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Reviews (16)
18 Dec, 2019
Useful Hints on Antennae for Beginners
Claude Jollet, Amateur Radio HF Antennas VE2DPE's Four-Book Collection, A5 format, 185pp, 2016
This was originally published as four booklets. They have been combined in one volume.
This is mostly basic stuff, so for beginners mainly.
There is a lot of white space, and a large typeface, making for an easy quick read.
If you are keen on antennas, I recommend further reading of ARRL and RSGB manuals on the subject.
The price I paid was $38 AUD incl GST.
Peter Hadgraft
29 Jul, 2019
US Early 20th Century Radios, Technical Design
Rutland, David, BEHIND THE FRONT PANEL – The Design & Development of 1920’s Radio, The California Historical Radio Society, 1994, reprint 2013, PB 21.5 x 14 x 1 cms 0.3kg 160pp, GBP15 (AU$28.50 +GST).
I wonder why I hadn’t got hold of this book before. I thought I knew a fair bit about radio technical design, so it was a delight to pick up this book, and be amazed by the wealth of new material.
This book was originally written in 1994, by David Rutland, an electrical engineer, and reproduced by Calif HRS (2013). However the material does not date. It does not deal with cabinet design, but has a few plates of some interesting radios, and lots of technical material. If you have basic knowledge you can skip some pages, but there are few of those. The rest is great history.
Of course with the passage of time, some things have changed, as new evidence has come to light. Rutland mentions Hertz as demonstrating the presence of radio waves with a spark gap. What was probably more important was that he also demonstrated reflection, refraction and diffraction of radio waves. Thus he showed it was an emanation with properties similar to light.
Then there is the Superheterodyne receiver, which the USA claimed for Armstrong for nearly 100 years. Armstrong worked with the French Telegraphie Militaire (the TM) in the Great War, 1917, and obviously gained much knowledge of Levy’s research into superheterodyne principles. Levy’s patent preceded both Armstrong and Meissner by a few months. The US courts some years ago agreed with this.
It is also interesting to note that the TM (1916) had built a triode with a hard vacuum, the Type TM. A French deserter had collected valve samples in USA and brought them to Gustav Ferrie, head of the TM. They probably included experimental GE hard vacuum valves (Arnold 1913). These were superior, as they were reliable and consistent, unlike the earlier soft valves. Armstrong would have worked with Type TMs. 100,000 were made during the war.
Rutland says on page 76 that Morecroft (1927) used the Hazeltine (1923) neutralisation principle. In fact he used the Rice (1920) neutralisation principle. It appears Rice, like many other researchers, was not concerned about protecting his patent.
The author comments that with multiple tuning knobs, in the early days, it was necessary to write down the numbered settings of dials, like “football signals”, so the station could be found again. When I recalled the football game in the MASH film, I realised what was meant. The team captain called out a series of numbers, codes for manoeuvres in the next play.
Yes, I recommend this book to both collector and technical guru. It is great easy reading, and good value for money. The US price is probably cheaper.
P Hadgraft, Jul 2019
09 Apr, 2018
McWhorter, Richard, The All-American Five radio, A4 PB 92pp, Sonoran Publishing, Chandler Arizona, 2003
The author first covers basic electrical theory, introducing the resistor, capacitor and Ohm’s Law.
He introduces the RCA 9X561 transformerless receiver circuit, using five Octal tubes with 0.15A filaments. This is the All American Five (AA5) design discussed in the remainder of the book, as it is similar to many of the radios of the time.
He then describes the individual stages of the set, highlighting the components associated with each stage. He moves thru the power supply, then backwards from the power output stage driving the loudspeaker, thru the detector and first audio stage, the IF stage, to the converter stage at the front end of the set. This was a good approach, as this is the order in which stages should be checked, when troubleshooting.
The coil and transformer are introduced.
The author mentions power once or twice in the text, but doesn’t discuss the concept of power and Watts, nor do these terms appear in the glossary at the back of the book. Many readers might appreciate this additional information.
A basic repair section is included. Sensibly the author recommends testing resistances of resistors and coils, and capacitors before turning on the set, and the replacement of those items that are obviously faulty. He indicates typical resistance values for the various coils.
Further he recommends the use of an isolating transformer between the mains and the set, so the repairer cannot readily receive a shock.
It is handy to be able to check voltages, but I had to look in the appendix to find the typical values to be expected. I would like to see the voltages on, or in a table near, the circuit diagrams, so it isn’t necessary to pencil them in, with the possibility of making an error in transcribing.
Many countries built radios with an RF stage. There were also AA6 radios built with RF stages. A section dealing with this stage would be a useful addition.
Also it would be handy to have a list of typical valves for those sets that used Loctal or miniature tubes.
I must compliment the author on his crisp clear diagrams, which made the text very approachable. The book is a great, cheap, introduction to a famous type of radio that was in production by the thousands over a period of around twenty years.