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The Jersey Broadcaster NEWSLETTER OF THE NEW JERSEY ANTIQUE RADIO
CLUB |
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MEETING ACTIVITY NOTES Tenth Anniversary Party  |
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In the entertainment area, Dave Sica's video providing a brief history of the club and carefully edited show-and-tell segments was the hit of the evening. You have to give Dave extra kudos for this project since much of it was done while Dave was recovering from surgery. Thanks Dave...you've given the club a remembrance that we'll cherish for many years to come. But Dave is a perfectionist at heart, and at the suggestion of John Dilks, is considering producing a final version of the program as a marketing tool for club membership. We were also treated to a vintage cartoon (shown on a restored 16mm projector) starring Felix the Cat which was left to Robert Flory by his grandfather. Felix is transported through the ether via the magic of wireless to escape the dangers of this continent only to be confronted by the same dangers in the Far East. Robert said that the film mightf have been used as a demonstration piece for early television. The Mystery Grab Bag again proved to be a lot of fun, with a beautifully constructed crystal set quickly making the rounds between contestants. If you look at the photo gallery on the following pages, that smile on Sal Brisindi's face didn't last long...nor did the crystal set he is displaying. The photo gallery also shows winners in our equipment contest, impartially and ably judged by Al Klase. 2003 Dues Barnegat Radio Display The Simkins have also completed what Marsha calls "a labor of love." It is a compilation of nearly 100 radio-related sheet music covers, all in color. The covers are professionally presented in a notebook format ("allowing for the easy insertion of updated, revised or personal information") and contains some introductory remarks regarding collecting sheet music. It also contains an alphabetical listing of titles and a reference section listing title, year, the reason the item was included, the publisher, the place it was published and some relevant comments. Radio-Related Sheet Music - A Collector's Checklist is available from Marsha and Jerry Simkin for $20 plus postage.  Part of Marsha and Jerry Simkin's recent radio display at the Barnegat library.  Steve Conklin Passes Cranbury Museum Exhibit HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY NJARC!  MYSTERY GRAB BAG / CONTEST WINNERS  BROADCAST BAND DX CONTEST ANNOUNCED This year's NJARC Broadcast Band DX Contest will be held January 24 through February 2. Receiver classifications have been revised to encourage greater participation. Categories A, B, and C (crystal sets, 1- and 2-tube receivers, and battery sets respectively) remain unchanged. Category D will encompass all other tube radios sold for home entertainment, and category E is for amateur, commercial, and military tube-type communications receivers. By request, we have added category F for transistor (or hybrid) radios introduced before 1970. Official contests rules appear on page 6 of this month's Broadcaster. Frequency lists, log sheets, and other information will be available at the January meeting and on the NJARC webpage. Feel free to contact me with your questions or comments (908-782-4829, skywaves@bw.webex.net). SOME MEMORIES OF MY BROTHER -ROBERT C. GOLD As part of the NJARC effort to document the life and preserve the artifacts of Robert C. Gold, the following article appeared in the January 2003 issue of QST through the efforts of John Dilks. It can also be found at John's web site http://www.eht.com/old radio/arrl/2003-0]/memories.html...Ed
In 1932 when Robert was in high school (probably 15 or 16) he built a radio and walnut cabinet to house it for our parents. They had this radio for over 30 years. In 1937 on my 16th birthday (Robert was 21) my brother let my girl friend and me spend that Sunday talking to ham radio operators all over the country. He had recently built his first "rig" which took up one whole little room on the second floor of our house. He later built a combination shop/ham radio building in our back yard. There was always a steady stream of friends who spent a lot of time in that building. I remember he erected two very tall antennas for that equipment, one on top of the building, the other in a pasture across the street. Electrical storms were always a concern, and I remember when one was struck by lightning. There was also a fire in the radio building. On both occasions Robert got the fires out before the local fire department arrived. To earn his way through Graceland College (now Graceland University) in Lamoni, Iowa, Robert operated the projectors in the local movie theater. Luckily when he went on to Iowa State College at Ames he was able to do this same type of work the whole time he attended school there. I think it was during the time he was in Graceland I talked him into building a small bedside radio for me, so I could listen to the remote broadcasts of dance bands across the country. There was a price for this; I had to clean his room! All the radio parts he left scattered all over made cleaning a real challenge. Robert joined RCA in the summer of 1941. I rode with him in his new car to Kansas City, MO, where he was first assigned, but not for long. He was one of the first persons chosen by RCA to be taught the complexities of radar and sonar. A short time later while still working for RCA he was assigned to the US Navy as a Naval Technician, a post he held all during World War II. After the war Robert was stationed at the New York City office and I remember him telling me when there were only 50 TV sets in the whole city and he was assigned to service them. He knew David Sarnoff and worked a number of times with Dwight Heinion, winner of 24 Emmy Awards, who directed some of the "specials" that NBC produced. Robert mentioned having been the first to televise the birth of a baby for a hospital or medical school. In 1957 he traveled to Japan for RCA, to introduce color TV. He said, that at that time the Japanese were having trouble getting color to work properly. He spent quite a bit of time working with the engineers there; some of that long time was because of the language differences. Eventually the Japanese figured it out with his help. 
RCA was always sending him to international trade fairs in such places as Greece, Italy, and Germany. Robert and his crew received an Emmy for the process that connects a number of unrelated commercials together. Something we naturally take for granted now. He was at the Berlin Wall, on May Day just after it was built, broadcasting this event to the world. On the other hand, in 1950 he broadcast the 50th anniversary of the Nobel Prize, and demonstrated the same for the King of Sweden and Sweden's Parliament. Later he was in charge of building the television display for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. He also authored several technical manuals for RCA. When he traveled to other countries, he made it a point to look up and find fellow hams. He would visit them and see their stations. It is my feeling that during the 40+ years spent working for RCA, he never really lost his love of being a "ham" radio operator. I remember the last time I saw my brother at lunch in Philadelphia in 1988 or 1989 he showed me a "circuit board" he had sketched out and wanted me to draft it up for him. By that time he was suffering from Parkinson's disease. That board never came to pass, however, but his mind was still figuring out electrical puzzles. HACKIN' THE RADIO DJ The Wild Planet "Radio DJ" (hackers call it the WPRDJ for short) is an FCC Certified Part 15 toy AM broadcaster which has a built-in tape player, sound effects generator, microphone with a slide fader, an "ON AIR" light, an external jack for an audio input such as a CD player, antenna and ground wires and a volume (modulation) control all in one compact molded plastic case. Frequency of operation is crystal-controlled and fixed at 1610 kHz and the unit is powered from 4AA batteries. The buzz was that the quality was very good for the price; they normally retail for about $20 but I bought 2 from Amazon for $9.95. The lower price may be the result of the introduction of the "Radio DJ Studio" which has a white or cream plastic case but which hackers say is electronically similar to the original blue-cased model. My intent was to obtain an inexpensive broadcaster with limited power that~cou1d be used at exhibits and displays to provide that true "radio days" atmosphere and could left unattended for long periods of time. Of course, it was anticipated that an AC-powered DC supply would be needed to replace the batteries. 
When I tried out the unit, I was very pleased with the results. The audio quality was very good and range ran from 30-60 feet depending on the antenna and ground setup. In fact, I was so impressed that I was hesitant to tear into the second unit to see, as my dad used to say, "where the feet grow." But the acquisition of a third unit at our 10th anniversary party's Mystery Grab Bag game quickly changed my mind. What I intended to do was to eliminate all the kid's stuff (tape player, microphone, sound effects, "ON AIR" light, etc.) and wind up with a more "adult" looking device that could be driven continuously from a CD player with a disc of old radio programs. But before starting on my project, I decided to look into what NJARC member Sal Brisindi said was a lot of modification chatter circulating on the web. To my amazement, I found that even the world of the six- year-old is not free from adult intrusion. For example, a typical site was titled "Hardware Hacking: Modding and Hot-Rodding the Wild Planet Toys Radio DJ." In it was found schematics and pictorials of the circuit board with locations of major components and their function, a calculation of the unit's output, two pages on just how to get at the circuit board, ways to increase range, modulation and to change the frequency and a technical discussion on how to increase power and modulation to bring the unit up to Section 15.2 19 of the FCC rules (that's a final RF stage input power of 100 milliwatts folks with the capability of a I mile transmission range!). One section even offered suggestions for modifying the output so it can be used to drive coax for an outboard 100 mW linear amplifier! The whole thing started to make my head spin. I felt that I was being sucked into some sort of Home Improvement time warp. ..an episode where I would be held captive until I could figure out some way to modify the DJ so it could broadcast to Venus. I guess the last straw was some guy who wrote in claiming that he hooked up his DJ to his ham antenna and drove around the neighborhood to find that he could broadcast over a mile with an unmodified unit. But nonetheless, I did take away some bits and pieces of information that might help with my project. First, I found out how to get to the bottom of the main circuit board (two screws are hidden under the rear rubber foot pads) where the cassette speed adjust trimpot and antenna trimmer capacitor are located. Not that I would suggest anyone try to bend FCC rules, but as a matter of information only, the antenna trimmer is probably not adjusted for maximum output. If you would care to experiment with this circuit (only to help with visualizing the concept of tuning), ensure that the DJ is grounded. Second, I found out how to remove the circuit board. Since the knob for the microphone fader is glued to a slider pot which is soldered onto the circuit board, the plastic slider volume control knob must be broken off with a pair of wire snips to avoid destroying the pot. Third, I learned an external DC power source must be regulated so as not to exceed 6 volts; unregulated supplies will have a much higher voltage at no or light load and the CMOS oscillator chips used in the DJ are maxed out at 7 volts. I also learned to avoid a "wall wart" (even if rectified to DC and regulated) to avoid the possibility of a hum on the transmitted signal. (The DJ draws about 50 mA when the cassette motor is not running.) Also, a switching type DC jack is needed to automatically disconnect the batteries when the external DC supply plug is inserted and reconnect them when it is removed. Finally, a little battery life can be conserved by disconnecting the "ON AIR" LEDs. Well, it appears that I'm off and running. I'll keep you informed of my progress, and if you happen to hear the strains of My Yidesha Mamma on 1610 some evening, give me a call; it definitely wasn't intentional. CONNECTIONS (CLASSIFIED ADS)
Free exposure for buyers and sellers! Unless requested otherwise, each ad will run for two months in both the Jersey Broadcaster and the Delaware Valley Oscillator. All buying and selling transactions are the responsibility of the parties involved. FOR SALE Check out NJARC's capacitor program for those most commonly needed replacements. Contact John Ruccolo at any club meeting or call him at home (609)-426-4568 to find out what's available. All proceeds go to the club. The NJARC tube program offers clean, tested, boxed tubes at very reasonable prices with availability at any club meeting (no dealers, please.. .not for resale). Proceeds go to the club. Of course, donations of radio-type tubes in any condition are welcome. See Gary D'Amico at the next meeting. Nice working consoles. All cabinets are nice and clean! Atwater Kent Model 74 lowboy - $200.Grunow model 1151 $200. RCA 810-K (good eye tube) - $225. Zenith 5-463, black dial ,good eye tube, wave magnet - $250. Contact Joe Murphy at (856)-228..0585 For trade only....repair clinics, savings on swapmeet tables, tubes and 12 issues of this year's Broadcaster, mini-auctions, technical presentations, contests, parties, fellowship of sharing a common interest with friends...$20 check made out to NJARC. Marsha Simkin, 33 Lakeland Drive, Barnegat, NJ 08005 WANTED EJCO 324 signal generator and RE probe Tony Galella, (201)-823-01 16, tgalella@ att.net YOUR AD HERE (FREE) THE JERSEY BROADCASTER is the newsletter of the New
Jersey Antique Radio Club (NJARC) which is dedicated to preserving the history
and enhancing the knowledge of radio and related disciplines. Dues are $15 per
year and meetings are held the second Friday of each month. PRESIDENT: Phil Vourtsis VICE PRESIDENT: SECRETARY/EDITOR: Man' Beeferman TREASURER: SARGEANT-AT-ARMS: TRUSTEES: TECHNICAL COORDINATOR: TUBE PROGRAM: SCHEMATIC PROGRAM: CAPACITOR PROGRAM: WEB COORDINATOR: MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: |
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When 13-year-old Robert Gold was in the 8th
grade he designed and built an electric map of the United States. I don't
remember exactly how it worked, but there were two wired pointers, and when the
state or capital was touched the corresponding state or capital would light up.
Everyone marveled at his invention.