's and '30's vintage cathedral radios.

Coyote-Frostbyte said:

I have one with blue glass tubes, that I like to turn on, leaving the top open to see the filaments glow--

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I have a BC342 I light up once in a while, partially to listen to, and partially for the smell of the old wax covered "condensers" warmed up by the tubes. It triggers fond memories of childhood.

bharvey2 said:

I'm not sure I could withstand the temptation. I'd NEED to try it out.

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All in good time. I have about 30 years worth of ham projects to get through. The antiques are to keep me out of the bars when I retire.

Coyote-Frostbyte said:

I like the tuning 'eye' especially. Somewhere I have in my collection of old tubes a couple of those- they were so high tech in their day....

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I have couple of old Grundigs and a Wega that have the eye tubes. They all work, too!

The tuning eye is surprisingly bright - perhaps it has been replaced - some components are new, changed by a previous owner, not me. Problem with the eyes is that they are on all the time and so the phosphor wears out - I have a European Philips that has a pushbutton to connect the high voltage when tuning - perhaps that's worth considering here too when you consider the cost of another tube - US$60 or so for a NIB one.

The discussion of old radios brought an interesting twist yesterday. We have here at my work, what I have fondly dubb'd "the museum" - a warehouse where projects too pretty (like some silver plated microwave horns) or novel, useful, weird- are all awaiting the day of their resurrection or cannibalization (like a half dozen beautiful 30Mhz low band repeater duplex'r cavities- all solid machine'd brass- silver plated works of art-- and heavy as battleships.)
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One of our engineers was prowling thru the labyrinth and brought me back a 'treasure'---
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"What is this?" he asked.
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Its a two-tube lab constructed oddity- with a tuning magic 'eye' tube, its own power supply---and a door bell !
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"This dates before our time" I said .. "I don't have a clue why somethng like this was in the museum- but" ..... musing over it, added....
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"Its an old 1950's/60's CONELRAD monitor"
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Why one was at this facility is a mystery, for by time it would have gone off, people here would have known of an attack, well ahead of time.... maybe it was for an isolated site.....
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It looks like it might run off a AVC circuit of an AM radio- and its tuning 'eye' brought me back to this topic. The door bell adds a neat artistic touch- and I mention'd Steam Punk before- this is sort of Art Deco-Punk...
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Like I said, this dates before me-- but I ask--were these monitors widely used in the 50's, 60's, or did most radio stations ignore the requirements to have a controlled radiation protocol ?
I still see pictures of them, but this is the first I have encounter'd in years and years.
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It now resides on my desk- waiting the day its returned to the company of its old friends, back in the Museum.......
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...........................CF

Coyote-Frostbyte said:

...Like I said, this dates before me-- but I ask--were these monitors widely used in the 50's, 60's, or did most radio stations ignore the requirements to have a controlled radiation protocol ?
I still see pictures of them, but this is the first I have encounter'd in years and years.

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I don't think every household had one, but they were apparently common enough. I actually have in my collection, a Heathkit CONELRAD alarm.