Posted	Category
	"Short Wave" Father Knows Best, season 3 episode 21 This episode from the 3rd season of "Father Knows Best" is based on intercepting marine radio calls - and soon a distress signal - from the "Betty Ann" on a Zenith Transoceanic shortwave radio that Bud has acquired.    Sharp eyed viewers will notice that the block diagram Bud's friend Joe has drawn on the chalkboard in the opening of the show is accurate!Ther...  READ MORE	ranickels 11/15/2021	History and Humor
	RCA Tube finishing operations Lancaster PA 1966  Fran Blanche shares a rare training film made by RCA in it's vacuum tube plant in Lancaster PA in 1966.  There is no sound, this film was intended to be used internally but Fran was able to purchase and transfer this 16mm film using her own telecine!Her descriptions are accurate with one nitpicky exception:  what she refers to as a "rotissere" is actually called a rot...  READ MORE	ranickels 11/04/2021	History and Humor
	Your Career in Radio and Television! 1940 edition  The Antique Wireless Association has found another gem from the past - a 1940 Vocational Guidance Films, Inc. career profile titled "Radio and Television" in its "Your Life Work Series".   Unfortunately WWII rendered much of this guidance moot but it's stil fun to watch....  READ MORE	ranickels 09/10/2021	History and Humor
	WRL Duo-Bander 84 demonstration My demo of this innovative transceiver WRL brought it's A-game to the design of the Duo-Bander 84 in late 1966 when it was already a leading supplier of SSB transceivers in it's Galaxy line.  So why risk offering a less-expensive alternative?   Because they figured there was a  ready market for a compact and powerful radio that could be dedicated to mobile operation, or in other ways to supplement a five-ban...  READ MORE	ranickels 03/27/2021	Ham Radio Information
	The Transistor A 1953 documentary by AT&T, anticipating the transistors coming impact on technology Made between the 1947 invention of the transistor at Bell Labs and the 1956 awarding of the Nobel Prize for Physics to its creators, this documentary is less about the discovery itself than its anticipated impact on technology and society. The intent of the film was clearly to give the public of that era their first understanding of what a transistor was and why it mattered so much.Made for a gene...  READ MORE	ranickels 03/22/2021	History and Humor
	"Announcers Blues" Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra Every radio nut will recognize three notes in this snappy tune!...  READ MORE	ranickels 03/18/2021	History and Humor
	JSB-20 Synthesizer demo Tuning and USB/LSB selection This is a short video that shows my external Arduino-controlled frequency synthesizer that is used to make the JRC JSB-20 frequency agile.    Tuning is implemented  by means of up/down switches much like the decade switches used on many military packset radios, although knob-tuning can be done just as easily.    I have not yet printed a graphic overlay so the bar...  READ MORE	ranickels 12/12/2020	Ham Radio Information
	JRC JSB-20 SSB Radiotelephone Demonstration Vintage Sideband Net 12-12-20 This shows the JSB-20 portable 10 watt radiotelephone in operation using my 80 meter dipole checking into the Vintage Sideband Net with W9JFM.  Dan is in Algoma WI, 195 miles from my QTH in Freeport IL and as you can hear, reported an excellent signal from the JSB-20.  The JSB-20 dates from the 1970s when HF SSB was the only means of communication for those outside of line-of-sight ...  READ MORE	ranickels 12/12/2020	Ham Radio Information
	John Sargrove - the Father of Modern Electronic Manufacturing Automation E.C.M.E and a man decades ahead of his time You've probably never heard the name John Sargrove before, but we've all benefited from the electronic manufacturing revolution he tried to start in the middle of the 20th century.    He knew that for radios and other electronic devices to become cheap enough for even the poorest countries to afford, the manufacturing cost - both components and labor - would have to be drama...  READ MORE	ranickels 12/10/2020	History and Humor
	Drone video tribute to legendary DC station WMAL Site was demolished in 2016 This is a short montage honoring WMAL Radio in Washington, DC, featuring a few stills from station archives, sandwiched around a drone video of Bethesda, MD transmitter site recorded in March of 2015. Total time of the clip was set to match the classic 1960s-era theme song used by the station and which is still one of the most requested pieces of station memorabilia. The property was sold for deve...  READ MORE	ranickels 07/01/2020	History and Humor