Radio Movies: Will radio and the motion picture combine? By David Wilson

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Radio Movies, television as invisioned in1924 as reported by David Wilson # 05 Vol-21 2015 The NAB 2015 Report by observer Richard Majestic the National NC-2-40D communications receiver story starts

When the people tuned it they could listen to comedy shoes, news, live events, jazz music, variety shows, drama, or oprea. By 1923 nearly three million people owned radios.

political commentary. Radio Movies: Will radio and the motion picture combine?

1 Radio Movies, television as invisioned in1924 as reported by David Wilson # 05 Vol The NAB 2015 Report by observer Richard Majestic the National NC-2-40D communications receiver story starts on page 3 2A3 Next meeting/spring Picnic May 17th at the Quelab Theme: Food, drink and tailgate auctions In the 1920s there were no TV's so the people would listen to their radios. When the people tuned it they could listen to comedy shoes, news, live events, jazz music, variety shows, drama, or oprea. By 1923 nearly three million people owned radios. Radios were also used for newspapers being read so that the people could know what was going on. By 1922 there were 600 radio stations. In 1921 Chicago got its first radio station called KYW. It played Opera six days a week. After the opera season ended they started playing different things, popular music, classical music, sporting events, lectures, fictional stories, newscasts, weather reports, market updates, and political commentary. Radio Movies: Will radio and the motion picture combine? By David Wilson In a 1924 Motion Picture Classic Magazine I recently purchased I found a story titled: Will radio and the motion picture combine? The story was predicting the possibility of motion pictures being broadcast like radio via a device called television. I m always amazed at what I don t know when I think I know it. I guess that s why I keep buying these old magazines. If someone had asked me who pioneered television I would have said Philo Farnsworth. Farnsworth would have been a good answer if you were talking about the first fully functional, all-electronic image pickup device called the video camera tube and another device called an image dissector. Both these devices were used in what became the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. I remembered that Farnsworth had developed this television receiver and camera system, produced commercially in his firm of the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, from 1938 to What I didn t know, until I read this 1924 magazine, was that an America inventor by the name of Charles Frances Jenkins, one of the early pioneers of what became the motion picture projector, was also one of the inventors of television. Jenkins version of television was one of the very early ones and it was mechanical, not electronic like Farnsworth s later version. According to my 1924 Motion Picture Classic Magazine, Mr. Jenkins had been issued some 300 American and Foreign patents, ranging from self-starting devic- (Continued on page Four) National Association of Broadcasters 2015 Convention Report by Richard Majestic It s too bad broadcasters haven t realized that their days are numbered if they don t find new and compelling content and the power of the internet; they will go the way of the horse and buggy. I attended many panel discussions hosted by young creative kids who are developing brilliant content, new distribution methods and brands that are the future of media for the masses. (Continued on page Five)

The NMRCC Meeting Minutes by Chuck Burch NMRCC 2015 MEETINGS NMRCC April 12, 2015 Meeting Minutes The tailgate auction had several nice radios and other items.

He has several radios that he is interested in getting to work. Plans for the spring picnic were discussed. It was decided to have it at Quelab, our new meeting location.

Club members are welcomed to bring other potluck items to share, and since drinking alcohol in moderation is allowed at Quelab, bringing booze is permitted.

It is not very often you see a resistor with a violet multiplier color band. He also showed a What-Is-It.

The monthly theme was 1930s art deco radios, chrome chassis and intricate wood design radios.

A version of the radio appeared on the cover of the book Radios Redux by Philip Collins.

2 The NMRCC Meeting Minutes by Chuck Burch NMRCC 2015 MEETINGS NMRCC April 12, 2015 Meeting Minutes The tailgate auction had several nice radios and other items. The meeting was started at 2:15 by vice president John Estock. A potential new member visited and introduced himself: Bob Riola restores antique furniture and uses old wood to make furniture. He has several radios that he is interested in getting to work. Plans for the spring picnic were discussed. It was decided to have it at Quelab, our new meeting location. Various members volunteered to bring items for the picnic: Ron Monty: drinks and ice, Don Menning: pizza, John Estock: chicken, David Patterson: dessert, and Ray Trujillo: paper plates and flatware. Club members are welcomed to bring other potluck items to share, and since drinking alcohol in moderation is allowed at Quelab, bringing booze is permitted. As usual, members are encouraged to bring donation items for the auction to help offset the cost of the picnic. Les Davidson brought in the bad 100 Megohm resistor he discussed last month. It is not very often you see a resistor with a violet multiplier color band. He also showed a What-Is-It. One of the Quelab members correctly identified it as a Rongeur which is a medical instrument with a sharp-edged, scoop-shaped tip that is used for gouging out bone. The monthly theme was 1930s art deco radios, chrome chassis and intricate wood design radios. Chuck Burch showed a Detrola model radio that has a dark-green leatherette covered cabinet and a chrome-plated front panel. A version of the radio appeared on the cover of the book Radios Redux by Philip Collins. Mark Toppo showed a beautiful prototype wooden table radio manufactured in Los Angeles probably by Jackson Bell. It was in very poor condition when he got it, and it took him three years off-and-on to restore it. It has the original grille cloth and plays. He also showed a nice red Radio-Glo radio. May 17 th Spring Picnic and Tailgate Event Jun 14 th Reflex and regenerative radios Jul 12 th - Radios with tuning indicators (magic eyes, shadow tuning, tuning meters, etc.) Aug 9 th - Unique and novel radio antennas and noise eliminators Sep 13 th - Wild Card Sunday (nifty science gizmos, novel science toys, or nonradio collection, electronics, or science related that you think will dazzle your fellow members Oct 11 th Fall Picnic Audio distortion of radio receivers demo Nov 8 th - Old computers, calculators, slide rules, and associated items Dec 13 th - Unusual Devices/Stump the Experts- Unusual tubes, light bulbs, transistors, and radio parts. Also, who can identify that strange gizmo you found, or explain how an unusual object works? Proposed Programs *Radio trouble shooting and repair workshop *Alignment of AM/FM tuners workshop When he got it, it had broken glass. Mark found a 100 year old glass shop that had a large inventory of vintage glass, but they suggested it would be more economical if they search for a match to Mark s glass when looking through their inventory to find a match for high-paying customers. After a year, they contacted Mark saying they found a decent match. The end result was a very nice radio. Don Menning showed a vintage clamp meter and a kid s Bausch & Lomb microscope. Marks s radios were voted as Best of Show. The meeting adjourned at 3:00. ~C.Burch Two

The National NC-2-40D Communications Receiver by Richard Majestic When you lift the NC-2-40D receiver you know where the term Boat Anchor came from, it s not that big but must weigh 60 lbs.

3 The National NC-2-40D Communications Receiver by Richard Majestic When you lift the NC-2-40D receiver you know where the term Boat Anchor came from, it s not that big but must weigh 60 lbs. A quick look at the schematic; it s a simple 12-tube superheterodyne radio with an amplified AGC, a noise clipper, a BFO, push-pull 6V6 audio output and choke input power supply, but then you look at the RF coil assembly, it s housed in cast aluminum catacomb that moves horizontally at the bottom of the chassis with a rack drive gear drive and contains the local oscillator coils, RF amplifier plate tanks and the RF amplifier antenna tanks. These coils are in three separate compartments, front to back. However, there are six bands and six sets of three each of these coils in their little compartments with variable capacitors. This beast covers MHz. to 30.8 MHz. and the dial is precisely marked and the radio can be aligned to hit every one of those marks every time. It was my experience, after the rebuilding that this radio didn t drift off frequency at all, even though there was no temperature compensation in the separate local oscillator circuit, the coils were wound on bobbins that kept them stable over a wide temperature range. The tuning capacitor plates are shaped to provide an almost linear tuning scale. The RF amplifier is the simple tuned grid or tuned antenna input that has a Faraday shielded balanced antenna input winding that keeps, out of band noise out of the RF amplifier. The RF amplifier plate is also tuned and coupled coil connected to the mixer grid. The NC-2-40D uses the electron coupled local oscillator pentagrid mixer. The radio uses two IF amplifiers, the first transformer being the standard dual tuned 455kHz. Type. The second IF transformer has selectable Q positions and at its narrowest a 455kHz. Crystal is in the circuit, this reduces the IF bandwidth to about 3.2kHz. and the widest is 12kHz. The audio bandwidth is then from 1.6kHz. to 6kHz. The 2 nd detector is a diode type using the grid and cathode of a dual triode. A 6SJ7 pentode is used as the amplified AGC. Another triode is the first audio amplifier (AF) and noise limiter. Negative noise pulses cuts off the grid and positive noise is clipped by grid current. Another dual triode is the audio phase invertor that then drives the two 6V6 push-pull output tubes. The detector and audio design is very HiFi quality and when a good output transformer is used this radio sounds great. A 6SJ7 pentode is the BFO and it s coupled into the 1 st IF transformer. It s a variable frequency BFO so it can be used on CW and sideband. The power supply is the basic 5Y3G full wave choke input filter with negative end floating to provide a negative VDC for bias use. The companion speaker has a 10 PM speaker with the output transformer and retains the Deco design elements of the radio even though this radio was sold in 1946 through It s my assumption that this radio was designed in the mid- 30s because it uses tubes that were introduced in Performance Measurements The sensitivity was truly amazing, all but the 14MHz. to 30MHz. band had 0.3uV sensitivity with 20dB S/N and it didn t vary from one end of the dial to the other. Highest frequency band dropped to 0.7uV sensitivity with 15dB S/N, which is still very usable, tube noise was mostly what reduced the S/N. Note: these measurements were with the NC-2-40D at max RF gain, AGC on and using my HP 606A RF generator. The Restoration No offence intended, but this radio was a mess. It had been owned by a ham who modified every circuit to make the radio work and totally missed what caused the radio to stop working properly in the first place. In replacing out of 5% tolerance resistors I measured the screen resistor for the second IF at 1Meg and it was supposed to be a 68K resistor, this caused the radio to loose sensitivity. It also caused the BFO not to have the correct levels so he modified the BFO circuit. Almost every resistor was way out of tolerance and had to be changed. I use metal film resistors and metalized Mylar capacitors. I replaced all capacitors and the three power supply electrolytics. The large mica looking capacitors were also replaced, they are really paper foil capacitors. The 2 nd detector audio output jack had been replaced with a switch because the BFO switch had failed; I put the jack back in the front panel. I was able to get the shaft driven toggle switches to work too. The antenna input circuit is a balanced 300 Ohm design with a Faraday shield around the coupling windings, it s not a low impedance unbalanced input, but the previous owner cobbled a PL259 jack onto the antenna input terminals, which unbalanced the antenna circuit and destroyed the noise rejection design. I restored the antenna terminals as designed. Back when this radio was designed most hams and radio listeners had long wire dipole antennas that were connected with 300 Ohm open twin lead. The Alignment The IF alignment is done with the bandwidth switch in the narrow position but not with the crystal filter in and the IF aligned to 455 khz. The procedure is to switch in the 455 khz. Crystal and rock the RF generator while watching the AGC voltage for a double peak, the crystal in this radio was right on 455 khz. The next step is to align the local oscillator at two points at each end of each band using the trimmer capacitor at the high end and adjusting the padder capacitor at the low end of each band, then recheck the dial accuracy at multiple points on each band. Then at the mid-band of each band peak the RF plate and antenna trimmer capacitors. I also check to see that the high and low end of the each band has the same peaks, if not a coil may be shorted or modified. Fortunately all bands were perfect, not modified. Next step is let the radio cool down and check all bands for frequency accuracy and Three

Radio Movies: Will radio and the motion picture combine? By David Wilson es for automobiles to his new invention that centered around the idea of using radio to transmit photographic images.

13, 1925 that he publicly demonstrated synchronized transmission of pictures and sound, which he was granted a patent for.

Jenkins rolling out his public relations efforts on the synchronized transmission of pictures and sound which he was still testing at the time.

4 Radio Movies: Will radio and the motion picture combine? By David Wilson es for automobiles to his new invention that centered around the idea of using radio to transmit photographic images. According to Wikipedia, Jenkins also published an article on Motion Pictures by Wireless in 1913, but it was not until 1923 that he transmitted moving silhouette images for witnesses, and it was June 13, 1925 that he publicly demonstrated synchronized transmission of pictures and sound, which he was granted a patent for. My July 1924 Motion Picture Classic magazine article seems to be an early example of Mr. Jenkins rolling out his public relations efforts on the synchronized transmission of pictures and sound which he was still testing at the time. In 1928, the Jenkins Television Corporation opened the first television broadcasting station in the U.S., named W3XK, which went on air on July 2. Signals were first sent from the Jenkins Labs in Washington, five nights a week. At first, the station could only send silhouette images due to its narrow bandwidth, but that was soon rectified and real black-and-white images were transmitted, according to the Jenkins Wikipedia listing. It s worth noting here that Jenkins Television Corporation was liquidated four years after this story appeared in Motion Picture Classic Magazine, and the company s assets were acquired by none other than Lee DeForest, the self-proclaimed father of radio. Ironically Dr. Lee DeForest is quoted in the Motion Picture Classic story on Jenkins television invention saying, It will be at least twenty years before radio-movies in the home will be perfected and there is no certainty that 1950 will see such perfection. Within months, of the DeForest acquisition of the Jenkins Television Corporation, he went bankrupt and all his assets were bought by David Sarnoff s RCA Corporation in order to stop all work on electromechanical television. At the time of the RCA acquisition, Jenkins electromechanical television technology was already being overtaken by electronic television under development by Vladimir Zworykin and Philo Farnsworth. This is an interesting chapter in the history of the invention of television and the start of broadcasting with moving pictures. ~D. Wilson Four

See the whole NC-2-40D Story on page 3 NAB 2015 Report The two NAB shows in the old Hilton ballroom was the most surprising and advanced of all, 4K video and great audio; maybe

Technically 4K video is here, the head in the sand engineering standards guys have not developed or even proposed an over-the-air (OTA) standard, two, possible three OTA systems

I have watched a 4K Netflix movie on my 28 4K monitor, off the internet on a 25Mbps cable ISP and it was amazing quality and no buffering.

more. They are developing original programming that s so good it s creating a large group of cable cutters, those who are not interested reality TV like the Kardashian or the

This area of media content is going to be a major factor causing more people to become cable cutters. An example you can watch today live is http://twit.

This year, Cannon, Red and now Black Magic showed 4K, 6K and 8K cameras with wide dynamic range, called HDR which increases the black to white dynamic range to the equivalent of

5 See the whole NC-2-40D Story on page 3 NAB 2015 Report The two NAB shows in the old Hilton ballroom was the most surprising and advanced of all, 4K video and great audio; maybe the NAB is awake to reality. Technically 4K video is here, the head in the sand engineering standards guys have not developed or even proposed an over-the-air (OTA) standard, two, possible three OTA systems have been proposed but only one tested OTA by Sinclair. I have watched a 4K Netflix movie on my 28 4K monitor, off the internet on a 25Mbps cable ISP and it was amazing quality and no buffering. One group has ignored the antiquated media delivery systems and already turned it into a money making business; Netflix, Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Hulu, HBO, CBS, You Tube and many more. They are developing original programming that s so good it s creating a large group of cable cutters, those who are not interested reality TV like the Kardashian or the local tabloid news. The internet youngster s have been working on new content and how to develop a brand for their new content. This area of media content is going to be a major factor causing more people to become cable cutters. An example you can watch today live is watch Saturdays at noon MDST. Last year Cannon and Red led the way to selling 4K cameras that were low priced when compared to television cameras sold just a few years ago. This year, Cannon, Red and now Black Magic showed 4K, 6K and 8K cameras with wide dynamic range, called HDR which increases the black to white dynamic range to the equivalent of 14 bit from the 8 bit we have gotten used to with HD television. The improvement is remarkable and major improvement. All but gone this year was the transmitter manufacturers, all of them would have fit in the Quelab meeting room. They have been replaced on the LV Convention Center floor with drones, camera support gear, lens, new editing software and media content suppliers. This year at NAB 2015 was exciting and very well attended with over 103,000 registered attendees and all LVCC floor space occupied, over 1,000,000 SF, this was another first for the NAB. ~R. Majestic Five

The National NC-2-40D Communications Receiver by Richard Majestic then again after a few hours check each band for accuracy again.

did a full week s test and found no problems.

to overload the RF stage, so the audio distortion is very low even though the radio has exceptional sensitivity.

and resistor will have to be replaced. Component quality in the late 40s was very bad no matter who made the radio. ~R.

mid-position covering about half of each under chassis circuit wiring and components.

6 The National NC-2-40D Communications Receiver by Richard Majestic then again after a few hours check each band for accuracy again. Final Checkout I usually run each radio I restore a few days to make sure nothing is going to fail, like a tube or component, I did a full week s test and found no problems. The audio quality from this radio is very good and is a pleasure to listen to, the AVC (AGC) is very good, it s almost impossible to overload the RF stage, so the audio distortion is very low even though the radio has exceptional sensitivity. If you find a NC-2-20D that is in good cosmetic condition don t hesitate to buy it, but knowing that almost every tube, capacitor and resistor will have to be replaced. Component quality in the late 40s was very bad no matter who made the radio. ~R. Majestic Special thanks to Tony Levitino the owner of the NC-2-40D reported on here Above is the RF coil assembly in the mid-position covering about half of each under chassis circuit wiring and components. Above, I had just started to replace the capacitors when I discovered all the bad resistors and extensive modification, to the right is the finished restoration. To the bottom right is the other side under side view with the rectifier, power supple filters and 6V6 pair audio output tubes. Six

7 Seven

N E W M E X I C O R A D I O C O L L E C T O R S C L U B New Mexico Radio Collectors Club Richard Majestic (Membership inquiries) 5460 Superstition Drive Las Cruces NM 88011 E-Mail: ronmonty@comcast.

8 N E W M E X I C O R A D I O C O L L E C T O R S C L U B New Mexico Radio Collectors Club Richard Majestic (Membership inquiries) 5460 Superstition Drive Las Cruces NM ronmonty@comcast.net Phone: rmajestic@msn.com Phone: The New Mexico Radio Collectors Club is a non-profit organization founded in 1994 in order to enhance the enjoyment of collecting and preservation of radios for all its members. NMRCC meets the second Sunday of the month at The Quelab at 680 Haines Ave NW, Albuquerque NM Tailgate sale at 1:00PM meetings start at 2:00 pm. Visitors Always Welcomed. NMRCC NEWSLETTER THIS PUBLICATION IS THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW MEXICO RADIO COLLECTORS CLUB. INPUT FROM ALL MEMBERS ARE SOLICITED AND WELCOME ON 20 TH OF THE PRECEDING MONTH. RICHARD MAJESTIC PRO-TEMP NEWSLETTER EDITOR, SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS IN WORD FORMAT, PICTURES IN *.JPG FORMAT TO: RMAJESTIC@MSN.COM USPS Stamp FOR INFORMATION CHECK THE INTERNET REQUEST I want to create a club history column, a story about why we collect old radios, old ham receivers and transmitters, vacuum tubes and old black and white televisions. What s the motivation? What s the limits we set? Why a particular brand? Why a particular year? Are we collectors or technology hoarders? How much time do we spend on this hobby? Do we research and record the history of items we collect? What are our sources of the items? What are the stories you ve heard from a seller? How far will travel to get an item? What s your hot pursuits today? Put your story in words, write it up and I want to print it as a monthly column in our newsletter. ~RM NMRCC Officers for 2015 John Anthes: President John Estock: Vice President Richard Majestic: Treasurer Chuck Burch: Secretary Ron Monty: Membership Mark Toppo: Director Ed Brady: Director Ray Trujillo: Director John Hannahs Richard Majestic: Newsletter Editor (President pro-tem) Eight

April 9th NMRCC Meeting

Auction item 1926 Kolster TRF radio # 4 Vol-23 2017 Old radio tube boxes with NOS tubes, Richard Majestic discusses Coming soon 2A3 April 9th NMRCC Meeting Theme: Code keys, bugs, sounders By 1946, National